Transcript War Consumes Europe - mrs-saucedo

War Consumes Europe
Ch. 29.2
• The Balkan Region was known as the
“powder keg”
• There was much political unrest in that
region.
• Many countries were fighting for their
independence.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir
to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
• June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his
wife, Sophie, paid a visit to Sarajevo.
(The capital of Bosnia.)
• The royal pair was shot at point-blank
range as they rode through the streets
of Sarajevo in an open car.
• Ferdinand was shot in the jugular and
died within minutes.
• Sophie was shot in the abdomen and
died in route to the hospital.
• Ferdinand’s dying words were , “'Don't
die darling, live for our children.”
The car the royal couple were killed in
•Ferdinand’s bloodstained jacket
The Killer
• The killer was Gavrilo Princip, a 19 yr old
member of the Black Hand.
• The Black Hand was a secret society
committed to ridding Bosnia of Austrian
rule.
• Because Gavrilo was Serbian, Austria
decided to punish Serbia.
• An angry Kaiser Wilhelm II offered
Germany’s unconditional support.
• On July 23, Austria presented Serbia
with a list of demands.
– End anti-Austrian activity
– Allow Austrian officials into their country to
investigate the assassinations.
War declared
• Serbian leaders accepted some of the
demands and offered to have the other
demands settled at an international
conference.
• On July 28, Austria rejected Serbia’s
offer and declared war.
Russia gets involved
• The same day, Russia (Serbia’s ally) took
action.
• Russian leaders ordered the mobilization
of troops toward the Austrian border.
Uh-oh
• Leaders all over Europe suddenly took
alarm.
• The British foreign minister, the Italian
government, and even Kaiser Wilhelm II
urged Austria and Russia to negotiate.
• But it was too late.
• War had already been set in motion.
WWI
• The assassination of archduke Franz
Ferdinand was the spark that ignited a
giant blaze.
• This single terrorist act set off a chain
reaction within the alliance system that
would result in the largest war the world
had ever seen.
• It was THE GREAT WAR, later known as
WWI.
The Alliance System Collapses
• By 1914, Europe was divided into two
rival camps.
– Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, Russia
– Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary,
Italy
• This system of alliances brought nearly
all nations of Europe to war within days.
Russia heads toward Germany
• In response to Austria’s declaration of
war against Serbia, Russia moved its
army toward the Russian-Austrian
border.
• Because Germany and Austria were
allies, Russia also moved troops to the
German border.
War for Germany
• Czar Nicholas II told the Kaiser it was
just a precaution.
• But Germany viewed as a declaration of
war.
• On August 1, Germany declared war
against Russia.
France
• Russia turned to France for help. (its
ally)
• Germany did not even wait for France to
respond.
• Two days after declaring war on Russia,
Germany also declared war against
France.
Schlieffen Plan
• This plan called for attacking France and
then Russia.
• The German general (General Alfred Graf
von Schlieffen) thought that since
Russia lacked railroads, they would have
difficulty mobilizing its troops.
• Under this plan, a large part of the
German army would race west to defeat
France and then return to fight Russia in
the east.
Belgium
• Speed was vital to this plan.
• Germany demanded that its troops be
allowed to pass through Belgium on
their way to France.
• Belgium, a neutral country, refused.
• Germany invaded Belgium.
Great Britain gets involved
• The invasion of Belgium brought Great
Britain into the conflict.
• Outraged over the violation of Belgian
neutrality, Great Britain declared war
against Germany on August 4.
Battle Lines
•Central Powers
–Germany and Austria
Hungary
–Because of their
central location in
Europe.
–Bulgaria and Ottoman
Empire would later join
•Allies or Allied powers
–Great Britain
–France
–Russia
–Japan
–Italy at first was
neutral and later joined
–(Italy was an ally of
German at first, but
after Germany invaded
Belgium, Italy switched
sides)
Western Front
France gains Intel
• In the beginning, the Schlieffen plan
worked.
• By the end of August, Germany captured
Belgium and invaded France.
• By September 3, German units were on
the edge of Paris.
• The French then intercepted intelligence
that told them the exact direction
German troops were headed.
