SOC.

SCIENCE SECTION II

1. The Course of the War a. The Imbalance of Military Capabilities i. Roughly equal in the beginning, economically Entente was ahead. ii. Russian left war, but U.S joined rebalancing iii. Germany was better trained, better equipped, and had better transportation. Central Powers were clustered allowing pressure to be relieved. b. Early Battles i. The Western Front 1. Strategy a. France underestimated the number of divisions Germany would send through Belgium b. Joffres Plan 17 looked to deploy troops to take Alsace-Lorraine 2. The German Attack and the Battle of the Frontiers a. Germany loses precious time in Belgium b. Battle of Frontiers (Aug 14-Sept 6, 1914) i. Largest battle in human history ii. ~equal forces fighting iii. 200,000 in casualties in a week. iv. French/British retreat v. Moltke sends two corps (seven divisions) to Eastern Front to combat quicker-than-expected Rus. 3. The First Battle of the Marne and the Race to the Sea a. French/Belgian troops disrupted supply lines for German by destroying rail/bridges b. First Battle of the Marne i. Marked end of Schlieffen Plan ii. 35 German generals resigned iii. Casualties by Dec. 600,000 iv. Race to the Sea v. Erich von Falkenhayn commands Ger. c. First Battle of Ypres i. Germany vs. BEF, Germany almost wins ii. Belgium opens sluice gates flooding lands, halting German advance.

SOC. SCIENCE SECTION II

ii. The Eastern Front 1. Necessary to mobilize quickly to stop German advances in Western Front 2. Aimed to break through minimal defenses in Ger. 3. The Russian-German Battles: Gumbinnen, Tannenberg, Masurian Lakes a. Russia didnt all in Germany, tried to knock out Austria to help Serbia b. Russia wanted to achieve imperial goals c. 1st Army under Rennenkampf 2nd Samsonov d. Battle Of Gumbinnen i. Russian victory, Germany loses 8000 men. ii. Erich Ludendorff in command e. Russia failed to encode messages>generals didnt communicate->1st Army fails to receive call for help f. Battle of Tannenberg i. German troops engaged, flanked, captured, and destroyed 2nd Army. g. Battle of Masurian Lakes i. German troops confronted and won against 1st Army 4. Austria-Hungary: Attack on Serbia and the Russian Invasion of the Austrian Province of Galicia a. Logical Strat. to leave minimal forces in South for Serb. and focus on Rus. b. Conrad (Aus.) decides to attack Serbia, Germany orders him to attack Russia. c. Single track railroads delay movement of Austrian troops for first weeks of war d. Underestimated Serbian military and lost despite better weapons e. Battle of Lviv i. Considered first major Entente victory. ii. Diverse Austrian Army defected /surrendered according to some sources

SOC. SCIENCE SECTION II

iii. Stalemate: Trench Warfare on the Western Front 5. Machine Guns a. First developed in the 1880s-90s. i. 1914 cooling systems, reduction in weight, high rate of fire ii. storm of steel b. Artillery became essential to war i. No-mans land was wired and heavily defended ii. Cavalry and tanks were too vulnerable 1. Horses required fodder iii. Brakes eliminated the need to reposition after firing artillery c. German Krupp and Austrian Skoda 6. Deep Trench Systems a. Falkenhayn proposed seeking peace treaty i. Recognized unwinnable war b. Ordered the construction of sophisticated network of trenches and defenses c. Stacked lines of machine guns/trenches 7. Belief in Artillery a. Both sides were in a race to create the deadliest weapons. Gasses, tanks, airplane. b. Massive artillery bombardments were one of the few ways people tried to win wars. c. The Imperial War i. The Ottoman Empire 1. Entry Into the War a. Heavy loss of territory after 1st 2nd Balkan Wars b. 1908 Young Turk Revolutions c. Turkish anger at Ententes meddling in affairs i. Germany appealed as a militaristic industrial powerhouse. ii. Germany helped modernize 1913 d. Sept. 1914, Renunciation of all unequal treaties.

SOC. SCIENCE SECTION II

i. Gave extensive privileges to foreigners ii. Harbored two German warships, Goeben/Breslau, trapped in Med. e. Diplomacy with Br. Fr. Centered on Russia not acquiring their land after the war (for neutrality) i. Unable to convince Russia to agree f. Oct. 1914 sank Russian ship i. Declaration of war, Germany believed in global Muslim uprising. 2. The Ottoman Battles in the Caucasus, Gallipoli, and the Middle East a. Battle of Sarikamish i. Dec. 1914 Enver marches to Caucasus 1. Temperature and supply problems 2. Disastrous opening for Ottoman b. Battle of Gallipoli Feb-Dec. 1915 i. Entente looked for opp. On other fronts ii. Looked to open Dardanelles and Straits for Russian supply. iii. Br. Fr. Sent largest naval force towards Dardenelles. Landed April 1915 iv. ANZAC forces held still for 8 months. Bulgaria joined in Sept. 1915 forcing Entente retreat. v. Major strategic setback, despite Ottomans > casualties. c. Sinai Peninsula i. Unsuccessful attacks on Suze Canal ii. British offensives in Sinai and Baghdad all failed 1. Largest Capitulation in British History 2. Charles Townshend Apr. 1916 iii. Fear of Muslim mobilization kept many colonial forces in place 1. Staved off Allied victory and prolonged war

