Transcript Chapter 34 The Great War

 Nationalism caused competition
between nations.
 Germany competed with Britain for
industrial dominance. Other
countries had territorial disputes
over lands such as Alsace-Lorraine
and the Balkans.
 Nationalism was spreading all across the
European continent
 What is Nationalism?
 What is Self-Determination?
 Independence occurring in many
countries
 Belgium in 1830
 Unification of Germany 1871
•
The Ottoman Empire was shrinking
– Controlled the Balkans since the 15th century
– Austria and Russia responsible for the slicing away of
Ottoman Territories in Europe
•
Austria-Hungary was dealing with Slavs
– Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes
– Russia promoted Pan-Slavism
• Movement that stressed the ethnic and cultural kinship of these
different groups
• Russia did this to hopefully weaken the Austro-Hungarian Empire for
future annexation into the Russian Empire

Nationalism led to the
economic competition
of European powers
 Competed for Foreign
Markets, and were
locked in Tariff Wars
▪ What is a Tariff?
 Biggest Rivalry was
between Great Britain
and Germany
In the late 1800s, Great
Britain produced
almost 32% of the
worlds industrial
output
 At the same time,
Germany produced
only 13%


By 1914: Britain’s
production fell to 14%,
which was about the
same as Germany’s

This close proximity in
production led to a
strained relationship
 Rivalries led to an arms race.
 To be truly great, a nation
needed a powerful military.
 The nations had large standing
armies and the ability to
mobilize them.
•
Both Britain and
Germany felt that the
most important aspect
during a time of war
was Naval Power
– Germany announced a
program to strengthen
and build up a navy
– Caused Britain to build
super ships known as
dreadnoughts
 The quest for colonies sometimes
pushed European nations to the
brink of war.
 Germany and France nearly fought
over Morocco twice.
 Rivalry and mistrust between the
countries deepened.
 The rivalries led to the creation
of several military alliances.
 They were meant to keep peace,
but instead helped push the
continent into war.
• The Triple Alliance= Germany
and Austria-Hungary (the Dual
Alliance) plus Italy.
• In 1887, Germany also had a
treaty with Russia, AustriaHungary’s enemy.
• When Kaiser Wilhelm II took over
Germany, he let the treaty with
Russia lapse.
• Russia responded by making an
alliance with France.
•
Britain was upset by the military
growth of Germany and made an
entente with France and Russia.
•
Triple Entente=Britain, France, and
Russia.
•
Entente did not bind them to fight for
each other, but they would not fight
against each other.
 With a long history of ethnic
clashes, the Balkans were known
as the “powder keg” of Europe.
 Nationalism led groups of people
there to break away from the
Ottoman Turks.
 Serbia:
 wanted all the Slavs
 was supported by Russia
 Austria-Hungary was threatened by
them
 Both Russia and Austria-Hungary
wanted to control Serbia
 Bosnia and Herzegovina:
 taken over by Austria-Hungary
 had large Slavic population
 Serbia was very upset but could
not do anything about it
•
Archduke of Austria-Hungary Franz
Ferdinand and wife Sophie were
shot on June 28, 1914. He was the
heir to the throne.
•
The killer was Gavrilo Princip, a 19
year-old and member of the Black
Hand.
•
On July 23, Austria gave Serbia an ultimatum.
• Serbia was to suppress all anti-Austrian (and Pan-Slav) publications,
societies and propaganda.
• Serbia was to dismiss all anti-Austrian officials objected by Austria.
• Austrian police and officials were to enter Serbia and to take part in the
Serbian police force in order to carry out the suppression of anti-Austrian
activities and investigations concerning the Sarajevo murders.
•
On July 28, Austria declared war.
•
Russia mobilized its troops to support
Serbia.
 “Triple Alliance”
 Germany
 Austria-
Hungary
 Italy
 “The Triple
Entente”
 Great Britain
 France
 Russia
•
Each country had their own ideas on
how the war would be won
– The French strategy was called Plan XVII
• Entailed a lot of offensive maneuvers
• Basically it was an all out ATTACK
• Would result in massive casualties that the French didn’t think of
– The Schlieffen Plan
• Germany’s idea to knock out the French quickly and then focus on
Russia
• Entailed moving 180,000 soldiers and supplies into France by way
of Belgium
 When the war began many military
strategists felt that it would be over
quickly
 The Germans were so confident that they said:
“We will be home by Christmas”
 The idea of a short war quickly went
away when the fronts were formed in
which modern weapons ended the lives
of millions
•
With the promise of a short war, over 20
million men left for the fronts of World War I
– Believed that God was on their side
Defense was not thought about by military
leaders, only thoughts of assaults and swift
triumphs
• The Germans march towards Paris halted at
the Marne River
•
– This location become known as the western front
– Next 3 years, the battle lines hardly changed at all
 Schlieffen Plan failed by September
1914.
 First Battle of the Marne: British
and French troops push Germans
back, September 5-12
 Germany had to fight on two fronts.
 On the Western Front, in northern
France, troops from both sides dug
trenches and there was a stalemate.
 Battle of Verdun: February to
December 1916, over half a million
casualties, Germans gained 4 miles,
“They shall not pass.”
 Battle of Somme:
July to
November 1916, over a million
casualties, Britain gained only 6
miles
 Vast system of deep trenches
 Usually about 10 feet deep, fortified
with wood or sandbags
 Barbed wire barrier in front
 Mud, rats, lice, no fresh food, little
sleep
 “No man’s land”=area between
opposing trenches
 Front line trenches were dug in a
zigzag pattern
 Christmas Truce in 1914
 Land gains were very small
 Novel by Erich Maria Remarque who
served in the German army in World War I
 Considered the greatest novel on WWI
 It follows the narrator, Paul Baumer, from
eager recruit to disillusioned veteran. In
one part of the story, he is trapped in a
foxhole for hours with a French soldier he
just killed.
 Rapid-fire machine gun
 Long-range artillery gun
 Flamethrower
 Poison gas
 Tanks
 Zeppelins
 Airplanes
 Submarines

