WORLD WAR I

THE WESTERN FRONT

• Dominated by trench warfare– Stalemate after the First Battle of the Marne

leas to bloody, costly fighting• No significant breakthrough on either side• Trade lots of lives for little gain

–New weapons were superior to archaic tactics, leads to a generation slaughtered

The Trenches• Are a series of six feet deep ditches protected by

barbed wire– Zigzagged to keep it from becoming a shooting

gallery and to minimize blast effect of a shell impact–Nearly 500 miles of two parallel trenches

running from the English Channel to the borders of Switzerland

• Life in the trenches–Trenches were filthy, muddy, poorly drained,

noisy, and diseased

– Shared trenches with:• Rats, fleas, garbage, and human waste• Remains of decaying corpses

–Most soldiers were depressed and miserable• Disillusioned and want to go home• This was not the glorious war they signed

up for

Trench Raids• The goal was to capture the enemies trenches and gain

land• Softening up phase– Long periods of artillery shelling prior to launching a

major attack against an enemy trench• “over the top”– Soldiers go over the top of the trenches and try to

make their way to the opposing trenches through a stream of machine gun fire

– “no man’s land” is the area between the two trenches that both sides are fighting over

• Must cut barbed wire to get through to the enemy trench while dodging bullets from machine guns• Also known as the Arena of Death

• Soldiers will live and die in these mud holes for the next four years– On an average day 2,533 men die, 9,121 are

wounded, and 1,164 go missing• Trench warfare is best fought as a defensive war, not an

offensive one– Have better defensive weapons than offensive– The Germans dig in and focus more on defense while

the Allies keep on attacking

• On August 2nd, I went "over the top" for the first time and crawled through shell holes and Canadian thistles being shot at by a German in a foxhole with a machine gun. I didn't have a rifle or pistol as there was a shortage and the Lieutenant had my .45 pistol. I was carrying two hand grenades and a pouch of several pans of ammunition for the Lewis automatic rifle and a bayonet in its scabbard that I borrowed from another rifleman.

• It ended up with us losing one man from a hand grenade and me firing the Lewis gun until it jammed on the 2nd pan after firing three shots. There was a light rain falling all the while but I took the gun apart and put it together several times as we could not have any light showing. It took me the most of the next morning to get the mud jammed in the gun out before it would work when I shot in the air to test it.

New Technology and Weapons• Machine gun–1884 the Maxim Gun becomes the first

automatic weapon–Could wipe out waves of attackers•Makes it difficult for forces to advance and

transforms war from one of rapid advance to one of defense

• Artillery–Huge guns capable of hurling giant projectiles

many miles

–Used in combat against strongly fortified positions –Causes much destruction• At the Battle of the Somme, a seven day

artillery preparation had 1,537 guns fire 1,627,824 rounds

• Chemical Warfare – Poison Gas– Introduced by the Germans in 1915 at Ypres• Uses chlorine which could cause blindness

and even death by choking as it dissolved the lungs

• Kills and injures thousands–Protection against• First used socks soaked in urine• Later gas masks are invented

• Tanks– Armored vehicles, introduced by the British in 1916

at the Battle of the Somme• Initially they are slow and clumsy and can’t break

the deadlock

• Airplanes– First used as reconnaissance to observe enemy

positions, then pilots dropped bombs• Machine guns added

– Dog fights• High mortality rate, become an ace after five kills• The Red Baron was the most famous ace, over 70

kills

• Submarines or “U-Boats”– Primary weapon is the torpedo, also deploys contact

mines• Most effective part of the German navy, can’t

compete with the British warships, so resorts to submarine warfare

– Unrestricted submarine warfare = any ship traveling in the waters around Great Britain was subject to attack by German submarines• Will fire on ships regardless of nationality• Targeted the British naval vessels, along with

merchant ships bringing supplies to Britain

Overview of Several Battles• Battle of Champagne– Dec. 1914 – March 1915– Allied offensive against the Germans– Allies gain 500 yards for 50,000 men• French casualties = 400,000• British and German not much better

• Battle of Verdun– Feb. – Dec. 1916– German attack on the Verdun fortress• An important French fortress since Roman times• Germans believe the French would defend it all

costs• Attack meant to kill or injure as many French

soldiers as possible–Germany “Bleed the French army white”–France “They shall not pass”

