UNIT 3

GREAT WAR

World War I
K E Y F A C T S O F W W I

B S E D – S O C I A L S T U D I E S 3

M O N A L I A
O F E L I A R O D A L Y N J A S O N Z Y R A C H R I S T I N E D O L O R E S
C R I S O S T O M O D E L A P E ñ A E S T I L L E S
D E P A Z D U L A G A B A T B A T
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The Great War

World War I, also known as the Great War, began in

1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a
war across Europe that lasted until 1918.
A British soldier inside a trench on the Western Front during
World War I, 1914–18.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 Source article: britannica.com
J U N E 2 8 , 1 9 1 4

Archduke Franz Ferdinand 

Franz Ferdinand was born in the city of Graz, Austria on December 18, 1863.
His parents, the Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and Princess Maria
Annunciata of Bourbon Two Sicklies. He chose to marry Sophie Chetek von
Chekov despite the differences in their social ranks. Eventually, the Emperor
allowed them to marry if they renounced their children’s rights to the
Austro-Hungarian throne, otherwise known as a morganatic marriage.
Additionally, Sophie, was not allowed to become an Archduchess. Married
couple quickly began a family. In the year 1901, they welcomed their first
child, Sophie, and by 1904 they had two sons, Maximilian and Ernst. The
Black Hand was a group of Serbs dedicated to making Serbia very large
through the use of coercion and/or violence. Three men were sent to Bosnia-
Herzegovina with the task of assassinating the Archduke. Serbian Nationalist Archduke Franz Ferdinand and has wife, Sophie

named Gavrilo Princip was successful at murdering the couple. He fired only Henry Guttman Collection—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

two shots. This was as park that ignited World War I.

 Kaiser Willhelm II
Wilhelm secretly pledged hiss support, sending the Austria-
Hungary the so-called carte blanche, or “blank check”, an
assurance of Germany’s backing in the case of war. Wilhelm’s rash
assurance of unlimited support to Austria-Hungary was a
significant contribution to the out break of war. He proved in
decisive and in effective as a war leader and increasingly strategic
and political power fell to the German High Command.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Ullstein bild Dtl./Getty Images

Start of the Great War: World War I

On July 28,1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and

the unsubstantiated peace between Europe’s great powers
collapsed right there and then. Within a week, Russia, Belgium,
France, Great Britain and Serbia joined force against the joint
effort of Austria-Hungary and Germany. This has marked the
beginning of the World War I.
Technologies during the WWI
Franco - German War of 1870–71-The chief developments of the
machine gun, rapid – fire field artillery gun, breech –loading
mechanism sand brakes. The South African War and the Russo-
Japanese War had revealed the futility of frontal infantry or
cavalry attacks on prepared positions when unaccompanied by
surprise. The Germans paid greater attention to training their
officers in defensive tactics using machine guns, barbedwire, and
fortifications.
Three Soldiers with Maxim Machine Gun

Source: Britannica
STAGES OF THE WAR
 The Western Front

• The German Invasion

Germany began fighting World War I on two fronts,
invading France through neutral Belgium in the west
at the same time confronting Russia in the east. This
is according to an aggressive military strategy
known as the Schlieffen Plan(named for its
mastermind, German Field Marshal Alfredvon
Schlieffen).

• First Battle of the Marne

The French and British army confronted the invading German army, which
had by then, penetrated Deep into north-eastern France, within 30 miles of
Paris.
The Eastern Front

• War in the East

On the Eastern Front of World War I, Russian forces invaded the German –held
regions of East Prussia and Poland, but were stopped short by German and Austrian
forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914.

• Serbian Campaign
The first Austrian invasión of Serbia was launched with numerical inferiority (part of one of
the armies originally destined for the Balkan front having been diverted to the Eastern Front
on August18), and the able Serbian commander, Radomir Putnik, brought the invasión to an
early end by his victories on the Cer Mountain (August15–20) and at Šabac (August21–24).
The Eastern Front Source article: britannica.com

• Entry of the Turks

The entry of Turkey (or the Ottoman Empire, as it was then called ) into the war as a
German ally was the one great success of German war time diplomacy.

• War at Sea
In the years before World War I, the superiority of Britain’s Royal Navy was unchallenged by
any other nation’s fleet, but the Imperial German Navy had made substantial strides in
closing the gap between the two naval powers.

