Trench warfare

Trench Warfare

Trench warfare is warfare in which opposing armed forces go to war in a permanent system of trenches dug into the ground.Trench warfare was resorted to when nations had superior firearms which were not equal advances to those of mobility.  Reacting to this, nations were forced to dig into the ground giving up their mobility but gained much more protection from advanced weapons. This system of hiding into dug in trenches lead to long miserable wars in which the defender were able to hold the advantage.

Trenches system consisted of:

• two,three,four,or more trench lines running parallel to each and being at least 1 mile in depth
• trench were in zigzag formation so that an enemy could not fire down the whole trench.
•  Food, ammunition, fresh troops, mail, and orders were delivered through these trenches
• The complicated stations included command posts, forward supply dumps,first-aid stations,kitchens,and latrines
• Machine gun emplacements were installed to defend against assaults with huge dugout trenches giving shelter to large numbers of troops against bombings
• There were firing positions along the raised forward step called fire step which were equipped with duckboards to secure footing on the muddy surface
• The front line of trenches known as the outpost line was scattered with soldiers who were distributed behind barbed wire
• The main line of defense were two to four parallel lines of trenches fronted by fields of barbed wire to slow down the mobility of the enemy
• There were also support trenches and reserve trenches were they troops were able to relax, eat, and sleep.

Western Front

Allied troops were able to stop Germany's push through France and Belgium which lasted for the first month of WW1. Both sides expected this conflict to be short and resolved easily but ended up being long and bloody as Germany/Allied forces dug the first trenches on the Western Front on September 15, 1914. The battle along the Western Front brought out the highest development of the trenches during WW1 as the system was used from the winter of 1914 and lasted throughout the spring of 1918. As time passed the trenches stretched from the North sea Coast of Belgium southward through France. All the trenches built in WW1, end to end, stretched about 25.000 miles(12,000 miles occupied by the Allies and the rest by the Central Powers). The trenches came about the first couple months of the war due to the offensives portrayed by Germany and France with the rapid fire of the machine guns. The amount of bullets and shells fired throughout the air pushed the nations into the decision to dig into the soil for shelter and survival. 

Cons of Trench Warfare

• Trench Foot
• Rats
• Lice
• lacked bathrooms
• bodies buried in trenches

Work Cited:

Pictures

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_warfare

http://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_i/trench_warfare.php

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226235/Historian-Andrew-Robertshaw-builds-60ft-long-First-World-War-TRENCH-Surrey-garden-highlight-plight-frontline-Tommies.html

http://photosofwar.net/14649/french-soldiers-wait-in-their-trenches-at-the-western-front-during-the-first-world-war-ca-1916

https://hsiestage5resources2013.wikispaces.com/Trench+Warfare?responseToken=0b6e01434aaad30856cbba5b54dd90f28

http://www.artofanderson.com/world-war-1-western-front-map/

Info

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/604210/trench-warfare

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-trenches-are-dug-on-the-western-front

http://www.historyrocket.com/World-War/world-war-i/trench-warfare/Disadvantages-In-Trench-Warfare.html

World War I Propaganda

"Propaganda was used in World War One as in any war - and the truth suffered. Propaganda ensured that the people only got to know what their governments wanted them to know. In World War One, the lengths to which governments would go to in an effort to blacken the enemy’s name reached a new level. 

To ensure that everybody thought in the way the government wanted, all forms of information were controlled. Newspapers were expected to print what the government wanted the reader to read. In fact, though this would appear to be a form of censorship, the newspapers of Britain, effectively controlled by the media barons of the time, were happy to play ball. They printed headlines that were designed to stir up emotions regardless of whether they were accurate or not."

http://www.ww1propaganda.com
*This is a link to a website that has many examples of World War I propaganda posters

Beginning of the Use of Propaganda

"Each of the nations which participated in World War One from 1914-18 used propaganda posters not only as a means of justifying involvement to their own populace, but also as a means of procuring men, money and resources to sustain the military campaign."

The United States used women to persuade people into joining the navy because it showed that if women were to join then they could too.

"In countries such as Britain the use of propaganda posters was readily understandable: in 1914 she only possessed a professional army and did not have in place a policy of national service, as was standard in other major nations such as France and Germany."