– French hold their ground at 542,000 casualties• Germans lose 434,000 men and gain 4 miles

• Battle of the Somme– June – November 1916– Mostly a British attack on German forces, launched in

part to pull German forces away from Verdun• First time a tank is used in battle

– Bloodiest day of battle in British history, lose 60,000 men the first day• Total casualties: British 420,000, French 195,000,

and German 650,000• British gain five miles

• Flanders Field– June – July 1917– British offensive to free Belgium– British gain 5 miles, lose 300,000 men• French have 8,528 casualties and the Germans

260,000

• The Nivelle Offensive at Champagne– April 1917– French offensive against the Germans– In five days the French gain 600 yards at the expense

of 120,000 casualties– Mutiny breaks out among the French troops, they

refuse to go over the top

• The Gallipoli Campaign– Feb. – Aug. 1915– Plan by Churchill to break the deadlock on the

Western Front• Goal is to seize the Dardanelles from the Ottoman

Empire • Want to be able to ship supplies to Russia and

open up another front – Allied naval assault, land on the beaches• Beach heads become areas of trenches and the

stalemate leads to evacuation– Total failure – Turks still control the Dardanelles• Allies have 252,000 casualties and the Ottoman

Turks 251,000

Warm Up WWI1. 2 reasons why trenches are staggered and not

straight:2. The place in between the two trenches:3. What is going over the top?4. Chemical warfare was introduced by what

country?5. Before gas masks how do you protect yourself?6. 2 uses of airplanes:7. In dog fights after 5 kills you become what?8. Why were tanks not a factor in WWI?

War on the Home Front• World War I was a total war = nations devote all

resources to the war effort– As a result gov’ts began to take a stronger role in

controlling the lives of its citizens– Factories began to produce military equipment and

civilians rationed (conserved) certain foods and goods

• Governments controlled public opinion– Censored newspapers – didn’t want people

discouraged by the numbers of casualties– Created propaganda = ideas spread to influence

public opinion

WWI Propaganda

– Used posters to inspire national pride and get people to volunteer while making the enemy look bad

• Many women helped out the war effort since millions of men left to fight– They worked in factories producing military supplies– Others worked as nurses– In some countries, such as Great Britain, women

were rewarded for their efforts by gaining the right to vote

A Global War• British and French troops attacked German

colonies in Africa• Soldiers from all parts of the British Empire

fought – India, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

• Algerians fought for France• Japan joined the Allied Powers and captured

German colonies in China and the Pacific

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvHEUxIok00

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYxZO3DJ93k

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lSLWnfCP6M&feature=related

In Flanders Fields – by John McraeIn Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on rowThat mark our place, and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below

We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glowLoved, and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders Fields

Take up our quarrel with the foeTo you from failing hands we thrownThe torch, be yours to hold it highIf ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders Fields

The Soldier – by Rupert BrookeIf I should die, think only this of meThat there’s some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England. There shall beIn that rich earth a richer dust concealedA dust whom England bore, shaped, made awareGave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roamA body of England’s, breathing English airWashed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed awayA pulse in the eternal mind, no lessGives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentlenessIn hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke died of blood poisoning on his way to Gallipoli in 1915

Dulce et Decorum Est – by Wilfred OwenBent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursedThrough sludgeTill on the haunting flares we turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest began to trudgeMen marched asleep. Many had lost their bootsBut limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blindDrunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines (gas shells)That dropped behind

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . . Dim, through the misty panes and thick green lightAs under a green sea, I saw him drowningIn all my dreams, before my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowningIf in some smothering dreams you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him inAnd watch the white eyes writhing in his faceHis hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate gloryThe old lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori (It is sweet and fitting to die

for one’s country)

Wilfred Owen died in combat

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,And took the fire with him, and a knife,And as they sojourned both of them together,Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,Behold the preparations, fire and iron,But where the lamb, for this burnt offering?Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,And builded parapets and trenches there,And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.

When lo! An angel called him out of heaven;Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,Neither do anything to him, thy son.Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.But the old man would not so, but slew his son,And half the seed of Europe, one by one.