1. The Conflict Broadens Germany’s Schlieffen Plan 2 front war
Send small German force to Russia while majority of troops invade France.
Germans invade Belgium bringing Britain into WWI
Many thought the war would be short but as I mentioned they were mistaken. The war would end up lasting four years four Europe and one for the US. one of the things that will stretch it out is a series of Battles in northern France known as the Western front. Germany had planned to use a strategic plan known as the Schrieffer Plan named after Alfred Von Schrieffer a German General. The plan had been for Germany to fight the war on two fronts. They would attack and defeat France in the west and then turn and defeat Russia in the east. Germany felt they had time to pull this off because of the time it would take the Russians to defend the Eastern Front because of a lack of railroads, which the rest of Europe had constructed during the Industrial Revolution. The plan look as though it would work until the Germans until the German had reached Paris during which time the Allies regroup and sent all available troops to the Western Front by means of Taxi cab. This was known as the battle of Marne and was probable the most single important event of the war. This because it left the Schrieffer plan in ruin. In the East Russian forces had had time to organize and start to invade Russia. Because of this Germany would now have to actually fight a war on two fronts which was not the original plan. Germany ended up having to send many of their troops from France to the eastern front to fight Russia.
How did Britain become involved in the war? In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Britain was often described as being in 'Splendid Isolation' from the rest of Europe. Britain had a huge empire and ruling this empire was its priority. The key to Britain's power was India with its vast resources of manpower. Britain relied heavily on Indian troops to control the empire. The highest priority for Britain was protecting the trade routes between Britain and India. Britain's large navy protected trade links with India and with the rest of the world.
Despite this focus on the empire, Britain was interested in events in Europe. To start with, other European countries had rival empires. Belgium and France both had large empires in Africa. There was strong rivalry between Britain and France over possessions in North Africa. By the early 1900s, Germany also had colonies in Africa and was beginning to show an interest in North Africa.
Another concern was Russia. For much of the 19th century, Russia wanted to take control of the Dardanelles, the area where the Black Sea opened out into the Mediterranean Sea. This would allow Russian warships and trading ships to sail easily around Europe. Russia had other ports in the north, but these tended to freeze over in winter. The problem was that the Dardanelles were owned by Turkey. Turkey and Russia had long been enemies. Britain supported Turkey against Russia. This was because Britain did not want Russian ships in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean was part of Britain's most important trade route to India.
Until the early 1900s, Britain was more concerned about Russia and France than Germany. Relations between Britain and Germany were very good. This began to change, however. When Kaiser Wilhelm II took control of Germany, he was anxious for Germany to be a great power. He felt that Russia to the east and France to the west were encircling Germany. As a result, he built up his armed forces. France and Russia feared Germany and did the same. During the 1900s, all of the great powers in Europe began to build up their armies and navies.
British policy in Europe intended that no country in Europe should become completely dominant. If Russia, France, Germany and Austria-Hungary worried about each other, then they would be less of a threat to Britain. By about 1907 it was becoming clear to Britain that the greatest potential threat to Britain was going to be Germany. The strong economy, large population and powerful armed forces of Germany seemed to be capable of dominating Europe. As a result, Britain began to support Russia and France. Britain joined the Triple Entente.
Despite being part of the Triple Entente, Britain was not committed to going to war in The Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, spent much of the summer of 1914 furiously trying to reassure Russia and Germany and prevent a war happening. Even when German troops invaded France and Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan, Britain did not have to go to war.
Germany hoped Britain would stay out of the war altogether. However, the Germans knew that Britain had promised to defend Belgium under the Treaty of London of The Germans wanted the British government to ignore the Treaty of London and let the German army pass through Belgium. The British government made much of their duty to protect Belgium. Belgium's ports were close to the British coast and German control of Belgium would have been seen as a serious threat to Britain. In the end, Britain refused to ignore the events of 4 August 1914, when Germany attacked France through Belgium. Within hours, Britain declared war on Germany. The Kaiser said how foolish he thought the British were. He said that Britain had gone to war for the sake of a "scrap of paper".
Within a few more days, Britain, France and Russia (the Allies) were all officially at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary (the Central Powers). What had started as a small, local problem in the Balkans was turning into the biggest and most brutal war the world had ever seen.

