900 Ch. 22 • The Great War

Map 22.4 The Western Front, 1914-1917 Major battles from 1914-1917, and

location of trenches at the end of 1915 and at the end of 1917.

northern Adriatic coast. Italian nationalism, as well as the desire of power­

ful Italian businessmen to find new markets in the Balkans, had proved

stronger than Italy’s pre-war commitment to its former allies. Austria­

Hungary now found itself, like Germany, fighting a war on two fronts. The

Italians attacked with the port of Trieste as their goal. The struggle between

Britain and Turkey—which was also allied with the Central Powers—

carried the war into the Middle East. Japan, coveting several German islands

in the Pacific and the German naval base at Kiao-chao, and seeking sanction

for its interest in northeastern China, entered the war on the Allied side in

1914. What began as a European war became a world war.