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all elaborate plans to win the war are failing

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vast plans moving millions of men, huge amounts of artillery, careful railway time tables comes to bloody wreckage

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war starts out with social unity

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management vs. working class now takes a second seat to war-time unity as countries rally to their flags

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what did countries expect of WWI?

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expected what had happened in the past

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Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905, lasted 2 years

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Franco-Prussian 1870-1871, lasted 1 year

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Crimean War 1853-1856, lasted 3 years

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conflict between Russian Empire vs. French, British, Ottoman Empires plus Kingdom of Sardinia

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they expected a violent clash of armies and a quick outcome, that's not what happened

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key decision: what to do about Belgium

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had been a lynchpin of European politics since 1830s

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France and Germany had to decide who would enter Belgium first to secure the territory

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Germany decided to invade first to gain high ground, knowing it would bring the British into the war

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after Germany invaded Belgium, British joined the war

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Germans invasion of Belgium did not bring them success in the Western Front

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French launching attacks again German frontier, collapse in bloody failure

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discovering that the defensive power of modern weapons are devastating with men and cavalry charge out in the open

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German armies in Belgium sweep down into France from the north heading toward Paris (Schlieffen Plan)

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Schlieffen Plan

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avoid a two-front war by concentrating troops in the West and quickly defeating the French and then, if necessary, rushing those troops by rail to the East to face the Russians before they had time to mobilize fully

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Battle of the Marne

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Sep 5-12, 1914

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battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had reached the outskirts of Paris

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six French field armies and one British army along the Marne River

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Germans were overextended

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The Western Front

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the front of the war that the war ground down to after the German defeat at the Battle of the Marne

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the war in the East

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Russians don't get very far

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Serbians invade into Bosnia but are driven back by the Austrians

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Serbia occupied by Central Powers, the battle line by 1915 pushed south to border with Greece

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1915: war begins widening rapidly

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Japan, a treaty ally of England, joined on England's side in the war

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Japan uses this as an opportunity to occupy German territory on the Chinese mainland

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Japanese occupy German-held islands in the Pacific

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Ottoman Empire joins with Germany, Austria and Bulgaria to form a united front

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declare Holy War against British and French

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colonies in Africa

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some minor wars with each other in jungles of Africa

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British involved in battles against the Turks in Asia

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gas and submarines

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combatants begin using the new marvels of chemistry against each other, releasing poison gas that when inhaled will cause the lungs to inflame and asphyxiate people

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soldiers find that gas masks are part of their standard kit

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Germans advancing in submarine technology to disrupt world trade and offset British naval advantages

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1915 end of illusions of quick war

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countries realize that that initial war plans did not work, so they make their next plans

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Gallipoli Campaign

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also New Zealand and Australian troops

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encounters modern Turkish army

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goal was to knock Turkey out of the war but ultimately failed

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countries realize they are straining their economies just to produce enough shells to fight this war

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realize that war is going to be prolonged

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once so many citizens are dying, the countries had to develop war aimed that matched

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dismantle the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires

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the war moved rapidly from a conflict in the Balkans to a war to determine the future existence of multiple empires

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1916: German offensive plans fail

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Germans develop elaborate plans for war-winning offensives

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center on the Western Front

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Germans set out to wage a battle in which they will bleed the French army to death, a war of attrition, one which will make the French nation not be able to stand to continue the war. They pick as this blood bath a place called Verdun.

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Battle of Verdun, Feb-Dec 1916

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714,231 casualties, 377,231 on the French side and 337,000 on the German one, an average of 70,000 casualties for each of the ten months of the battle

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intensify submarine warfare

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sinking ships which are carrying raw materials from America

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submarine war is effective but not effective enough

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Americans warn the Germans that if their submarines sink American ships or disrupt American trade, the Americans will join the war on the side of the British and the French.

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1916: Allies offensive plans fail

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Brusilov Offensive

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successful Russians offensive aimed at debilitating the Austrians, but it hurts the Russians just as bad

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took place in what today is the Ukraine

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Battle of the Somme

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the battle was one of the largest of World War I, in which more than a million men were wounded or killed, making it one of humanity's bloodiest battles

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20,000 British casualties on the very first day of fighting, July 1, 1916

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conclusion

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every side has tried its grand big to win the war and none of it is working, all the plans have failed

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all nations involved are feeling the strain: loss of lives, financial losses, economic strain

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each side is thinking: where is this going to go now, how can we win the war?

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this creates a very interesting moment, between August 1916 and January 1917, a crossroads were many things were possible