Topic 2

TOPIC 2 World War One and its Consequences

3. WAR BREAKS OUT!

The spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death along with his wife, by the Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914.

5. AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR

At the outbreak of fighting in 1914, the United States remained on the sidelines of World War I, adopting the policy of neutrality favored by President Woodrow Wilson while continuing to engage in commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict

7. TREATY OF VERSAILLES

Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, dissolving from within due to growing nationalist movements among its diverse population, reached an armistice on November 4.

6. TECHNOLOGY OF WAR

The invention of new weapons and the improvement of existing.

Machine guns and rapid-firing artillery, when used in combination with trenches and barbed-wire emplacements, gave a decided advantage to the defense, since these weapons rapid and sustained firepower could decimate a frontal assault by either infantry or cavalry.

2. CAUSES OF THE WAR

 FRANCO - PRUSSIAN WAR (July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871) It was a war in which a coalition of German states led by Prussia defeated France.

 CENTRAL POWERS: formed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

 ALLIED POWERS: Because of the Central Powers, Great Britain, France and Russia formed “Allied Powers”.

 ARMED PEACE: Great Powers They built large warships, cannons, machine guns, airships and other war elements.

 THE BALKANS REVOLUTION: Ottoman Empire (Turkey) had been dominated the Balkans but at the beginning of 20th century, it was in decline.

1. CONFLICTS SCALATE

At the beginning of the 20th century, the great Europeans powers were in competition for dominance of the continent, for the colonial expansion and for financial control of the world. Between Great Brittany, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia there were agreements and tensions to defend

4. FOUR YEARS OF BLOODY WAR

 THE WESTERN FRONT: On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium. In the first battle of World War I, the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of Liege, using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal to capture the city.

 THE EASTERN FRONT Germans and Austro-Hungarians faced to the Russian armies. Despite that victory, Russia’s assault had forced Germany to move two corps from the Western Front to the Eastern, contributing to the German loss in the Battle of the Marne.

8. PARIS CONFERENCE

Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkish and the rest of allied, asked for the harmony (suspension of agreed hostilities) on November, 1918. The agreements of peace were discussed in Paris Conference on January 1919. There were participated 32 states but, the decisions were taken by France, Britain, USA and Italy.

9. CONSEQUENCES OF WAR

The countries were exhausted and bleed to death.

• 9 million died because of the war.

• 22 million get injured.

• 7 million were left disabled

• 5 million were declared missing.