PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Trench Warfare
Trench warfare, gas masks, and barbed wire were used during World War I to defend against machine guns devised for use during colonization as well as poisonous gases. Opposing lines would construct trenches with a "no-man's land" in between, and fire at each other with machine guns. In waves, men would climb from the trenches and attempt to cross no-man's land in order to reach their enemies, but they were simply shot down. Within the trenches themselves, the conditions were awful with thigh-high mud, rats, disease, and cold weather.
Submarine Warfare
At the beginning of the war, Germany wanted its trading ships to remain neutral so that the trade aspect of its economy would not fall apart. As a result, the country's ships were away in the Baltic Sea, and the war effort became dependent on the use of submarines to continue fighting on the marine front and destroy the British blockade preventing supplies from reaching the central powers. So, the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare.
Global Spread
WWI transformed from a local conflict to a continental war to a global war due to three main reasons: Europeans transferred their animosities to their colonies across the globe, British and French recruited soldiers from their colonies to fill their ranks, and some who entered the war (the United States, Japan, and the Ottoman Empire) had interests entirely separate from those signified by the assassination of the Archduke that began the war. Globally, people from the French Algeria, Indochina, and China were drawn into the war as well as people from British Africa, India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland. Some battle were also fought in locations other than Europe, such as when the Allies attempted to seize German colonies in Africa, or in the Asian territories of the Ottoman Empire.
Total War
WWI became total war because instead of fighting only occurring among armies, entire societies became involved. The nature of the war created a more traditional military front as well as a home front. On the home front, government officials militarized civilian war production, disregarding private companies and managing the production themselves. The war created great demand for raw materials and manufactured goods, so economic measures became priorities on the home front. The governments temporarily abandoned capitalism and instead tightly controlled markets in order to manage wages, prices, and the rate of production.
Women During WWI
As more and more men left home to fight on the military front, they left gaps in the labor forces which women stepped up to fill. Fueled by patriotism and the promise of high wages, women left home and domestic work behind for positions as managers, postal workers, police officers, nurses, doctors, and communication clerks. Women, and children as well, also worked in ammunition factories producing the necessary shells to support WWI. The work was often dangerous, especially due to the occasional explosion.
Propaganda
Both sides of the war used propaganda to discredit and dehumanize the enemy and to convince their citizens that losing the war would mean the destruction of everything worth living for. They used posters, pamphlets, and embellished scientific studies to show that the enemies were savages who committed violent war crimes, such as rape and even cannibalism.
