How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country

DULCE ET DECORUM EST by WILFRED OWEN

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their bootsBut limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!---An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,---My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

QUIZ pp. 712-717

1. What did people think about the length/duration of the war at the start?

2. What happened at the FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE in September 1914?

3. What did both sides end up doing on the WESTERN FRONT?

4. Who had the most success on the EASTERN FRONT?

5. Who were the three members of the CENTRAL POWERS?

6. What was the LUSITANIA?

7. Why did the United States enter the war in April 1917?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. SHORT/BRIEF AND EXCITING2. FRENCH STOP THE GERMANS RIGHT

OUTSIDE PARIS3. TRENCH WARFARE4. THE GERMANS ROASTED THE RUSSIANS5. GERMANY, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY,

OTTOMANS6. PASSENGER SHIP SUNK BY THE GERMANS7. GERMAN UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE

WARFARE

1914-1915: ILLUSIONS AND STALEMATE

The start of the war –1. enthusiastic and excited2. Everyone supported it3. Nationalism stronger than class identity4. Short war home by Christmas5. Release from boring bourgeois existence6. Strengthen the nation heroic and noble

THE WESTERN FRONT

Trench warfare Stalemate Trenches from the English Channel to the

Alps Defense has advantage over offense

THE EASTERN FRONT

Battles of Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes

German success Russia failure Hindenburg &

Ludendorff = the two great German generals on the Eastern Front

1916-1917: THE GREAT SLAUGHTER

Trench Warfare – 1. Barbed wire2. Machine guns3. Mortar batteries4. Heavy artillery5. “no man’s land”

Battle of Verdun – 700,000 deadBattle of the Somme

DAILY LIFE IN THE TRENCHES

Gruesome conditions Death all around Mud and filth Noise and explosions Panic and confusion Introduction of poison gas

THE WIDENING OF THE WAR

Attempts to break the deadlock on the Western Front

1. New allies2. British attack the Ottomans

the GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN3. War in the Middle East =

T.E. Lawrence = LAWRENCE OF ARABIA Lawrence + Arabs v. Ottomans

4. Allied powers seize German colonies around the world

ENTRY OF THE UNITED STATES

1914-1917 USA remains neutral German naval blockade of Britain May 1915 – the sinking of the Lusitania Americans outraged about Lusitania

Germans suspend unrestricted submarine warfare

January 1917 German resume unrestricted submarine warfare

THE ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM April 1917 USA joins the Allied powers

against Germany

RMS LUSITANIA

GERMAN U-BOATS

THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA – MAY 1915

PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON

AMERICAN WW I PROPAGANDA POSTERS