1. World War I
"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make.“
- Woodrow Wilson -

2. building large, competitive armies and navies
                                                                                                  
Causes of the War
Militarism
building large, competitive armies and navies
Alliance System
Nations fear other militaries, begin to form alliances
Imperialism
Competition for colonies
Ethnic groups want to become independent from empires
Nationalism
Devotion to one’s country

3. Major nations all racing to build and arm large armies and navies
Alliances
Led to an arms race
Major nations all racing to build and arm large armies and navies
Triple Alliance
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Italy
Triple Entente
France, Britain, Russia
Later Italy and the U.S. will join the Allied war effort
Just prior to WWI, the major imperial nations of Europe began competing to build bigger and better armies and navies. Wanting to become the leading imperial power, Germany competed with rival Great Britain to build the world’s largest navy. Both countries successfully built strong navies, and competed with one another in the arms race.

5. Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand heir to Austro-Hungarian throne
The War Begins
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
heir to Austro-Hungarian throne
Shot by Serbian nationalist (Princip “Black Hand”)
1914: Eve of the First World War The Turks were driven from most of the Balkans in the 19th century and were replaced by rivalrous European powers. With Russian patronage, an independent Serbia was born alongside an Austrian-controlled Bosnia, where a Serbian nationalist ignited World War I by assassinating the Austrian crown prince.

6. Memoir of Count Franz von Harrach
As the car quickly reversed, a thin stream of blood spurted from His Highness's mouth onto my right check.  As I was pulling out my handkerchief to wipe the blood away from his mouth, the Duchess cried out to him, "For God's sake!  What has happened to you?"
At that she slid off the seat and lay on the floor of the car, with her face between his knees.
I had no idea that she too was hit and thought she had simply fainted with fright.  Then I heard His Imperial Highness say, "Sophie, Sophie, don't die.  Stay alive for the children!"
At that, I seized the Archduke by the collar of his uniform, to stop his head dropping forward and asked him if he was in great pain.  He answered me quite distinctly, "It is nothing!"
His face began to twist somewhat but he went on repeating, six or seven times, ever more faintly as he gradually lost consciousness, "It's nothing!"
Then came a brief pause followed by a convulsive rattle in his throat, caused by a loss of blood.  This ceased on arrival at the governor's residence.
The two unconscious bodies were carried into the building where their death was soon established.
- Witness to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand -

7. Should we or should we not?
AH wanted to declare war on Serbia, but worried Russia would help Serbia
AH ask for German help and Germany agrees

8. July 1914
AH declares war on Serbia

9. Russia supports Serbia AH considered mobilization on act of war
Russians refused to halt mobilization

10. Germany declares war on Russia
August 1
Germany declares war on Russia

11. Schlieffen Plan
Take out France and then Russia

12. -Allies want to force fighting on two fronts and get help from U.S.
Strategy
-War develops into trench warfare after initial German advance failed to defeat France
Germany does not want to split forces on Western Front in France and Eastern Front in Russia
-Allies want to force fighting on two fronts and get help from U.S.
Germany’s first strategy was to avoid fighting a war on two fronts. To keep this from happening, German leaders developed the Schlieffen Plan, which would have them defeating France on the Western Front to later focus on Russia on the Eastern Front. To get to France, Germany had to invade neutral Belgium, which brought Great Britain into the war. What Germany thought would be a quick, easy victory ended up being anything but that as stalemate developed.

13. Germany declares war on France
August 3
Germany declares war on France

14. Germans demanded that Belgium (neutral) allow German armies to pass through on the way to France
Britain (Entente) with France and Russia declared war on Germany

15. August 1914
WWI had started

16. AH blames Serbia for assassination
1914
WWI Begins
Britain declares war on AH and Germany
Germany declares war on Russia and France
AH declares war on Serbia
Russia declares war on AH
AH blames Serbia for assassination
Assassination
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances

17. AH blames Serbia for assassination
1914
WWI Begins
Britain declares war on AH and Germany
Germany declares war on Russia and France
AH declares war on Serbia
Russia declares war on AH
AH blames Serbia for assassination
Assassination
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances

