Triple Alliance

(Central Powers)

Germany

Austria-Hungary

Italy

Triple Entente

(Allied Powers)

France

Russia

Britain

Ultimatum

Developed by Alfed Von Schieffen.

He assumed Germany could  pass through Belgium on the way to France and  Britain would not take action to  stop it.

However Britain had agreed to protect Belgiun and declared war on Germany.

A sense of patiriotism to Canada and loyalty to Britain

Feelings of excitment and adventure and the view that war was a great adventure.

 Canada's Minister of Defence.

He set up training camps for 30,000  men at Valcartier,Quebec.

Manufactured in Canada.

Good for sharp shooting.

Poor in trench warfare, became glogged with mud.

Sends troops in October 1914.

 February troops arrive on the front lines of France

War in  Europe

Canadian Expeditionary Force

(CEF)

First Canadian  commaner of the corps.

The Canadian corps strenghened the unity of Canadian soldiers  and gave them a sense of pride.

Trench Warfare

Trenches were 400 metres apart

Offered protection against enemy fire but soldiers were vulnerable to bomb attacks.

Muddy ditches full of  rotting war victims,rats,lice and fungal disease.

At the beginning of the war they fired about 500 rounds per minute this increased to 1000 rounds per minute

Each side had hundreds of guns.

Machine guns led tot he stalemate.

Battles of Attrition

(grinding down)

War Finance

War Bonds

Taxes

A method of the citizens loaning money to their government.

People bought them out of patriotism.

Tanks

Poison Gas

Machine guns

Submarines

Airplanes

The Battle of Ypres

April 1915

Belgium

FIrst time the Germans used chlorine gas

6000 Canadians died.

The poem "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae

THe Battle of Verdun

February 1916

6 months long 500,000 French Soldiers died.

 A defining battle of WW1

 The French never recovered psycologically form this battle

The Battle of Somme

July 1916

5 months long

Allies tried to end trench warfare with a large attack on the trenches and failed.

20,000 Canadian soldiers were killed.

90% of Newfoundland Regiment were casulalties, very officer was killed or hurt.

1.25 million casualties

The Allies were too weak to penetrate the German  concrete bunkers.

Underground explosions did not dislodge  the wire protecting German trenches and the Allied troops became trapped.

Allied troops were overladed with 25-60 k of gear

A nearby mine detonated 10 minutes before the attack  warning the Germans so the Allies lost the element of surprise.

The attack was delayed and occurred in daylight.

The attack was ordered to continue despite  heavy casualties

 23 Canadians were ordered shot at dawn because they  would or could not  reurn to the front.( Governemnt recently paid tribute to the  men shot)

Vimy Ridge

April 1917

Frace near Belgium border

Canadian troops attacked the Germans.

Canadians suffered heavy losses despite preparation.

3000 killed -7000 injured

Turning point in favour of the Allies

First Time  Cadaians fought together as one,independant of British Forces.

Symbol of  Canadas independance from Britain

Passchendale

october 1917

Western Front

Noted for the mud.

Canadians  took the town and held it till reinforcements came.

16,000 died and only 7 km gained  the the Germans won it back.

40% of  British Corps were Canadian.

Aerial duels were called dogfights.

Bombes were intitially  carried in their laps and thrown out the open cockpit.

Canadian Billy Bishop shot down 72 planes and was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery.

Many casualties ere from mechanical failures.

The average life span was 3 weeks

A belief that it offered adventure.

Imperialism - industrializing countries seeking new colonies for  raw materials.

Competition for  colonies especially Africa and South-East Asia.

The Balkans

(area south of eastern Europe)

Slavic

Why did the other countries want this area?

Belgium and Holland wanted more colonies.

Spain and Portugal had lost many  of their colonies.

Russia wanted a warm water port.

Austria -Hungary believed it was their only chance to survive if they dominated  the ethnic groups in the Balkans.

Germany wanted more colonies

Britain wanted control of Gallipoli peninsula to  open supply lines to Russia

U-Boats

German

Sub-marines

Policy of unrestricted  submarine warfare.

Attacked British supply ships.

Sank 1000 Allied ships.

In 1915 u-boats sunk the British cruise ship Lusitania killing 1198 people.

128 Americans drowned so the Americans  public opinion  turned against Germany

Allied  supply ships were surrounded by  armed destroyers.

This ended the German U-boat threat.

Sinking of the Lusitania

American ships targeted by German U-boats

Germany was  encouraging Mexica to attack the US and  promised to help.

April 1917 they declared war on Germany

Treaty of Brest Litovsk

October 1917

Russia negotiates peace with Germany.

Hundred Days

(last hundred days of the war)

For 6 weeks canadians were in the forefron of the Allied advance against Germans

Allies win back France then Belgium.

Disloged Germans from Amiens and MOns part of the Hindenburg Line of defense.

Allies failed to gain control of Gallipoli.

Reached  German  border and fighting stopped.

British Navy chased  German ships out of the North Sea and set up a blockade between Denmark and  Norway/Sweden.