"Yet while the use of posters proved initially successful in Britain the numbers required for active service at the Front were such as to ultimately require the introduction of conscription.  Nevertheless recruitment posters remained in use for the duration of the war - as was indeed the case in most other countries including France, Germany and Italy."

"However wartime posters were not solely used to recruit men to the military cause.  Posters commonly urged wartime thrift, and were vocal in seeking funds from the general public via subscription to various war bond schemes (usually with great success)."

"Interestingly, for all that the U.S.A. joined the war relatively late - April 1917 - she produced many more propaganda posters than any other single nation."

American vs. British Propaganda

On the left is an example of British propaganda used during World War I, and on the right is an example of  American propaganda. Both posters contain many similarities because they are both directing their audience towards their citizens. Both posters contain images of important national figure that had a major impact of the people of both Britain and America. The images are similar because both figures are pointing saying how they want you to join the army and how their country depends on your help. 

British Propaganda

"Britain, in the beginning of the First World War, was incredibly weak. She only possessed a small number of professional troops to send towards the warfront after they entered the war in the August of 1914. Since the British were probably the weakest power to fight in the Western front, it was important for them to search for ways to receive recruits. The British government did not issue drafts to force men into the army or threaten anyone to join by use of deadly force. They found a more subtle way that could increase the number of soldiers they had. In order to urge the British people to fight in the war, the government decided to spread propaganda around like a contagion."

"Some posters made men who did not volunteer to join the war feel guilty that they turned their backs against their nation’s army. Others motivated the people to contribute money and goods. Women were influenced by these posters to help serve as the replacements of the men in their jobs as they went to war, working in factories and nurses most of the time. Articles were also written to solidify British nationalism and portray the enemy as horrible as they could. These articles usually spoke about British success [and enemy failures] in an emphasized way that they blocked out anything that showed the British army in the negative sense."

https://worldwaripropaganda.wordpress.com
*link to more information on propaganda

American Propaganda

"Although the United States was the last nation to enter World War I on April 2nd, 1917, Americans had no problem getting everyone almost everyone involved. Artists used propaganda posters to motivate Americans, young and old, to contribute to the role of the Untied States in the war.

The thought of glory, fame, and heroism was one of the main motivators for men. Propaganda often hinted signs of heroism, convincing them that after the war was over, they would be known as heroes. If this wasn’t enough to encourage young men to join the army, artists also used women as a motivator. Women were shown as pretty young girls, who beckon the men to join and fight alongside with them. Another way of having men join the army was by depicting the enemy as bloodthirsty monsters by characterizing the monsters with something the enemy would have. Several propaganda posters often displayed pictures of monsters attacking the people of the United States. This enraged American citizens, and provoked them into joining the army."

Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. "Propaganda Posters- Introduction." First World War. N.p., n.d. 
     Web. 31 Mar. 2015. 
"German World War I Propaganda Posters." Lawyers, Guns & Money. N.p., n.d. Web. 
     1 Apr. 2015. 
"Introduction to World War I Propaganda." World War I Propaganda. N.p., 24 Jan. 
     2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <https://worldwaripropaganda.wordpress.com>. 
"Propaganda and World War One." History Learning Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 
     2015. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ 
     propaganda_and_world_war_one.htm>. 
"World War I Propaganda Posters." Learn NC. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. 
     <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/ww1posters/6203>. 
"World War 1 Recruitment Poster." Children's Lives. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. 
     <http://childrenslives.connectinghistories.org.uk/engine/resource/ 
     default.asp?theme=10&originator=%2Fengine%2Ftheme%2Fdefault.asp&page=&records=&di 
     rection=&pointer=498&text=0&resource=2246>. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEzx9fWmfv4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROWm80BIs_c

The Central Powers

Who were the central powers?

The central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and after World War One started the Ottomans joined. Together they faced the Allies in brutal warfare for the first World War.

Austria-Hungary

-Before the War

• Gavrillo Princip (Black Hand- Serbia) kills Archduke Ferdinand (heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne)

• The Black Hand was so secret that Austria-Hungary did not know it was them and blamed Serbia as a whole, so they declared war on Serbia, starting World War One.

