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BRIEF LOOK AT WWI AND CONSEQUENCES
The Opposing Sides
Triple Entente
 Britain and Empire
 France
 Russia
 Serbia
 Romania
 Italy (after 1915)
 Unites States (1917 - way late)
Triple Alliance (Central Powers)
 Germany
 Austria-Hungary
 Bulgaria
 Ottoman Empire
 Italy (until 1915)
Industrialized
Warfare
 machine guns
 Increased rate of fire to approx. 400-600 rounds/m
 heavy artillery
 Could hit target up to 130km away
 Flamethrower
 Earliest date from 5th c. b.c.
 The Flammenwerfer was designed in Germany for one man use
 Using pressurised air and carbon dioxide or nitrogen
 Shot a flame up to 18m
 poison gas
 Chlorine and Mustard
 Last war fought on horseback
 Tanks and other military vehicles developed
Faceless Enemy
 Distasteful aspect of new type of warfare
 Increasingly hand to hand/face to face fight replaced with killing from a distance
 Depersonalization of the enemy
 Sense of meaninglessness to the killing emerged
Battlefronts
 Fighting was around the globe, not just Europe
 Britain and France took most of Germany’s colonies in Africa
 East Africa - German troops fought British Indian Army until 1918.
 Indian Expeditionary Force had 6 groups (A-G)
 Fought in France, East Africa, Palestine, and Mesopotamia
 Imperial troops from Australia and New Zealand took German outposts
 Japan (Brit. ally) took German holdings in China and elsewhere
Battlefronts Cont.
 Ottoman involvement threatened Russia’s south and Britain's link to India through
Suez Canal
 British fought and also encouraged revolts among the Ottoman’s Arab subjects
 Brit. also promised to make Ottoman Palestine a Jewish homeland (Balfour
Declaration)
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Declaration)
 Serb aspirations of nationhood were provoked and frustrated
 Conflicting national interests were unleashed
 affected world throughout 2oth c.
At Sea
 Britain had more naval power than anyone
 Germany engaged in a huge shipbuilding effort
 Made Britain an enemy
 Only one significant naval battle b/w the two
 Battle of Jutland, 1916
 Germans sank more British ships than they lost
 Decided not to risk a second confrontation
 Britain set up a naval blockade of Germany
 German ships rusted in port
 Cut off from overseas trade
 Only vessel effective against blockade was the u-boat
On Land
 Both sides more evenly matched
 Reasons:
 Russia’s millions of peasants in uniform were poorly equipped and cut off from Brit.
or French aid
 Entente never successfully coordinated their effort
 Central powers were directed from Berlin
 Victory would require mobilization of overseas resources
 Gave Entente advantage

Trenches
 Zig-zagged their way across the western and eastern fronts
 Why zig-zag?
 German trenched built the best
 Sturdier and dugouts were deeper
 Thicker concrete, with iron girders in the roof
 Small trenches (saps) went out at right angles towards enemy lines
 2-3 men would sit at the end listening for the enemy (especially for shovels and
picks)
 Mining teams would try to burrow under enemy trenches and plan explosives
 19 mines were placed under German lines at Messines
 June 7, 1917, they were set off at 3:10 am
 10 -20 thousand Germans were buried alive
Battles on
Western Front
 Verdun, Feb.-Dec. 1916
 Garman’s attacked French fortress town of Verdun
 380,000 French casualties
 340,000 German casualties
 Verdun wasn’t taken
 Somme, July-Nov. 1916
 Offensive launched to draw German troops from Verdun
 650,000 German casualties
 410,000 British casualties
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 410,000 British casualties
 195,000 French casualties
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
Battles on
Eastern Front
 Suffered two crushing defeats
 Tannenberg and Masurian
 Only real success was the Brusilov Offensive
 Approx. 482 km offensive
 Took over 200,000 Austrian prisoners in 2 weeks
 Advanced as far as 161 km
 Secret to success was no large troop buildup or artillery barrage beforehand
Other Areas of Fighting
 Gallipoli (the Dardanelles, Turkey)
 Aimed to capture Constantinople
 naval and land fighting
 Brit., Australian, and NZ forces made little to no progress
 252,000 casualties
 Italian Front
 Fighting mostly in the mountains
 Italians attempted to drive Austrian troops back across the Isonzo River
 Little progress (12 battles over the Isonzo River)
 Ended in Austria-Hungary’s surrender.
End of the War
 supply lines stretched to breaking point the Triple Alliance began to break apart
 August 1918
 Triple Entente forces began to advance on the Western Front
 pushing all the way to the German border
 Triple Alliance forced collapsed one by one
 No reserve troops, and no food, ammunition, supplies, etc.
 Ottoman Empire surrendered on 30 Oct. 1918
 Armistice of Mudros
 Austro-Hungarian Empire surrendered on 3 Nov. 1918
 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 Nov. 1918
 Germany becomes a republic
 Newly elected German government has no choice by to sign armistice agreement on
11 Nov. 1918
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