World War I Begins

• By August 1914 the battle lines were in place• Central Powers (Germany & Austria-Hungary)– Bulgaria and Ottoman’s would join later

• Allies (Great Britain, France and Russia)– Italy and Japan would join later

• Most people felt the war would be short• Reality was the war would last for over 4 years

Western Front

British Tank

Canadian Soldiers

Today in France

Today in France

Battle Lines

Schlieffen Plan

• Gen. Alfred Graf von Schlieffen called for an attack & defeat France

• Then rush to the east to fight Russia• By early September of 1914,

Germany had swept into France and reached the outskirts of Paris

• Germans are close to defeating France

Battle of Marne

• Sept 4th the Germans were in the NE of Paris• Every French soldier was put into use (600

French Taxis used to drive soldiers to the front)

• The French were able to force the Germans into retreat after days of fighting

• Quick victory in the west was not possible for Germany

Trench Warfare

• By 1915, the Western Front was miles of parallel trenches

• Worst conditions possible• The space between the

trenches was known as “no mans land”

• Artillery fire would go into the trenches

• New weapons: Machine Guns, Armored Tanks, Poison Gas

Trench Warfare

• February of 1916, Germans launched bloodiest attack on the French near Verdun

• British tried to help the French by attacking the Germans in the NW at Somme River

• British lost 20,000 men on day one alone

• By Nov 1916, both sides lost more than half a million men