2. The Two Fronts Russian Unindustrialized
Eastern Front
Western Front
Russian
Unindustrialized
Large pop=large army
Battle of Tannenberg –Russia pushed out of Germany
Battle of Galicia -Russians pushed out of Austria-Hungary
Italians betrayed Central Powers & joined Allied powers.
 Schlieffen Plan fails.
German defeated outside of Paris
Battle of Marne-1st & most important battle
The plan look as though it would work until the Germans until the German had reached Paris during which time the Allies regroup and sent all available troops to the Western Front by means of Taxi cab. This was known as the battle of Marne and was probable the most single important event of the war. This because it left the Schrieffer plan in ruin. In the East Russian forces had had time to organize and start to invade Russia. Because of this Germany would now have to actually fight a war on two fronts which was not the original plan. Germany ended up having to send many of their troops from France to the eastern front to fight Russia.
As the war on the western front claimed millions of lives both sides were wending millions more men to fight on the eastern side.
This was the area between Russia and Germany
Here Russians and Serbians battled Austrian-hungarieans and Germans.
This was a more mobile war than the one in the west
In 1915, Italy had signed the secret Treaty of London. In this treaty Britain had offered Italy large sections of territory in the Adriatic Sea region – Tyrol, Dalmatia and Istria. Such an offer was too tempting for Italy to refuse. Britain and France wanted Italy to join in on their side so that a new front could open up t the south of the Western Front. The plan was to split still further the Central Powers so that its power on the Western and Eastern Fronts was weakened. The plan was logical. The part Italy had to play in it required military success. This was never forthcoming. 
Both the French and the Germans during this time began using the new tactic of Trench Warfare. Trench warfare baffled military leaders who had been trained to fight wars of movement and maneuver. Occasionally the troops were ordered “over the top” to attack the other side. World War I had become a war of attrition.

3. New Fight tactics & Weapons
Trench warfare
-war of Attriction – war based on wearing the other side down by attacks and loses.
Both the French and the Germans during this time began using the new tactic of Trench Warfare. Trench warfare baffled military leaders who had been trained to fight wars of movement and maneuver. Occasionally the troops were ordered “over the top” to attack the other side. World War I had become a war of attrition.
Horrible conditions
Slept in mud, washed in mud, ate mud, dreamed mud.
Down side to this was that land gain was slow. There was an area called no mans land that was were if land gains were made was the place. it was an area that had usually been bombed out between trenches and when men were ordered to they would leave their trenches and try to advance. Many men would die in these advancements.
The trenches were no safer because men would suffer from serious artillery fire.
Imagine a battle were in a matter of 8 months half a million men are killed for both sides. This happened at the Battle Somme in France where in the first day of Battle the British lost 20,000 men.

