1. WWI
Chapter 14 Sec. 3
A Bloody Conflict
WWI proved to be unlike
previous wars in many ways. New
technology made WWI a more
impersonal war, as well as a far
more deadlier one.

2. Trench Warfare

3. • On the Western Front, troops dug a network of
trenches that stretched from the English Channel
to the Swiss border. The space between the
opposing trenches was known as no man’s land.
To break through enemy lines, both sides began
with massive artillery barrages. Then bayonet
wielding soldiers would run out of their trenches,
and race across no man’s land and throw
grenades into the other trench. The results were
devastating. Hundreds of thousands of men were
killed.

9. • Symbol for the futility of war
Trench warfare has become a powerful symbol of
the futility of war. Its image is of young men going
"over the top" (over the parapet of the trench, to
attack the enemy trench line) into a maelstrom of
fire leading to certain death, typified by the first day
of the Somme (on which the British suffered 57,000
casualties) or the grinding slaughter in the mud of
Passchendaele. To the French, the equivalent is the
attrition of the Battle of Verdun in which they
suffered 380,000 casualties.[10]

10. New Technology
• Machine Gun– Good for defense—600 bullets
a minute—could stop an advance but heavy
machine guns required teams of up to eight
men to move them, maintain them, and keep
them supplied with ammunition. This made
them impractical for offensive maneuvers,
contributing to the stalemate on the Western
Front.

11. Chemical Warfare
Chlorine -A large enough dose could kill, but the
gas was easy to detect by scent and sight.
Phosgene- first used in December 1915, was the
ultimate killing gas of World War I—it was 18
times more powerful than chlorine and much
more difficult to detect.
Mustard gas -- hard to detect and lingered on the
surface of the battlefield and so could inflict
casualties over a long period. The burns it
produced were so horrific that a casualty
resulting from mustard gas exposure was unlikely
to be fit to fight again.

13. Tanks
• First were very slow and cumbersome,
mechanically unreliable and fairly easy to
destroy. But they could roll over barbed wire
and trenches. The British improved them and
improved tanks and tactics allowed them to
break through enemy lines to become a
significant element of warfare.

14. The Flame Thrower
• New and improved- smaller,
lightweight- a single person could
carry and spray burning fuel on
the victims. Effective in attacks
on nearby trenches but could not
be fired long distance.

15. Airplanes
• Brought war into the sky. First used to scout
out enemy lines, then improved for fighting
and bombing. In time, a device that times the
firing of a machine gun with the rotation of a
planes propeller. The Germans created a high
flying, gas filled airship called Zeppelins. Not
very precise and slow moving

16. Great films over WWI
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Lost Battalion
http://youtu.be/RTED0RSS8T8
All Quiet on the Western Front
http://youtu.be/DX1PW2n8POg
Merry Christmas
http://youtu.be/2Mso-MkU1oI
http://youtu.be/p05E_ohaQGk

17. Russia Leaves the War
• In 1917 riots broke out in Russia over the
government’s handling of the war and the
scarcity of food and fuel. Czar Nicholas II
abdicated his throne. The Bolsheviks, a group
of communists, soon came to power. First
thing the leader, Vladimir Lenin did was pull
Russia out of the war. With the Eastern Front
settled, Germany was now free to concentrate
its forces in the west.

20. End of the War
• In March of 1918, the Germans launched
a massive attack along the Western
Front. By June they were less than 40
miles from Paris. American troops played
an important role in containing the
German offensive. The French and
American forces held them back.

21. • With the German drive stalled, the Allied
forces ordered massive counter attacks all
along the front. American troops drove back
German forces at the battle of Saint-Michael.
Then in the Argonne Forest, the Allied forces
under the command of General Black Jack
Pershing assembled over 600,000 American
troops, some 40,000 tones of supplies and
roughly 4,000 artillery pieces for the most
massive attack in American history. Slowly
one German position after another began to
fall.

22. • Heavy casualties on both sides. But by early
November of 1918, German defenses had
been shattered.
• At the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th
month, Germany signed an armistice or cease
fire, that ended the war.

23. Treaty of Versailles
• In January 1919, a peace conference began in
Paris to try to resolve the complicated issues
arising from WWI.
• All leaders of the countries involved were
present except Germany.
• The Big Four-US, Britain, France and Italy

24. Fourteen Points
• President Wilson wanted a fair peace policy.
His plan became know as the Fourteen
Points—Wilson’s plan for lasting peace
• --end to secret agreements (alliances)
• --freedom of the seas
• --reduction of armaments
• --self determination for ethnic groups

25. League of Nations
• The most important part of his plan was a
peacekeeping organization called A League of
Nations.
• Everyone else at the peace talks thought that
Wilson’s plan was too easy on Germany—they
wanted Germany to paid reparations—war
damages—because they said it had started the
war. The Treaty of Versailles was written without
many of Wilson’s hopes. In the end the US did not
ratify the treaty. Congress did not like the League
of Nations idea

26. WWI Results
• Dissolution of 4 empires—Russian Empire,
Ottoman Empire, German Empire and AustriaHungary.
• 9 new countries were formed out of these—
Yugoslavia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia

27. Before and After

29. http://youtu.be/GPFjToKuZQM
And the Band Played…
•
When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be
done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the
cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli
How well I remember that terrible day
the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He us with bullets, he rained us with
shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then started all over again
Now those
In mad world of blood, death and fire
And for weeks I kept myself alive
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was
dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
the green far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me
:

30. •
So they collected the cripples, the wounded
maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
, the blind insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
turned all their faces away
And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving dreams of past glory
The forgotten heroes a forgotten war
And the young people ask , "What are they
marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll a-waltzing Matilda with me?
[ Lyrics from: