We all know that every war, there are really those deadly weapons. Let's tackle the very first world war. And some important things about it.

WORLD WAR 1

You can see that photos of World War 1 are still black and white because it happened many years ago.

In late June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. An escalation of threats and mobilization orders followed the incident, leading by mid-August to the outbreak of World War I, which pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (the so-called Central Powers) against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan (the Allied Powers). The Allies were joined after 1917 by the United States. The four years of the Great War--as it was then known--saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction, thanks to grueling trench warfare and the introduction of modern weaponry such as machine guns, tanks and chemical weapons. By the time World War I ended in the defeat of the Central Powers in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more wounded. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, determined post-war borders from Europe to the Middle East, established the League of Nations as an international peace organization and punished Germany for its aggression with reparations and the loss of territory. Tragically, the instability caused by World War I would help make possible the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and would, only two decades later, lead to a second devastating international conflict.

For more information about the World war 1. Visit the website http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i

View some of the photos of Word War.

World War One - Causes

The first world war began in August 1914. It was directly triggered by the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on 28th June 1914 by Bosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.

This event was, however, simply the trigger that set off declarations of war. The actual causes of the war are more complicated and are still debated by historians today.

Click on the topics below to learn more about what caused World War One.

Alliances Imperialism Militarism Nationalism Crises

Click this for more information about the causes. http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/causes.htm

WEAPONS

Now let's talk about the weapons they used in the World War

During World War One a variety of weapons were used.

Rifle

The main weapon used by British soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle. 15 rounds could be fired in a minute and a person 1,400 metres away could be killed.

Machine Gun

Machine guns needed 4-6 men to work them and had to be on a flat surface. They had the fire-power of 100 guns.

Large field guns had a long range and could deliver devastating blows to the enemy but needed up to 12 men to work them. They fired shells which exploded on impact.

Gas

The German army were the first to use chlorine gas at the battle of Ypres in 1915. Chlorine gas causes a burning sensation in the throat and chest pains. Death is painful - you suffocate! The problem with chlorine gas is that the weather must be right. If the wind is in the wrong direction it could end up killing your own troops rather than the enemy.

Mustard gas was the most deadly weapon used. It was fired into the trenches in shells. It is colourless and takes 12 hours to take effect. Effects include: blistering skin, vomiting, sore eyes, internal and external bleeding. Death can take up to 5 weeks.

Zeppelin

The Zeppelin, also known as blimp, was an airship that was used during the early part of the war in bombing raids by the Germans. They carried machine guns and bombs. However, they were abandoned because they were easy to shoot out of the sky.

Tank

Tanks were used for the first time in the First World War at the Battle of the Somme. They were developed to cope with the conditions on the Western Front. The first tank was called 'Little Willie' and needed a crew of 3. Its maximum speed was 3mph and it could not cross trenches.

The more modern tank was not developed until just before the end of the war. It could carry 10 men, had a revolving turret and could reach 4mph.

Planes

Planes were also used for the first time. At first they were used to deliver bombs and for spying work but became fighter aircraft armed with machine guns, bombs and some times cannons. Fights between two planes in the sky became known as 'dogfights'

Torpedoes

Torpedoes were used by submarines. The Germans used torpedoes to blow up ships carrying supplies from America to Britain.

The Germans torpedoed the passenger liner Lusitania on May 1st 1915 which sank with a loss of 1,195 lives. Americans were outraged and joined the war in 1917 on the side of the allies.

For more information. Visit the webpage http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/weapons.htm

And for the alliances in World WAR 1, here's a map, of the Central powers and allies.

