Bellringer• Download today’s notes: WWI Warfare Notes• Turn in any makeup or late work.• Open yesterday’s notes (WWI Causes) and prepare to go

over review questions.

Review!• 1. What were the main causes of WWI?• 2. Which region was the “powder keg of Europe”?• 3. What was the “spark” that set the war off?• 4. What was the Schlieffen plan?• 5. Who was the first to declare war?

Beginning of War• Many were enthusiastic about war

• Many believed that war would be over in a few weeks

• The realities of trench warfare and new technology soon dashed these hopes…

Trench Warfare• Strategy of defending a position by fighting from deep,

protected ditches.

• 2 Major front systems formed in Europe• Western Front- Stalemate of trench warfare across

France• Both sides were kept in the virtually the same positions for four

years

• Eastern Front- marked by mobility• Russians knocked out fairly quickly• Austrians did poorly until Germany came to help (Italy turned on

them! WHY??)• Together Germany and Austria defeated Serbia, focused back on

the west

The Western Front

Trench Warfare Video• Take out your worksheet and answer the questions as the

video plays!

Life in the Trenches

• Cold, wet, dirty• Unsanitary- disease spread

• Trench Rats• Body Lice• Trench foot• Scarce Food Supply

Soldiers spent months in the trenches in these horrible conditions.

No-Man’s Land• The area between opposing trenches • Most fighting took place in this area.

The Trench System

What do you think the purpose of having 3 lines of trenches could be?

Stalemate

• With each side “dug in” their trenches, a stalemate occurred along the Western Front.• Inability for either side to win a decisive victory.• The stalemate lasted for 4 long years.

• Became a war of attrition • A war based on wearing the other side down by constant

attacks and heavy losses.

Weapons of World War 1

• World War 1 saw the use of new weapons in combat that made war even more dangerous.

• Industrialization made many new weapons technologies possible.

New Weapons included:

Machine Guns

Bolt Action Rifles

Artillery

Poison Gas

Tanks

Airplanes

Machine Guns & Bolt Action Rifles

• Machine Guns fired 400 to 600 rounds per minute• Each side set up groups of

machine guns along trenches to stop enemy advance Machine Gun

Bolt Action Rifle

Bolt Action rifles could be shot accurately up to 600 yards

Machine Guns (cont.)

• Each had the firepower of approx. 100 rifles.

• Dramatically increased the number of casualties during WWI

Artillery• Launched artillery shells nearly 10 miles that exploded

into deadly fragments over enemy positions.

British Howitzer

Poison Gas• Used in artillery shells- explosion would release gas into trenches.

• 2 Main types used:• Chlorine Gas- destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and

this led to a slow death by asphyxiation.

• Mustard Gas- caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane.

**Most important piece of equipment was a soldiers gasmask.

Tanks

• Developed by the British to end the stalemate on the Western Front in 1915.• Could cause heavy damage to enemy lines• Had tough time crossing trenches- many early models got hung up

in trenches.• British developed the Mark I- rhomboid shaped to get over

trenches- made a significant contribution to the war.

Airplanes• First time in history they were used on the battlefield• First used for spotting the enemy’s position, later used for

ground targets• Pilots first fired at each other using pistols!

• Later machine guns were mounted on planes

• Germans experimented with zeppelins, but they were highly flammable

Review!• 1. How did the Eastern and Western Fronts differ?• 2. What was life like in the trenches?• 3. What new weapons and technologies were introduced

and improved during WWI?• 4. How did these improvements make this war especially

deadly?• 5. Why do you think WWI was the last large-scale conflict

in which trench warfare was used?

Letter Home from the Trenches!• Imagine you are a British soldier who has been serving in

the trenches of the Western Front for two years. Write a letter home that discusses daily work, health, and living conditions.

• You can read primary source letters from the link on the website.

• Make sure you accurately touch on all the categories mentioned above!

• Be creative! We may hang them up on the door