German fleet never entered the Atlantic

Role of Canadian Governement

 Meatless Monday

Fuelless Sandays

Winter of 1918 schools and factories closed in the winter

Honour rationing- 1 1/2 lbs of butter and 2 lbs of sugar per month

Ban on alcohol.

Victory Bonds- citizens loan to government

Income tax introduced.

Daylight savings to save energy consumption

Food rations and  waste reduction

Boomed until the end

Factories retooled to produce war supplies.

Farmers were urged to produce as much as they could to feed Europe.

Halifax Explosion 1917

French munitions  ship carrying 3000tonnes of  explosives collided with another vessel

Levelled large sections of Halifax, fires roared,tidal wave detroyed other ships,2000people killed and thousands left homeless.

Boston donated $3million /$30 million world wide

Enemy Aliens

War measures Act

Residents( German,Austrian,Hungarian,Ukrainian) even if they were Canadian were fired and locked up in interment camps.

Enemy aliens could be arrested or searched or sent to remote areas.

Ban on  publication of books and magazines in enemy languages to protect Canadians within its own borders.

Also to  not allow Canadians to know the extent of the the war casulaites.

Conscription

Military Service Bill introduced by Conservatives

1917

French-English conflict

Volunteers were not enough

Quebecois were farmers and and had no ties to England or France.

French were angry about the  language rights being taken away in many schools.

Quebec felt they were being treated as second class citizens

Minister of Militia was Protestant not Catholic like them.

Military training programs were all in English.

Riots in Montreal and Quebec cities

Liberals  opposed Conscription.

Volunteered as nurses and ambulance drivers overseas.

Worked in the factories,banks and police force  in Canada

Organized themselves to form the Suffragettes

1916 gained the right to vote in the provinces.

 1917 War Elections Act mothers ,wives and daughters of soldiers could vote in Federal election.

Vote not granted to  aboriginal,Asians and many other minority groups.

Used to persuade people to :

join the war

influenced how they felt about the war

recruitment

influence voting for  Union government

Fourteen Points

Peace  Terms

January 1918

Woodrow Wilson (US president)

Group one

#1-5

Introduced the idea of internationalism countries should put aside  their selfish feelings(nationalism)

Create countries based on nationalist desires-self -determination

Group Two

#6-8- How Germans should be dealt with

#9-14-Czechs,Slovaks,Serbs,Croats,Poles given a homeland

Exception to this was  Sudeten Germans and Poles  in Czechoslavakia, Germans in Polish Corridor, German -French in Alsace-Lorraine,Irish

War Guilt Clause

and the reaction

Germany alone must accept responsibilty for the  war.

Germans  protested.

German Chancellor resigned.

German sailors scuttled(sank) the German fleet.

War Guilt Clause

Alsace-Lorraine returned to France

Creation of  two new states Czechoslavakia and Yugoslovia.

Estonia,Latvia,Lithuania became independant of Russia.

Bulgaria and Romania became bigger.

Poland was given a strip of land(Polish Corridor) taken from Germany to create acess to the sea.

Germany and Central Powers forced to surrender all of their colonies to League of Nations

German Army limited to 100,000 and Air Force and Navy restricted in size

Germany forced to  surrender merchants ships to Allies

Rhine River Valley ( border between France and Germany) de-militaried and Allied armies  occupied it for 15 years.

Unification of Austria and Germany forbidden

Constitution of the League of Nations included in the Treaty

Several groups were left without a homeland

Germany was crippled.

German people were angry and not prepared to accept the blame and humiliation

10 million died

20 million wounded

Millions in Russia died of starvation

Cost 200 billion and left Europ near bankruptcy

Ottoman Emire disintergrated

Austria -Hungary disintergrated

 Oland  became independant

Kings (Empires) replaced with democratic governments in Germany,Austria-Hungary,Turkey.

Russia becomes communist

Many refugees left their homeland.

Paris Peace Conference Canada was given their own seat and seperate signature from Britain at League of Nations(later United Nations)

Women gained recognition as workers traditionally held by men.

Women gained the vote

Canadian troops  recognized for Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele

Increased immigration

Economic growth during and after the war

Natioanl debt increased to  150 million for  four years

 Income tax introduced60,000 died in the war

178,000 wounded

French - English conscription issues deepened the differences.

Nationalism

1) Patriotism and  Pride for ones country- citizens are prepared to go to war to  assert themselves and  their national  identities

2)Desire of ethnic groups to be liberated from the domination of other ethnic groups Ie.  Balkans became the Powder Keg of Europe- Slavs resented being under Austrian control

Germany- believed they could win a war now but maybe not later.

Austria-Hungary- concerned about he  survival of multi-ethnic state.

Slavs wanted to  be united with other Slavs in Russia to form their own country

Russia- economic and access to warm weather prts.

France- believed in loyalty to the alliance system as theonly way to remian a major power

Britain- believed in independant states in which people govern themselves with no foreign rular and wanted to curb Germanies strength.