Europe Plunges Into War

The Start of the War to End All Wars…?

The Great War Begins

Austria declared war on Serbia, causing Russia to deploy forces to border

Believing Germany would join too, also mobilized troops on German border

German saw this as act of war, declared so on August 1

Without waiting to see if France reacts to aid its Russian ally, Germany declared war on France two days later

The Great War Begins…

As result of this, England (France’s Ally) declares war on Germany

Germany and Austria called Central Powers

Great Britain, France, and Russia called the Allied Powers

Japan joined Allies a few weeks later, followed by Italy

Italy was allied with Germany/Austria, but felt that they unjustly started the war

The Great War Begins…

Western Front Fighting that occurred along

French/German border Was a deadlock for most of the war German developed Schlieffen Plan

Develop by General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen

Idea was to beat France first, then go after Russia

Plan worked in beginning

The Great War Begins…

By early September, Germany reached outskirts of Paris in Marne River Valley

Sept. 5, Allies regrouped and attacked Germany, which had to retreat

Left the battle in France a stalemate, Germany focused on Russia

In early 1915, western front was dug full of trenches, led to trench warfare

Huge loss of life for small amounts of land

The Great War Begins…

Space between the enemy trenches became known as “no man’s land”

Horrible conditions in trench like mud, bodies, shelling from other side

These trenches ended up spreading for nearly 500 miles

From North Sea to Swiss border

The Great War Begins…

New Weaponry appeared Poison Gas Machine Gun Tank Submarine

In Feb. of 1916 Germans attacked French near Verdun

Resulted in each side losing nearly 300,000 men

Weapons were more effective killing

The Great War Begins…

Battle on the Eastern front Battles here were more mobile, but killing was

just as bad

Russia had early success, reached Germany’s borders

4-day battle by Germans pushed Russia back, resulting in full retreat

By 1916, Russia’s war effort was near collapse

The Great War Begins…

Hard for Russia to get supplies from Allies

German submarines controlled Baltic Sea

Only thing helping Russia was its size and population

This large force tied up much of Germany’s troops, making it hard to focus on west alone