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29.2 Europe Plunges into War (A Battle on the Eastern Front (4 Day Battle…
29.2 Europe Plunges into War
The Great War Begins
After Austria declared war, Russia assumed that there may be an attack from Germany, so they mobilized
This caused Germany to believe that this was a declaration of war, so they declared war on Russia
Germany also declared war on France, Russia's ally
Great Britain declared war on Germany after this
Why did Germany declare war on France?
France was an ally to Russia, so to prevent Russia and France from making plans of war, Germany simply declared war on both of them
Wilhelm II and Bismarck of Germany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_II,_German_Emperor
Nations Take Sides
Central Powers
Germany and Austria-Hungary, later to be joined by Bulgaria and Ottoman Empire to regain lost territories
What country had taken over territories that Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire wanted to regain?
Russia had taken over those territories
Allied Powers
Great Britain, France, and Russia, soon to be joined by Japan and Italy, who used to be allied with the central powers
Italy was originally part of the Triple Alliance, but joined the Triple Entente because Austria-Hungary had conquered territories that belonged to Italy
https://schoolhistory.co.uk/notes/triple-entente/
Alliance: Because of the many alliances that countries had, nations felt the need to get involved on either side
Many thought the war would be short, and were excited, not expecting the outcome that it ended with
A Battle on the Eastern Front
War
Eastern Front
: Stretch of a battlefield on the German and Russian border
War where Serbs and Russians battled against Germans and Austro-Hungarians
Russian forces launched an attack into Austria and Germany
Germany counterattacked near Tannenburg
4 Day Battle (Germany):
More than 30,000 Russian soldiers were killed
Germans crushed Russian army and sent it into retreat
Austrian Battle:
Russia defeated the Austrians twice early in
Austria managed to turn it around and drove Russia out of their country
Russia was not industrialized like the other nations, this caused:
How did Russia’s industrialization affect its war effort?
Russian army was always short on food, clothes, guns, ammunition, boots, and blankets
Allied supply shipments were limited by German control.
Russia's war was near collapse in 1916
One thing that did not suffer in Russia's Army was the number of troops, many battlefield losses but they were able to still continue to have big numbers
Why might the war on the Eastern Front have been more mobile than that on the Western Front?
Fighting on the western front was mostly trench warfare and there wasn't much room to fight, but on the eastern front there was lots of more room that they could battle on.
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-did-fighting-alter-between-western-eastern-439381
A Bloody Stalemate
The war turned into a bloody stalemate, or deadlock. This deadlock in Northern France is known as the Western Front.
The Conflict Grinds Along.
Germany developed a strategy known as the Sclieffen Plan, named after the designer, General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen.
The plan called for attacking and defeating France in the west, then rushing East to fight Russia.
Speed was VITAL to the Schlieffen plan. German leaders knew they needed to win a quick victory over France.
By September, German forces swept into France and reached the outskirts of Paris.
Conflict
After 4 days of fighting, the German generals gave the order to Retreat.
The battle of Marne was the single most important event of the war
The defeat of the Germans left the Schlieffen plan in ruins.
Russian forces had already invaded Germany and they would have to fight a long war on 2 fronts, sending thousand of troops from France to the East.
War on the western front settles into a stalemate.
The western front had miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire in 1915.
Trench warfare is where soldiers ought each other from trenches and there was a huge loss of human life for very small land gains.
No mans land was the space between the opposing trenches where men attacked each other with lots of gunfire, most people didn't survive no mans land.
The western front was known as the terrain of death stretching 500 miles from the north sea to the swiss border.
New tools of war included machine guns, poison gas, armor tanks, larger artillery which killed a greater number of people more effectively.
In February Germans launched an attack against the French near Verdun each side loss more than 300,00 men.
In July the British forces attacked the germans NW of Verdun killing more than 20,000 British soldiers, ending in November with more than half a million casualties on each side.
Near Verdun the Germans addvanced 4 miles in the ssome valey, the British gained about 5 miles.
Why did Germany attack france first?
Answer:Since a war on two fronts was inevitable, they decided to strike first so they would keep the initiative.
Why were land gains so small?
Answer: They were fighting Trench warfare, and the no mans land was so dangerous that they only made very small gains.
Why the Western Front ended in a Stalemate.
A brief History of WW1