SUMMARY OF WORLD WAR 1: TIMELINE

World War One - Timeline

Date	Summary	Detailed Information
28 June 1914	Assassination of Franz Ferdinand	The Balkan states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been annexed from Turkey and taken into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was strongly resented by many Serbs and Croats and a nationalistgroup, The Black Hand, was formed. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and his wife, had decided to inspect Austro-Hungarian troops in Bosnia. The date chosen for the inspection was a national day in Bosnia. The Black Hand supplied a group of students with weapons for an assassination attempt to mark the occasion. A Serbian nationalist student, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, when their open car stopped at a corner on its way out of the town.
28 July 1914	Austria declared war on Serbia	The Austrian government blamed the Serbian government for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife and declared war on Serbia. Although Russia was allied with Serbia, Germany did not believe that she would mobilise and offered to support Austria if necessary. However, Russia did mobilise and, through their alliance with France, called on the French to mobilise.
1 Aug 1914	Germany declared war on Russia	Germany declared war on Russia.
3 Aug 1914	Germany declared war on France	Germany declared war on France. German troops poured into Belgium as directed under theSchleiffen Plan, drawn up in 1905. The British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding their withdrawal from the neutral Belgium.
4 Aug 1914	British declaration of war	Germany did not withdraw from Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany.
Aug 1914	Battle of Tannenberg	The Russian army marched into Prussia. However, because of the differences in railway gauge between Russia and Prussia it was difficult for the Russians to get supplies through to their men. The Germans, on the other hand, used their railway system to surround the Russian Second army at Tannenberg before it's commander could realise what was happening. The ensuing battle was a heavy defeat for the Russians with thousands of men killed and 125,000 taken prisoner. Although the Germans won the battle, 13,000 men were killed.
13 Aug 1914	Japan declared war on Germany	Japan declared war on Germany through her alliance with Great Britain, signed in 1902
Sept 1914	Battle of Masurian Lakes	Having defeated the Russian Second army, the Germans turned their attention to the Russian First army at Masurian Lakes. Although the Germans were unable to defeat the army completely, over 100,000 Russians were taken prisoner.
29 Oct 1914	Turkey	Turkey entered the war on the side of the central powers and gave help to a German naval bombardment of Russia.
2 Nov 1914	Russia declared war on Turkey	Because of the help given by Turkey to the German attack of Russia, Russia declared war on Turkey.
5 Nov 1914	Britain and France declared war on Turkey	Britain and France, Russia's allies, declared war on Turkey, because of the help given to the German attack on Russia.
late 1914	Early stages of the war	The German advance through Belgium to France did not go as smoothly as the Germans had hoped. The Belgians put up a good fight destroying railway lines to slow the transport of German supplies. Despite a French counter-attack that saw the deaths of many Frenchmen on the battlefields at Ardennes, the Germans continued to march into France. They were eventually halted by the allies at the river Marne. British troops had advanced from the northern coast of France to the Belgian town of Mons. Although they initially held off the Germans, they were soon forced to retreat. The British lost a huge number of men at the first battle of Ypres. By Christmas, all hopes that the war would be over had gone and the holiday saw men of both sides digging themselves into the trenches of the Western Front.
Dec 1914	Zeppelins	The first Zeppelins appeared over the English coast.
7 May 1915	Lusitania sunk	There outraged protests from the United States at the German U-boat campaign, when the Lusitania, which had many American passengers aboard, was sank. The Germans moderated their U-boat campaign.
23 May 1915	Italy	Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies.
2 Apr 1915	Second Battle of Ypres	Poison gas was used for the first time during this battle. The gas, fired by the Germans claimed many British casualties.
Feb 1915	Zeppelin bombing	Zeppelin airships dropped bombs on Yarmouth.
Feb 1915	Dardenelles	The Russians appealed for help from Britain and France to beat off an attack by the Turkish. The British navy responded by attacking Turkish forts in the Dardenelles.
Apr - Aug 1915	Dardenelles/ Gallipoli	Despite the loss of several ships to mines, the British successfully landed a number of marines in the Gallipoli region of the Dardenelles. Unfortunately the success was not followed up and the mission was a failure.
after Feb 1915	Winston Churchill resigns	Winston Churchill, critical of the Dardenelles campaign, resigned his post as First Lord of the Admiralty. He rejoined the army as a battalion commander.
April 1915	Zeppelins	The use of airships by the Germans increased. Zeppelins began attacking London. They were also used for naval reconnaissance, to attack London and smaller balloons were used for reconnaissance along the Western Front. They were only stopped when the introduction of aeroplanes shot them down.
early 1916	Winston Churchill	Winston Churchill served in Belgium as lieutenant colonel of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
April 1916	Romania enter the war	Romania joined the war on the side of the Allies. But within a few months was occupied by Germans and Austrians.
