Unit 6 World War 1

• Europe plunged into war in 1914 with the Russian mobilization of troops on the Austrian and German borders.
• Germany declared war on Russia and France in response to the Russian mobilization.
• France and Britain declared war on Austria and Germany in response to the Russian mobilization.
• The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and later Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.
• The Allied Powers included Great Britain, France, Russia, and later Japan and Italy, who switched sides.
• The war stalled along the Western Front, with a bloody, deadlocked battle.
• The German Schlie ff en Plan was designed to avoid war on two fronts.
• The German army would invade France and then wheel around into Russia according to the Schlie ff en Plan.
• The Germans almost succeeded in the Schlie ff en Plan, getting to the edge of Paris before being pushed back along the Marne River.
• The First Battle of the Marne ended the Schlie ff en Plan and forced a two-front war.
• WWI saw new kinds of warfare, including the use of chemical weapons like poison gasses for the first time.
• Machine guns, x-rays, blood banks, and fighter planes were also used in WWI.
• The Russians were not yet industrialized and by 1916 they were on the brink of collapse.
• Trench Warfare was a new innovation brought about by WWI.
• There was a "No Man's Land" in the middle of the trenches, filled with barbed wire, shell holes, and thousands of dead soldiers.
• The war resulted in an incredible loss of life for very small gains.
• Hundreds of miles of intertwining trenches contributed to a stalemate in the war.
• New military weaponry combined with outdated military techniques resulted in large scale death and destruction.
• The battles of Verdun and the Somme illustrate how brutal the war was.
• The trenches were filled with rats, mud, disease.
• The conflict became global and spread to parts of Asia.
• The outcome of the war for Russia was affected by their lack of industrialization.
• In February 1916, the Battle of Verdun resulted in both sides losing 300,000 men and the Germans gaining 4 miles.
• The Battle of the Somme resulted in the British losing 20,000 soldiers in the first day and the British gaining 5 miles.
• The Eastern Front involved the Germans and Austro-Hungarians versus the Russians and Serbs.
• The Russians were completely blocked by the Central Powers and only had their massive population as an advantage.
• The four main causes of World War I were: Nationalism, Rising Tensions in Europe, Entangling Alliances, and the Balkan Peninsula.
• Nationalism unified countries like Italy and Germany and worked to tear larger empires like the Ottomans and Austrians apart.
• Rising Tensions in Europe were fueled by Imperialism and Industrialization, creating rivalries between the major European powers.
• European countries had border disputes that were causing tension.
• Europeans believed that to have truly great countries, they also had to have great militaries, leading to a huge increase in military spending and preparedness.
• The policy of militarism ensured Germany's safety with alliances, but Bismarck believed France wanted revenge for the Franco-Prussian War.
• The Dual Alliance was formed between Austria and Germany in 1879.
• The Treaty with Russia was signed between Germany and Russia in 1881.
• The Triple Alliance was formed between Germany, Italy, and Austria in 1882.
• In 1890, Kaiser Wilhelm II forced Bismarck to resign, and the Treaty with Russia lapsed, leading to a situation where Germany would have to fight a two-front war.
• Wilhelm built up the German navy, so Great Britain signed a treaty with France and Russia called the Triple Entente.
• The Balkans were a “powder keg” due to clashing ethnicities, religions, and nationalist groups.
• Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia had already broken away from the dying Ottoman Empire.
• Slavic groups led by Serbia, who was supported by Russia, pushed for their independence.