History

• MAIN


  Acronym to remember the 4 long-term causes of World War I
• Militarism


  • Great powers began spending more on their military, leading to a vicious cycle of increasing army sizes
• Alliances


  Agreements between countries to support each other if attacked
• The Treaty of London in 1839 agreed that Belgium should remain neutral and independent
• Imperialism


  Great powers owned colonies overseas, the bigger the empire the more wealth and prestige
• Nationalism


  Sense of national pride spread throughout the Great Powers
• The 'MAIN' causes set the scene so that only a little incident was needed to spark a war
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand


  Heir to the Austrian empire, assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914
• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand


  1. Serbian terrorist group planned to assassinate him

  2. First attempt failed

  3. Ferdinand's driver got lost and he was shot by Gavrilo Princip
• What happened next after the assassination

  1. Austria declared war on Serbia

  2. Serbia turned to Russia for aid

  3. Austria's ally Germany declared war on Russia

  4. France declared support for Russia

  5. Germany declared war on France

  6. Germany invaded Belgium, triggering Britain's entry into the war
• The USA did not join the war initially, they joined in 1917 after the sinking of the Lusitania
• Schlieffen Plan


  Germany's plan to quickly defeat France by invading through neutral Belgium, then turn east to defeat Russia
• Why the Schlieffen Plan failed

  1. Russia mobilised quickly

  2. Britain entered the war to support Belgium

  3. Belgium resisted the German invasion

  4. The plan was based on many assumptions that did not happen
• The failed Schlieffen Plan led to the creation of trenches on the Western Front
• Propaganda and censorship


  Necessary for the war effort to maintain public support and morale
• Policies used to maintain public support

  1. Propaganda posters

  2. Censorship of soldiers' letters

  3. Conscription introduced when voluntary recruitment declined
• Trench warfare


  Trenches varied in width, depth and complexity depending on time and resources available
• The Tribunal (a pacifist newspaper) was shut-down
• Conscription


  Compulsory military service
• 2,466,719 men joined the British army voluntarily between August 1914 and December 1915
• Declining recruiting totals led to increasing calls for compulsory military service throughout 1915
• Military Service Acts


  1. First Act introduced conscription for single men of military age

  2. Second Act extended conscription to married men
• Conscientious objectors


  Someone who disagreed with war
• Conscientious objectors were imprisoned and not popular in England and most men were made to fight
• By July 1917, 100% of the men recruited to fight were done so through conscription
• Trenches


  • Varied in width, depth and complexity
  • Depended on time and resources available
  • Originally dug to offer soldiers protection
• Weapons used in World War One

  • Rifle
  • Machine guns
  • Gas
  • Zeppelin
  • Tanks
  • Torpedoes
• Rifle


  Most commonly used weapon, could hit someone 1,400 metres away, fire 15 rounds per minute, operated by one man
• Machine guns


  Needed 4-6 men to operate, had to be on a flat surface, heavy and slow to move, but had the power of 100 rifles
• Chlorine gas


  Burned the victim's throats and lungs, eventually caused them to suffocate, difficult to use as it moved with the wind
• Mustard gas


  Most deadly weapon used, fired into trenches in shells, colourless and takes 12 hours to take effect, causes blistering skin, vomiting, sore eyes, internal and external bleeding, death can take up to 5 weeks
• Zeppelin


  Airship used for bombing raids by the Germans, carried machine guns and bombs, but were easy to shoot out of the sky
• Tanks


  Used for the first time in the First World War, maximum speed of 3 mph, could not cross trenches, improved by the end of the war
• Torpedoes


  Used by submarines, the Germans used them to blow up ships carrying supplies from America to Britain, used to sink the Lusitania
• Poor living conditions in the trenches

  • Diet: Bully beef, Maconochie, biscuits, cheese, tea, jam, sugar, salt, condensed milk
  • Sanitary conditions: Muddy, flooded, rats, lice, dysentery
  • Trench foot: Feet rotting in boots, required amputation, 75,000 cases
• The Somme


  Took place between 1st July-18th November 1916, aimed to eliminate German forces and relieve Verdun, resulted in over 1 million casualties, failed tactic of attacking German defences
• America joined the war in 1917 on the side of the Allies, their soldiers were fresh, fit, well-trained and well-equipped
• Russia made peace with Germany in 1917, which weakened Germany's war effort
• German disillusionment due to food and ammunition shortages, the British naval blockade, and people rioting on the streets
• The German government surrendered to the allies in a train carriage, an armistice was signed and all fighting stopped


  November 11th, 1918