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Germany Declares War on Russia
Historical Significance:
-Germany declares war on the Russians, who are compeled to defend Serbia.
Cause & Affect:
-When Russians came to the defense of the Serbs, Germans had no choice but to go to war and defend their Australian allies. -
The Schlieffin Plan
Historical Significance:
-In order to speed up the process of the Schlieffin, Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium. Invading neutral Belgium caused the British entry into the war.
Cause & Affect:
-Once Russia, in response to international tension, had started to mobilize her forces near the German border the schlieffin plan was caused.The plan failed. However the consequences led to many long & short-term causes that further led to the death of the Germans on the Western Front. -
Britain Declares War on Germany
Cause & Affect:
-Britain declared war against Germany in response to Germany invading Belgium on the 1st August 1914.
-Britain joined its French and Russian allies. -
Battle of Tannenburg
Historical Significance:
-Germany defeated Russia in this battle.
-The Germans destroyed the Russian 2nd Army and Russia’s plans for quick victory in the East.
Cause & Affect:
-Russia's equipment was outdated and in short supply. Also their leaders weren't as strong as Germany's. Russia lost 125,000 soldiers while Germany only lost 13,000 soldiers. -
1st Battle of the Marne
Historical Significance:
-The First Battle of the Marne succeeded in pushing the Germans and thus saved the capital city of Paris from capture.
Cause & Affect:
-The withdrawal of Germany’s Schlieffen Plan ultimately meant that they could not encircle France from the west and this caused them to begin fighting on two fronts; against Britain, France, and Russia.
-However, all troops understood that they were unable to defeat each other and they eventually settled for a trench warfare. -
Second Battle of Ypres (Turning Point)
Historical significance:
-This Battle was significant because the first poison gas attack happened during this Battle It was made by the Germans, and chlorine gas was used.
Cause & Effect:
-The out come of the battle was that the German army had a death toll of 134.00 and the Belgium army had a death toll of 21500.
-It marked the end of the race to the sea.
This is a turning point because poison gas was first used during this battle which caused the continuity and a lot more deaths were caused. -
ANZAC's landed on Gallipoli
Cause & Affect:
-The British weren't too confident in the ANZACs ability to fight in war so they sent them to Gallipoli.
-They were suppose to land on a beach with no slopes but they ended up on a area with cliffs in their paths.
Historical Perspective:
-Causalities mounted each day, with more and more ANZAC’s dying. In fact, at one point throughout the battle, an armistice had to be called so that all the remaining ANZAC and Turkish soldiers were able to bury their dead friends. -
Sinking of the Lusitania (Turning point)
Historical Significance:
-The sinking of the Lusitania was one of the events that led up to America entering the war. It outraged Americans that German submarines would do that to an unarmed passenger vessel.
Cause & Affect:
-German submarine spotted Lusitania when it was approaching the Irish coast. 2 explosions were caused. The ship sank within 18 minutes and over 1100 people died -
The ANZACs Evacuate Gallipoli
Cause & Affect:
-ANZAC's had landed in that locationby accident but they decided to fight anyways.
-Lord Kitchener visited Gallipoli himself and recommended evacution of all the allied forces.
Historical Perspective:
-The evacution took place during the night in secret to ensure the Turkish troops were not aware of their withdrawal.
-The Anzac’s stopped firing at the Turkish for a day or two at a time, so that the enemy would not be suspicious when they stopped firing to leave. -
Battle of Verdun (Turning Point)
Historical Significance:
-The Battle of Verdun is considered the greatest and lengthiest in world history. The battle caused over an estimated 700,000 casualties.
Cause & Affect:
-It was an attempt by the Germans to destroy the French army by sucking their reserves into a disastrous battle of attrition at a site the French would have to defend. The consequence of this battle included French land being saved but lives being lost.
-French army suffered so badly from the heavy casualties, -
Battle of Somme
Historical Significance:
-The battle of the Somme was a shocking battle for the Allied forces in particular British and the French forces. On the first day the British forces had lost already 58,000 soldiers either Killed, Missing or Wounded. This was symbolised as the horrors of trench warfare in WW1.
Cause & Affect:
-The outcome of the battle was that the chief of the German General staff was removedand replaced and many casualities happened. -
1st Referendum for Conscription
Cause & Affect:
-Despite opposition from his own party, Billy Hughes decided to take the issue to the people in a referendum.
-The Labor party split because of this and Hughes formed a breakway part called the Nationalist party.
Historical Perspective:
-If you are conscripted then you have no choice but to join the armed forces.
-Australia had compulsory military service but conscripted men could only serve within Australian territory. -
USA Declares War on Germany (Turning point)
Historical Significance:
-It was important for US to enter ww1 because the allies were low on ammunition and they were worn out.
Cause & Affect:
-The Germans had attacked an American ship that was carrying American passengers. This is the reason why US went on war against the Germans.
This is a turning point because US went on war from being neutral.The entrance of a new country breathed life into the allies. -
Battle of Passchendaele
Historical Significance:
-This battle was one of the most devastating battles of WW1. There were more than 200,000 casualities.
Cause & Affect:
-It was Haig's attempt to take advantage of the German weaknesses by attacking ypres that had lead to this battle.
-After having Passchendaele Haig stopped attacking and having key ground around ypres, Haig was able to claim success. -
2nd Referendum for Conscription
Historical Significance:
-The referendum was defeated with 1,015,159 in favour and 1,181,747 against.
Historical Perspective:
-The requirements would be met by compulsory reinforcements of single men, widowers, and divorcees without dependents between 20 and 44 years. -
Wilson's 14 Points
Historical Significance:
-They outlined the 14 points to a peaceful world. The 14th point, the most important according to Wilson, was to create a league of nations.
Historical Perspective:
-The French and British were unhappy with Wilson's plan,
-The Allies agreed to accept the Fourteen Points if Wilson would agree to two reservations: Guaranteeing freedom of the seas would not be commited. French insisted that to allow for the collection of compensation. -
Austrian-Hungarian Empire Surrenders
Historical Perspective:
-Austria-Hungary was in the state of collapse.
Cause & Affect:
-The solicited armistice between the Allies and Austria-Hungary was signed on Nov. 3, 1918, to become effective on November 4. Under its provisions, Austria-Hungary’s forces were required to evacuate not only all territory occupied since August 1914 but also South Tirol, Tarvisio, the Isonzo Valley, Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, western Carniola, and Dalmatia. -
WW1 Ends
Historical Significance:
-Germany and t=its allies signed an Armistice with all other countries who were fightinf in the war.
-News about the end of the war spread all around the world and celebrations erupted as families awaited the homecoming of their family members.
Continuity & Change:
-Soldiers who were physically and mentally scarred, despite coming home, it took several years for them to recover.
-But for some home coming just never occured.
