WWI Combat

1. WWI Combat

2. Trench Warfare Began when French and British “dug in” to resist the German offensive known as the Schlieffen Plan. Resulted in long stalemates between battles. Troops went “over the top” to make attacks against the enemy. The area between trenches was known as “No-man’s Land”

3. Strategy: Fire artillery to weaken enemy defenses, charge “over the top”, throw grenades in enemy trenches, take their trench. Reality: Fire artillery with little to no effect on enemy defenses, charge “over the top” and run into 10 yards of barbed wire, get shot up by enemy machine guns, die in the mud and get eaten by rats. Casualties from these charges could number into the hundreds of thousands.

4. Poison Gas Used by Allies and Central Powers Chlorine Gas: Attacked respiratory system and soldiers choked to death in seconds. Mustard Gas: Almost odorless. Could take up to 24 hours to show symptoms. Causes severe chemical burns. “They cannot be bandaged or touched. We cover them with a tent of propped-up sheets. Gas burns must be agonising because usually the other cases do not complain, even with the worst wounds, but gas cases are invariably beyond endurance and they cannot help crying out.”

5. Primary Source Account of the First Chlorine Gas Attack As we gazed in the direction of the bombardment, where our line joined the French, six miles away, we could see in the failing light the flash of shrapnel with here and there the light of a rocket. But more curious than anything was a low cloud of yellow-grey smoke or vapour, and, underlying everything, a dull confused murmuring. Suddenly down the road from the Yser Canal came a galloping team of horses, the riders goading on their mounts in a frenzied way; then another and another, till the road became a seething mass with a pall of dust over all. Plainly something terrible was happening. What was it? Officers, and Staff officers too, stood gazing at the scene, awestruck and dumbfounded; for in the northerly breeze there came a pungent nauseating smell that tickled the throat and made our eyes smart. The horses and men were still pouring down the road. two or three men on a horse, I saw, while over the fields streamed mobs of infantry, the dusky warriors of French Africa; away went their rifles, equipment, even their tunics that they might run the faster. One man came stumbling through our lines. An officer of ours held him up with levelled revolver, "What's the matter, you bloody lot of cowards?" says he. The Zouave [French soldier] was frothing at the mouth, his eyes started from their sockets, and he fell writhing at the officer's feet.

6. Gas Masks: They’re not just for people anymore…

7. Tanks Invented by the British and French as a means to break the deadlock of trench warfare. Good for rolling through barbed wire. Not very effective in WWI. Tank production during WWI

8. Zeppelins Used by Germany primarily for naval observation. Also used to bomb London during the war. Filled with highly-flammable Hydrogen.

9. Airplanes Used for observation and bombing. Very fragile. As technology advanced, they added machine guns to the aircraft to engage in deadly air battles known as “dogfights”. Famous WWI aces: Eddie Rickenbacker – USA – 22 kills Rene Fonck – France – 75 kills Manfred von Richthofen – Germany – 80 kills

10. Navies A naval arms race led to the start of the war in Europe. Dreadnoughts – modern battleships with long range guns U-boats – Used mostly against merchant vessels

11. Russian Revolution 1917 The Russian Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne due to the disastrous war, terrible food shortages, and the growing power of the Communist Bolsheviks.

12. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, wanted out of the war. They negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in 1917. The treaty was a disaster for Russia. They lost territory, population, and industrial centers.