World War I

Nationalism

• The belief that people should be loyal mainly to their nation

Nationalism

• This is an example of nationalism

Nationalism

• …but so is this…

Imperialism

• Empire building• European countries competed against each

other for colonies• Started rivalries

Militarism

• Europeans believed they needed a powerful military to be truly great

• Made countries feel good about themselves• Scared neighbors

Unstable Alliances

• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire

• Britain, France, Russia, Italy

• UNSTABLE- the only thing they had in common was their enemy, shared borders with enemies

Chain Reaction

• Austria declared war.• Russia (Serbia’s ally) moved army toward the

Russian-Austrian border AND German border• Russia told Germany it was a “just in case”

move• Germany declared war on Russia• Russia asked France for help• Before France could respond, Germany declared

war on France

Schlieffen Plan• Germany would rush West

and invade France, then rush back East and invade Russia

• Germany needed to pass through Belgium (Belgium said “NO WAY!!”)

• Germany declared war on Belgium

• Britain declared war on Germany

Western front

• Mark this on your map

Western Front and Trench Warfare

• Where the majority of the fighting took place (France)

• Miles of parallel trenches to protect from the enemy

• No man’s land• Trench foot

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare

New Weapons

• Poison gas- Soldiers wore masks to protect themselves. Introduced by the Germans, used by both sides, blinding, blisters, death

New Weapons

• Machine gun (improved)- fires ammunition automatically, wiped out waves of attackers at once

New Weapons

• Airplane-WWI is the first time in history that planes were used in a combat role. At first they were used for taking photographs of enemy lines. Later used for dropping bombs.

New Weapons

• Submarine- Germans issued them first, then both sides used them, hard to detect by the enemy

The U.S. enters the war

• Unrestricted submarine warfare- sinking of the Lusitania (American citizens were onboard), Germany said they would assume all ships were enemy ships

The U.S. enters the war• Zimmerman Telegram-

Germany’s foreign secretary (Zimmerman) sent a message to Mexico saying if they joined the war on Germany’s side, Germany would help them get part of the U.S. The U.S. decoded the message.

The U.S. enters the war

• America’s bond with England• America’s trade relationship with the Allied

powers

The end of the War

• Russia has internal problems, they sign peace treaty with Germany

• Germany focuses all attention on Western front

• Germany started strong, then gradually lost strength

• Germany was forced to sign an armistice (peace treaty)

How the world changed

• Political, economic, social changes• France countryside and economy was almost

completely destroyed• Germany lost a lot of resources and respect• Increased tension in the world