SOC. SCIENCE SECTION II

d. Erzerum i. Major fortress complex that Enver deemed impregnable ii. Feb. 1916 taken over, 5 days by Rus. iii. Contained almost all Turkish artillery guns in Caucasus. e. Faced defeats along Arabian Peninsula for suspected bias against Muslim ii. The Global War 1. British and French Conquest of German Colonies in Africa and Asia a. Japan declared war on Germany Aug. 1914 defeated German forces in China. b. Overwhelmed troops at Tsingtao Nov. 1914 and all of Germans Asian empire c. African empires went to war. Paul van Lettow evaded a British force of 130,000 with 14,000 men. Askari natives aided 2. Colonial Dominion Troop mobilizations and Participations in the War a. Overall Britain had the greatest # of all troops i. Australian troops fought in Gal.Egy. ii. Canada brought 55,000 volunteers, opposed to conscription iii. India 1,300,000 troops b. Spurred Can. Aus. NZ towards full ind. i. National pride built, disillusionment w/ Britain over human/economic cost of war c. Pushed India to national ind. d. Massive Rebellions in Central Asia d. The Eastern Front 1. German Offensives and the Great Retreat of the Russian Army, May-October 1915 a. Germany digs in West, pushes hard in East b. A-H army nearly disintegrated with many co-ethnics surrendering. c. Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive 1915 i. Intense artillery bombardment broke Russian shallow trench lines

SOC. SCIENCE SECTION II

ii. Thin railways slowed transport of reserves iii. Thinly spread out army easily broken, flanked, and captured. 2. Consequences of the Great Retreat and Total War for Russian Domestic Politics, Society, and Empire. a. Great Retreat 1915 i. Lost fortresses and stockpiles, 13% of their population, industrialized parts of Poland ii. Russian pogroms attacked Jews iii. 3-day Riots, Russia prepared for total war economy b. Germany had still not beaten Russia i. No separate peace was arranged. Russia remained with Entente agrmnt. c. Italy entered the war creating another problem for Central powers d. 3rd Battle of Artois 1915 i. Introduction of Chlorine gas by Br. unsuccessfully ii. Planes used to find artillery targets iii. Fr. Br. Troops broke through 1st line of trenches, slaughtered by 2nd e. Offensives were utterly pointless and actually favored the defenders f. Bulgaria joined Central Powers b/c Serbia g. Russian Winter shifted focus back to West. e. Total War 1915-1917 1. Beginning in 1915, Germany focused back on West, Entente needed to coordinate attacks. 2. Artillery recognized as the key to winning war. 3. Larger conscriptions in Britain, exemptions whittled down a. Led to Easter Uprising 1916 (Irish) led to Irish Independence (1919, 21) b. Petrograd Mutiny with less reliable ethnic groups. Brought down the tsar (1917).

SOC. SCIENCE SECTION II

4. Battle of Verdun a. Falkanhayn lured Joffre into historical city of Verdun. b. War of Attrition won by whittling down each others troops until surrender c. Joffre didnt believe in strategic value of Verdun, rather moral value. d. Phosphene gas, flamethrowers introduce by Germany. Ger. Destroyed railways i. French supply systems and food transport e. Very few territorial gains, horrific death tolls, trenching was too advanced for artillery, new masks neutralized gasses, charges through no-mans land were futile. 5. Brusilov Offensive a. Attacks needed to be coordinated in order to relieve pressure on all fronts and to force Germany to transfer its troops. b. 1916 Russia launches attack at Lake Narocz i. Heavily outnumbered Germans, faulty artillery information, unmitigated disaster, 100,000 casualties. c. Sapper trenches dug close to enemy lines, aerial photography, misinformation of troops location to A-H d. Austria severely weakened by transfer of Germany divisions back to Verdun. Brusilov launched attack a month early e. Simultaneous artillery strikes confused AH reserves. Efficient and accurate artillery cleared no-mans land. f. Sapper trenches were so close, some Russians met Austrians in dugout g. Considered highly successful in relieving pressure and causing Germany to redirect troops from Verdun. i. Unable to be full victory, Rus. Army to North was dismal failure.