Title: Bell-Ringer
1Bell-Ringer
2World war I A stale mate, trench warfare, new
technology
3Beginning of the war
- Many Europeans were excited about war
- Defend yourself against the aggressors
- Domestic differences were put aside
4beginning
- War would be over in a few weeks
- Ignored the length and brutality of the American
Civil War - (prototype to World War I)
5beginning
- Belief that Modern industrial war could not be
conducted for more than a few months - Home by Christmas
6beginning
- Fatal attraction of war
- Exhilarating release from every day life
- A glorious adventure
- War would rid the nations of selfishness
- Spark a national re-birth based on heroism
7Recruitment posters
Propaganda
simply put, is the manipulation of public
opinion. It is generally carried out through
media that is capable of reaching a large amount
of people and effectively persuading them for or
against a cause.
8Recruitment posters
9Recruitment posters
10The Schlieffen Plan
- Invade western front 1st
- After defeating France concentrate on the Eastern
front - Avoid fighting a 2 front war
11The Schlieffen Plans Destructive Nature
- Germany made vast encircling movement through
Belgium to enter Paris - Underestimated speed of the British mobilization
- Quickly sent troops to France
12The Schlieffen Plans Destructive Nature
- Sept 6-10, 1914
- Battle of Marne
- Stopped the Germans but French troops were
exhausted - Both sides dug trenches for shelter
- STALEMATE
13The Schlieffen Plans Destructive Nature
14The Trenches
- Trenches dug from English Channel to Switzerland
- 6,250 miles
- 6 to 8 feet deep
- Immobilized both sides for 4 years
15The Trenches
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17Life in the Trenches
- Elaborate systems of defense
- barbed wire
- Concrete machine gun nests
- Mortar batteries
- Troops lived in holes underground
- No Mans Land
- Land between trenches where soldiers were often
mowed down.
18Life in the Trenches
- Boredom
- Soldiers would read to help pass the time.
19Death is everywhere
- We all had on us the stench of dead bodies.
Death numbed the soldiers minds. - Shell shock
- Psychological devastation
20Medical services were primitive and life-saving
antibiotics had not yet been discovered.
Relatively minor injuries could prove fatal
through onset of infection and gangrene. The
Germans recorded that 12 of leg wounds and 23
of arm wounds resulted in death, mainly through
infection.
21Life in the Trenches
- Trench warfare baffled military leaders
- Attempt a breakthrough
- Then return to a war of movement
- Millions of young men sacrificed attempting the
breakthrough
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24Rat Tales
- The rats were huge. They were so big they would
eat a wounded man if he couldn't defend himself. - If you left your food the rats would soon grab
it. Those rats were fearless. Sometimes we would
shoot the filthy swines. But you would be put on
a charge for wasting ammo, if the sergeant caught
you. - I can't sleep in my dugout, as it is over-run
with rats. Pullman slept here one morning and
woke up to find one sitting on his face. I can't
face that, so I share Newbery's dug-out. - Rats. There are millions!! Some are huge
fellows, nearly as big as cats. Several of our
men were awakened to find a rat snuggling down
under the blanket alongside them! - Rats came up from the canal, fed on the
plentiful corpses, and multiplied exceedingly.
While I stayed here with the Welch. a new officer
joined the company and, in token of welcome, was
given a dug-out containing a spring-bed. When he
turned in that night he heard a scuffling, shone
his torch on the bed, and found two rats on his
blanket tussling for the possession of a severed
hand.
25German soldiers after rat hunting in their
trenches
26Life in the trenches video
- http//www.youtube.com/watch?vXiyWP7EM0tg
27TechnologyChemical Weapons
- WWI was the first major war to use chemical
weapons - Mustard Gas
- Chlorine Gas
- The two most popular weapons They caused
suffocation, blindness, and death
28- Soldiers would protect themselves using Gas Masks
The special shells the men call shells on
wheels (shells filled with poison gas) are
whizzing by continuously. They explode silently
and have no smell but can be deadly. They killed
several men yesterday. One of my men refused to
put his mask on because he couldnt smell
anything. All of a sudden, he was dizzy, foaming
at the mouth and his skin went black, then he
went rigid and died -Paul Truffaut March 5, 1917
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31Death is everywhere
- Mustard gas
- Carried by the wind
- Burned out soldiers lungs
- Deadly in the trenches where it would sit at
the bottom
32SUBMARINES
- U-boat submarines used by Germans in WWI and
WWII - developed by Germans
- unrestricted submarine warfare
- any ship traveling in water around Great Britain
was subject to attack
33SUBMARINES
- easy to attack without being seen
- attack merchant ships
- cut off (British) supply lines
- Great Britain developed convoys
- helped against threat of attack
Allied Ships Sunk by U-Boats
34AIRCRAFT
- Uses of aircraft
- observe enemy positions
- armed with machine guns bombs
- attacked battlefields cities
- attacked enemy planes (dogfights)
- useful from beginning of war
Red Baron
German ace (a person who shoots down 5 or more
enemy planes)
35AIRCRAFT
- most countries had few planes at start of war
- production of planes increased rapidly
- planes had to be easy to fly
- first, designed for stability
- later, designed for maneuverability
- generals began including planes in planning
- France had had 140 planes at the start of war ?
ended with 4,500
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37The Germans also used Zeppelins and by 1918 had
over 100 of these airships capable of bombing
missions
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39TANKS
- aka landships
- armored vehicles
- could cross rough battlefield terrain
- such as no mans land
- first tank, Little Willie
- 14 tons (weight) with 12-foot long track frames
- space for three men (cramped)
- maximum speed of 2 mph (on rough terrain)
40TANKS
- first developed in Great Britain
- France the US soon became interested
- not very reliable or useful at first
- used later in the war
- November 1917, Battle of Cambrai
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWdgnZyRX5F0
41TechnologyTanks
42TechnologyTanks
43GUNS
- rapid-fire machine guns were used
- early machine guns
- were big heavy
- needed a crew of four to six people to operate
- lacked cooling mechanisms
- shot 400-600 smallcaliber rounds perminute
44GUNS
- later machine guns were lighter more portable
- lighter weight, but still too heavy
- 1918 ? guns for infantrymen now existed
- lighter weight
- lacked enough ammuntion
- by end of war, guns had been added to tanks,
warships, aircraft
45Krupps Big Bertha Gun
43 ton howitzer could fire a 2,200 lb shell over
9 miles
It took its 200-man crew, over six hours to
re-assemble it on the site.
46New Warfare video
- http//www.youtube.com/user/mrallsopp/c/9DBE5F08B
042293F/20/VDkhMn911ek
47Stalemate
- Definition
- A situation in which no progress can be made or
no advancement is possible "reached an impasse
on the negotiations" - A situation in which further action is blocked a
deadlock. - New technologies allowed for both sides to have
good defense but had not evolved their battle
tactics to work with the new weapons. - The barbed wire in no mans land didn't help
either. It made it impossible (along with the
machine guns) to mount an attack on the other
side's trenches to overpower them. - The war made it to where both sides had
casualities and deaths everyday, but neither side
were gaining any land, so there wasn't anybody
really winning.
48Effects of War
49Sacrifices of War