Transcript Chapter 12 Notes Section One

Chapter 12 Notes
Section One-War Breaks Out
Seemingly out of the blue Most of Europe was at war with each other
after 40 years of relative peace
Americans were just getting over the Mexican War and another war
seemed real undesirable- especially one 3,000 miles away
This war, with the larger populations and much deadlier armaments,
had the potential to kill more people than any war in history
What Cause the War?
1. Nationalism- The sense of a nation as being real importantEX’s Italy freeing itself from the Austrians and Germany being
united by Otto von Bismarck
• The Balkans- Central Europe- had belonged to the Ottoman
Empire from 1400 until the 1800’s and the Albanians, Greeks,
Romanians and Slavs were struggling for independence
• A series of wars had created many disputes. One of the
primary ones was between the Serbs and the Bosnians who
were controlled by Austria-Hungary. The Serbs were getting
more powerful and thought Bosnia was rightfully their
territory and resented Austria-Hungary.
Causes Continued
Militarism
Relations in Europe were strained and military strength was
glorified, Therefore:
• Leaders felt that disputes would be settled on the battlefield
• Consequently they engaged in an arms race
• They also built up their armies strength as much as possible
• They formed alliances with each other in case they were
attacked by a third party
• The alliances of Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy- vs
France, Russia and Great Britain held off war but it turned it
into a mousetrap when it began.
The Great War Begins
June 1914- Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip (PREENT-seep)
stepped out of a crowd and assassinated Archduke Franz
Ferdinand and his wife.
The alliance system kicks in: Austria-Hungary declares war on
Serbia- Russian lends its support to Serbia- Germany vows its
allegiance to Austria-Hungary- France sides with Russia etc.
Central Powers
Allied Powers- Allies
Austria-Hungary
Russia
Germany
France
Italy
Great Britain
The “Great War”
Also called the War to end all Wars
*Eventually 30+ nations joined in and we also Know it by its official
name World War I.
Germany’s Strategy
“The Schlieffen Plan”
Quickly defeat France and keep GB out of it and on their island and then
put their attention to the East and defeat Russia
Reality
Belgium put up an unexpected tough fight buying time for France and
GB to rush troops into the battle- Result was that the Germans were
pushed back to the Marne River and this was not going to be a quick
war- Called the First Battle of the Marne
Stalemate
Trench Warfare
Realities of the Trench
• Each side’s trenches were separated by a barren area
filled with barbed wire and debris known as “NoMan’s-Land”
• “Over the top” meant to attack after artillery
barrages by crossing the NML.
• Thousands died because of machine guns
• Lice, rats, trench foot, mud, unburied bodies, stench
and disease killed almost as many as the war itself
did.
• Both armies had 100’s of miles of trenches from the
North Sea to Switzerland
Big Battles of 1916
Verdun
Feb. 1916- Germany decided to bleed the French white
by killing so many of its soldiers- “unsustainable
losses”
• They began with a 21 hour- 1 million shell barrage
and attacked the French with 1 million troops- the
battle raged on for months
Battle of the Somme
July 1916- The Allies tried to do the same thing to the
Germans (create unsustainable losses) and had a
huge barrage and attacked German forces by the
Somme River in northern France. The British suffered
60,000 casualties in one day.
• The Battle of the Somme lasted for four months
Net Result
of the two battles
• Each battle had around 1,000,000 casualties- around
50% deaths.
• Disease claimed nearly as many lives
• The battle lines hardly moved
*Nice map of the situation on page 359 of your text*
Western Front Early 1917
New Weapons
• Machine guns- fired hundreds of rounds per minute
• Tanks- introduced at the Battle of the Somme
• Poison Gas- one of the most feared weapons
• Unter-see boot- submarines
• Long-range artillery
• Airplanes- first for observation then battle
Top two “Aces” Germany- Manfred von Richthofen and
for the Allies- Edward Rickenbacker