IGCSE

SOCIAL STUDIES
A summary of the First World War
The course of the war
Background
In August 1914, Germany invaded France through
Historians disagree about what 'caused' the First Belgium, using its plan for war ‒ the Schlieffen Plan.
World War, but most trace it in some degree to the The German attack was forced back at the Battle of
growing power of Germany. The 'balance of power' the Marne in September 1914. Both sides dug
between the nations of Europe became unstable. This defensive trenches and the war ground to a halt.
led them to form military alliances:
For the next four years, the war on the Western
● The Triple Alliance ‒ Germany, Austria and Front consisted of a deadly stalemate. The battles of
Italy Verdun and the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele
● The Triple Entente ‒ France, Britain and in 1917 were key events where each side tried to
Russia wear the other side down.

In 1917, the Americans entered the war. Before they

Use the word MAIN to remember the main could arrive, the Germans made another attack in
issues surrounding the cause of the First March 1918. It was successful at the start, but the
World War: Germans failed to break through. They were pushed
back in August 1918. Two months later the Germans
signed the Armistice (an agreement by both sides
● Militarism - many countries believed it in a war to stop fighting).
was important to build large armies and
navies. The Threat of Germany
● Alliances - the Triple Alliance and the
Germany had been made up of a number of
Triple Entente were said to have been
separate states but became a united 'empire' in
formed to help prevent war. 1871 by defeating and humiliating France in the
● Imperialism - European nations were Franco-Prussian War. This gave Germany greater
creating empires and coming into strength to develop.
conflict.
● Nationalism - all countries were looking ● After 1900, Germany built up its navy - this
out for their own interests. frightened the British.
● In 1901, Kaiser Wilhelm II demanded an
overseas empire for Germany – this
frightened Britain and France.
After the murder of Austrian Archduke Franz
● Germany wanted to build a railway
Ferdinand in June 1914, Austria-Hungary
through the Balkans to Baghdad – this
declared war on Serbia. The countries of Europe alarmed the Russians, who said they were
found that the alliances they had formed dragged the protectors of the Balkans.
them into war. ● Germany's military defence plan – the
Schlieffen Plan – involved attacking and
defeating France quickly and then turning
its armies on Russia.
 The Coming of War 1914

The Balkans 28 June 1914

The Turkish Empire in the Balkans collapsed: The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot
● Nationalist interests became clear when by Serbian terrorists on a visit to inspect Austrian
the new nation of Serbia clashed with troops in Bosnia.
Austria-Hungary.
● Austria-Hungary and Russia clashed 5 July 1914
because they both wanted more power in
Germany promised total support for
the Balkans.
Austria-Hungary.
The System of alliances
28 July 1914
Two opposing groups had grown up by 1914,
believing that a 'balance of power' would prevent Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia – this
war: angered Russia.
● The Triple Alliance of Germany,
Austria-Hungary and Italy (1882). 30 July 1914
● The Triple Entente of France, Russia and
Russia mobilised her army – this alarmed
Great Britain (1907). Germany.

3 August 1914

Germany implemented the Schlieffen Plan and

invaded France through neutral Belgium.

4 August 1914

Britain declared war on Germany because of an

agreement with Belgium.
The Course of the War 1914 − 1918 The War of Attrition (1916 ‒ 1918)
The two sides simply tried to wear each other
down:
● Huge battles, eg Verdun and the
Somme in 1916, Passchendaele in
1917, lasted many months.
Thousands of men died or were
wounded.
● New weapons, eg poison gas, tanks
and aeroplanes failed to make much
effect.
● There were terrible conditions in the
The War had five phases:
trenches and many casualties from
machine gun and artillery fire.
The War of Movement (August ‒ ● The British blockaded German ports
September 1914) to try to starve the Germans into
surrender. In October 1918 there
● The Germans invaded France, but were was a revolution in Germany.
stopped at the Battle of the Marne ● German U-boats tried to starve the
(September 1914). British by sinking merchant ships –
● The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) but this angered the Americans.
helped to stop the Germans at the Battle ● German Zeppelins and Gotha
of Mons (23 August 1914).
planes bombed London.
● The Russians invaded Germany but
were destroyed at the Battle of The Fighting Ends
Tannenberg (August 1914). ● The United States of America
entered the war in 1917.
● On 21 March 1918, the Germans
The Race to the Sea (September ‒ launched Operation Michael – a
November 1914) huge last-ditch attack.
On the Western Front, both sides dug a 400-mile ● On 8 August 1918, the German
line of trenches from Switzerland to the English Army's 'Black Day', when their
Channel. Soldiers had to put up with constantly attack was defeated.
being wet, being pestered by rats, and illnesses. ● The Allies, with the Americans,
began to push back the Germans.
Stalemate (1915)
The Allies and Germany signed a
● There was a stalemate (neither side
ceasefire, or 'armistice', at 11am on
could defeat the other).
11 November 1918.
● On the Western Front, attacks on the
● On 28 June 1919, The Treaty of
German trenches led to huge casualties.
Versailles was signed by the
● Britain's attempt to open up a 'Second
Germans.
Front' at Gallipoli in Turkey was a failure.
The Consequences of the War

