Tommy's Notes Repository

5 - 4 World War 1

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World War I

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT WWI

  • Started on July 28, 1914
  • Ended November 11, 1918
  • More than 9 million military deaths
    • Russia having the most : 1.7 million
  • 22,000,000 wounded
  • MAP OF EUROPE IS GREATLY CHANGED

MILITARISM

  • World War I was the first war in which advanced weaponry and tactics were used
  • There was a race for creating more weapons of mass destruction among nations
  • There was a desire to create a large amount of weapons as well as building up a nation’s army and navy

Triple Alliance vs. Triple Entente

  • The triple alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was counter-balanced by the TRiple enente of France, Russia and great Britain
  • As a result, by 1907 Europe was divided into two armed and rather fearful camps.

Unified Germany

  • Between 1864 and 1871, the German Kingdom of Purssia had united the various German States
  • Newly unified Germany industrialized quickly, becoming a world power.
  • While unifying Germany, Prussia had attacked France and defeated them, forcing them to give up territory along the German Border
  • France and Germany became enemies.

Nationalism

  • The French Revolution had spread nationalism throughout most of Europe
    • The idea that peopl with the same ethnic origin, language, and political ideals had the right to form sovereign states through the process of self determination
    • MAIN IDEA OF NATIONALISM
  • STRONG IN THE BALKAN AREA
  • Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkan area for 400 years
  • Balkans
    • Albanians, Greeks, Romanians, and Slav
    • Each group wa struggling for their own independence
  • BOSNIA
    • Area of great hostility
  • Austria- Hungary annexed Bosnia as one of its territories in 1908
  • Serbia was newly independent and though that Bosnia should be one of their territories
    • THIS BECAME AN AREA OF CONFLICT

Imperialism

  • Virtually all the major powers ewre engaged in a scramble for empire to bolster their economies
  • The fiercest competition was between Britain and Germany and between France and Germany
  • Great britain, Germany, and France needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the industrial revolution
  • These countries competed for economic expansion in Africa.
  • Clash of france against Germany and Britain in North America
  • In the Middle East, the crumbling Ottoman Empire was alluring to Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia.

THE BLACK HAND

  • Black Hand: Serbian nationalist group
  • The main objective of the Black Hand was the creation, by means of violence, of a Greater Serbia

Assassination

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie at Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28th, 1914.
  • iAustrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed in Bosnia by a Serbian Nationalist grup called th eBlack Hand who believed that bosnia should belong to Serbia

Domino Effect

  • Austria Hungary blamed Serbia for Ferdinand’s death and declared war on Serbia.
  • Germany pleged their support for Austria - Hungary
  • Russia pledged their support for Serbia.
  • Germany Declares war on Russia
  • France pledges their support for Russia
  • Germany declares war on France
  • Germany invades Belgium on the way to France.
  • Great Britain supports Belgium and declares war on Germany

Why was WWI a Stalemate?

  • What’s a stalemate?
    • Neither side can make a move to win
  • Both side sof the war threw arms and troops in to win but…
  • Millions die without gaining ground

Spanish Influenza

  • As soldiers came home, they brought something with them that was not positive - A pandemic known as the spanish flu
  • 1/2 of the global population had been infected in four waves.
  • Deaths worldwide are estimated between 25 and 100 million people
  • First recorded in Kansas, the flu killed approximately 675,000 in the United States

What new weapons were used in WWI?

  • Machine gun

  • Poison gas (Mustard gas) * Carried by the wind * Burned out soldier’s lungs * Deadly in the trenches where it would sit at the bottom

  • Submarine

  • Airplane

  • Tank

  • Hand grenades

  • Flame Throwers

  • Why these weapons? Why now?

    Because of the : Industrial Revolution

Trench Warfare

  • A type of fighting during World War I in which both sides dug trenches protected by mines and barbed wire
  • Trenches were dug from English Channel to Switzerland
  • 6,250 miles
  • 6 to 8 feet deep
  • Immobilized both sides for 4 years

“Death is Everywhere”

  • “We all had on us the stench of dead bodies.” Death numbed the soldier’s minds.
  • Shell Shock ( Mental Anguish )
  • Psychological devastation * “Never such innocence again” * Bitterness towards aristocratic officers whose lives were never in danger