• This was the spark that set off the fire

Here is a video that explains the method behind the assassination of the Archduke

-The War

• Austria-Hungary starts attacking Serbia, Russia is there to defend and after Russia attacks Austria-Hungary, Germany comes in to defend Austria-Hungary.
• On the eastern front they helped slow Russia’s movements
• Germany, fighting a war on two fronts, were struggling for resources, Austria-Hungary was there to provide assistance
• The Battles of the Isonzo were against Italy and Austria-Hungary successfully held off Italy and protected Germany

Germany

-Before the War

• Exploiting the coal and iron reserves in their land, Germany started to become one of the leading industrial powers in Europe
• This industrialization naturally led the the creation of a strong military and navy, challenging Great Britain to an arms race.

-The War

• Didnt want to fight a war on two fronts so they wanted to attack France to prevent that war on two fronts

• They used the Von Schlieffen plan
• Here is a link to a page that goes over the Von Schlieffen Plan in depth
• Germany attacks France by going around them through the north through Belgium (neutral)

• GB hates how Germany would invade a neutral country to get to France, so they decide to join war
• As a result, Germany can't invade France so they fight the war one two fronts
• This lead to Germany engaging in trench warfare along the Western Front with France, creating a stalemate and battle of attrition using up resources and soldiers
• This left the homefront with a lack of food, causing the civilians to starve

Turkey = Ottoman Empire
-Before the war

• Known as “the sick man of Europe”: unindustrialized and falling apart
• Population: 25 million
• The young turks took over the Ottoman Empire while it was weak and reformed it building up a military

-The War

• Entered the war on the Central Powers on Oct. 29, 1914
• They were not industrialized and not nearly as powerful as the other countries
• Leaned on the Central powers for help and power
• Fought in eastern Asia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the Dardanelles
• Started cleaning up their country
• Abolished the Capitulations, the autonomous status of Lebanon was ended, and the Armenian genocide was to eliminate any support for the enemy
• Battle of Gallipoli: the Ottoman Empire stops the allies from supplying Russia
• Russia would not have surrendered if they were able to be supplied
• The Fall of the Ottoman Empire:
• Click here to learn about some of the main events that led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
• After their defeat, the Treaty of Versailles divided the Ottoman Empire into 3 parts: Turkey received about a quarter of the land, three quarters were made into a protectorate of Great Britain and France, and a small part was made into Palestine and promised to the Jews and Arabs

Sources

• "Black Hand." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
• "Second German Empire." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
• "Ottoman Empire." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/111081>.
• "Germany". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/231186/Germany/58199/World-War-I>.
• "World War I." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/110198>.

• http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02957/archduke_assass_ju_2957102b.jpg (newspaper pic)
• https://acidhistory.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/ww1-power-blocks.jpg?w=627 (map pic)
  
  
• http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/asstd2/sultans.jpg (photo)

Prisoner of War

Each country thought that they were going to crush their opposition especially Germany.  The Germans believed they had the best military and that they were so much more powerful than the rest. They were right to some extent but they failed to consider that they were fighting against three world super powers.  Germany was so confidant that there was eminent victory on the horizon that they didn't even build any POW camps  They didn't expect such a long arduous war.  When the first POW's arrived in Germany they had to build their own prison camps. By 1915 over a million french and British soldiers flooded in to German POW camps

