WWI-The Great War

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WWI-The Great War

• 1914-1918
• Total War

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German Propaganda Poster/WWI

• Post 1800s new nations emerge, the rise of
  nationalism
• Germany and Italy become new nations
• Germany united under Prussian Count Von Bismarck
• Demand for land and colonies grows after
  Industrial Revolution
• Competition between nations for world power
• Colonialism led to military build up.
• ALLIANCES were born..

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Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy Triple
Alliance France, Russia, Britain Triple
Entente
Australian Propaganda Poster/WWI
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Europe in 1914
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Australian Propaganda poster/WWI

• Eastern Europe/Powder Keg
• Sarajevo, Bosnia 1914
• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
• Heir to the Austria-Hungarian Throne
• Serbians accused of plot
• Russians allied with Serbs
• Germans back up Aust-Hung.
• Declare war on Russia, August 1, 1914

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World War I Erupts1914-1918

• gt 20 nations involved
• Four years
• Central Powers Germany, Ottoman Turks,
  Austria-Hungary
• Allied Powers Britain, France, Russia
• Eastern and Western Front
• Millions of lives lost over gain of yards, feet,
  inches

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Military Casualties in World War _at_ 9 million
Belgium 45,550, British Empire 942,135, France
1,368,000, Greece 23,098, Italy 680,000, Japan
1,344, Montenegro 3,000, Portugal 8,145, Romania
300,000, Russia 1,700,000, Serbia 45,000,
United States 116,516, Austria-Hungary
1,200,000, Bulgaria 87,495, Germany 1,935,000,
Ottoman Empire 725,000
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• New Technology/Tactics/Terms
• Trench warfare/No Mans Land
• Mines/barbed wire
• Aircraft
• Submarines
• Machine guns
• Genocide
• Poison Gas
• Armored Tanks

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French soldiers going over the top
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Periscope Rifle
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New Technologies Machine guns Required a gun
crew of 4-6 men to operate
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American soldiers in the trenches with gas
masks. Poison Gas arrives on the scene.
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Weapons of WarGenocide Armenians massacred by
Turks
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Soldiers recovering from gas attack
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Treating Mustard Gas victim
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• Life in the Trenches
• Stand to-hour before dawn/enemy raids
• Morning Hate-barrage of artillery
• Breakfast Unofficial Truce
• Chores refill sandbags, repair floor boards,
  drain trenches, clean weapons
• Dusk most activity under cover of darkness
• Penalty for falling asleep on duty death by
  firing squad
• Patrolling No Mans Land hand to hand combat
  if enemy encountered

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• RATS
• Millions infested trenches
• Gorged themselves
• Size of cats
• Spread infection
• Food contamination
• LICE
• Trench Fever
• TRENCH FOOT
• Fungus-cold, damp, unsanitary conditions
• Gangrene/Amputations

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• Death a constant companion.
• Bombardment by snipers and shellfire.
• Estimated one-third of deaths were in the
  trenches
• Stalemate on the Western Front from 1914-1918

and the smellsrotting carcasses (Battle of
Somme 200,000 dead), shallow graves,
overflowing latrines, no bathing for weeks,
creosol/chloride of lime, cordite (poison gas),
rotting sandbags, cigarette smoke, cooking
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• Soldier with shell shock

By the end of World War One the British Army had
dealt with 80,000 cases of shell
shock. ...everyone had a 'breaking point' weak
or strong, courageous or cowardly - war
frightened everyone witless...'
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Russian Soldier/WWI

• Russia withdrew with massive losses on Eastern
  Front
• Influenza virus worldwide helped bring WWI to an
  end
• November 1918
• Treaty of Versailles-harsh punishment, heavy
  reparations on Germans-demoralized
• Everyone thought this would never happen again on
  such a scale.
• To explore
• What connections can you make between WWI and the
  world in 2012?
• How high a price is victory?
• The question stays with us today.

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Europe Re-aligned 1919