4. Trench Foot
Trench Foot is a condition caused by prolonged exposure to damp, cold, unsanitary conditions.  The foot become numbs, changes colour, swells and starts to smell due to damage to the skin, blood vessels and nerves in the feet. 
It can take three to six months to fully recover and prompt treatment is essential to prevent gangrene and possible foot amputation.  
Trench Foot originates back to 1812 with Napoleon’s Army but is most commonly associated with the trench soldiers in the First World War where it affected approximately twenty thousand soldiers in the British Army alone in the winter of   Numbers of casualties dropped dramatically with improved trench drainage and conditions, but the condition still affects people today. 
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5. Flame Throwers Grenade Launchers
Because trench warfare left WWI in a stalemate with neither side able to gain more than just a few miles of ground during a battle.
By the allied and the central powers tried other methods of try other methods to gain the upper hand. This resulted in the development of new weapons and war machines.
Machine guns, mustard gas, fighter planes, and tank were all introduced during WWI. The biggest change That will come from such technology is the amount of casualties they will cause which be unlike an previous war.
The goal of the grenade launcher was to get in to the trenches that had been created. Grenades of some form had been around since 1300’s in Europe. It was a type of hand cannon. Later in the revolution Ben Franklin will introduce a grenade but it will be to heavy to be thrown and need to be rolled down a hill. The biggest problems with grenades were them not going off once thrown.
Even in WWI, there were developments to project a grenade farther than a human could possible throw one. In Russia, the WWI Mosin-Nagan 91 rifle grenade launcher was mounted on the bayonet as a grenade launcher cup. A 42mm grenade delay fuse was located on the bottom of the grenade. Blank ammo fired through the rifle launched the grenade.
Each side sought to break the stalemate, and one of Germany’s first methods was to introduce theflammenwerfer, or flamethrower. The basic idea of the flamethrower was to destroy the enemy by launching burning fuel which set fire both to men and their surroundings. Early flamethrowers in the First World War were relatively simple weapons; the apparatus consisted of a reservoir tank containing fuel attached to a cylinder of highly compressed air, a pressure-gauge, a starter valve and an electric battery.
The flammenwerfer was initially used against the French army and reported by The Illustrated London News in March According to the ILN, a French official account had reported that,
The defenders of the trench felt heated air blowing over the parapet and in a few seconds were flooded with a scalding liquid which they think was pitch. Jets of the liquid played all over them in the midst of the smoke, as if squirted by a pump… the Germans hidden by a cloud of smoke managed to force a passage.
Part of the effectiveness of the flamethrower was in the terror it created, causing panic in enemy lines which could then be exploited. The most notable use of flamethrowers by the Germans in the First World War was a surprise attack on the British at Hooge, Flanders on 30 July The Germans succeeded in pushing the British from their trenches and slaughtered nearly 800 soldiers in two days of fighting. The success of the attack prompted the dissemination of flammenwerfer to all fronts of battle.

6. Poison Gas
Gas was 1st reported to be used by the French on the Germans in 1914 and did nothing more than a tear gas. In 1915 the Germans developed a gas that would cause a sneezing fit. The main purpose of the gas was to distract soldiers from guarding their post and allow the enemy to advance. Both sides were looking for anyway to bring movement back into a war that had become entrenched literally.
Poison gas (chlorine) was used for the first time at the Second Battle of Ypresin April 1915. French sentries in Ypres noticed a yellow-green cloud moving towards them - a gas delivered from pressurised cylinders dug into the German front line between Steenstraat and Langemarck. They thought that it was a smokescreen to disguise the movement forwards of German troops. As such, all troops in the area were ordered to the firing line of their trench - right in the path of the chlorine. Its impact was immediate and devastating. The French and their Algerian comrades fled in terror. Their understandable reaction created an opportunity for the Germans to advance unhindered into the strategically important Ypres salient. But even the Germans were unprepared and surprised by the impact of chlorine and they failed to follow up the success of the chlorine attack.
What did occur at Ypres was a deliberate use of a poison gas. Now, the gloves were off and other nations with the ability to manufacture poison gas could use it and blame it on the Germans as they had been the first to use it.
However, the risk of the wind blowing gas back onto you also affected the Germans and French in some of their gas attacks during late 1915.
The development in the use of poison gases led to both phosgene and mustard gas being used. Phosgene was especially potent as its impact was frequently felt only 48 hours after it had been inhaled and by then it had already bedded itself in the respiratory organs of the body and little could be done to eradicate it. Also it was much less apparent that someone had inhaled phosgene as it did not cause as much violent coughing. By the time that phosgene had got into a person's bodily system, it was too late. Mustard gas was first used by the Germans against the Russians at Riga in September1917. This gas caused both internal and external blisters on the victim within hours of being exposed to it. Such damage to the lungs and other internal organs were very painful and occasionally fatal. Many who did survive were blinded by the gas.
By the time the war ended, the main user of poison gas was Germany, followed by France and then Britain. Though poison gas was a terrifying weapon, its actual impact, rather like the tank, is open to debate. The number of fatalities was relatively few - even if the terror impact did not diminish for the duration of the war.
Of course, the WW1 machine gun was primarily used as a defensive weapon and, even in 1914, was extremely effective when used against charging soldiers. However, by 1915 they were light enough to be mounted onto the front of aeroplanes for aerial assaults and towards the end of the war they were even adapted to be used on tanks and other armoured vehicles.Indeed, several reports from The Illustrated War News, The Illustrated London News and The Sphere emerged throughout the war, indicating the success of machine-guns not only in the trenches but also as mobile weaponry.
But if the machine-gun was so effective, why did the British have so few at the start of the war? The Maxim-gun, an oil-cooled machine-gun designed by Hiram Maxim in 1884 that didn’t require hand-cranking or any other kind of manual intervention, had been offered to the British military by Hiram. However, the British High Command rejected the inventor’s offer, believing that there was no real need for it. The Germans, on the other hand, quickly grasped the strategic advantages that it offered and began developing their own version of Maxim’s design. Consequently, when the war broke out in 1914, Germany had a much greater arsenal of machine-guns. This is reflected by articles in The Sphere, which reported in 1914 that Germany had a new type of machine-gun with a telescopic sight, and The Illustrated War News, which noted that the weapon had revolutionised German artillery tactics.
Machine Gun

