~ world war 1 ~

Europe in 1914:
Two Main Alliances:
Triple Entente: Britain, France and Russia
Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy

Suspicions of Germany:
● In 1817, the separate Germanic kingdoms united into the country: Germany.
Other countries feared this powerful, new nation.
● From 1888, the Kaiser of Germany had talked openly about war in Europe
being “inevitable”.
● The Triple Entente was formed in 1907 to keep stability in Europe against
the growing power of Germany.

France wanting Revenge:

● Many people in France wanted revenge against Germany as they had lost
land to them in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
● If there was to be another war, German military planners wanted it sooner
rather than later, before France’s ally, Russia, became more powerful.

How did one murder result in a war?

● On the 28th of June 1914, the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was
visiting Sarajevo in Bosnia. This area was part of the
Austrian-Hungarian Empire and was a major target for
Serbian nationalists.
 ● The Serbian terrorist group, the Black Hand,
attempted to assassinate the Archduke. The
bomb they threw at his car missed him and
injured several others. However, later in the day
as the Archduke was travelling to visit the the
injured in the hospital, he was shot and killed by
a nineteen-year-old assassin named Gavrilo
Princip.

The Real German Plan:

The German Plan was called the Schlieffen
plan, after Count Alfred Von Schlieffen, the
German Field Marshall who devised it.
● cannot defeat France and Russia at
the same time
● did not fear small British army and
their navy would capture French
ports anyway
● they would invade France through
Belgium
● capture Paris in 6 weeks before the
Russians can attack. The German
Army would then turn around and
attack Russia.

Reasons why the Schlieffen Plan failed:

1. In 1914, the leading General Von Molke, reduced the number of soldiers
needed in the largest ‘hook’ or advance into France.
2. The Belgian resistance was stronger than anticipated and delayed German
troops at the Battle of Liege (4-16 August)
3. Russia was ready for action quicker than expected so German troops were
diverted east.
4. Larger than expected numbers of German troops were left behind from the
advance to hold key Belgian towns, such as Brussels and Namur.
5. 100,000 men from the British Expeditionary Force were sent to Belgium.
The Germans had not anticipated such a rapid British response.
 6. British troops fought the Germans at the Battle of Mons (23 August). They
were forced to retreat but did delay the Germans, who suffered 5000
casualties.
7. Railway tracks and roads were destroyed by retreating Belgian troops.
German soldiers found it hard to receive supplies of food and ammunition.
8. German soldiers and horses were expected to march 30 km a day to keep
up with the plan. There were no armoured cars for transport. They slowed
down due to exhaustion and many horses died.
9. German troops were reduced to eating food from the fields, like green corn
and unripe fruit, which made the men and horses ill.
10. It was difficult for German generals to know exactly what was happening
due to lack of good communication since radio technology and aerial
reconnaissance were both limited at this time.
11. French reinforcements were gathered together and sent to Marne.
12. The Battle of Marne (5-12 September). French and British forced stopped
the German advance and caused the German troops to retreat.

Trench Features and Conditions:

Cross-section of a front-line trench:

How often were soldiers in the firing line?

Who was winning the war in 1917?

Were the Allies likely to win or lose the war in 1917?

Signs the Allies were losing the war:

The Allies faced problems in 1917:

● The French Army faced problems. Around 60% of French troops on the
Western Front refused to follow orders to move into front line trenches.
● 200,000 Russian soldiers were dying each month by 1916,
● There were extreme food shortages for civilians in Russia.
● Communists (those who did not like the Russian Royal Family) took
power in Russia in November 1917 and asked the German
government for peace. This meant that Russia would leave the war
and thousands of German troops might now be moved from the
Eastern to Western Front.
Signs the Allies will win the war:
None of the Allied attacks in 1917 achieved a major breakthrough, but they had
caused serious casualties to the Germans. The Germans could not keep losing this
amount of soldiers. Crucially, the Allies could fight for longer because:

● The Allies had larger reserves (they could enlist people from the vast
British and French Empire to fight).
● Thousands of US troops were on their way to help the Allies. The USA
declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 because Germany had been
sinking US ships which had been providing supplies to Britain. The first US
troops arrived in June 1917, though they would not reach the Western
Front until May 1918.
● The civilian population in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey were
suffering extreme shortages and hardships.

How long could Germany hang on?

Lack of reserves:

● The German army had used almost all of its reserves of manpower.
Germany did not have a large empire like the British and French to conscript
more men from.
● Germany was forced to conscript elderly soldiers or those not as fit or too
young.

Lack of supplies:

● Food shortages had become severe in Germany by 1918. This was due to
the Allied naval blockade that had been in place in 1914, which prevented
food supplies entering German ports.
● Rationing was established in 1915 for essential food items, and provided
for less than 2,000 calories per person per day. Many lived on fewer
calories.
 ● The failure of the 1916 potato harvest made people depend on beet
vegetables, like turnips. The 1917 Winter has become known as the ‘Turnip
Winter’ in Germany.
● By 1918, thousands relied on soup kitchens to avoid starvation. The daily
bread ration was down to only a quarter of a loaf and milk was almost
impossible to find.

The German government allowed ‘substitute’ foods to be created because of the

shortages experienced. Here a some below that Germans tried:

Product Made from…

Meat Pressed rice, mushrooms boiled in mutton fat and

sometimes even finished off with a fake bone made of
wood.
Bread Flour, potatoes, beans, peas and buckwheat; usually
barely edible.
Coffee Dandelion roots and barley.
Tea Strawberry or raspberry leaves.
Cocoa Roasted peas; rye and chemical flavouring.

Germany’s suffering and unrest:

Malnutrition affected many Germans and thousands, weakened by hunger,
succumbed to diseases like tuberculosis, influenza and pneumonia. As many as
762,000 German civilians died from malnutrition and associated diseases.

Many Germans wanted better living conditions. In Berlin in January 1918, half a
million workers went on strike. Such action had a damaging impact on the war
effort, and showed that Germany could not keep going with the War much longer
– it was causing too much unrest at home.