Example:
 Battle of Verdun
▪ French- 315,000 dead
▪ Germans- 280,000 dead

The amount of casualties was due to the
offensive nature of battle and the new
technology “machine gun”




German and Russian border
Battle of Tannenberg: August 1914, Russian
army (125,000)crushed by Germans in just 6 days,
swamp
Battle of Limanowa: December 1914, Austrians
pushed Russians out of Austria-Hungary
Russia was least industrialized of the Allies. They
kept sending troops though to keep Germany
split between two fronts.
Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and
helped defeat Serbia.
 Romania joined Allies but was crushed by the
Central Powers.
 In 1915, Italy switched sides. Italians fought
against Austrians along the Isonzo River.
Italy needed help from other Allies to keep
the Austrians out of Italy.

Japan joined the Allies and used the war as an
excuse to seize German outposts in China
and islands in the Pacific, issued the TwentyOne Demands to China.
 The Ottoman Turks joined the Central Powers
and helped cut off Allied supply lines to
Russia through the Dardanelles.
 Battle of Gallipoli: the Allies tried
unsuccessfully to open the Dardanelles, 10
months

 Turks also fought Russia.
Christian
Armenians were killed or deported
from Turkey because they helped the
Russians
 The Arabs revolted against Turkish rule.
British Colonel T.E. Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia) helped lead the
Arabs.
 British and French colonies were
asked to fight.
 German colonies in Africa and Asia
were overran.
 Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
sent troops to fight for Britain.





We sold supplies to Britain, then gave loans
1915---sinking of Lusitania by German
submarines, 128 Americans killed
1917---Zimmerman Note deciphered
Change in public opinion from anti-war to
pro-war
U.S. involvement turned the tide of war
towards Allied victory
 WWI was the
first wide
ranging use of
propaganda.
 Usually depicted
the enemy as
inhuman and
savages
 A conservative estimate: 15 million
dead and 20 million wounded
 Armistice Day: November 11, 1918
(Veteran’s Day)
 Peace treaties would follow
 1919, the Victorious powers met in
Paris to arrange the postwar
settlement
 George Clemenceau (France), Woodrow Wilson
(US), and Lloyd George(Britain) led deliberations
 Wilson proposed his 14 points that included
removal of economic barriers, formation of the
League of Nations, freedom of navigation
 Treaty of Versailles---but other treaties too
 Germany received the blame for WWI
 Required to accept sole responsibility and guilt for
causing the war
 Settlement limited the size of the German army to
100,000
 Required to pay reparations