Ch.12 World War ITrench Warfare

&The War at Sea

Warm up

What does the cartoon on the left depict?

Trench Warfare Stalemate at Ypres

– Soldiers “dig-in” Casualties high

– New technology vs. old tactics New weapons of war

– Machine guns– Tanks – Airplanes– Flame throwers– Bayonets– Grenades– Pistols– Poison Gas

Trench Horrors Trench Rats– Decomposing bodies attracted thousands– One pair produce 880 offspring in one year– Big as cats– Would sleep under blankets with the men– “The rats were huge. They were so big they

would eat a wounded man if he couldn’t defend himself. These rats became very bold and would attempt to take food from the pockets of sleeping men. Two or three rats would always be found on a dead body. They usually went for the eyes first and then they burrowed their way right into the corpse.

More Horrors

Trench Foot– Trenches were waterlogged and

constantly muddy– Only way to prevent was to keep feet dry– Cure: amputation

“Your feet swell to two or three times their normal size and go completely dead. You could stick a bayonet into them and not feel a thing.”

Amputations Gangrene: rot “Day after day we cut down stinking

bandages and exposed wounds that destroyed the whole original plan of the body.”

“…I saw that tiny bags, containing pure salt, are sometimes deposited into the open wound and bandaged tightly into place. These bags of salt – must inflict excruciating pain. It is certainly a purifier, but surely a very harsh one.”

The War at Sea German U-boats

– Attack without provocation, commercial or military

British Blockade– Cut supplies to Germany– Germany responds w/war zone around

British Isles– ¼ British fleet destroyed– 1 million tons of shipping lost

U.S.– Wish to remain neutral – trade

w/everyone

The War at Sea Sinking of the Lusitania – May 7, 1915

– Killed 128 Americans– Wilson demands: apology, money, no more subs– Gets: all but sub promise – U.S. begins arms build-up

Sussex – March 1916, more Americans lost– Sussex Pledge: will not sink merchant ships w/out

warning and attempt to save human lives February, 1917 – Germans resume sub warfare

– Violate Sussex pledge– U.S. begins policy of “armed neutrality”