• Second Battle of the Marne

On July 15, 1918, German tropos launched what would become the last German offensive of the war, attacking
French forces (joined by 85,000 American troops as well assome of the British Expeditionary Force). Facing
criticism from the Black community and civil rights organizations for its quotas and treatment of African
American soldiers in the war effort, the military formed two Black combat units in 1917, the 92nd and 93rd
Divisions. Trained separately and inadequately in the United States, the divisions fared differently in the war. The
92nd faced criticism for their performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaignin September 1918. The 93rd Division,
however, had more success.
 Source article: britannica.com
Peace Treaties or Negotiations that Ended the Great War

• Armistice
By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were unravelling on all fronts. Despite the Turkish
victory at Gallipoli, later defeats by invading forces and an Arabrevolt that destroyed the
Ottoman economy and devastated its land, and the Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in
late October 1918.

• Major Alliances of World War I

In 1882, the Triple Alliance was formed between the countries of Germany, Austria-
Hungary, and Italy. To counter this alliance, France, Great Britain, and Russia formed
their own Alliance in 1907, the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance became known as the
Central Powers, while the Triple Entente became known as the Allied Powers, or just the
Allies.

• The Treaty of London

Relations between Italy and Austria-Hungary had been strained for years. Recognizing
these facts, the Allies secretly tried to coax Italy into joining their side. On April 26, 1915,
the Treaty of London was signed.
Peace Treaties or Negotiations that Ended the Great War

• The Skyes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration

The result of these negotiations was the Sykes-Picot Agreement, or the Asia Minor Agreement. The agreement
divided up spheres of influence between France and Great Britain. Portions of what is now Syria, Iraq, Turkey,
and Lebanon were divided up between the British and the French. Russia was also toget a small portion of
land in Turkey. The secret agreement was named after French diplomat François Georges-Picot and British Sir
Mark Sykes. In November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a letter to Jewish leader Walter
Roths child. This letter has come to be known as the Balfour Declaration. In the letter, Balfour expressed Great
Britain’s support for a Jewish state in the región of Palestine. The Balfour Declaration ultimately led to the
League of Nations granting Great Britain control over the región under the Palestinian Mandate of 1922.

• The Zimmerman Telegram

Zimmermann Telegram, also called Zimmermann Note, coded telegram sent January16, 1917, by German
foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German minister in Mexico. The note revealed a plan to
renew unrestricted submarine warfare and to form an Alliance with Mexico and Japan if the United States
declared war on Germany. The message was intercepted by the British and passed on to the United States.
 Source article: britannica.com

Legacy of World War I

Technological War – World War I has also
End of Dynasties – The
been referred to as “the first modern war.” Many
political disruption surrounding
of the technologies now associated with military
World War I also contributed to
conflict — machine guns, tanks, aerial combat
the fall of four venerable imperial
and radio communications — were introduced
dynasties: Germany, Austria
on a massive scale during World War I.
Hungary, Russia and Turkey.

Relinquishment of Nuclear War – The

First Global Pandemic – The severe effects that chemical weapons such as
first global war also helped to mustard gas and phosgene had on soldiers and
spread one of the world’s civilians during World War I galvanized public
deadliest global pandemics, the and military attitudes against their continued
Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, use. The Geneva Convention agreements,
which killed an estimated 20 to signed in 1925, restricted the use of chemical
50 million people. and biological agents in warfare and remains in
effect today.
The Political Impact of World War I
(McDougal Little, 2007)
Austria. The Ottoman Empire also split apart.

Bring about the Russian Revolution of 1917. In this revolution, the Russian
Empire was toppled and replaced by a socialist government led by
Vladimir Lenin.

Because of U.S. intervention and President Woodrow Wilson's diplomatic

leadership, America had now become the’ savior of Europe. 'The United
States left World War I with a major confidence boost.

Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was required to make significant

territorial concessions. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied
leaders stated their desire to build a post-war world that would safeguard
it self against future conflicts of such devastating scale.
 Source article: britannica.com

The Economic Impact of World War I

World War I sped up American industrial production,
leading to an economic boom through out the Roaring
Twenties. Hyperinflation and unemployment followed
suit in Weimar Germany, Reich marks, German
currency, be came devalued. recovered, however, when
American stock market collapsed, great depression
spread through Germany and created havoc amongst
German societies. This economic breakdown rose
Nazis to power.
“ This is a war to
end all wars

WOODROW WILSON, 1917

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 UNIT 3

THANK YOU
GREAT WAR: WORLD WAR 1

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