The First World War

Invasion of BelgiumAugust 4, 1914

“Allow us through or be conquered”

Belgian army resisted but were defeated

The Schlieffen Plan: Avoid fighting a war with Russia and France at the same time. Plan fails when France does not fall quickly

The Great War Begins

Trench Warfare Armies fight using

system of ditches

No Man’s Land Area between trenches

where soldiers were killed

Won very little land

Sleeping where?

How to build them

More ways to build from a French hand book.

Soldiers fought from within the trenches It was usually tight quarters

Trenches were used by both the Allies and the Central Powers

An aerial photograph of the trenches First line of defense

In the trenches

Not all trenches were deep. Many nations fought together

Fighting

Sometimes an easy target

Dangers of Trench life

Trenchfoot

From having wet feet most of the time and nowhere to dry them out

Dead bodies….

Left to rot in the trenches because of the machine gun fire that kept the soldiers in the trenches

An easy food source for rats and a place to breed disease

Bring rats

Soldiers of all nations hunted the rats– sometimes rations were short and meat was added to their diet

Christmas truce

Poison Gas

A new weapon, hard to combat. Different gas mask styles were created by different countries. None were 100% effective.

Belgian Uniforms and masks Australian Gas mask

Japanese gas mask U. S. gas mask

Gas TrainingGas Training

Trench Warfare

American Neutrality Question

Few Americans wanted to send troops

Many had family ties to Europe

Stronger ties to the Allies

Shipped millions of supplies to Allies

British Blockade

British blockaded German coast to stop supplies entering

By 1917 Germany suffering famine

US angry at this threat to freedom of seas

Terror on the SeasU-Boats to sink any Allied or British shipsMay 7, 1915: British passenger ship Lusitania sunk A number of

American passengers were killed

Germans claimed carried ammunitionU.S. warned Germany to stop sinking ships

Lusitania

Path to War Woodrow Wilson ran for

reelection in 1916 with the slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War.” He wins

On January 31, 1916 German order U-Boats to sink ALL ships in British Waters

The Zimmerman Note was a letter sent by Germany to Mexico to get them into the war on Germany’s side.

Germany sinks 4 more unarmed US ships without any apology

America enters the War

March: Russian monarchy replaced with representative government

April 2nd, 1917 Wilson asks Congress to declare war

“Make the world safe for Democracy.”

Wilson addresses Congress

Mobilizing

May 1917: Selective Service Act All men to register

to be randomly selected to serve in the military

24 million registered

1917 1917 –– Selective Selective Service ActService Act1917 1917 –– Selective Selective Service ActService Act

24,000,000 men registered for the draft by the end of 1918.

4,800,000 men served in WW1 (2,000,000 saw active combat).

400,000 African-America were put in segregated units. Most were put in non-combat duties.

15,000 Native-Americans served as scouts, messengers, and snipers in non-segregated units.

Here Come the Yanks

The United Stated adopted the Convoy System

This put battleships at the front to guard merchant ships

Shipping losses were cut in half

US troops brought numbers and enthusiasm

Convoy System

The Yanks

The American Expeditionary Force was led by General John Pershing

U.S. troops nicknamed doughboys

New Weapons: Tanks

British Mark IV Tank

New Weapons: Machine Guns

Vickers Machine Gun

New Weapons: Airplane and Airships

Sopwith Camel Biplane

Zeppelin

New Weapons: Poison Gas

Hazards

•Trench life was horrid

•Poison gas caused blindness or lifelong nervous and/or lung problems

•Soldiers had emotional collapses AKA “Shell Shock”