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World War I

Explore the causes and practices of World War I, including the system of alliances, the balance of power, and the technological advancements that changed warfare. Learn about the major battles and the role of propaganda during this global conflict.

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World War I

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  1. World War I Practices of War

  2. Royal Relations Nicholas II NicholasII George V George V Queen Victoria and Family

  3. Queen Victoria’s Descendents

  4. Causes of WWI • Nationalism • Industrialization • Imperialism • Militarism

  5. System of Alliances • German and Austria-Hungary • Triple/Dual Alliance (with Italy) • Austria landlocked, empire on the decline • Germany surrounded by Triple Entente • Britain, France, and Russia • Triple Entente • Mistrusted German power on land and sea

  6. Balance of Power • Germany • Best military and strong navy • Relatively new state • History of winning every war • Austria-Hungary • Crumbling multi-ethnic empire • wants Balkans • Mistrusts Serbia and nationalism

  7. Balance of Power • Britain • Strongest naval power, largest empire • Largely neutral on continent • Russia • Catching up with industry, revolution in 1905 • Pledged to defend Serbia • France • Mad at Germany, lost Alsace-Lorraine

  8. July Crisis, 1914 • Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand Visits Serbia • Austria issues ultimatum • Serbia dithers • Russia mobilizes • Germany mobilizes • shells Belgrade

  9. German Advance • Germany advances through Belgium • Britain steps in to defend ‘poor little Belgium’ • Germany invades France • Gets stuck for 4 years • Becomes ‘War of Attrition’

  10. Technology Changes Warfare • Machine gun • Artillery • Battleships • Airplane • Poison gas • Tank

  11. Machine Gun • Gatling gun invented in 1862 • Used in British War against Zulus, 1879 • Maxim gun invented 1889 • First automatic machine gun Gatling gun

  12. French Infantry Uniforms 1914 1915

  13. Artillery • Machine guns useless against each other • Strategists try artillery bombardments before infantry attacks • Slow to set up, gives enemy ample warning Big Bertha

  14. Trench Warfare

  15. “He stank so badly, though we were great chumsI had to leave him; then rats ate his thumbs.” Edgell Rickword

  16. Battleships • British construct the Dreadnought between 1905-06 • Most heavily-armed ship in history • Germany & Britain enter arms race before war • Germans hold back after Battle of Jutland H.M.S. Dreadnought

  17. Airplane • 1st used in war by Italians against Turks in 1911-12 • Reconnaissance only at first • Necessary to shoot down spy planes • Limited use in WWI; glamorous diversion from trenches

  18. Poison Gas • Germans use chlorine gas to break stalemate • Both sides use diphosgene, hydrocyanic acid, and mustard gas • More casualties, no breakthrough Otto Dix, German Gas Attack, 1924

  19. Tank • British Colonel Ernest Swinton gets idea in 1914 • War office abandons proposals • Successful use at Cambrai, 1917, but little follow-up “Little Willie,” first experimental tank

  20. Failure of Technology • Killing increases • No breakthrough • WWI becomes a war of attrition • Ultimately a contest of production

  21. Germany’s Masterminds • Paul von Hindenburg, appointed Chief of Staff, August 1916 • Erich Ludendorff, appointed quartermaster general • “Third Supreme Command” • Chose to feed Army

  22. Disasters -- Verdun • Major French fort on frontier with Germany • Strategically useless, symbolically huge • Battle lasts nine months in 1916 (Feb.-Dec.) • 1 million French and Germans casualties

  23. The Somme • Joint British-French attack on German line, Jul.-Nov.1916 • Strategically unsound point • Another million casualties • Allies gain about 8 miles

  24. Passchendaele • British attack on German line, Jul.-Nov. 1917 • Attack becomes bogged down as soldiers drown in mud, mustard gas • Half million more casualties

  25. Another Way? • Deadlocked, British look for other ways to break through • Middle East • United States

  26. Gallipoli • Winston Churchill plans a campaign to capture the Dardanelles • Combination naval bombardment and landing • 500,000 combined casualties • Massive failure for Allied Powers

  27. Coded Zimmerman Telegram as intercepted by British

  28. De-Coded Zimmerman Telegram: • What is Germany suggesting? • How might Mexico benefit from this offer? • Who else is involved? • How might the U.S. react to this proposal?

  29. Sinking of the Lusitania • Passenger liner New York-Liverpool • Sunk by German U-Boat • 1,198 dead (128 U.S) • German command claimed it was carrying arms (it was)

  30. WWI Propaganda Total War: Men, Women, and Children

  31. Propaganda Themes • EmotionalAppeal: sympathy, anger, enthusiasm, guilt, shame • Demonization: stories of atrocities (German advance through Belgium) • “War to End all Wars”: Appeal to pacifists – fight now and never have to fight again • Dishonesty: manufactured victories, ‘stretching’ the truth

  32. British Propaganda

  33. American Propaganda Anti-German Hysteria? Daschunds =Liberty Dogs German Measles = Liberty Measles German immigrant Robert Pragter lynched in Illinois

  34. German Propaganda “Defend the Fatherland”

  35. Russian Propaganda “Struggle of the Red Knight with the Dark Forces”

  36. French Propaganda “The last push is on the horizon”

  37. Canadian Propaganda: A pay scale for soldiers to enlist

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