GRADE 9 - 4TH QUARTER

LESSON: THE GREAT WAR

Allies of Germany

1914 TO 1915: ILLUSIONS AND Austrians:

STALEMATE
- Defeated by Russians in Galicia and were
thrown out of Serbia
August 1914
Italy: betrayed the Germans and Austrians
- Urgent pleas of governments for defense
against aggressors found many receptive - Entered the war on the Allied side (attacked
ears in every belligerent nation Austria in May 1915)
- Everyone believed that the war would - Allied/Allies: France, Great Britain, Russia,
be over in a few weeks and now Italy
⮚ Excited soldiers who joined the war
believed that they would be home by
Christmas German-Austrian Army:

German hopes for a quick end to war: rested - Pushed the Russians back 300 miles into
on a military gamble their own territory
- Russian casualties: 2.5 million killed,
- Schlieffen Plan: called for the German captured, or wounded
army to proceed through Belgium into - Because of this victory: Bulgarians joined
Northern France the Central Powers
- Germans: only 20 miles from Paris (First - September 15: Bulgarians attacked and
Battle of the Marne – Sept 6 – 10) eliminated Serbia from the war
⮚ Stalemate – neither the Germans nor
the French could dislodge each other
from the trenches Again, note lang:

ALLIED COUNTRIES:

On the Eastern Front: Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada,
Japan and the United States
- More mobility but the cost in lives was
equally enormous
- Beginning of the war: Russian army
CENTRAL POWER:
moved into eastern Germany but were
defeated at the Battles of Tannenberg Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the
(Aug 30) and Masurian Lakes (Sept Ottoman Empire
15)
⮚ Russians: no longer a threat to German
territory
1916 – 1917: THE GREAT SLAUGHTER - However: this attack rarely worked kasi
the machine gun put hordes of men na
Germany's success in the East: enabled them to
advancing unprotected
move back to the offensive in the West

1916-1917: millions of young men died

Trench Warfare
Soldiers on the western front: did not spend all
- Main type of warfare at the Western Front
of their time on the frontline or in combat
- Utilized machine guns
- Infantryman spent 1 week in the
Trenches
reserve lines
- Protected by barbed-wire entanglements - 2 weeks: somewhere behind the lines in
(3-5 feet high and 30 yards wide) rest camps where they stayed in place with
- Concrete machine gun nests a roof or a wooden hut
- Mortar and batteries ⮚ But: there was not much rest
- Troops lived in holes in the ground between ⮚ In the evening: sometimes the
the “no man’s land” soldiers sing songs and do comedic
sketches.
- Riddled with pests and decomposing bodies
of both man and animal.

- Trench foot was a common, often fatal THE WIDENING OF THE WAR
disease.
- Response to the stalemate in the
No Man’s Land: area between opposing armies western front: they looked for allies that
and trench lines could give aid for a winning advantage
⮚ Ottoman Empire: sided with
Germany in Aug 1914
Development of trench warfare on the ⮚ Bulgaria: also entered Germany’s side
western front: baffled military leaders - Russia, France, and Great Britain:
declared war on the Ottoman Empire (Nov
Periodically: either side would order an 1914)
offensive that would begin with an artillery
barrage to flatten the enemy’s barbed wire and
leave the enemy in a state of shock
A Global Conflict
- Creeping barrage
- Since major EU powers controlled
- Dati kasi pag pasugod yung charging party,
colonial empires in other parts of the
may time pa yung defending party to
world: war in EU would soon became a
prepare the troops and weapons tapos
world conflict
maraming namamatay sa mga sumusugod
⮚ In West Asia (1917): British Officer
- Late 1915: natake advantage yung strategy
Lawrence of Arabia encouraged Arab
ng creeping barrage para maflatten out yung
princes to revolt against their Ottoman
barbwire defenses
overlords
 ⮚ Egypt and Mesopotamia (1918): Germany: retaliated by imposing a counter
British forces destroyed the rest of the blockade that it enforced by the use of
Ottoman Empire in the Middle East unrestricted submarine warfare
⮚ British: mobilized forces from India,
Strong American protests: due to German
Australia, and New Zealand
sinking of passenger liners especially the British
ship Lusitania

Allies: Took advantage of Germany’s preoccupation

in EU and lack of naval strength
Sinking of Lusitania (May 7, 1915)
- Seized German colonies in Africa
- more than 100 Americans lost their lives
- Hundreds of thousands of Africans were
- Forced the German government to suspend
used for labor as well
unrestricted submarine warfare in
- Africans who fought for the Allies
September 1915
(especially those who left Africa):
became politically aware and started fighting
with the hopes that they will get citizenship
January 1917

- Germany: eager to break the deadlock in

Japan the war
⮚ Returned unrestricted submarine
- Joined the Allies in 1914
warfare
- Primarily to seize control of German
⮚ This change in strategy brought the US
territories in Asia
in the war (April 6, 1917)
- August 6: Sir Edward Grey (British Foreign ⮚ US: did not send troops in large
Secretary) numbers but their entry gave a
psychological boost for the Allied
- Requested naval assistance from
powers
japanese navy in hunting down
German merchant ships
- Japan: agreed because this was an
Allied Powers in 1917:
opportunity for them to pursue
their interests in the Far East - Not too good for them
- Their offensives on the western front were
disastrously defeated.
ENTRY OF THE UNITED STATES - Italian armies: were smashed in Oct
- Bolshevik Revolution: led to Russia’s
- grew out of naval conflict between Germany
withdrawal from the war
and Great Britain
- Left Germany free to concentrate
Britain: used its superior naval power by entirely on the western front
setting up a naval blockade of Germany
Central powers: may be seen as the ones who Woman in the War
were in advantage but
- New roles and opportunities opened up to
- War weariness in their territories became women due to absence of men
evident - WWI experiences led to establishment of a
- Home front: rapidly becoming a cause for women's movement for political
as much concern as the war front emancipation.
- Women were given the right to vote in
some European countries in 1918.
THE HOME FRONT: IMPACT OF TOTAL - Upper and middle class women began to
WAR enjoy superficial social emancipation

- Prolongation of WW1: affected the lives

of all normal citizens
- Because of the war: there is a need for
the help of the masses (for military force
and those who would help in supplying the
materials)
⮚ Led to:
a. Increased centralization of
government powers
b. Economic regimentation
c. Manipulation of public opinion to
keep the war effort on going

Control of Public Opinion:

- 1916: bumababa na yung morale ng mga tao

about the war
⮚ Government: took strenuous
measures to control the growing
opposition against the war
Example: British Parliament –
passed the Defence of the Realm Act
(allowed public authorities to arrest
dissenters and charge them as traitors)
⮚ Eventually used to censor the
press

European Governments: used propaganda to

arouse enthusiasm