World War 1
Timeline:1910-1914
Chapter One
¨War Is Coming¨
Kaiser Wilhelm II[Germany’s leader] knew a war was coming and all the countries Europe will start declaring war on each other. Even The USA got caught up in all the fighting all across the Atlantic. Each and every continent [except Antarctica] got into a war so vast and once called ”The War To End All Wars” or “The Lighting Wars.”
People thought it would all be over by Christmas, but how wrong they were. It lasted 4 years before the war finally ended on Christmas in 1918.
Timeline:1913
Chapter Two
¨An Assassin's Bullet¨
The Black Hand Group was a terrorist organization in Serbia, Austria Hungary Empire.[Modern day is Austria]Their support was from Serbia. When word got around that a prince and his princess were coming to Sarajevo, Bosnia[in Austria Hungary Empire] and Herzegovina.The prince’s name was Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Hungary[modern day Austria] The princess’s name was Sophie Duchess of Hohenberg. The assassin’s name was Gavrilo Princip.[He was an Bostanian] He was one of the six assassins of the secret society of The Black Hand Group[the group was formed by 5 Serbians and 1 Bostonian] he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and he died there 4 years later. He didn’t live to see the day he would’ve been free 16 years later] The other 5 assassins were caught and recognized them as Serbians. Russia (or Soviet Union as it was known back then]was encouraging Bostonia to be an independent country and break free from the Austro Hungarian Empire. Where they[Archduke Franz Fernandez and Sophie Duchess of Hohenberg] were killed was in an alleyway in Sarajevo,Bosnia,Herzegovina when there driver made a wrong turn while heading to the hospital to say hello to wounded officers that were hurt during a bomb attack. Which of course failed but did wound a few officers. This was not part of Archduke’s schedule. And as I was saying he[the driver] made a wrong turn into an alleyway and they saw Gavrilo Princip in front of them with a handgun. He shot the passenger’s seat, missed the driver, but hit Archduke and his wife, Sophie. And ran away. But unfortunately the prince, who was 50 years old and the princess who was 46 years old died in the back seat of the car.While the rest of the assassins and those involved were either charged with prison time or hanged or both!
Timeline:1914
Chapter Three
¨The Way To War¨
The countries of Germany, Austria Hungary, and Italy made an agreement in case one of those countries get attacked. The other two would support that country with troops and supplies.
This was a threat to the Allied Powers. This meant “HANDS OFF!”[France wanted to take back the land that they lost to the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War,also Prussia was Germany, just before the 20th century]. So, Russia,France and Great Britain made an agreement, so, just like the Central Powers[Germany and Austria Hungary, and Italy]. They would support each other.
In 1917, the US joined the war after German U-Boat U-20 sank a merchant ship called “The Lusitania” killing lots of American passengers, it is unknown how many U.S. passengers, but the death toll was high and shocked the world because Germany sunk a poor, defenceless, merchant ship. In Germany’s defence it was a ship that had troops on board with weapons. The death toll was 1,198 passengers and crew members, leaving only 761 survivors. After the sinking of “The Lusitania” Germany promised to not sink merchant ships without warning.Germany kept its promise till 1917. This became ¨The Way To War¨.
Timeline:1917
Chapter Four
¨America Joins The Lighting Wars¨
This secret message was written by the German Government and was sent to Mexico for the Mexican President. But was cracked by British Codebreakers. But the Mexican President refused to do what the German Government said. The British handed it over to American officials. Now this is what the Germans wanted the Mexicans to do. If you said join the ¨Central Powers¨ you are correct. Here’s the catch. If the Mexicans did what the Germans wanted them to do. In return they would get Arizona, New Mexico and Texas[states that were part of Mexico] and the message also said that they would secretly resume submarine warfare. [Also, Mexico remained neutral]
Timeline: 1914
Chapter Six
¨The Fighting Begins!¨
The British Expeditionary Force[BEF] landed in France in 1914 and was sent to the Western Front to support the French to push the Germans out of France and back into their homeland Germany. But the fighting was hard because you had the risk of: being shot[like machine guns, snipers and artillery] being killed by friendly fire[like guns,grenades, even artillery gunners may misjudge their distance of the enemy’s trenches and bombard their own men!More ways to die by friendly fire, etc.] Another way of getting killed by friendly fire is a creeping barrage. So what happens is that an Allied or Central Power’s artillery will start bombarding the Western Front then reaching over to the enemy trenches and then soldiers will be given the order Over the top! Which means they have to get out of their trenches and head to No man’s land. It the zone in front of the trenches. And what makes it so dangerous is because 2 things. 1, gunners misjudge their distance. 2, the infantry may move too quickly and get blown to smithereens. Sometimes, even a creeping barrage failed because number 1. The infantry moved too quickly and they killed themselves . Sometimes if machine gunners saw a creeping barrage. They would hop onto a machine gun and shoot into the dust hitting soldiers left, right and center. If you were in that same scenario and you were in no man’s land and you were running and you saw men falling all around you and eventually you would get hit. But if you made it to the trenches, you could still die. And if you were a gunner you wouldn’t want to stay out there because chances are you will be hit by a shrapnel or a barrage of artillery fire. Or get killed by the dust because you can’t breath. And another way is just getting shot by a soldier by either being blind by the dust or trying to head to an underground area. Tanks weren’t introduced until 1917 to break the deadlock on the Western Front.
