How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country

1. How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country DULCE ET DECORUM EST by WILFRED OWEN Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!---An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

2. QUIZ pp. 712-717 • What did people think about the length/duration of the war at the start? • What happened at the FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE in September 1914? • What did both sides end up doing on the WESTERN FRONT? • Who had the most success on the EASTERN FRONT? • Who were the three members of the CENTRAL POWERS? • What was the LUSITANIA? • Why did the United States enter the war in April 1917?

4. QUIZ ANSWERS • SHORT/BRIEF AND EXCITING • FRENCH STOP THE GERMANS RIGHT OUTSIDE PARIS • TRENCH WARFARE • THE GERMANS ROASTED THE RUSSIANS • GERMANY, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, OTTOMANS • PASSENGER SHIP SUNK BY THE GERMANS • GERMAN UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE

5. 1914-1915: ILLUSIONS AND STALEMATE • The start of the war – • enthusiastic and excited • Everyone supported it • Nationalism stronger than class identity • Short war  home by Christmas • Release from boring bourgeois existence • Strengthen the nation  heroic and noble

6. THE WESTERN FRONT • Trench warfare • Stalemate • Trenches from the English Channel to the Alps • Defense has advantage over offense

7. THE EASTERN FRONT • Battles of Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes • German success • Russia failure • Hindenburg & Ludendorff = the two great German generals on the Eastern Front

8. 1916-1917: THE GREAT SLAUGHTER • Trench Warfare – • Barbed wire • Machine guns • Mortar batteries • Heavy artillery • “no man’s land” Battle of Verdun – 700,000 dead Battle of the Somme

9. DAILY LIFE IN THE TRENCHES • Gruesome conditions • Death all around • Mud and filth • Noise and explosions • Panic and confusion • Introduction of poison gas

10. THE WIDENING OF THE WAR • Attempts to break the deadlock on the Western Front • New allies • British attack the Ottomans  the GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN • War in the Middle East = T.E. Lawrence = LAWRENCE OF ARABIA  Lawrence + Arabs v. Ottomans • Allied powers seize German colonies around the world

11. ENTRY OF THE UNITED STATES • 1914-1917 USA remains neutral • German naval blockade of Britain • May 1915 – the sinking of the Lusitania • Americans outraged about Lusitania  Germans suspend unrestricted submarine warfare • January 1917  German resume unrestricted submarine warfare • THE ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM • April 1917  USA joins the Allied powers against Germany

12. RMS LUSITANIA

13. GERMAN U-BOATS

14. THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA – MAY 1915

15. PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON

16. AMERICAN WW I PROPAGANDA POSTERS