 The prisoners would sleep in open fields surrounded by barbed wire and guarded heavily around the clock.  Soldiers just kept pouring in due to the fact that they were fighting a war on two fronts and towards the end of a war a third front.  For nearly 6 months every arriving prisoner would be building their own prisons.  Soldiers were outside for 24 hours a day and were only allowed a thin blanket to sleep in.  The constant exposure took a toll on the soldiers and the death rate of POW's steadily rose until the prisons were finished.  The death rate grew even larger once all the prisoners were confined to one area.  The camps were extraordinarily unsanitary which allowed Typhoid and Influenza to ravage through the camps.  It really is true that diseases killed more American troops then actual battle.  At one Austria-Hungary POW camp an average of 186 POW's died per day.  Over a four year period the total deaths would be over 100,000 soldiers.  At Totskoe Russian POW camp it is estimated that 25,000 soldiers died just from Typhoid.  The Germans began to recognize the problem and started to build disinfection vats and showers that would removed lice and other diseases.  Modern latrines also began to be implemented in the camps saving countless of lives from diseases.  
Some of the most famous pictures of any POW's is soldiers standing in masses behind barbed wire.  
But this is a complete misnomer if soldiers weren't eating or sleeping then they were working.  Only soldiers were allowed to fight by law officers were not allowed to be put to work and this law was mostly enforced by the International red cross.  The amount of work depended on the country.  France put their POW's through hell especially the German troops.  France was the first country to put soldiers to work on the front lines.  The work was brutal and the diseases tore through the front line camps.  The POW's would work under constant mortar and artillery fire.  Once the Germans found out about their own troops being forced to work on shell fire they began to force French and other POW's to do the same.  Before that the Germans forced labor was all the jobs the men that went to fight in the war did.  They worked in factories, farmed and mined.  Most of the troops were sent to small villages to do manual labor and they were forced to try to help save Germany from defeat.  The soldiers were sent to do jobs that Germany desperately needed done.  Germany ran out of man-power and subsequently Germany began to fold.  The English barely forced their POW's and by most accounts they were extraordinarily nice to the POW's.  The death rate of POW's in England was a mere 3%. German camps at one point or another reached 20%.  Nearly no soldiers were able to get out of work unless they were extremely sick.  It was very similar to Ivan Denisovich he wasn't able to get out of work because he felt awful.  His temperature wasn't high enough.  Even though as it turns out he most likely had cancer.   All in all as many as 10,000,000 soldiers were taken prisoner.  Over 600,000 Italian soldiers died in POW camps alone.  Romanians had the highest overall death rate.  29% of Romanians died while in German camps.         

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTAA6_VAcg

Works Cited

"British Troops Blinded by Tear Gas." The Spiritual Pilgram. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/03_The-World-since-1900/02_World-War-One/02_World-War-One.htm>.

"German POWs in French Prison Camp." The Spiritual Pilgram. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/03_The-World-since-1900/02_World-War-One/02f_1918.htm>.

Jones, Heather. "Prisoners of War." British Library. British Library. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/prisoners-of-war#>.

"A long line of German prisoners near Amiens escorted by a handful of Australian guards." The Spiritual Pilgram. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/03_The-World-since-1900/02_World-War-One/02f_1918.htm>.

War along the Western Front

THE WESTERN FRONT

The western front was a line of defensive works comprising trenches, barbed wire entanglements, blockhouses and underground shelters. The western front was the most important of the four fronts in WWI. It was the only front where there was fighting throughout the entire war and was where the war ended. The fighting was entirely in French and Belgian territory except for a brief attack into German owned Alsace. Belgium was wholly occupied apart from an enclave situated between Ypres and the French border. No Allied soldier set foot on German soil except for those taken prisoner. Millions of soldiers were sent to the front, where unrelenting artillery shelling on both sides transformed the landscape into craters and desolation, and several million of them perished there after enduring the cold, unhealthy and parasite-ridden conditions of the trenches. Throughout the conflict the various sectors of the front experienced periods of calm punctuated by heavy shelling and bloody offensives.

The western front of the war experienced three phases of fighting. It started as a war of movement with the German offensive, then turned into trench warfare, and then returned to a war of movement in the victorious allied offensive. On the Western Front, in an attempt to drive the German Army from the occupied territories, the Allies succeeded in mobilizing a collective military force comprising more than twenty nations with the British and French providing the majority of the soldiers and resources. The United States, which joined the Allies in the war in the spring of 1917, played a considerable role at the end of the war in the summer of 1918, which saw the Allies victorious.

 

The German invasion - a war of movement August to October 1914

 

In the final days of July 1914 countries mobilized their armies at great speed thanks to the efficient railway network then covering mainland Europe and began WWI. The Schliefen plan was the document of the German military strategy in the summer of 1914, which was to quickly defeat France and take Paris, forcing a rapid victory on the Western Front. The plan was a surprise attack through Belgium and into France, and executed by a large force of infantry, cavalry and artillery, while at the same time neutralizing the French initiatives on the Franco-German border. On 4 August 1914, forty-four German divisions streamed through Belgium in an attempt to attack the rear of the French Army massed in the north-east of the country. However despite the surprise, and at great human cost, the French Army withstood the attack and was able to retreat without collapsing.  In September 1914 the French were able to finally halt the German offensive just forty kilometers from their capital . Then on September 9, the Germans withdrew sixty kilometers to form a defensive line along the Aisne River. This retreat saw the failure of the Schlieffen plan and the start of trench warfare.

