Transcript War in the Trenches (WW1)

War in the Trenches
World War I
Presentation created by Robert Martinez
Primary Content Source: Prentice Hall World History
Images as cited.
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As the war began, German forces swept through
Belgium toward Paris. German generals soon
violated the Schlieffen Plan. Russia mobilized
more quickly than expected. After Russian
forces won a few small victories in eastern
Prussia, Germany hastily shifted some troops to
the east. That move weakened German forces in
the west.
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In September 1914,
when British troops
reached France, they
joined the French
along the Marne River.
The battle of the Marne
pushed back the
German offensive and
destroyed Germany’s
hopes for a quick
victory on the Western
Front.
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Both sides then
dug in for the
winter. They did
not know that the
conflict would
turn into a long,
deadly stalemate.
Battle lines in
France would
remain almost
unchanged for
four years.
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On the Western Front, the warring armies
burrowed into a vast system of trenches,
stretching from the Swiss frontier to the
English Channel.
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An underground network linked bunkers,
communications trenches, and gun
emplacements. There, millions of soldiers
roasted under the broiling summer sun or froze
through the long winters. They shared their
food with rats and their beds with lice.
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Between the opposing trench lines lay “no man’s
land.” In this empty tract, pocked with shell
holes, every house and tree had long since been
destroyed. Through coils of barbed wire, soldiers
peered over the edges of their trenches,
watching for the next attack. They themselves
would have to charge into this man-made desert
when officers gave the order.
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Sooner or later, soldiers would obey the
order to go “over the top.” with no
protection but their rifles and helmets,
they charged across no man’s land
toward the enemy lines. With luck, they
might overrun a few trenches.
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In time, the enemy would launch a
counterattack, with similar results. Each
side rushed in reinforcements to replace
the dead and wounded. The struggle
continued, back and forth, over a few
hundred yards of territory.
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In 1916, both the Allies and
Central Powers launched
massive offensives to break
the stalemate. German
forces tried to overwhelm
the French at Verdun. The
French sent up the battle
cry. “They shall not pass.”
The French defenders held
firm, but the 11-month
struggle cost more than a
half-million casualties on
both sides.
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An Allied offensive at the Somme River was
even more costly. In a single day, 60,000 British
soldiers were killed or wounded. In the fivemonth battle, over one million soldiers were
killed, without either side winning an
advantage.
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Modern weapons added greatly to the
destructiveness of the war. Rapid-fire machine
guns mowed down waves of soldiers, making it
nearly impossible to advance across no man’s
land. Artillery allowed troops to shell enemy
lines and cities from more than 10 miles away.
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In 1915, Germany began using poison gas that
blinded or choked its victims or caused
agonizing burns and blisters. Later that year,
the Allies also began to use gas. Though
soldiers were eventually given gas masks,
poison gas remained one of the most dreaded
hazards of the war.
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Although poison gas could be fatal, it
was an uncertain weapon. Shifting winds
might blow the gas back on the side that
launched it.
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In 1916, Britain introduced a new weapon, the
armored tank. Mounted with machine guns, the
tanks were designed to move across broken
ground and through barbed wire. Still, the first
tanks moved slowly and broke down often.
They did little to break the stalemate.
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Both sides also used aircraft. At first,
planes simply observed enemy troop
movements. In 1915, Germany used
zeppelins, large gas-filled balloons, to
bomb the English coast.
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Later, both sides equipped airplanes with
machine guns. Pilots known as “flying
aces” battled in the skies. These
“dogfights” were spectacular, but had
little effect on the course of the war.
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Submarines proved much more important.
German submarines roamed the Atlantic.
These U-boats did tremendous damage to the
Allied side, sinking merchant ships that carried
vital supplies to Britain.
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To counteract submarine warfare, the Allies
organized convoys, or groups of merchant
ships protected by warships. Germany’s policy
of unrestricted submarine warfare would
eventually help bring the United States into the
war.
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In August 1914, Russian armies pushed into
eastern Germany. Then, at the battle of
Tannenberg, the Russians suffered one of the
worst defeats of the war, causing them to
retreat. After Tannenberg, armies in the east
fought on Russian soil.
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As the least industrialized of the great powers,
Russia was poorly equipped to fight a modern
war. Troops sometimes lacked even rifles. Still,
Russian commanders continued to throw
masses of peasant soldiers into combat.
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Southeastern Europe was another
battleground. In 1915, Bulgaria joined the
Central Powers and helped crush its old
Balkan rival Serbia. That same year, Italy
declared war on Austria-Hungary and, later on
Germany. Italy had signed a secret treaty with
the Allies to gain Austrian-ruled lands
inhabited by Italians.
In October 1917, the Austrians and Germans
launched a major offensive against the Italian
position at Caporetto. The Italians retreated in
disarray. British and French forces later helped
stop the Central Powers’ advance into Italy.
Still, Caporetto proved as disastrous for Italy
as Tannenberg had been for Russia.
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Though most of the fighting took place in
Europe. World War I was a global conflict.
Japan, allied with Britain, used the war as
an excuse to seize German outposts in
China and islands in the Pacific. It also
tried to impose a protectorate on China.
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The Ottoman empire
joined the Central
Powers in 1914. The
Turks then closed off
Allied ships from the
Dardanelles, a vital strait
connecting the Black
Sea and the
Mediterranean. In 1915,
the Allies sent a massive
force of British, Indian,
Australian, and New
Zealander troops to
open up the strait.
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At the battle of Gallipoli, Turkish troops tied
down the trapped Allies on the beaches. In
January 1916, after 10 months and more than
200,000 casualties, the Allies finally withdrew
from the Dandanelles.
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In turn, the Turks were
hard hit in the Middle East.
The Ottoman empire
included vast areas of
Arab land. In 1916, Arab
nationalists led by Husayn
ibn Ali declared a revolt
against Ottoman rule. The
British sent Colonel T.E.
Lawrence – later known as
Lawrence of Arabia – to
support the Arab revolt.
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Lawrence led guerrilla
raids against the
Turks, dynamiting
bridges and supply
trains. Eventually, the
Ottoman empire lost a
great deal of territory
to the Arabs, including
the key city of
Baghdad.
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European colonies were drawn into the struggle.
The Allies overran scattered German colonies in
Africa and Asia. They also turned to their own
colonies and dominions for troops, laborers, and
supplies. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
sent troops to Britain’s aid. Colonial recruits
from British India and French West Africa fought
on European battlefields.
People in the colonies had mixed feelings
about serving. Some were reluctant to serve
the imperial powers. Other colonial troops
volunteered eagerly. They expected that their
service would be a step toward citizenship or
independence. Such hopes would be dashed
after the war.
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