Germany had not technically surrendered and

was outraged by the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles – this helped to cause:

● The Second World War. Some

historians suggest that there were
not two world wars, but only one,
with a long ceasefire in between.
● Hitler's rise to power.
● The War helped make Britain more
democratic. There was an attitude
that Britain needed to be 'a home fit
for heroes.' A Labour government
was elected in 1924. All men and
women over 21 were given the vote
In some ways, humankind has never recovered in 1928.
from the horrors of the First World War:

● Eight million soldiers died and many

Where next?
more were damaged physically or
mentally. When we think of the First World War, we
● Nine million civilians died. often think of flooded trenches, artillery
● Twelve million tons of shipping was bombardments, suicidal rushes across No
sunk. Man's Land, poison gas, mud and
● On the Western Front, the war gangrene. However, there were other
destroyed 300,000 houses, 6,000 theatres of war, eg eastern Europe, Gallipoli,
factories, 1,000 miles of railway and 112 the Middle East, Africa and at sea.
coal mines.
● Remembrance Day began and poppies The First World War was one of history's epic
were used to symbolise those who had conflicts, and you may wish to compare it to
lost their lives fighting. other major wars such as the Second World
War.
This list of dates shows how Europe slid into war
The Schlieffen Plan
after the murder of Franz Ferdinand.
Germany had been preparing for war long before
1914. In fact, Germany had started drawing up a
Event
plan for war - the Schlieffen Plan - in 1897. It took
nine years to finalise, but it was based on the
5 July
theory that Germany would be at war with France
The Austrian government asks the German
and Russia at the same time. It did not prepare
government if it will support Austria in a war
for many of the events that occured in July and
against Russia, if Russia supports Serbia. The
August 1914. It was based on the belief that, if
Germans say they will support whatever the
the country went to war, Germany would be faced
Austrian government decides to do - the so called
with a war on two fronts with France and
'blank cheque'.
Russia.
23 July
The Austrian government sends the Serbian
government an ultimatum.