Battle of Marne
• On September 5, the Allies attacked
Germans northeast of Paris in the valley
of the Marne River.
• More than 600,000 taxicabs rushed
soldiers from Paris to the battle front.
• After four days of fighting, the Germans
retreated.
• The Germans had been driven back 60
miles.
First Battle of Marne
Schlieffen Plan will not work
• The defeat of the Germans at the Marne River
forced them to abandon the Schlieffen Plan.
• A quick victory against France did not seem
possible.
• Russia had already invaded Germany.
• The Germans were now fighting battles on the
Western and Eastern borders.
• Many German soldiers left France to fight the
Russians in the East.
• This left the Western Front in a stalemate.
Trench Warfare
• By early 1915, opposing armies on the
Western Front had dug miles of parallel
trenches to protect themselves from
enemy fire.
• This became known as trench warfare.
• Soldiers fought each other from
trenches.
• Armies traded huge losses for small land
gains.
Life in the Trenches
• Life was miserable
• “The men slept in mud, washed in mud,
ate mud, and dreamed mud.”
• Infested with rats
• Fresh food was non-existent
• Sleep was impossible
No Man’s Land
• The space between opposing trenches
was termed “No man’s land”
• When the officers ordered an attack, the
soldiers ran into ‘no man’s land’ under
machine gun fire.
• Staying in the trenches did not ensure
safety.
• Artillery fire brought death right into the
trenches.
• Western Front was a terrain of death
• It stretched 500 miles from the North
Sea to the Swiss border.
• “Shells of all calibers kept raining on our
sector. The trenches disappeared, filled
with earth…the air was unbreatheable.
Our blinded, wounded, crawling, and
shouting soldiers kept falling on top of
us and died splashing us with blood. It
was living hell.”
New Weapons
• The new tools of war had not delivered a
quick war.
• Instead it killed huge numbers of people
more effectively.
– Machine guns
– Poison gas
– Armored tanks
– Larger artillery
• Airplanes and submarines were also
used for the first time in warfare.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLxzD6Luj4
Battle of Somme
• The slaughter reached a peak in 1916.
• Germans launched a massive attack
against the French.
• Each side lost more than 300,000 men.
• The British army tried to help France and
attacked the Germans northwest of
Verdun, in the valley of the Somme
River.
• The first day of battle, more than 20,000
British soldiers were killed.
• By the time the Battle of Somme ended
in November, each side had suffered
over half a million casualties.
• Near Verdun, the Germans advanced
four miles.
• In the Somme valley, the British gained
five miles.
The Eastern Front
• The Eastern Front was the battlefield along
the German and Russian border.
• At the end of August 1914, Germany
counterattacked the Russians near the town of
Tannenberg.
• During the 4 day battle , the Germans crushed
the Russian army and drove them into retreat.
• Germany regained East Prussia and seized
numerous guns and horses from the enemy.
More than 30,00 Russian soldiers were killed.
Limanowa
• In a 17 day battle near Limanowa,
Austria defeated the Russians and drove
them eastward.
• Two weeks later, the Austrian army
pushed the Russians out of AustriaHungary.
Russian Industrialization
• Russia had yet to become industrialized.
• As a result, Russian army was continually
short on food, guns, ammunition, clothes,
boots, and blankets.
• The Allies were unable to ship supplies to
Russia’s ports.
• In the North Germans blocked the Baltic Sea.
• In the South the Ottomans controlled the
Mediterranean Sea.
• The only asset Russia had were its numbers.
Russia Valuable
• Throughout the war, More than 2 million
Russian soldiers were killed, wounded,
or captured in 1915.
• The army was still able to rebuild ranks.
• For more than 3 years, the Russian army
managed keep hundred of thousands of
German troops in the east.
• Thus, German could not hurl its full
fighting force at the West.
• As the war waged on, the fighting
spread beyond Europe.
– Africa,
– Southwest and Southeast Asia
Causes of WWI
• What were the causes of WWI?
– Militarism
– Alliance System
– Imperialism
– Nationalism
• The spark that set the fire was the
assassination of Franz Ferdinand