World War I was a major conflict fought between 1914 and 1918. Other names for World War I include the First World War, WWI, the War to End All Wars, and the Great War.
Who fought in World War I?
World War I was fought between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. The main members of the Allied Powers were France, Russia, and Britain. The United States also fought on the side of the Allies after 1917. The main members of the Central Powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.
Where was most of the fighting?
The majority of the fighting took place in Europe along two fronts: the western front and the eastern front. The western front was a long line of trenches that ran from the coast of Belgium to Switzerland. A lot of the fighting along this front took place in France and Belgium. The eastern front was between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria on one side and Russia and Romania on the other.
How did it start?
Although there were a number of causes for the war, the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the main catalyst for starting the war. After the assassination, Austria declared war on Serbia. Then Russia prepared to defend its ally Serbia. Next, Germany declared war on Russia to protect Austria. This caused France to declare war on Germany to protect its ally Russia. Germany invaded Belgium to get to France which caused Britain to declare war on Germany. This all happened in just a few days.
Major Battles
A lot of the war was fought using trench warfare along the western front. The armies hardly moved at all. They just bombed and shot at each other from across the trenches. Some of the major battles during the war included the First Battle of the Marne, Battle of the Somme, Battle of Tannenberg, Battle of Gallipoli, and the Battle of Verdun.
How did it end?
The fighting ended on November 11, 1918 when a general armistice was agreed to by both sides. The war officially ended between Germany and the Allies with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
Interesting Facts about World War I
More than 65 million men fought in the war.
Dogs were used in the trenches to carry messages. A well-trained messenger dog was considered a very fast and reliable way to carry messages.
It was the first major war where airplanes and tanks were used.
Ninety percent of the 7.8 million soldiers from Austria-Hungary who fought in the war were either injured or killed.
When the British first invented tanks they called them "landships."
The terrorist group responsible for assassinating Archduke Ferdinand was called the Black Hand.
Famed scientist Marie Curie helped to equip vans with x-ray machines that enabled French doctors to see bullets in wounded men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUY_sbI1bZc Watch this for preparation
Using the information on this blog page, complete the worksheet given to you in class today.
Comment: So far, what fact have you found most interesting about WWI?
What I find most interesting is how two bullets can affect the world so greatly. Obviously, the assassination of Ferdinand wasn't the only reason for the uproar, but it kind of set off a huge domino effect. I thought it was also crazy how all the different countries declared war on each other because of all their treaties and agreements.
ReplyDeletei learned all the names that they had for WWI
ReplyDeleteWhat I found that was interesting was that dogs were used to carry messages, I knew about pigeons doing the same job. I wonder if the solders smile at the sight of the messenger dogs?
ReplyDeleteThe fact I've found most interesting about WWI, is definitely how it was started!! The collage of agreements with so many different countries is mind boggling! :P I find it interesting that Serbia was the country that practically started WWI....I knew someone from Serbia. :)
ReplyDeletewhat i thought was most interesting to me was how many countries got involved and how huge the war got
ReplyDeleteThe fact I found most interesting is that most of the war was fought in trenches.
ReplyDeleteThe fact I found most interesting was that the countries that were allied or against one another didn't seem to have a reason to be. It was like the war was there just cuz they wanted it to be.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was most interesting that the reason the war got so big was because everyone was protecting everyone else! That didn't work out to well...:(
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how only two countries can start a world war. And how fast it happened.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting to learn that a chain reaction involving 100 countries could be started by an assassination.
ReplyDeletei found it fascinating that america joined the war 9 months before it ended
ReplyDeleteI think it's crazy that so many country's joined the war. If I was a ruler of a country I would imagine I would want to stay out of the war if possible. The reasons I would want to join in the war would be if another country did something awe full or dangerous to my country, or out of respect, but it does seem like a lot of the European countries joined only to protect another country.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how many people died in the war over 4 years, and how many other people were wounded.
ReplyDeleteOK, so I found it quite interesting how WWI's root cause was because of the terrorist group called the Black Hand assassinated Archduke Ferdinand. Even thought the terrorists were Serbian, the Serbian government had nothing to do with it, but Austria blamed the Serbian country and declared war on them. I found the following very interesting... Russia came to the aid of Serbia, but the Germans who were allies with Austria then declared war on the Russians, thus France who had a treaty with Russia came to help, thus Germany declared war on France and France returned the favor. Germany now in war with France, decided the best route to France was through Belgium, thus invading Belgium. But, that only brought Germany more opponents because Great Britain had a treaty with Belgium and came to its rescue, thus declaring war with Germany. This was the start of WWI. America stayed neutral, even after the 100 Americans died because a German U-boat sunk it. But finally, when Germany's foreign secretary, A. Zimmerman, sent a secret telegram to the German minister in Mexico, saying that if America ever seemed certain to join the war, the minister was to approach the Mexican government and propose a military alliance with them, with funding from Germany. The telegram stated the intent to begin unrestricted submarine warfare, and also instructed the minister in Mexico, that if America joined the war, to urge Mexico to ally with Germany, and also as Japan to join. When the British Intelligence intercepted the message and decoded it, and shared it with the US, the US Citizens were shocked and urged for their government to join the war anyways. Thus, in April of 1917, America joined the war.
ReplyDeleteI like how America was the only country to really join the war without having a treaty to follow through or any actual direct attacks from the central powers.