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 important- EX’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 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 PowersAllied Powers- Allies Austria-HungaryRussia GermanyFrance ItalyGreat 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 “No- Man’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 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 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