WWI Begins

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WWI Begins

• Ch 16 Sec 2

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A Europe Divided

• 1914 2 Rival Groups
• Triple Entente
• Great Britain, France, Russia
• Triple Alliance
• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

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The Great War Begins

• Chain Reaction
• A-H declares war on Serbia
• Russia moves army toward border w/A-H
• Mobilizes toward Germany in anticipation of
  declaration of war
• Germans view this as declaration of war
• Aug 1 Germany declares war on Russia
• Aug 3 Germany declares war on France
• Aug 4 - GB declares war on Germany

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Nations Take Sides

• Mid-August 1914, battle lines were drawn
• Central Powers
• At first, Germany and A-H
• Later, Bulgaria and Ottoman Empire
• Hoped to gain land

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• Allies
• GB, France, Russia, Japan
• Italy
• Accuses Germany and A-H of unjustly starting war
• Joins the allies

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The Conflict Begins

• The Schlieffen Plan
• Gen. Alfred Graf von Schlieffen
• German army would race west to defeat France
• Then fight Russia in the east
• Speed vital
• Quickest route through Belgium
• Refuse to allow them to pass
• Germany invades

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• Schlieffen Plan works at first
• Aug 1914
• Germans overran Belgium and moved into France
• Sept. 3 Germans on edge of Paris

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• Battle of the Marne
• Sept 5
• Allies attack Germans northeast of Paris
• 2000 taxis used to transport troops from Paris
• Sept. 9 Germans order retreat

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• Single-most important event of the war
• Defeat of Germans left Schlieffen Plan in ruins
• Quick victory no longer possible
• Russians had invaded Germany
• 2-Front war

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Bloody Stalemate Along the Western Front

• Fall 1914
• War turned into long and bloody stalemate
• Western Front
• Deadlocked region in Northern France

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• War in the Trenches
• 1915 Trench Warfare
• Miles of parallel trenches along Western Front
• Offer protection
• Huge losses for small land gains
• Miserable life
• Men slept in mud
• rats
• No fresh food
• Sleep nearly impossible

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• No Mans Land
• Space between trenches
• Men go over the top to cross
• Met by machine-gun fire
• Many die
• Bombed trenches

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• New tools of war kill thousands
• Machine guns
• Poison gas
• Armored tanks
• Larger artillery

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• Feb. 1916 German attack at Verdun
• 300,000 die on both sides
• Germans advance 4 miles
• July 1916 - Battle of the Somme
• 20,000 British die in
• one day
• 500,000 on both sides by November
• British gain 5 miles

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Battle on the Eastern Front

• Eastern Front
• German and Russian Border
• Russians and Serbs vs. Germans,
  Austro-Hungarians, Turks
• More mobile than Western Front

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Early Fighting

• Central Powers gain the advantage
• Aug. 1914 Germans force Russian retreat
• 30,000 Russians killed
• Sept 1914 Russians defeat Austrians
• Drive deep into Austria
• Dec 1914 Austria turns the tide
• 17-day battle near Limanowa
• Defeat Russians and drive east
• Jan. 1915 push Russians out of Austria

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Russia Struggles

• 1916 - Russias war effort near collapse
• Russia not industrialized
• Short on food, guns, ammo, clothes, boots,
  blankets
• Allies unable to ship supplies to Russia
• Russia had only one asset
• Huge numbers
• prevent Germans from focusing on Western Front