Poison gas and trenches: overview of WWI

Firth Van Valkenburgh with WWI Combat Unit
Originally uploaded by PD Wylde.

WWI, 1914 - 1918 (US in the war 1917 - 1918)

Map . . .
Allied Powers -
* England
* France
* Italy
* Russia

Central Powers -
* Germany
* Prussia
* Austria-Hungary
* Ottoman Empire (most of the Middle East, including Palestine and Egypt)

New weaponry
* poison gas
* machine gun
* armored tank
* biplane
* zeppelin

old weapons -
* trenches: soldiers stayed in trenches for months, a painful & disease-ridden experience.
* war of attrition: whoever has the most men alive after deliberately bloody warfare.

outcomes -
* enormous loss of life & brain power.
* Europe no longer the world’s center of power.
* WWI creates conditions for coming of WWII.
* Arab betrayal by European powers at war’s end.