1. United States History 11 The First World War: “A World Crisis”
Unit 2, Chapter 8, Section 1

2. Main Idea
Rivalries among European nations led to the outbreak of war in 1914

3. Causes of World War I
1. Nationalism: extreme pride in one’s country or culture; Italy & Germany became new countries in 1870s and were competing for power; Austro-Hungarian Empire began to rule the Balkan region
2. Imperialism: the quest for colonial empires; Nationalism led nations to compete for overseas colonies; Germany and emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, wanted colonies
3. Militarism: the policy of military preparedness and building up of weapons; German military was enlarging, forcing other countries to do the same to compete
4. Alliances: formed for protection, but led directly to war; Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia (entente=understanding)

4. War Breaks Out
Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire
Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Russia
Germany first to attack, moving through Belgium toward France, burning villages to the ground, killing women & children; Schlieffen Plan was to defeat France, then attack Russia
German machine gun team could set up in 4 seconds, equaled French rifles, fired 600 bullets per minute, killed up to 15,000 French soldiers per day in early battles
First Battle of the Marne: Germany was 25 miles from Paris; French soldiers forced German retreat

5. Major Battles
Aug. 1914: Battle of Tannenberg-Russia’s worst defeat in WWI
Sept. 1914: 1st Battle of the Marne-Allies halted the German advance and saved Paris from occupation
Oct-Nov. 1914: 1st Battle of the Ypres-Last major German offensive until 1918
July-Nov. 1917: 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)-British forces advanced just five miles at a cost of about 300,000 lives
April-Dec. 1915: Battle of Gallipoli-Failed attempt of the Allies or knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war
Feb-Dec. 1916: Battle of Verdun- Longest Battle of World War I with huge loss of life
July-Nov. 1916: Battle of the Somme- First major offensive for the British; remembered for its staggering loss of life
Oct.-Nov. 1917: Battle of Caporetto- Tremendous victory for the Central Powers

6. The War Reaches a Stalemate
First Battle of the Marne was a standoff, armies created trenches some miles across western Europe from Switzerland to the North Sea; if soldiers left the trench to advance toward the enemy trench, they were cut down by machine gun fire
New Weapons: gas, tanks, airplanes
Germans used yellow-green chlorine gas which destroyed the lungs; Allies began to use gas as well; with gas masks on gas was not harmful
Tanks got stuck in the mud; were ineffective
Airplanes used to map trenches; quickly used in “dogfights”; German Baron Manfred von Richthofen (Red Baron) shot down 80 Allied planes