World War I

War, and the End of an Era in Europe

World War I Causes

• Nationalism• Military alliances and

planning• Colonial expansion• Arms Races• Assassination

Battlefronts

• Western Front -600 miles from English Channel to Swiss border

• Eastern Front-1100 miles from Riga to the Black Sea

• Southern Front-320 miles of the Italian border

• Various locations in Africa, Asia, and the world’s oceans

New Weapons

• Machine gun• Airplane• Poison gas• Flamethrower• Submarine• Tank• Heavy Artillery

1914

• June 28 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

• July 28 Austria declared war on Serbia

• Aug. 1 Germany declared war on Russia

• 3rd Germany declared war on France

• 4th Germany invaded Belgium

• Britain declared war

1914

• Aug. 26 Battle of Tannenberg

• Sept. 6-9 Battle of the Marne

• Oct. 21-Nov. 17 First Battle of Ypres

• Oct. 29 Ottoman Empire joins Central Powers

• Dec. 24-25 Unofficial Christmas Truce

Trench Warfare

• No Man’s Land• Barbed Wire • Frontline trench• Support trench• Reserve trench• Long periods of

boredom in squalid conditions

• Shell Shock

1915

• Jan. 19 First Zeppelin raid on England

• April 22-25 Second Ypres• Gallipoli landings begin;

end in failure on Oct. 23• May 17 Lusitania sunk • May 23 Italy joins Allies

Air Warfare

1916

• Feb. 21-Dec. 18 Battle of Verdun

• May 31-June 1 Battle of Jutland

• July 1- Nov. 18 Battle of the Somme

• July 29 Hindenburg appointed commander in chief of German forces

• Sept. 15 Tanks employed on the Somme

• Dec. 7 Lloyd George elected prime minister of Britain

Verdun

Jutland

The Somme

• Verdun• France 550,000• Germany 434,000

• The Somme• Britain 400,000• France 200,000• Germany 450,000

1917

• Feb. 1 Unrestricted submarine warfare resumed

• Feb. 23 Germans withdraw to Hindenburg Line

• March 1 Zimmermann Telegram

• April 6 US joins Allies• April 29-May 20 French

army mutiny

Russian Revolution

• March 12 1st Russian Revolution

• March 15 Czar Nicolas II abdicated

• July 31- Aug. 9 Last Russian offensive actions

• Nov. 7 Bolsheviks seized power under V. I. Lenin

• Dec. 15 Armistice• March 3, 1918 Treaty of

Brest-Litovsk

1917

• June 26 First US troops arrive

• July 31- Nov. 10 Third Ypres “Passchendale”

1918

• Jan. 8 Wilson’s 14 Points• March 21 Michael

Offensive• June 25 US troops

capture Bellau Wood• July 15 Final German

offensive of the war• July 21 US troops capture

Chateau-Thierry

1918

• Aug. 8 British troops breakthrough on the Aisne River

• Sept. 12 St. Mihiel Offensive

• Sept. 26 – Nov. 11 Meuse-Argonne Offensive

• Oct 30 Ottomans surrender

• Nov. 3 Austrians surrender

• Nov. 11 Armistice signed

Casualties and Costs of War

• Britain• 8,904,467 mobilized• 908,371 deaths• 2,090,212 wounded• $51,000,000,000

• France• 8,410,000 mobilized• 1,357,800 deaths• 4,266,000 wounded• $49,800,000,000

• Russia• 12,000,000• 1,700,000 deaths• 4,950,000 wounded• $25,600,000,000

• United States• 4,355,000 mobilized• 50,585 deaths• 205,690 wounded• $ 32,300,000,000

Casualties and Costs of War

• Germany• 11,000,000 mobilized• 1,808, 546 deaths• 4,247,143 wounded• $58,000,000,000

• Austria• 7,800,000 mobilized• 922,500 deaths• 3,620,000 wounded• $23,000,000,000

• Ottoman Empire• 2,850,000 mobilized• 325,000 deaths• 400,000 wounded• $3,400,000,000

• Bulgaria• 1,200,000 mobilized• 75,844 deaths• 152,390 wounded• $1,000,000,000

Casualties and Costs of War

• Total Mobilization 65,038,810

• Total Deaths 14,663,413

• Total Wounded 21,228,813

• Total Cost $281,887,000,000,000

Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles

• Germany lost all colonies• Alsace and Lorraine returned to France• Saar occupied for 15 years by League of

Nations• Rhineland demilitarized• Poland created with corridor to the sea• German military limited to 100,000 troops with

no air force, tanks, large warships, U-boats, general staff

• Article 231 War Guilt Clause• War reparations of $33 billion (paid by 1987)`

Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles

• Austria and Hungary seperated

• Creation of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

• United States never ratified treaty, nor joined League of Nations