7. Krupp’s “Big Bertha” Gun
Encyclopedia - Big Bertha
Although the name was commonly applied to a whole variety of large-calibre German artillery guns the "Big Bertha" ('Dicke Berta') actually referred to a single siege gun, at that time the world's largest and most powerful.
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Produced by the German firm of Krupp the Big Bertha was a 42cm howitzer, model L/14 designed in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 on behalf of the German Army.  It was initially used as a means of (successfully) demolishing the fortress towns of Liege andNamur in August 1914, the war's first month (and subsequently as Antwerp).  It was thereafter used to similarly reduce other enemy strong-points as the need arose.
The somewhat unflattering name itself arose from association with the wife of Gustav Krupp, owner of the Krupp factory.  Her name was Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach.
Only four Big Bertha howitzers were produced, the first two rolling off the production line a mere matter of days after the onset of hostilities, on 9 August 1914.  Once constructed these huge guns, whose shells weighed 820kg each, were shipped in their constituent parts by tractor to their destination point where they were once again reassembled by a huge crew of as many as 1,000 men.
With a range of 15km their 420mm shells proved devastating and all four were used during the German assault upon Verdun from February 1916.
Once the Verdun offensive was called off in failure (leading to the replacement of German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn who had initiated the battle) the Big Bertha guns were decommissioned, since Allied artillery developments had resulted in guns with a longer range.

8. British Tank at Ypres Tanks and World War One
The tank had an interesting role in World War One. The tank was first used at the little known Battle of Flers. It was then used with less success at the Battle of the Somme. Though the tank was highly unreliable – as one would expect from a new machine – it did a great deal to end the horrors of trench warfareand brought back some mobility to the Western Front.
A World War One tank
The idea of the tank came from a development of farming vehicles that could cross difficult land with ease by using caterpillar tracks. However, the British army’s hierarchy was dominated by officers from the various cavalry regiments that existed. At the start of World War One, the first engagement between the British and Germans had involved cavalry near Mons. This seemed to emphasise the importance of such regiments. However, trench warfare had made the use of cavalry null and void. Cavalry engagements fought in mud proved very costly and from a military point of view, hopeless. Despite this seemingly obvious fact, senior military commanders were hostile to the use of armoured vehicles, as they would have challenged the use of cavalry in the field.

