WWI

England

Austria and Germany

England was actually planning on staying out of the war.

However, as news got back from Belgium, the British see the Germans as the mad guys who attacked a neutral country. Also, they had an alliance with Belgium.

Great Britain then goes to war with Germany. WWI has begun.

Europe- a Powder Keg

Poor Belgium

So after the prince is killed, Austria wants to go to war with Serbia. No problem, right? Austria could totally take Serbia.

Here's the problem: Serbia has an alliance with Russia, and Austria cannot fight them both.

But Austria has an alliance with Germany, which could kick Russia's butt. But wait, there's more....

Russia has an Alliance with France.

You see the problem?

In stable times, this incident would be settled easily. However, this is a really tense time for Europe.

Europe hasn't had a big war since Napoleon. All the empires have been arming themselves getting ready for when it finally starts.

Worse, they've gotten into entangling alliances, which ensures that the next war will be massive.

Belgium wanted nothing to do with war- they were a tiny country with a tiny army. However, when the Germans asked if they could go through, they said no.

Belgians begin blowing up bridges and roads to slow the Germans down, and the Germans react violently.

Schlieffen plan

Like any good story, it starts with murder....

Trench Warfare

Germany's Plan

New Technology and Old Tactics

As German forces fight French/British forces, it's a bloodbath. Tens of thousands of men die in single battles- casualties no one had seen before.

The Germans fail to take Paris- both sides begin digging trenches to protect them from machine guns and artillery. The Schlieffen Plan had failed- what would follow was four years of agonizing stalemate.

Germany says to Austria: it's cool, we got this. We have a plan.

For decades, Germany has had a secret plan to defeat both France and Russia if they ever got into a two-front war. It's called the Schlieffen plan. Problem is, it's a massive gamble.

It had been a long time since Europe had a real war- many generals still believed in Napoleonic tactics- close combat, bayonet charges, cavalry, etc.

This does not work.

In June 1814, a prince of the Austrian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was traveling through Sarajevo.

Times were tense in Sarajevo- many ethnic Serbs wanted Bosnia to be part of Serbia, not Austria. One Serbian terrorist group, the Black Hand, launched a plan to kill the Archduke as he was visiting. They succeeded.

One terrorist, Gavrilo Princep, shot the prince and his wife. That bullet would change the world.

Basically, the problem is this: Germany doesn't want to fight France and Russia at once. They don't yet know whether France will get in the war- Russia definitely will.

The plan is to make a massive army, march through Belgium to avoid the French forts, then take Paris in weeks.

Then the German army will turn around, go to the east, and beat Russia. The war will be over in months.

New Weapons

WWI

The first half