Theaters of WWI

What does a “theater” refer to when

talking about a war?
the entire land, sea, and air area
that may become or is directly
involved in war operations
The Western Front
The map shows the
geographical position of
the Western Front
stretching from Belgium
in the north to
Switzerland in the south.
Each colored square
represents 50,000 men.
Yellow represents the
German army, blue the
French, red the British
and orange the Belgian
army.
Western Front
Shorter (700km) – Belgian coast in the north to Swiss
border in the south
The Western Front Info
The German army crossed the Belgian
border on August 3rd 1914.
 Britain and France declared war on
Germany on August 4th.
The Germans pushed through Belgium,
occupying Brussels before entering
France.
The British and French armies marched
to stop the German advance
 Important Battles fought on the
Western Front
 Marne, September 1914; Stopped the Schlieffen Plan
 First Battle of Ypres, October - November 1914; “Flanders”/The
capstone to the “race to the Sea”
 Verdun, February - December 1916; “Bleed France White”
 Somme, July - November 1916; 1st Tank battle over 1 million in casualties
 Passchendale, July - November 1917; Battle that defined the war, high
casualties with mud 3rd battle of Ypres
 Cambrai, November 1917; the first battle in which tanks were used en masse
In fact, Cambrai saw a mixture of tanks being used, heavy artillery and air power
 2nd Battle of Marne, July 1918 marked the turning of the tide in World War I.
It began with the last German offensive of the conflict and was quickly followed by
the first allied offensive victory of 1918.
Western Front
Line of trenches stretched whole way with little
movement for Allied and Central Powers.
(STALEMATE)
 Fun Facts about the Western Front
Christmas 1914- The Christmas Truce happened on
the western front
Battles on this front were fought for feet and miles
Most predominant area in the war for Trench Warfare
Tanks were first used on this front
When the British first invented tanks they called them
"landships.“
Poison Gas was first deployed on this front
The Eastern Front The map shows
the geographical
location of the
Eastern front
stretching from
Riga in the north
to Czernowitz in
the south. The
orange line shows
the position of the
Eastern Front in
1915. Each
colored square
represents 50,000
men. Red
represents the
Russian army,
yellow, German
soldiers and blue
Austro-Hungarian.
Eastern Front
Longer (1,600km) – Baltic Sea in north to Black Sea
in south.
 Eastern Front Info
The line of fighting on the Eastern side of
Europe between Russia and Germany and
Austria-Hungary is known as the Eastern
Front.
Fighting began on the Eastern front when
Russia invaded East Prussia on August 17,
1914. Germany immediately launched a
counter-offensive and pushed Russia back
 Eastern Front Info
 This pattern of attack and counter-attack continued for the first two
years of the war and meant that the Eastern Front changed position as
land was captured and lost by both sides.
 Battles fought along this front include –
 Tannenberg, August 1914; almost complete destruction of the Russian Second
Army
 Masurian Lakes, September 1914; second defeat for the Russian Army in
World War One at the hands of the German army
 Bolimov, January 1915; Freezing of Poison Gas
 Lake Naroch, March 1916; offensive on the Eastern Front by the Russian army
during World War I, ends on this day in 1916 after achieving little success against
German positions
 Riga, September 1917.
Eastern Front
More mobile and unstable as a result. Impossible to
establish permanent trenches.

Troops widely dispersed so the enemy (Germany)

could break through more easily.
Eastern Front
When the line was breached, a primitive line of
communications made things worse. Reinforcements
had to be found for counter attack.
Harsh winter made for unbearable conditions.
 Fast Facts about the Eastern Front
A solid trench system similar to the Western Front never
materialized because neither side had the manpower to
cover such a distance in depth.
Russia initially fielded a huge and well-trained army
her factories could not keep up with demand and, even when
they finally geared up around 1916, there weren't enough
roads and railroads to keep the army supplied most of the
time.
The Empire of Austria-Hungary was in decline. Many of her
soldiers came from provinces and states that yearned for
freedom and thus had little loyalty to the empire.
 Fast Facts about the Eastern Front
During the winter of 1916 – 1917, huge packs of Russian
wolves attacked soldiers on both sides. The wolves caused so
much trouble that a temporary truce was called so the Russians
and the Germans could deal with them.
The Russians lost from 1.8 million to 2.3 million soldiers
killed and from 3.8 to 5.0 million wounded. About 500,000
civilians died in the fighting.
Austria-Hungary lost 1.1 million soldiers killed and 3.6
million wounded. About 120,000 civilians died in the fighting.
Railway lines played a critical role, and no army was able to
operate far from its railheads [where military supplies were
unloaded]
Italian Front The Italians only
managed to
advance a short way
into Austria (shown
by the red line on
the map

The 1918 location of

the Italian front is
marked on the map
in yellow.
 Italian Front Info
The Italian front is the name given to the fighting that
took place along the border between Italy and Austria
Prior to the outbreak of war in August 1914, Italy
had tended to side with Germany and Austria-
Hungary.
To begin with, Italy kept out of the war. However,
tempted by offers of more land once the war was
won, Italy entered the war in April 1915 on the side
of the allies.
Gallipoli Front Info
The Gallipoli peninsula is located
in the south of Turkey.
In 1915, the Allies decided to try
to attack Germany by attacking her
ally, Turkey. 
Gallipoli
The map shows the front line. The
blue line shows the allies position
while the green shows the Turkish
line.
Gallipoli Info
Allied soldiers, mainly from Australia
and New Zealand, were sent to the
Peninsula while British ships tried to
force a way through the Dardanelles.
The entire mission was a failure. The
allies lost more than 50,000 men but
gained hardly any land.
The War at Sea
Before WWI, Germany and Britain
were involved in a naval race
Britain had a long tradition of being
the master of the seas and Germany
knew that she was unlikely to win a
naval war against Britain.
The War at Sea
 Britain's main naval tactic was to keep
German ships in German ports and to
block supplies from reaching Germany.
 Germany's main naval tactic was to
post u-boats in the Atlantic ocean and
to destroy ships taking supplies from
America and other countries to Britain.
German U-boat sinking a British Ship