9. War in the Air 1915 airplanes appear on battle front.
1st used as reconnaissance, but then for attacking ground targets.
Used hand pistols & later machine guns
German s used zeppelins to bomb London.
Air Warfare, military operations above the surface of the earth. Tactically, these operations include support of land and sea forces by aerial observation of the enemy; directing the fire of naval and ground weapons; and transporting troops, equipment, and supplies. Strategically, air warfare includes combat between fighter planes and bombardment of enemy factories, communications systems, and population centers.
II. Balloon Observations
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The idea of warfare conducted from an aerial ship was proposed as early as 1670 by the Italian Jesuit Francesco de Lana Terzi in his book of inventions Prodromo overo saggio di alcune invenzioni nuove. A balloon was first used for military purposes in 1794, during the French revolution, when French army observers stationed in a balloon directed ground fire against Austrian forces. Contemporary engravings illustrate another military application: a fanciful proposal to employ balloons as troop transports to invade England. In 1862 and 1863, during the American Civil War, the Army of the Potomac used balloons to observe Confederate movements. A balloon sent to Cuba during the Spanish-American War was used to direct U.S. artillery fire at the Battle of San Juan.
III. World War I
The first U.S. military airplane, built by Wilbur and Orville Wright, was tested and accepted in As the threat of war in Europe grew before 1914, potential German use of zeppelins (see  Airship) for military purposes led authorities to look seriously at military aviation; early in World War I, Paris and London were first bombed from zeppelins, which were subsequently withdrawn from use because of their extreme vulnerability.
The future of air warfare lay with propeller-driven aircraft, first used by the Italian army during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 and 1912 to observe movements of the Turkish forces. Britain founded the Royal Flying Corps in When hostilities broke out in 1914, the Allies and the Germans had about 200 aircraft each on the western front. The first planes were primarily scout and reconnaissance types, slow and vulnerable to antiaircraft fire. In 1915 the French flying ace Roland Garros became the first person to shoot down a plane by firing a machine gun through his propeller. The Dutch aircraft designer Anthony Fokker, working with the Germans, developed an interrupter gear to permit machine guns permanently mounted on a plane to fire through the propeller without damaging the blades; with this modification, and the development of speedier planes, the era of fighter aircraft was born.
Aerial combat produced the aces whose fame became legendary: Germany's Baron Manfred von Richthofen(known as the Red Baron), Georges Guynemer and Charles Nungesser of France, Albert Ball of Britain, William Bishop of Canada, Eddie Rickenbacker of the United States, and the American volunteers who flew with the French as the Lafayette Escadrille from 1915 to 1917.
Earlier in the war, bombs were dropped by hand over the side of the cockpit. Later, heavier aircraft were developed, and bombsights and standardized bomb fittings ensured greater effectiveness in striking military and civilian targets. By the war's end in 1918, 254 metric tons of bombs had been dropped in raids over England, causing 9000 casualties. Although not to be compared with World War II statistics, these raids were psychologically and strategically important, resulting in the diversion of aircraft from the front for air defense at home. The use of massed air power at the front reached its peak in 1918 in the battles of Château-Thierry, Saint Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne, with Allied forces led by the U.S. general Billy Mitchell.

10. The Flying Aces of World War I
Eddie Rickenbacher, US
Francesco Barraco, It.
Eddie “Mick” Mannoch, Br.
It is important to rememeber that the life of pilot in WWI and even WWII was only 3-6 weeks.
In WWI there were parachutes but they were seen as too heavy for the planes and were not issues
Pilots had three options: jump, burn or shoot yourself
Manfred von Richtoffen, Ger. [The “Red Baron”]
Rene Pauk Fonck, Fr.
Willy Coppens de Holthust, Belg.

11. Looking for the “Red Baron?”
In the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as “The Red Baron,” is killed by Allied fire.
Richthofen, the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the German army to the Imperial Air Service in By 1916, he was terrorizing the skies over the western front in an Albatross biplane, downing 15 enemy planes by the end of the year, including one piloted by British flying ace Major Lanoe Hawker. In 1917, Richthofen surpassed all flying ace records on both sides of the western front and began using a Fokker triplane, painted entirely red in tribute to his old cavalry regiment. Although only used during the last eight months of his career, it is this aircraft that Richthofen was most commonly associated with and it led to an enduring English nickname for the German pilot–the Red Baron.
On April 21, 1918, with 80 victories under his belt, Richthofen penetrated deep into Allied territory in pursuit of a British aircraft. The Red Baron was flying too near the ground–an Australian gunner shot him through his chest, and his plane crashed into a field alongside the road from Corbie to Bray. Another account has Captain A. Roy Brown, a Canadian in the Royal Air Force, shooting him down. British troops recovered his body, and he was buried with full military honors. He was 25 years old. In a time of wooden and fabric aircraft, when 20 air victories ensured a pilot legendary status, Manfred von Richthofen downed 80 enemy aircraft.

12. U-Boats
The Germans’ most formidable naval weapon was the U-boat, a submarine far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at the time. The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes, and could travel underwater for two hours at a time. In the first few years of World War I, the U-boats took a terrible toll on Allied shipping.