WORLD WAR I - WARFAREWORLD WAR I - WARFAREMr. Goddard | PLUSH | 2009Mr. Goddard | PLUSH | 2009

WESTERN FRONT BEFORE THE US ENTERED WESTERN FRONT BEFORE THE US ENTERED THE WARTHE WAR

MAJOR FIRST BATTLES OF WWIMAJOR FIRST BATTLES OF WWIBattle Length Start Allied Casualties Central

Casualties

Tannenberg 1/2 month August 1914 142,000 Russian Soldiers92,000 Captured

12,000 German Soldiers

Marne 1 month Sept 1914 250,000 French soldiers13,000 British soldiers

250,000 German soldiers

1st Battle of Somme

5 months July 1916 British 620,000 soldiers100 tanks782 aircraft

450,000 German soldiers

Verdun 9 months February 1916 378,000 French Soldiers

330,000 German Soldiers

For comparison purposes the total casualties for the American Civil war was approximately 620,000

WHY SUCH HIGH CAUSALITY RATES AND WHY SUCH HIGH CAUSALITY RATES AND LONG BATTLES?LONG BATTLES?

• Germany wanted to defeat France so Britain would surrender.

• Germany wanted a fast victory to support its two fronts.

• The main military goal was not to capture strategic points but kill the enemy into submission.

• Contributing Factors– Trench Warfare– Chemical Warfare– Machine Guns– Grenades– Disease– Tanks

Western Front – over 400 miles of trenches across Belgium and France

· Most offenses resulted in heavy casualties but gained little territory.

LIFE ON THE WESTERN FRONTLIFE ON THE WESTERN FRONTBRITAIN AND FRANCE FACE GERMANYBRITAIN AND FRANCE FACE GERMANY

Trench Warfare – the type of fighting during World War I in which both sides dug trenches protected by mines and barbed wire

Cross-section of a front-line trench 

TRENCH WARFARETRENCH WARFARE

British trench, France, July 1916 (during the Battle of the Somme)

PHOTOS FROM THE TRENCHESPHOTOS FROM THE TRENCHES

French soldiers firing over their own dead

Notice how deep the trenches were in relation to the soldier.

The defenders did not present much of a target to the attackers.

Officers walking through a flooded communication trench.

A photograph of a man suffering from trench foot.

CONDITIONS WERE AWFUL AND LED CONDITIONS WERE AWFUL AND LED TO DISEASETO DISEASE

British dead in a trench

CONDITIONS WERE AWFUL AND LED CONDITIONS WERE AWFUL AND LED TO DISEASETO DISEASE

Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. These corpses, as well as the food scraps that littered the trenches, attracted rats.

Quotes from soldiers fighting in the trenches:

"The rats were huge. They were so big they would eat a wounded man if he couldn't defend himself."

"I saw some rats running from under the dead men's greatcoats, enormous rats, fat with human flesh. My heart pounded as we edged towards one of the bodies. His helmet had rolled off. The man displayed a grimacing face, stripped of flesh; the skull bare, the eyes devoured and from the yawning mouth leapt a rat."

•An aerial photograph of the opposing trenches and no-man's land in Artois, France, July 22, 1917.

•German trenches are at the right and bottom, British trenches are at the top left.

•The vertical line to the left of centre indicates the course of a pre-war road.

TRENCHES WERE EVERYWHERETRENCHES WERE EVERYWHERE

DEFENDERS HAD A SIGNIFICANT DEFENDERS HAD A SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGEADVANTAGE

NEW TECHNOLOGIES INCREASED THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES INCREASED THE KILLING (VIDEO 6 MINUTES)KILLING (VIDEO 6 MINUTES)

ZEPPELINS (LARGE BLIMPS) OFTEN ZEPPELINS (LARGE BLIMPS) OFTEN BOMBED LONDON AND PARISBOMBED LONDON AND PARIS

Bomb dropped on London from Zeppelin

British Propaganda

CHEMICAL WEAPONSCHEMICAL WEAPONS

The horrors of gas warfare had never been seen on a battlefield until 1915. Gas was more of a nuisance, a crippling nuisance, often only wounding and causing widespread panic instead of outright killing. List of gases used in World War I benzyl bromide-German, tearing, first used 1915 Bromacetone-Both sides, tearing/fatal in concentration, first used 1916 carbonyl chloride (phosgene)-both sides, asphyxiant, fatal with delayed action, first used 1915 Chlorine-both sides, asphyxiant, fatal in concentration, first used in 1915, cylinder release only chloromethyl chloroformate-both sides, tearing, first used in 1915, artillery shell Chloropircin-both sides, tearing, first used in 1916, artillery shell (green cross I) cyanogen (cyanide) compounds-allies/Austria, asphyxiant, fatal in concentration, first used in 1916, artillery shell Dichlormethylether-German, tearing, first used 1918, artillery shellDibrommethylethylketone-German, tearing, fatal in concentration, first used in 1916

