1. World War I

3. Official Alliances are made
Allies: Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy
Central Powers: Germany, Austria- Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria

6. The Western Front
Schlieffen Plan – Germany tried to take France quickly in the Western Front and then turn to fight Russia
Germany goes through Belgium instead of straight through France
Britain joins in defense of Belgium
Instead, battle lines formed in northeastern France and changed little
Battles Along the Western Front
- Long, bloody battles:
Verdun – 680,000 casualties
Somme – over one million casualties

7. The Eastern Front
Lack of modern technology caused Russia enormous defeats
Treaty (Brest-Litovsk) signed with revolutionary government in Russia – lost one-fourth of country
Russia will pull out of WWI in 1918 due to civil war
They will sign treaty with Germany, losing ¼ of population, ¼ of its industry, and 9/10 of its coal mines
The Balkan Front
The Allies abandoned attempts to land in Balkans after losing
The Italian Front
Italians joined the Allies in 1915 and fought Austria- Hungary

8. Weapons and Strategy of War
Guns-
Technology replaces single fire, short range rifles
Gatling guns
Machine guns
Sniper rifles
Multi fire, long range rifles
British rifles -8 rounds/second at distance of 2900 yards
Tanks
Poison gas
Chlorine
Mustard gas
phosgene
Propaganda
Used by both sides to both gain support for the war, and depict the evils of the opposing side
Trench warfare
475 miles of trenches were dug in northern France
New strategy of warfare, ultimately stalemated the war and led to untold number of deaths
Airplanes
Used more for transportation of troops or supplies, not much fighting took place in the air
Flame throwers