Europe Plunges Into War
The Battle on the Eastern Front
War
Even though thousands on men were killed on the Western front millions of men from both sides were sent over to the Eastern front to fight.
A Bloody Stalemate
The Great War Begins
In Response to Austrias declaration of war, Russia, Serbia's ally, begin moving its army toward the Russian-Austrian border.
The Conflict Grinds Along
With a war on two fronts, the Germans needed a new plan.
This was a fight between the borders of Russia and Germany. The war was between Germany and Austria-Hungary against Russia and Serbia.
Russia also mobilized along German boarder.
On August 1, the German government declared war on Russia
Why might the war on the Eastern front have been more mobile than that on the Western front?
Early in the war it seemed Germany's plan would be a success.
Germany also declared war on France two days after they declared war on Russia
Early Fighting
Soon afterwards Great Britain declared war on Germany.
On September 5th, however, France sent every available troop to the front line, even using taxis to move soldiers.
War
Russian forces launch an attack in Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Why didn't they just try to talk things over, rather than just declaring war on everybody else?
After four days of fighting, German generals gave the order to retreat.
This was perhaps the most important event during the war, with no quick victory in the west, there was a long, two front war waiting.
There were two sides of the war. Central Powers which were Germany and Austria. Then the Allies which were Great Britain, France, and Russia.
Germany was mad about this attack so they decided to counter attack. This was a four-day long battle located near the town of Tannenberg.
Italy, Japan, and Italy later joined the Allies. Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire later joined the Central Powers.
With the western front settling into a stalemate, and Russia already invading, Germany sent thousands of troops east to help.
The German troops crushed the Russian army, which forced them to retreat.
Why did these countries end up joining sides?
The Schlieffen plan had the Germans defeating the French in the west, the moving their troops to the east to fight Russia.
Change
War in the Trenches
Russia goes to war with Austria-Hungary twice in September of 1914.
By early 1915, both armies had dug parallel trenches along the Western front. This set the precedent for trench warfare.
Russia won both of these and they were able to push into Austria-Hungary.
War
In the late summer of 1914, marched to battle thinking it was going to be short. Only few saw how bad the war really would be.
Soldiers lived miserably in the trenches.
Russia was eventually pushed out Russia in December.
Russia Struggles
Russia has been struggling with the war effort by 1916.
Russia has not industrialized yet which means that the army ran out of supplies very quickly.
Soldiers were sometimes ordered to go into the "No Man's Land" --the space between opposing trenches-- where they would likely be shot by enemy machine guns.
Due to this, both sides would lose countless soldiers, for very little gained land.
Why was there so little land gained?
Why did the Germans attack France first?
Patterns
Conquest
Balance
Why was trench warfare thought to be the best method?
Why were soldiers ordered to go over even though they were likely to die?
How did Russia's industrialization affect its war effort?
They weren't able to keep up with the demand of supplies for the war effort. This hurt them because they ran out of materials to help make weapons and they didn't have enough food.
Russia wasn't able to receive supplies from the Allies due to German forces keeping them back.
The only thing that Russia had going for them was the large amount of people they had fighting.
The Russians were able to get many German troops. With the large Russian army Germany wasn't able to send all of their people off to the west.
The were more mobile in the East because in the West they were stuck in the trenches and weren't able to move very far due to the constant shooting.
Germany wasn't just worried about the battles to the East and West. They were also worried about the war in Africa and Asia.
Change
Conflict
The technology developed for the war was not advancing the war as the generals had hoped.
In 1916, the Germans attacked the French at Verdun. This battle was massive with both sides losing in excess of 300,000 troops each.
When the British tried to help, they lost 20,000 of their own.
With all this death, each side only gained around 4 miles.