World War I

• World War I was the first total war. Once the war began, the countries involved mobilized their entire populations and economic resources to achieve victory on the battlefield.

• that involved many of the countries of Europe as well as the United States and other nations throughout the world.

• The term World War I did not come into general use until a second worldwide conflict broke out in 1939.

Theatres of the War

• Most of the fighting during World War I was carried out by land armies in Europe.

• Naval forces were used primarily to prevent food and supplies from reaching their destinations. Airplanes were also used in a major military campaign for the first time during World War

ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES

• Industrial and economic resources played an important role in World War I.

• Military success was critically dependent on a country’s ability to produce a continuous supply of goods for their armies.

• During the war, Britain and France were able to harness the economic resources not only of their own vast colonial empires, such as India and Indochina, but also of the United States.

MILITARY STRATEGIES

• All the European countries developed plans in the event of war. They knew the number of men they could call up.

• the length of time it would take to get their armies ready, and their strategies for battle. Each country had a different plan although general similarities existed.

AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR I

• the leaders of the victorious coalition assembled in Paris to forge a new international system that would replace the old order.

• New nations emerged, borders were radically shifted, and ethnic conflicts erupted. Victors and vanquished alike faced an enormous recovery challenge

Treaty of Versailles

• Delegates from all of the Allied countries met in Paris, France, in January 1919 to draft the peace treaties.

• authority rested in the hands of the leaders of the four states whose economic and military might had defeated the Central Powers: Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Britain, Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States.