25 July
The Serbians accept all the conditions except
one - that Austrian police should be allowed into
Serbia.

28 July
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

30 July
The Russian army is mobilised.
Map showing German plans to attack France

1 August
Germany declares war on Russia. The plan assumed that France was weak and
could be beaten quickly, and that Russia was
3 August much stronger, but would take longer to
Germany declares war on France and, following mobilise its army.
the Schlieffen Plan, attacks Belgium.
The plan began to go wrong on 30 July 1914,
4 August when Russia mobilised its army, but France did
Britain keeps the promise made in a treaty of not. Germany was forced to invent a pretext to
1839 to defend Belgium, and declares war on declare war on France (3 August 1914).
Germany.
Things got worse when Britain declared war on
Germany on 4 August 1914 because Britain had
promised to defend Belgium in a Treaty of 1839.
The failure of The Schlieffen Plan Was Germany to
1. The plan was the work of the German army
chief-of-staff Alfred von Schlieffen.
blame?
2. It took nine years to devise - it was started in 1897,
Immediately after the war, the Treaty of
presented in 1905, and revised in 1906.
Versailles blamed Germany for 'all the
3. The plan imagined a huge hammer-blow at Paris,
loss and damage' of the war.
using 90 per cent of the German army, swinging
During the 1920s, however, Germans
down through Belgium and northern France, to take
vigorously denied this, and - during the
out France in a quick, decisive campaign.
period of appeasement in the 1930s -
4. It was a plan of attack - for Germany, mobilisation
many people were prepared to blame
and war were the same thing.
other factors:
5. It was Germany's only plan for war.
6. It did not plan for a situation where Germany was at ● Sydney Bradshaw Fay laid the
war with Russia, but not with France. When the emphasis on the underlying
German chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg asked "Is tensions of nationalism,
the Fatherland in danger?", the German general imperialism, militarism and
Moltke declared "Yes". alliances.
7. In the event, Russia took only ten days to ● The British prime minister Lloyd
mobilise, and Moltke was forced to send some George blamed the war on the
troops to the eastern front, which weakened the failure of the politicians who,
main attack on Paris. he said, lacked the ability to
8. When the German army asked permission to go negotiate their way out of war.
through Belgium on 2 August 1914, the Belgians
refused, so the German army had to fight its way After World War Two, historians were less
through Belgium. This slowed it down and tired the prepared to excuse Germany. In the
soldiers. 1960s, the German historian Fritz Fischer
9. Britain's decision to uphold the 1839 Treaty with argued that the German leaders had a 'will
Belgium amazed the Germans. "For a scrap of to war', that they wanted to expand
paper, Great Britain is going to make war?" said the German power, and they wanted the
amazed Bethmann-Hollweg. situation in Europe to deteriorate into war.
10. In the event, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) This is the view still held by many
arrived to resist the Germans, and held them up at historians today.
the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914. With his
army exhausted and many of his best forces killed,
Moltke was defeated at the battle of the Marne on
6-10 September 1914. "Sir, we have lost the war,"
he told the Kaiser.
 The trench system
Experiences on the Trenches were usually about seven feet deep and
Western Front six feet wide. Duck-boards were placed at the
bottom to protect soldiers from problems such as
trench foot. Soldiers made dugouts in the sides to
The development of the Western Front
give them some protection from the weather and
In the first few months of the war, fighting took enemy fire. The front-line trenches were also
place over great expanses of land – there were protected by barbed wire and machine-gun posts.
even cavalry charges with men on horseback
using swords to attack the enemy.
By the late summer of 1914, the German army had
fought its way to within sight of the Eiffel Tower.
But it failed to capture Paris or force the French to
surrender. Once halted, the Germans started
digging trenches for their soldiers to shelter in from
enemy fire. The French and British also dug
Soldiers crossing no man's land
trenchs. They was necessary as defence from the
German machine guns, a weapon which had been Behind the front-line trench there were support and
under-estimated by the British Army. reserve trenches. The three rows covered between 200
and 500 yards of ground. Communication trenches were
Eventually, a network of trenches stretched for 400 dug at an angle to the front-line trench and were used to
miles from the channel coast to the border with transport men, equipment and food supplies.
Switzerland. This became known as the Western
Front. The war of movement was at an end. For Experiences at the front
most of the next four years neither side managed
a decisive breakthrough and the Western Front Men were only meant to spend a few days at the front
line before being rotated back to reserve trenches and to
became deadlocked in trench warfare.
rest and recovery positions. However, soldiers often
spent much longer at the front. For instance, the Black
Watch once served for 48 days without a break. After
about 14 days behind the lines troops knew that soon
they would return to the front-line.
The conditions on the front lines were horrendous with
soldiers complaining of itching from lice bites, sharing
trenches with rats and living with the constant fear of
imminent death. Boredom was a major factor, but
soldiers also had to cope with the possibility of sudden
painful death or wounds, either by sniper fire, artillery fire
British soldiers in a trench or going 'over the top' into battle.
The kilt worn by many Scottish soldiers had severe
disadvantages in these conditions as it harboured lice in
the folds. It was also extremely thick which meant that it
was too warm in the summer months. Worse than that, it
was difficult to dry in the autumn and winter.
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the
name given to military forces from the British
Empire who fought in Belgium and France during
the First World War.

The BEF was first trained by professional soldiers

(about 70,000) (there was no compulsory military
service in the UK at the time). Recruitment was
quickly completed by volunteers and conscripts
of compulsory military service. In total, nearly 5.4
million soldiers from the British Empire fought
during the First World War (the maximum number
present at the same time on the front was 2
million combatants). From August 1914 to
December 1915, the BEF was commanded by
Marshal John French and until November 1918
by General Douglas Haig.