 

Trench warfare - November 1914 to March 1918 

After massive casualties on both sides from the invasion, the two sides took up position behind a continuous line of trenches and defensive works. The French objective became to reclaim, at any human cost, the territory occupied by the Germans. The commanders in chief of the Allied armies on the Western Front, Marshal Joffre for the French and Field Marshal French and General Haig for the British, decided a war of attrition was the way to beat the Germans. This strategy resulted in series of attacks with varying amounts of troops on sections of the front. These attacks were devastating to resources and brought massive losses to the armies. Neither side was able to get any real progress or break through the defensive lines fully

 

 

The Allied Victory - the return to a war of movement March-November 1918

At the end of 1917 the Germans created a new offensive plan called Kaiserschlacht. Ludendorff aimed to break through the Allied lines and advance to the Channel in order to seize the ports used by the British before American reinforcements arrived in any great number. This would have put Germany in a strong position to negotiate favourable conditions for the termination of the war. The major German offensive began at dawn on 21 March 1918 and devastated the British. The Germans broke through the front and British losses were high. French and American forces finally brought the German thrust to a halt in May 1918. At the end of July the British, French, and Americans were able to push the front in the other direction in a combined counter-attack. On 8 August 1918 the Allies began a massive offensive along the entire front. This offensive ended in victory for the Allies after 100 days of fighting. The Germans signed the Armistice on November 11, ending WWI.





 Works Cited

LE MANER, Yves. "Overview of the war on the Western Front." Remembrance Trails.
     N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.

WW1 - Episode 2: The Western Front. YouTube. N.p., 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 1 Apr.
     2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lngt0K9fFnI>.

 Pictures
Cheshire Regiment trench Somme 1916. N.d. wikia. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
     <http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100502195158/althistory/images/f/fa/
     Cheshire_Regiment_trench_Somme_1916.jpg>.


633620096. N.d. australianidentity. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
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     633620096.jpg?539>.

WesternFront Corbis300. N.d. guim. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
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     Western_Front_1917.jpg>.

The Allies- Their History and Role in WWI

“U.S. troops advance against entrenched German positions in 1918.”

This was the first time a war was fought with entire nations divided into two sides. The two sides were the "The Allies", also known as the Allied Powers, which was Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and the United States (part of the Associated Powers but still against the Central Powers).  The other side was The Central Powers which was Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.  Germany and France were already traditional enemies.  This war also had a staggering death toll with an estimated 14 million people killed.  This was made up of 9 million soldiers and 5 million civilians.  Financial costs were also staggering, estimated at about 337 billion.


The Allied Powers

The Major Powers or the Allied Powers consisted of the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire at first.  The Treaty of London joined these countries formally and was signed on September 5, 1914.  External treaties allowed the rest of the countries that became part of the Allied Powers to join.  Japan and Portugal would later join in treaties with Britain and Italy joined by the Treaty of London on April 26, 1915 with all 3 major powers of the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire.  The United States among other nations joined and gained entry to the Associated Powers.  The Associated Powers were nations against the Central Powers but were not the Allied Powers. WWI concluded with the Treaty of Versailles and included 27 countries between the Allied and Associated Powers.

The Central Powers

The Central Powers included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.  They also included the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. The Central Powers came from an earlier alliance created by Otto von Bismarck in 1882


Causes of World War I

How the Allies Won World War I

Treaty of Versailles

With the Treaty of Versailles, Great Britain and France take over Germany's colonies in Africa.  The Allies took over parts of present day Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania.  Some felt that the treaty was too harsh and went too far in the punishment for Germany and they correctly predicted the second coming of a World War.  Many people in France thought and argued that the treaty did not go far enough in the punishment of Germany.   The dissatisfaction of Germans with the Treaty of Versailles would lead to political extremism in Germany.



“American soldiers on the Piave front hurl a shower of hand grenades into Austrian trenches in Italy during World War I.”





Works Cited

"Allies hurl grenades from the Italian-Austrian front." Photos/Illustrations. World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO,2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

"Combat in 1918." Photos/Illustrations. National Archives. World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/16380/Allied-Powers

"The Paris Peace Conference: January 18, 1919–January 21, 1920." World History

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