THE CREATION OF THE LOST GENERATION

“The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”. – Sir Edward Grey EUROPE GOES TO WAR

 Central Powers:  Germany  Austria-Hungary  Joining Later:  Bulgaria  Ottoman Empire  Allies:  Great Britain  France  Russia  Joined Later:  Japan  Italy  Countries convinced it would be short war SIDES IN THE FIGHT

 Russia mobilized on the Austrian and German borders  Russia contacted France  1 August  Germans declare war on Russia  3 August  Germans declare war on France  Great Britain declares war on Germany FIRST PHASES OF THE WAR

 Western Front – region of Northern France  Schlieffen Plan  Knock out the French, then rush east to fight Russians  SPEED WAS NECESSARY  Germans made it close to Paris  First Battle of the Marne  Loss for the Germans  Most important battle:  German defeat ensured quick victory = not possible  Forced Germans to split army THE WESTERN FRONT

 Both sides dig in and hold positions  Life in the trenches  Rats  Fresh food didn’t exist  Artillery fire  Stagnant water  “No Man’s Land” – Land between the trenches  Barbed wire  Bodies  Torn up land  Western Front stretched nearly 500 miles from the North Sea to Swiss border WAR IN THE TRENCHES

 Poison Gas  Germans first to use chlorine gas  Gases caused blindness, sever blisters, choking  Machine Gun  Fires ammunition automatically  Could wipe out waves of attackers before they could even get into rifle range  Tank  Armored combat vehicle that moved on chain tracks  Could cross many types of terrain NEW WEAPONS OF WAR

 Submarine  1914 Germans introduce submarine as a weapon  Primary weapon – torpedo,  Used against civilian shipping to choke off Allies  Airplane  French and Germans had strongest air forces, learning to use them  Manfred von Richthofen “Red Baron”  Captain Arthur Roy Brown shot him down NEW WEAPONS OF WAR

 Battle of Somme  Bloodiest battle of WWI  British army tried to relieve pressure on the French by attacking the Germans near the Somme River  Half a million people were dead by the end BATTLE ON THE WESTERN FRONT

 Eastern Front – stretch of land along the German and Russian border  Russians launched attacks on Austria and Germany  Germans crushed invading army, forcing retreat  Russians defeated the Austrians, driving deep into Austria  Austria eventually defeated Russians, pushed them out BATTLE ON THE EASTERN FRONT

 1916 – Russian war effort near collapse  Army short on food, guns, ammunition, cloths, boots, blankets  Allied shipments limited by German submarines  Russians had one asset –numbers  Tied up thousands of Germans in the east EASTERN FRONT: RUSSIAN PROBLEMS

 FIVE DARKEST PICTURES OF WWI