The Course of War
Review 1:
4 Long Term Causes of WWI
Review 2: The Spark
 Archduke Francis
Ferdinand (AustriaHungary) was
assassinated by Gavrilo
Princip (Serbian
Nationalist)

So what happened next?

Review Questions

 Why was the Alliance System so dangerous?
 A local conflict could turn into a full-scale war
 What year did the war start?
 1914
 What was the “spark” that started the war?
 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne
of Austria-Hungary
 Why did Russia get involved?
 Russia wanted to protect it’s Slavic brother.
 What was OVB’s biggest fear? What came true?
 Germany would fight a 2 front war
Key Belligerents

Allied Powers
 France
 Britain
 Russia
Central Powers
 Germany
 Austria-Hungary
 Ottoman Empire
*** Belligerent – A country engaged in a war
The Course of War:
Key Terms

 Belligerents
 Schleiffen Plan
 Invasion of Belgium
 Machine Guns
 Two Front War
 Trench Warfare
 Trench Foot
 Stalemate
 Continuous Front
 Total War
 Propaganda
 Conscription
War Begins

 1914
 Because of the 2 front war,
Germany carries out the
Schleiffen Plan
 Attack France first, then fight
Russia
 Invade France by crossing
through Belgium
 UK saw this invasion of
Belgium (Neutral) as an act of
war… Declared War
1. Technology & War

 Industrial Revolution also industrialized killing.




Machine Guns  400 Rounds per minute
Poison Gas  Horrific
Tanks  First used
Artillery  Shelling from up to 7 miles away
 Tactics did not keep up with technology. Generals
were unsure of how to use the new technology.
 EXTREMELY LETHAL!!!
 Reading
2. Trench Warfare

 Due to the Machine Gun Fire, soldiers dug trenches.
 Trench Warfare
 Safe from bullets
 Characteristics of Trench Warfare
 One side would charge, get mowed down in machine
gun fire, and retreat.
 Then the other…
 No one could make progress…
 Lasted nearly 3 years (1914-1917)
WORD
BANK
No Man’s
Land
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Barbed Wire
Trenches
Machine Gun
House
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Artillery
Machine Gun
House
2. Trench Warfare

 Trench Warfare:
 Made battles Long & Brutal
 Problems:
 Trench Foot –
 medical condition of the feet caused by
prolonged exposure to wet, unsanitary
conditions
 Fear
 Soldiers lived in constant fear of shelling.
Could be killed at any minute.
 Stalemate –
 Neither side could gain any ground
3. Continuous Front

 WWI quickly became a stalemate
 Neither Side could advance.
 Why?
New
Technology
Mainly…
Machine Guns
Trenches
Stalemate
3. The Continuous Front

 “Race to the Sea”
 Neither side could “flank” each other
 Kept trying, until they reached the sea.
 Continuous Front
 One front from the North Sea to the Alps (mountains)
 Lasted for years
 No one could make any advances. New Technology
changed war, but the militaries could not change fast
enough
4. The Birth of Modern Propaganda

 WWI was considered a TOTAL WAR
 Total War – a war in which belligerents engage all of
their resources and population to fight.
 Factories change output, Rationing of food, etc.
 Therefore, in order to win the war, what must the
common people of a country do?
 Work together
 A country needed the support of their people to fight
 Related to a free democracy?
 Would this be needed in a dictatorship?
Propaganda

 Propaganda was used to control public opinion by many
countries during the war…
 the Propaganda used in the UK was especially interesting
 No Conscription
 Why would the lack of conscription cause a need for
propaganda?
• Propaganda – the deliberate spreading of ideas (often biased or
misleading) to promote a political cause or point of view
• Conscription – forced military service; “a draft”
WWI Propaganda

 Modern Propaganda was started in WWI, and would
be used extensively in WWII
 Both the “Good Guys” and the “Bad Guys” of WWII
saw its power and exploited it.
Video

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP_0DkpFOKs
&feature=related WWI in color