14.2

War Consumes Europe

The Alliance System Collapses

Europe was divided into two rival Alliances

1. The Allies- Britain, France and Russia

2. The Central Powers- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and The Ottoman Empire

A Chain Reaction

Due to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, A.H. declared war on Serbia

Russia was allied with Serbia and moved troops to the A.H. border

As a result Germany declared war on Russia and their ally France

The Schlieffen Plan

Germany is in between Russia and France, so Germany’s general Schlieffen planned to attack France first before attacking Russia

They believed that Russia would take longer to mobilize due to their lack of railroads

Germany planned to defeat France on one side and rush back to the east to defeat Russia

Germany

The Schlieffen Plan

Germany invaded Belgium to attack France in the north

As a result, Belgium’s ally Britain declared war on Germany

Italy and Japan also joined the Allies

A Bloody Stalemate

The war turned into a long and bloody stalemate along the battlefields of France

This deadlocked region in northern France became known as the Western Front

A Bloody Stalemate

Germany’s plan to defeat France quickly and then fight the Russians failed

Germany was pushed back in the Battle of the Marne and a quick victory in the west was no longer possible.

In the east, Russian forces had already invaded Germany

War in the Trenches

The Western Front settled into a stalemate

Opposing armies on the Western Front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire

Trench warfare-soldiers fought each other from trenches. And armies traded huge losses of human life for small land gains

Assignment

Complete Pg. 271 #1+2 and Pg. 273 #1-4