31 May 1916	Battle of Jutland	This was the only truly large-scale naval battle of the war. German forces, confined to port by a British naval blockade, came out in the hope of splitting the British fleet and destroying it ship by ship. However, the British admiral, Beatty, aware that the German tactics were the same as those used by Nelson at Trafalgar, sent a smaller force to lure the German's into the range of Admiral Jellicoe's main fleet. Although Beatty's idea worked, the exchange of fire was brief and the German's withdrew.
1 June 1916	Battle of Jutland	The British and German naval forces met again but the battle was inconclusive. The German ships did a great deal of damage to British ships before once again withdrawing and the British Admiral Jellicoe decided not to give chase. Although British losses were heavier than the German, the battle had alarmed both the Kaiser and the German Admiral Scheer and they decided to keep their fleet consigned to harbour for the remainder of the war.
28 Nov 1916	First Aeroplane raid	The first German air raid on London took place. The Germans hoped that by making raids on London and the South East, the British Air Force would be forced into protecting the home front rather than attacking the German air force.
Dec 1916	Lloyd George Prime Minister	Lloyd George became Prime Minister of the war time coalition. His war cabinet, unlike that of his predecessor, met every day. However, there was considerable disagreement among the members of the Cabinet, especially between Lloyd George and his war secretary, Sir Douglas Haig. Lloyd George suspected Haig of squandering life needlessly and was suspicious of his demands for more men and freedom of action in the field.
21 Feb - Nov 1916	Battle of Verdun	The Germans mounted an attack on the French at Verdun designed to 'bleed the French dry'. Although the fighting continued for nine months, the battle was inconclusive. Casualties were enormous on both sides with the Germans losing 430,000 men and the French 540,000.
1 July - Nov 1916	Battle of the Somme	The battle was preceded by a week long artillery bombardment of the German line which was supposed to destroy the barbed wire defences placed along the German line but only actually succeeded in making no mans land a mess of mud and craters. The five month long battle saw the deaths of 420,000 British soldiers (60,000 on the first day), 200,000 French soldiers and 500,000 German soldiers all for a total land gain of just 25 miles.
1917	New war commander	Lloyd George, who had never trusted his war minister's ability to direct the war, persuaded the Cabinet to appoint the French General Nivelle as supreme war commander over Haig's head. Haig was assured that the appointment was for one operation only and that if he felt the British army was being misused by the Frenchman he could appeal to the British government.
July - Nov 1917	W.front Passchendale	The operation commanded by the French General, Nivelle, went wrong and caused the loss of many French soldiers. Haig protested to the British government and advocated trying his own scheme for a breakthrough. At the resulting battle of Passchendale, Haig broke his promise to call off the battle if the first stage failed because he did not want to lose face with the government.
1917	Churchill Minister of Munitions	Following the heavy defeat at Passchendale, Lloyd George decided that he wanted Churchill in the Cabinet. Churchill was duly appointed Minister of Munitions.
1917	Reinforcements sent to Italy	The Italians had lost many men trying to hold the line between Italy and the Central Powers. British and French reinforcements were sent to hold the line.
early 1917	German U-boat campaign	In Germany, orders were given to step up the U-boat campaign. All allied or neutral ships were to be sunk on sight and in one month almost a million tons of shipping was sunk. Neutral countries became reluctant to ship goods to Britain and Lloyd George ordered all ships carrying provisions to Britain to be given a convoy.
6 April 1917	USA declares war on Germany	The United States of America declared war on Germany in response to the sinking, by German U boats, of US ships.
Nov 1917	W. Front Cambrai	The British took a large force of tanks across the barbed wire and machine gun posts at Cambrai.
Dec 1917	Treaty of Brest-Litovsk	Following the successful revolution by the Bolsheviks, the Russians signed an Armistice with Germany at Brest-Litovsk. The terms of the treaty were harsh: Russia had to surrender Poland, the Ukraine and other regions. They had to stop all Socialist propaganda directed at Germany and pay 300 million roubles for the repatriation of Russian prisoners.
April 1918	RAF formed	The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to form the Royal Air Force.
8 - 11 Aug 1918	Battle of Amiens	The British general, Haig, ordered the attack of the German sector at Amiens. At the same time the news came through that the allies had broken through from Salonika and forced Bulgaria to sue for peace.
mid Oct 1918	Allies recover France and Belgium	The allies had taken almost all of German-occupied France and part of Belgium.
30 Oct 1918	Armistice with Turkey	The allies had successfully pushed the Turkish army back and the Turks were forced to ask for an armistice. The terms of the armistice treaty allowed the allies access to the Dardenelles.
early Nov 1918	Hindenberg line collapsed	By the beginning of November the allies had pushed the Germans back beyond the Hindenberg line.
9 Nov 1918	Kaiser abdicated	Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated.
11 Nov 1918	Armistice signed	At 11 am, in the French town of Redonthes, the Armistice was signed bringing the war to an end.

