World War I Virtual Museum

1. Great War
Museum
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Room

2. Causes of WWI
Nationalism
Imperialism
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3. Trench Warfare
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4. Why the U.S entered WWI
Submarine Warfare
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5. General
Pershing
U.S. in WWI
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6. Nationalism
• Nationalism
– Pride in your country
• Pan-German Movement
– The hope to unite all German speaking people
• Pan-Slavic Movement
– The hope to unite all Slavic speaking people
• Example: Bosnia-95% speak Slavic, yet it’s controlled by German speaking
Austria.

7. Imperialism
• Imperialism
– Competing for Colonies
• European nations were competing for land
• They believed that “Bigger is better”
• Example: Africa, Bosnia, Allsace &Lorraine

8. Militarism
• Militarism
– Building up the military
• Military was built up for two reasons
1. Protect their colonies
2. Peer Pressure
• They used a mandatory draft to accomplish this
• Russia had the largest army, Germany had the best
trained, and Britain had the largest navy

9. Alliances
• Alliances
– Forming partnerships with other nations
• Central Powers: Germany, Austria, Ottoman
Empire
• Allies: Britain, France, Russia, U.S

10. Trench Warfare
• To protect their positions and to cut down on losses
both sides dug trenches
• At night, supplies were brought in and scouts were
sent out
• At dawn/dusk attacks came: hit them with artillery
and then go over the top
– Went through barbwire, machinegun fire, craters
• Problems in the trenches: mud, rats, smell, body rot,
cold, maggots, diseases

11. Sinking of the Lusitania
• Lusitania- a passenger ship that was secretly
carrying ammunitions
• A German submarine sunk the ship
• 1,198 passengers died (128 were Americans)
• President Wilson demanded that the Germans
apologize and pay for the damages

12. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
• Sussex pledge
– Germany promised not to sink merchant ships without first
warning them & rescuing passengers
• By 1917 Germany is defeating Russia on the Eastern
front, they want a quick victory on the western front
• To do this they use Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
– Sinking all ships headed towards Allied Nations

13. Zimmerman Note
• Zimmerman was a German official
• He sent a letter to Mexico asking them to
attack the United States
• In exchange he promised that Germany would
aid them in retrieving some of the land that
we took from them.

14. U.S. in WWI
• General Pershing led the U.S. troops
• By 1917 Germany controlled: Belgium, Italy, &
North France
– Now Germany can concentrate on the western
front
• By July, 1918 the U.S. had 1 million troops in
war

15. U.S. in WWI (cont.)
• We cut off the German rail lines which supply
their troops
– We attack through the Argonne forest. It takes us 47
days & 1.2 million soldiers, but we cut off their supply
• By October 1918 German lines are crumbling
• In November the Allies have captured the high
ground & Germany surrenders
• The 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month in 1918 the
war ends

16. Treaty of Versailles
1. Created new countries
• Russia: Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
• Austria-Hungary: Austria, Hungary, Czech,
Yugoslavia
• Ottoman Empire: Divided up between the Allies

17. Treaty of Versailles (Cont.)
1. Punished Germany
• Must take full responsibility for the war
• Pay for the war, $33 billion
2. Created the league of nations
• Organization of countries designed to maintain
peace and stability

18. Exit
Treaty of
Versailles