Timeline:1916
Chapter Seven
Italy Joins The War
Originally, the Allied Powers though Italy was thought to be a Central Power. But turns out that Italy signed the agreement in 1902, 12 years before the war! And another reason why Italy wasn’t a Central Power is because they didn’t get all the land they wanted because it was occupied by Austro Hungarian Empire. Ànd they were also their enemy in the 19th century.
Italy started moving in the mountains of the Italian Alps. Italian troops mostly fought Austrian troops. The German-Austrian counter-attacked the Italian army after Russia left the war,making it easier for reinforcements and supplies for the troops and also redirecting troops. After and during the German-Austrian counter-attack decreasing the morale of the Italian troops and the reason why the Italian troops rushed into combat so quickly because they thought French and British troops would back them up. But they had none to spare. So Italy was on her own.
Italy started moving in the mountains of the Italian Alps. Italian troops mostly fought Austrian troops. The German-Austrian counter-attacked the Italian army after Russia left the war,making it easier for reinforcements and supplies for the troops and also redirecting troops. After and during the German-Austrian counter-attack decreasing the morale of the Italian troops and the reason why the Italian troops rushed into combat so quickly because they thought French and British troops would back them up. But they had none to spare. So Italy was on her own.
Timeline:1917
Chapter Eight
“Tanks/Landships”
Tanks are a very iconic symbol in World War 1 because they were the first war with tanks to victory. The British Mark 1 tanks were the first tanks to be ever built. It was basically a giant piece with metal plates and cannons,machine guns,racks of ration food and water,the tank ran on caterpillar tracks which gone about 8 miles per hour and even a pigeon basket to send a message to HQ[Headquarters] As the war progressed. They put in even larger racks of food/water and heavier armor plates to protect the crew inside. They put in even more pigeons! And they also put in more larger crews.
Each crew member was equipped with 2 gas masks, 1 basket of pigeons, a canteen[which was full of water] ration food and water, a radio[if you are in range of a radio of a friendly trench that is nearby.]a knife, a pistol, and a Lee Enfield III Rifle[the standard rifle of the British]. The Germans were slow to develop their own tank, and just used captured British tanks which was very not confusing on both sides. Because they painted the iron cross on the tank which the iron cross was German’s symbol. The Germans finally made their own tank, but fortunately 20 were ever built. They were given a name. The type of tank was an AV7. But it was too slow and unreliable.
Picture below: Inside a British Mark 1 tank/crew, Allied Powers.
Picture below: AV7 tank inside/crew, Central Powers, 1 out of the 20 tanks ever built.
Picture below: A young German Soldier proud and ready to fight for his nation.
Timeline:1918
Chapter Nine
“The Great Final Battle”
The Battle of Sambre and The Second Battle of Guise are the 2 final battles that finally ended World War 1. The death toll broke all records and was the highest toll that it was called”The Lighting Wars” or “The War To End All Wars”[As I said in the beginning of this] This is the highest amount of deaths ever recorded during WWI and was thought to be the the last war ever, and how wrong they were. It took 4 years till the war was over and it was 1918. From 1914 to 1918 the war had ended, a generation of young men have been K.I.A[Killed in action] or W.I.A[Wounded in action] or M.I.A[Missing in action].
Timeline: WW1
Chapter Ten
Types Of Trenches
The trenches way in the front lines is the firing trenches.
Timeline:Present Day
Chapter Eleven
The Legacy Of War
People have found remains of tanks, weapons and ammo, uniforms, supplies, and yes, human remains/bones. Still people come to honor their passed loved ones that died for their nation, bravery, and their courage.
Timeline:WW1
Chapter Twelve
Uniforms
The Allied Powers were wearing different uniforms to represent their nation, on, both sides.
The ¨Anzacs¨ were soldiers from the Allied Powers that lived in the tropical islands of Australia and New Zealanders.
Picture below: WW1 Anzac soldier compared to a Modern day Australian soldier.
Picture lower left: 2 British soldiers from the African Colonies .
Picture to left: A British soldier in the forest with his gas mask on.
Timeline:1914-1918
Chapter Thirteen
The Art Of War(TAOW)
Picture below: Uncle Sam stomping on the Kaiser, saying”Help Uncle Sam Stamp Out The Kaiser!”
Picture below: A British soldier pointing to the words above” We are saving you YOU save FOOD”. In the bottom caption it says “Well fed Soldiers WILL WIN the WAR”
Picture below: A German soldier beating up 3 Allied Powers, Russia in his right arm, France in the other. And with England under his left foot.
Picture above: The sinking Lusitania saying”IRISHMEN AVENGE THE LUSITANIA JOIN AN IRISH REGIMENT TO-DAY.”
Picture below: A poster encouraging Irish men to enlist in the Army.” AN IRISH HERO!
1 IRISHMAN DEFEATS 10 GERMANS. SERGEANT MICHAEL O'LEARY, V.C.
-IRISH GUARDS-
HAVE YOU NO WISH TO IMMACULATE THE SPLENDID BRAVERY OF YOUR FELLOW COUNTRYMAN?
JOIN AN IRISH REGIMENT TO-DAY¨
Picture below: An Allied Power soldier dying from a gas attack in front of the firing trenches
Picture above: Encouraging soldiers to take care of their gas masks because you will need them in the line of duty.
Picture below: Telling soldiers to not breath while putting on your gas mask and adjusting the respirator and this won't happen to them if they don't breath.
Picture above: Few of the 1500 Turkish POWs during WW1[ Central Powers Prisoners of war in this camp].
Picture below: Canadian POWs in a German POWs camp in Germany.