dichloroethylsulphide (mustard gas)-both sides, blistering, artillery shell (yellow cross) Diphenylchloroarsine - German, asphyxiant, fatal in concentration, (dust - could not be filtered), first used in 1917, artillery shell (blue cross) Diphenylcyonoarsine- German, more powerful replacement for blue cross, first used in 1918 Ethyldichloroarsine -German, less powerful replacement for blue cross, first used in 1918, artillery shell (yellow cross I, green cross III) ethyl iodoacetate- British, tearing, first used in 1916 Monobrommethylethylketone-German, more powerful replacement for bromacetone, first used 1916 trichloromethylchloroformate (diphosgene)- both sides, asphyxiant, fatal with delayed action, first used 1916 xylyl bromide- German, tearing, first used 1915

Gas was available in three basic varieties: Tearing Agent

Much like today's tear gas and mace, this gas caused temporary blindness and greatly inflamed the nose and throat of the victim. A gas mask offered very good protection from this type of gas. xylyl bromide was a popular tearing agent since it was easily brewed.

Asphyxiant These are the poisonous gases. This class includes chlorine, phosgene and diphosgene. Chlorine inflicts damage by forming hydrochloric acid when coming in contact with moisture such as found in the lungs and eyes. It is lethal at a mix of 1:5000 (gas/air) whereas phosgene is deadly at 1:10,000 (gas/air) - twice as toxic! Diphosgene, first used by the Germans at Verdun on 22-Jun-1916, was deadlier still and could not be effectively filtered by standard issue gas masks.

Blistering Agent Dichlorethylsulphide: the most dreaded of all chemical weapons in World War I - mustard gas. Unlike the other gases which attack the respiratory system, this gas acts on any exposed, moist skin. This includes, but is not limited to, the eyes, lungs, armpits and groin. A gas mask could offer very little protection. The oily agent would produce large burn-like blisters wherever it came in contact with skin. It also had a nasty way of hanging about in low areas for hours, even days, after being dispersed. A soldier jumping into a shell crater to seek cover could find himself blinded, with skin blistering and lungs bleeding.

WHAT DID THE GAS DO?WHAT DID THE GAS DO?

CHEMICAL WEAPONS (VIDEO 1.5 CHEMICAL WEAPONS (VIDEO 1.5 MINUTES)MINUTES)

Poison Gas Deaths: 1914-1918

Country Non-Fatal Deaths Total

British Empire 180,597 8,109 188,706

France 182,000 8,000 190,000

United States 71,345 1,462 72,807

Italy 55,373 4,627 60,000

Russia 419,340 56,000 475,340

Germany 191,000 9,000 200,000

Austria-Hungary 97,000 3,000 100,000

Others 9,000 1,000 10.000

Total 1,205,655 91,198 1,296,853

GAS WAS A SERIOUS PART OF WORLD GAS WAS A SERIOUS PART OF WORLD WAR IWAR I

• Notice the non-fatal versus fatal ratio• I assume that Russia had no protection for its troops and they were exposed to deadlier forms of gas.

ADVANCES IN ARTILLERYADVANCES IN ARTILLERY• The German Paris Gun, also known as

William's Gun, was the largest rail artillery gun of World War I. In 1918 the Paris Gun was able to shell Paris from 120 km (75 mi) away. It used shells about 210 pounds in weight.

• The German howitzer, also known as Big Bertha, was used to shell enemy trenches and fortifications. It was able to shell up to 7.7 miles away and used shells about 1800 pounds in weight.

MAIN POINTSMAIN POINTS• Advances in warfare were typically better at defense

rather than offense.• Many new weapons like the Tank led to the concept of

Mechanized Warfare.• Chemical Warfare produced more terror than deaths• The number of deaths and injuries from the war

scarred the consciousness of Europe for the next two generations.

• World War I offered an opportunity for mankind to develop tools to increase killing on a scale never before witnessed.

• Trench warfare produced battles that were long and costly.