“It’s better to be a dog in peacetime than a human being in
war.”Chinese saying
WAR
1915 1916 1917 1918 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944
Battle of VerdunFeb - Dec 1916
Women and colonialworkforce recruitedto work in weapons
factories
Paris BombardedMarch 1918
ArmyMutinees
April -May 1917
Jewish Massacresby the
EinzatsgruppenJuly-Aug 1941
WannseeConference on the
Final SolutionJan 20, 1942
Massacre ofOradoursurGlane
(France)June 1944
1st gassings atAuschwitzSept 1941
Insurrection andDestruction of theWarsaw GhettoApril - May 1943
WORLD WAR I 1914 - 1918 WORLD WAR II 1939 - 1945
May 1915Beginning of
ArmenianGenocide
Aerial Bombing ofLondon
Aug - Oct 1940
First gassings atChelmnoDec 1941
Aerial Bombing ofDresdenFeb 1945
Atomic Bombsdropped onHiroshima &
NagasakiAug 1945
WWI AND WWII TIMELINES
World War I – The Great War
Key Questions• How is the fighting experience
during the Great War new and different from before?
• How were soldiers able to cope with the front?
• How did the war bring on social changes in the postwar era?
• What was the major turning point of the war?
• How did the aftermath of the war lead to WWII?
On the Way toWar
War ofMovement
War of Position
War ofMovement Post-War
period
Battle of theMarne
Sept 1914
Assasination inSarajevo
June 28, 1914
U.S.A. enters thewar
April 6, 1917
Germany signsArmistice
Nov 11, 1918
Defeat of the Frenchat the Battle of
Soissons-RheimsApril 1917
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk(Peace between Russia
and Germany)March 3, 1918
1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
Declarations ofWar
July 28-Aug 3 1914
Submarine Warfare
Frenchattacks in
Champagneand Artois
March - Sept1915
Battle ofVerdun
Feb - Dec1916
Battle of theSomme
July - Nov 1916
Allycounter-offensiveJuly - Nov 1918
GermanOffensive
March - July1918
Timeline World War I
1. Name some of the important battles of the war2. Identify the different “phases” of the war
Causes of the War• Militarism
– Countries built up their military• Alliances
– Secret alliances would drag countries into conflict
• Imperialism– Countries competed for overseas
colonies• Nationalism
– Desire to demonstrate the strength of each country
• Assasination of Franz Ferdinand– Heir to the Austrian thrown
The Two Sides
• Allied Powers– France– Great Britain– Russia
• Joined later– US– Italy– Japan
• Central Powers– Germany– Austria-Hungary– Ottoman Empire
Map of European Alliances
WWI
Interactive WWI map in Europe
Stages of the War•Stage 1: War of Movement (Aug-Nov 1914)
Western FrontGermany violates Belgian’s neutral statusGermany invades FranceFrance fights back: Battle of the Marne
Eastern FrontGen Ludendorff & Hindenburg win Battle of
Tannenberg against the Russians Aug 1914• In Balkans – Serbs push back Austro-Hungarian
troops and free Belgrade• Ottoman Empire enters war and joins Central
PowersAfrican Front
Allied Powers overtake German possessions (Togo, Cameroon)
Stage 2: War of Position (1915-1917)
The Western Front• Trench Warfare: carnage (hundreds of thousands of
deaths to gain 4 km)
Battle of Verdun• Germans hope to drain the French of their last
strength• Result: 300,000 deaths & 400,000 wounded from
Feb to Dec 1916• French hold their position thanks to Gen. Petain• But one of the deadliest battles of the war
Stage 2: War of Position (1915-1917)
Battle of the Somme• 1 million victims (400,000 casualties)• Begun in July 1916 by Brits and French to relieve
Verdun
Battle of Soissons Rheims failed French offensive April 1917 • Results in deserters – quickly reprimanded
Stage 2: War of Position (1915-1917)
Other Fronts• East: Germans advance 150 km 1916, Russians regain territory
• Italy joins war – Allied Powerspromised territory belonging to Austria-
Hungary (population Italian speaking)
• Bulgaria enters war – Central Powers
• Allied Powers attack Ottoman Empire, German & Austrian ally, fails to force through the Dardanelles Straits in 1915
Stage 2: War of Position (1915-1917)
Blockades and Submarine Warfare• Allied powers attempt to squash the Central Powers’
economies (Germany, Austria-Hungary)Blockade of German portspopulations suffer from severe rationing
• Germany responds with unrestricted submarine warfare
May 1915, Germany sinks the English ship Lusitania, many Americans on board• Germany suspends submarine warfare in May 1916
(Sussex Pledge) but starts up again in February 1917• US enters the war – Allied Powers
Stage 3: Victories of the Allies (late 1917-1918)
• Return of the War of Movement– US joins the war on April 2, 1917– Russians sign the Brest-Litovsk Treaty
after Bolshevik Revolution– Germany can concentrate on Western
Front, hopes to win the war before US army can intervene• Spring 1918 – Great German offensives
return in Picardy, Flanders, Champagne
US Neutrality and Challenges• US sought to remain neutral
– Wilson’s Democratic slogan for 1916 election:“he kept us out of war”
• Lusitania (May 7, 1915)– Passenger ship sunk by Germans, killing
nearly 1, 200 individuals including over 100 Americans
– Germany claimed the ship had munitions (later determined to be correct)
• Sussex Pledge– Germany damaged a French ship, the
Sussex– Germany promised not to sink merchant
ships without providing a warning
US entry into the Great War• Unrestricted submarine warfare
– Biggest cause for US entrance in the war
– Germany would sink all ships, including American
• Zimmerman Telegram (March 1917)– German proposal for an alliance with
Mexico– If Mexico attacked the US, Germany
would help Mexico get land back in SW of US
Wilson’s 14 Points
• Sought to make the world safe for democracy
• Wilson outlined 14 ideas for post WWI world– No secret alliances, freedom of the
seas, etc– Establishment of a League of Nations
Domestic issues during the War• Creel Committee
– Journalist George Creel helped support the war effort
– “4 minute men” gave speeches throughout the US
• Espionage Act of 1917– Sought to prevent military operations
(including the draft)– Upheld by Schenk vs. US in 1919
• Sedition Act of 1918– Made it illegal to criticize the government– Used to convict Eugene Debbs
Reading Material World War IFor February 18, 2014
• The Unfinished Nation by Alan Brinkley Chapter 23: America and the Great War pp. 602-624
•Mastering Modern World History by Norman Lowe
Part 1 War and International RelationsThe world in 1914: outbreak of the First World War, pp. 3-16
Questions, p. 16