The Nature of the First World War

1914-1918

Schlieffen Plan

• Avoid a two front war• Attack one at a time• 6 weeks to take France• Austria will hold off

Russia• Attack north through

Belgium and circle around Paris

• Trap the French against the Alps

Early Battles of WW1

• Battle of the Marne – stops the Schlieffen Plan in it’s tracks. Will cause the German Army to retreat to a defensive position. Trench Warfare will ensue

• Battle of Ypres – Germans will try to drive the British back to seize the port of Calais. Famous for Flanders Fields, and gas attacks from both sides

• Battle of Tannenberg – Eastern Front. An outnumbered German Army will capture two Russian armies with little trouble (Bad news for Russia

Gallipoli

• Gallipoli (1915) – b\c of stalemate on the Western Front the British will try to open a front in the Balkans. Will suffer massive casualties and lead to the firing of the British Minister of Defense, Winston Churchill.

Trench Warfare• Machine guns and Heavy

artillery require soldiers to take cover

• 14 000 miles of trenches will be dug on a 750 mile front

• The area between them would be referred to as No Mans Land

• Western Front would be known as a war with out Flanks

Trenches• The Front line would be

made up of 4 lines of defenses with communication trenches connecting them

• Barbed wire would be lined in front of them

• Dugouts were dug into them• Sappers would dig tunnels

into no mans land and set off massive explosions

Technology and the Change in Warfare

• Mass production (could supply million man armies)• Trains and steamships could mass transport soldiers

and goods• Communication – Radio(still relied on wires) and

telephone• Machine guns, rifles that fire 1000 yards, heavy

artillery (rifled 15-20 miles) creates a death zone between enemy lines.

• War needs to take on a defensive posture. The weapons are too good

More Trenches

Sappers

New Weapons

The Machine Gun Heavy Artillery

U-Boats Airplanes

Dreadnaughts Poison Gas (Mustard and Chlorine)

Total War• All these European powers went all in• Losing could not be an option b\c it would mean ruin• The Stalemate on the Western Front meant no one could win a

decisive victory• Governments turned to their populations• Total War means the total resources of society are committed to

the fighting effort• Gov’t would ration and conscript/draft soldiers into military service• Income tax was introduced in Canada to help pay the cost of the

war• 6 million went to war in 1914, and 65 million by the end

Propaganda- systematic effort to spread opinions or beliefs especially by distorting the

truth

Promises and Deception

• 1915 the secret Treaty of London promised Austrian territory (Balkans) to Italy if they switched sides

• 1917 Balfour Declaration promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine to win Jewish support

• Britain coaxed Arab leaders into revolt by promising to liberate them from the Turks

• 1917 – Germany sneaks Vladimir Lenin into Russia to start a Revolution

Unrestricted Naval Warfare

• United States industrial might was supplying the British and French war effort

• British navy defeated the German navy at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and was choking off German supply lines

• German high command declares the Waters around Europe a battle ground and any ship carry supplies to England or France is to be sunk

• The United States will declare war on Germany

Late Battles

• 1916 – Jutland: the show down between the German and British navies. Germany realized how quickly they could have lost their fleet that cost billions of dollars. They will resort to their U-Boats

• 1916 – Verdun: Symbol of French military glory. 1 million German shells bombing seven French forts. 280 000 Ger. And 315 000 French and the Germans gain 7 km.

The Battle of the Somme• 1916 – Counter the Ger.

Offensive• July 1st 748 of the

Newfoundland Reg. will be lost at Beaumont Hamel

• 60 000 British Casualties on the first day

• 450 000 Ger. And 420 000 British Casualties for 10 km of ground

Vimy• April 9th 1917 – first offensive

lead and fought by Canadians• Arthur Currie (School Teacher)

commands• Creeping Barrage – Use the

artillery as a shield to protect infantry

• Every one knew their job and was on a strict time line

• Counter Battery took German Artillery out of the game (Sound ranging and flash spotting)

More Vimy