Topic 19-World War I Hannah Bauman

Trench Warfare

• Trench warfare was brutal as little advancement and progress was made, disease spread rapidly, and soldiers died by the thousands for a few feet of Earth. The book, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” depicted World War I and its unending horror and suffering.

• Photo: http://www.worldwar1.com/reflib.htm

Soldiers lived in cramped, dirty spaces and were vulnerable to disease.

New weapons: Poison Gas

• Poison Gas was a lethal, painful weapon first used by the French. It could also blind people and cause severe mental damage.

• Chlorine, Phosgene, and “Mustard Gas” were used to inflict damage on the enemy, but the gases could also harm the perpetrators if winds turned towards them.

• The effects of gas weapons were so grotesque that in the 1925 Armistice poison gases were outlawed. (This remains true today.)

• Photo source: http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm

Airplanes in War

• Airplanes were still relatively new in WWI, but they were used as fighters, bombers, and carriers. Pilots in fighter planes had a very low survival rate. Many did not last more than 6 weeks as active combat pilots.

• Photos: http://www.gwpda.org/photos/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=5&page=4

Grenades

• Grenades were thrown into trenches and could kill many soldiers at once. In the past, a gun could kill one soldiers at a time, but one grenade could kill many soldiers in a single explosion.

American soldiers throw grenades into German lines

Casualties and Injuries

• Hundreds of thousands of soldiers poured into hospitals and overwhelmed medical sites. Nurses worked day and night to keep soldiers alive and stop the spread of diseases. Amputations were commonplace and gangrene could kill otherwise healthy young men.

• Photo: http://vlib.us/wwi/resources/archives/images/i070102/key.html

One positive benefit of the war was that women expanded their roles outside of the house as they took on the men’s jobs who had left for war. This helped them gain suffrage.

Naval Warfare

• Ships, submarines, and destroyers were used during WWI. For the first time in a war, planes actually took off from from and landed on naval ships. This enabled aerial warfare to occur over the sea.

• Photo: http://www.vlib.us/wwi/resources/archives/images/i040405/key.html

Refugees

• WWI displaced millions of people as conflict broke out within their nations. People fleeing conflict were sometimes caught between the two sides and were killed. Orphans were stranded from their remaining relatives, and families were separated.

Serbian peasants fleeing

Photos: http://www.gwpda.org/photos/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=10

Royalty

• After the war, many European royals lost their thrones and their wealth.

Economic Ramifications

WWI cost Europe billions of dollars. At the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was held accountable for most of the debt even though they could not repay the costs because they, too, were bankrupt. Germany was asked to pay 33 billion dollars.

Death toll

• Over 16 million people died during WWI, with about 7 million civilian deaths. The loss of life took an enormous toll on countries and communities. Millions of families were broken as fathers, sons, and brothers were killed.