WAW: Lesson - World War I

World War I

A map showing the countries of the world involved in WW1 — A map of the world showing all the countries that participated in World War I. Because of imperialism’s far reach, every populated continent participated.
Key: Green = Allies; Orange = Central Powers; Grey = Neutral.

Causes of World War I

Teachers often talk about the causes of World War I using the acronym MAIN:

Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism

As we already learned, nationalism was both a cause and effect of the Industrial Revolution and was one of the causes of imperialism. Industrialized nations built more powerful militaries. Those militaries were often stationed in the imperialized nations so the imperializers could protect their territories from internal rebellions and external threats. Eventually, the European countries created secret, complicated, and sometimes contradictory alliance systems. The two major alliance systems on the eve of World War I were the Triple Entente (Russia, France, & Britain) and the Triple Alliance (Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany).

In late June 1914, a Bosnian-Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Frans Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, the empire that controlled his ethnic group’s homeland. The leader of Austria-Hungary demanded that the Serbian people hand over all involved in the plot. When the Serbians refused, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Serbia turned to Russia (their ally) for help, and Austria-Hungary did the same, requesting assistance from Germany.

Europe was a historically interconnected continent, so in an interesting twist, the leaders of Russia, Germany, and Great Britain were all cousins. The Russian Czar and the German Keiser pled with each other to back down, but in the end, they chose their alliances over their family. World War I had begun.

Who Was Involved?

The table below shows the major and minor players involved in World War I. As the map above shows, this really was a worldwide war, with nations from every continent (excluding Antarctica) involved in the conflict. However, there were major participants and minor players. The two sides were called the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. Take notes on how these nations were divided:

**Major and Minor Powers: World War I**
Degree of Involvement	Central Powers	Allied Powers
Major Powers	Austria-Hungary Germany Ottoman Empire	Russia The United Kingdom France
Additional Powers	Bulgaria	Serbia United States of America Italy Japan

World War I: The War and its Conditions

Almost immediately, France joined in with Serbia & Russia to form the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire joined Germany & Austria-Hungary to form the Central Powers. Germany decided to surprise attack France by moving through Belgium (as opposed to the shared German-French border). Great Britain was so upset at the unprovoked attack against neutral Belgium that they joined the Allied Powers. Japan also saw an opportunity to take German Pacific territories, so they joined the Allied Powers within a month of the start of the war.

In 1915, Italy chose not to honor the Triple Alliance but instead sided with the Allied Powers. Imperialized peoples in Africa, Asia, and even Australia were forced to fight for their rulers. Germany warned that it would attack anyone trying to trade with its enemies. In 1915, German submarines sank the USS Lusitania and then attempted to lure Mexico into attacking the United States. The British intercepted the message, showed it to the US, and the US officially entered the war as an Allied Power in 1917. The “regional conflict” between Austria-Hungary and Serbia now sprawled across 5 continents.

This war was more deadly than other large conflicts (like the Seven Years’ War in Module 6) because of the improved military technology. This war introduced chemical warfare, flame throwers, tanks, planes, and machine guns. The French refused to be pushed back and instead built defensive trenches. The Germans did the same, and the area between trenches was called “No Man’s Land.” No Man’s Land was as deadly as it sounds – to launch an offensive attack, soldiers had to cross a field of barbed wire, mud, rats, and animal & human bodies, all while dodging opposing gunfire and grenades. By the end of the war, around 10 million soldiers and another 10 million civilians were killed, with another 20 million wounded. Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia each lost more than 2 million people from the war. In fact, the Ottoman Empire lost nearly 15% of its entire population.

The State of Warfare: World War I

Select each item below to learn more about how the war was fought in World War I. Many of the "advances" below are considered either highly unethical or are even barred from modern warfare, but these changes were a huge departure from more "traditional" forms of warfare from earlier eras. They created the conditions in which those massive numbers of causalities could accumulate: no war before in history had seen the kinds of death and destruction wrought in these battles.

Chemical Warfare

Soldiers are depicted wearing gas masks during a chemical attack (drawing) — Soldiers had to be ready with gas masks in case of chlorine, phosgene, or mustard gas attacks.

Flamethrower

Tanks

A WW1 era tank (photograph) — Tanks were first used in France at the Battle of Somme.

Planes

A WW1 era plane — Planes were first used for spying. Later, a Dutch engineer figured out how to synchronize a mounted machine gun’s bullets to avoid the propeller and “dogfights” (or plane warfare) began.

Machine Guns

A WW1 era machine gun regiment. Four people were required to operate the weapon (photograph) — Early machine guns required a four person crew: one to aim, one to feed the bullets, and two to carry the gun and extra bullets.

Trenches

Soldiers in a WW1 era trench. — Soldiers pose for a photograph in their trench. The soldiers used these trenches for protection, but the conditions were generally quite awful. There is even a foot disorder called "trench foot" caused by the cold, damp conditions experienced in these trenches.

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