Check out this website for more information: http://www.historyonthenet.com

The end of World War 1

At 11:00 am GMT (later known as the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month) fighting ceased and so then World War I came to an end following an armistice with Germany. During the course of 1919 and 1920 the Allied powers signed the treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Trianon, and Sèvres bringing the war to an official end.

The aftermath of World War I saw drastic political, cultural, and social change across Europe, Asia, Africa, and even in areas outside those that were directly involved in the war. Four empires collapsed due to the war, old countries were abolished, new ones formed, boundaries were redrawn, international organizations were established, and many new and old ideologies took a firm hold in people's minds.

World War I also had the political effect of bringing political transformation to Germany and the United Kingdom by bringing near-universal suffrage to these two European powers, turning them into mass electoral democracies for the first time in their histories

"Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived."
- Abraham Lincoln

The century following Lincoln’s assassination proved the truth of his words. The effects of World War I were a harsh reality check for Europe and other major nations of the world.

Decline of the Empires

The political changes effected by World War I were reflected best in the decline of the empires. While the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary completely collapsed, the Great War also sounded the death knell for monarchies in Germany and Russia, which became republics. World War I was also the cause for a rise in nationalistic tendencies leading to the demand for independence in many British colonies of outside Europe.

Changing Economies and Societies

The economic strain caused by World War I resounded through Europe and the rest of the world. Inflation skyrocketed in many countries. The burden of reparations drastically affected the German economy. The value of the deutsche mark dipped to an all-time low. European nations owed their allies over $10 billion in the postwar years.

Much changed on the social front too. With the men having joined the war, the women of most countries took over businesses and establishments. Mechanization and mass production paved the way for labor laws. The disillusionment caused by war led to a revolution in many societies. People chose republics over monarchies and the desire for better standards of living were openly vented.

Need for the League of Nations

“A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.” - President Woodrow Wilson

World War I exposed the need for an association of nations – a body to promote international peace and security. The necessity of an organization to prevent a global conflict of the nature of World War I was initially pointed out by President Woodrow Wilson in his Congressional Speech in 1918. The emergence of the League of Nations was a natural corollary to the catastrophic consequences of the Great War.

On June 25, 1919, the plan to create the League of Nations was sanctioned at the Paris Peace Conference. The initial council meeting of the League of Nations was held in Paris on January 16, 1920. The League of Nations headquarters was moved to Geneva in November 1920. The League's inaugural General Assembly was attended by forty-one nations on November 15, 1920.

Despite being the brainchild of President Woodrow Wilson, the United States did not join the League of Nations, as it was not ratified by the U.S. Congress.

Technological Growth

The one distinct positive outcome of World War I was the boost received by research and technology. Rail and automobile transport, radio and wireless communications, research and development of weapons and arms, including nuclear research, boomed. The years following World War I saw unprecedented armament and chemical research. The atomic bombs used in World War II were developed in the period following the Great War. Aviation technology, quite literally, took off. Machines of mass production, developed during the war, revolutionized industries in the postwar years.

Did World War I cause World War II?

"This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years." - Ferdinand Foch, Maréchal de France

As Foch rightly remarked, the Treaty of Versailles was the cause of much dissent in Europe. While Germany had based the armistice on President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the Treaty of Versailles had none of the idealism he had envisioned. The harsh terms of the treaty placed all responsibility of the Great War on Germany. The financial reparations paid by the Central Powers caused much resentment. Although, World War I was by no means the only reason for the outbreak of World War II, the settlement of territories, responsibility, and finances only led to more strife which eventually translated into World War II.

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Friday, April 12, 2013

The World War 1 Significant things you need to know