18. AH blames Serbia for assassination
1914
WWI Begins
Britain declares war on AH and Germany
Germany declares war on Russia and France
AH declares war on Serbia
Russia declares war on AH
AH blames Serbia for assassination
Assassination
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances

19. AH blames Serbia for assassination
1914
WWI Begins
Britain declares war on AH and Germany
Germany declares war on Russia and France
AH declares war on Serbia
Russia declares war on AH
AH blames Serbia for assassination
Assassination
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances

20. AH blames Serbia for assassination
1914
WWI Begins
Britain declares war on AH and Germany
Germany declares war on Russia and France
AH declares war on Serbia
Russia declares war on AH
AH blames Serbia for assassination
Assassination
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances

21. AH blames Serbia for assassination
1914
WWI Begins
Britain declares war on AH and Germany
Germany declares war on Russia and France
AH declares war on Serbia
Russia declares war on AH
AH blames Serbia for assassination
Assassination
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances

22. AH blames Serbia for assassination
1914
WWI Begins
Britain declares war on AH and Germany
Germany declares war on Russia and France
AH declares war on Serbia
Russia declares war on AH
AH blames Serbia for assassination
Assassination
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances

24. Powder Keg of WWI Militarism Alliances Imperialism Nationalism
Allies
Russia, France, Great Britain, Serbia
WWI
Central Powers
Austria , Italy, Hungary, Germany
Assassination of Ferdinand
Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism
Assassination
Powder Keg
of WWI

25. -U.S. declares neutrality in the war– President Wilson
U.S. Neutrality
-U.S. declares neutrality in the war– President Wilson
-develops sympathy for the Allied cause
Americans feel loyalty to Britain as stories of atrocity circulate through propaganda
-Begin to export war materials
U.S. begins to ship millions of dollars in supplies to Allies
Some atrocity stories—spread by British propaganda—referred to Germany as the “Bully of Europe.” Stories of Germany attacking civilians, destroying villages, cathedrals, libraries, and even hospitals prompted sympathy among Americans. This was spread through British propaganda aimed at the US: "It should be America's duty to help us subdue the mad dog of Europe."

26. -Unrestricted Submarine warfare begins
U.S. Neutrality
-Unrestricted Submarine warfare begins
British blockade German coast and severely limit supplies
Germans use u-boats to attack British blockade (and others)
-Wilson wins 1916 election on “He kept us out of war!”
-isolationist policy
Wilson sticking to policy to stay out of European affairs
View from the tower of an attacking u-boat as a torpedo hits home on a merchant ship.

27. Stalemate – Western Front
Both sides want U.S. involvement
First Battle of the Marne – Germany stopped by the France before they reached Paris
-War quickly reaches a stalemate
Neither side winning on the Western Front
-Trench warfare
Thousands of miles, no territory
Over the Top – charge!
No Man’s Land – space between enemy trenches where men were gunned down by machine guns

28. Trench Warfare

31. Trench Warfare and Weaponry

32. Automatic machine guns
New Technology
submarines (u-boats)
airplanes
Automatic machine guns
poison gas
mustard gas
Tanks
Massive artillery
new technology
submarines (u-boats)
airplanes
horrible weapons
poison gas
mustard gas

33. U.S. Enters War -U.S. continues to export war materials
Hindered by British blockade and German u-boat attacks
-German u-boats sink any ships they find – unrestricted submarine warfare
Lusitania sinks, 1915
British ship sunk by German sub
128 Americans killed; passenger ship
Sussex Pledge
Germany promises not to use unrestricted submarine warfare and will warn ships prior to attack

34. U.S. Enters War
-Wilson wins election
calls for peace
-Zimmerman Note
Attempt to get Mexico involved in war vs. U.S.
Final straw for U.S. citizens
Push for war declaration

35. 19 January, 1917: The Zimmerman Note to the German Minister to Mexico
Berlin, January 19, 1917
On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United States of America.
If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement....
You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan.
Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months.
Zimmerman (Secretary of State)