Transcript Lesson 1 : World War 1 Begins

Page 538 in your textbook
Causes
• 19th century liberals believed that if European
states were organized along national lines,
these states would work together and create a
peaceful Europe. They were very wrong.
•M-A-I-N
• Causes of
WW1:
A. Militarism
B. Alliances.
C. Imperialism
D. Nationalism
What is Nationalism?
•One of the most important forces of the 19th century.
•The sense of unique identity of a people, based on a
number of common elements:
Nationalism
• Led not to cooperation but to competition
• Each nation state felt it didn’t need to obey
any higher authority, they were guided by
their own self-interests and success.
• Most European leaders at this time thought
war was an acceptable way to preserve their
power.
• These factors made war a possibility.
Ethnic Minorities
• Not all ethnic groups had become nations in
Europe
• Slavic minorities in the Balkans and the
Austro-Hungarian Empire still dreamed of
their own national states.
• The Irish in the British Empire and the Polish
in the Russian Empire had similar dreams.
Imperialism
• Imperialist expansion in the late 19th century
also played a role in the coming of war.
• Competition for lands overseas, especially in
Africa, led to conflict and increased tension.
Industrialization
• Industrialization: new methods of shipbuilding,
new use of iron, steel, and chemicals for new
weapons
• New weapons of WW1:
• Machine guns
• Tanks
• U-boats (submarines)
• Zeppelins
• Poison gas
Bellringer
• What role did Nationalism and
Imperialism play in causing World
War 1?
Militarism
• Militarism was also growing in this time.
• Militarism – the aggressive preparation for war
• Military leaders drew up complex plans for
mobilizing millions of soldiers and huge supplies
in the event of war.
Militarism
• Growth of mass armies and navies after 1900
raised tension in Europe.
• Most Western countries established conscription
(military draft) before 1914.
Draft
Registration
Card
Militarism
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European armies doubled between 1890 and 1914.
Russia’s army of 1.3 million became the largest.
French and German armies - 900,000 soldiers each.
British, Italian, Austro-Hungarian armies between
250,000 and 500,000 each.
WW1 Recruitment posters
Alliances
• A system of alliances increased dangers of
militarism.
• Europe’s great powers had been divided into
two political alliances.
• Triple Alliance (formed 1882): Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Italy, Ottoman Empire.
• Triple Entente (formed 1907): France, Great
Britain, Russia.
Alliances
• In early 20th century, a series of crises tested
these alliances
• Balkans between 1908 and 1913.
• Left European states angry at each other,
eager for revenge
• European states were willing to use war to
preserve their power and their alliances.
Outbreak of War
• While nationalism, imperialism, militarism and
alliances all played a role in starting WW1, it
was the decision that European leaders made
in response to a crisis in the Balkans that led
directly to the conflict.
Assassination in Sarajevo and
Responses
• By 1914, Serbia, supported by Russia, was
determined to create a large independent
Slavic state in the Balkans.
• Russia: leader of “pan-Slavic” movement.
• Austria-Hungary, which had its own Slavic
minorities to deal with, was determined to
prevent this from happening.
• On June 28th 1914, Archduke Francis
Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria
Hungary, and his wife Sophia, visited the city
of Sarajevo in Bosnia.
• A group of conspirators waited there in the
streets.
• In that group was Gavrilo Princip, a 19 year
old Bosnian Serb.
• Princip was a member of the Black Hand, a
Serbian terrorist organization that wanted
Bosnia to be free of Austria Hungary and to
become a part of a large Serbian kingdom.
• An assassination attempt by one of the other
conspirators failed earlier that day.
• Later in the day, Princip succeeded in shooting
and killing the archduke and his wife.
• The Austro-Hungarian government did not
know if the Serbian government was involved
in the assassination, nor did they care.
• Austria-Hungary saw this as an opportunity to
end Serbia’s resistance once and for all.
What was the cause of
conflict that led to the
assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip?
Gavrilo Princip
Archduke Francis Ferdinand
• Austrian leaders wanted to attack Serbia, but
feared that Russia would come to their aid.
• So they asked for, and received, backing of
their German Allies.
• Emperor William II of Germany gave AustriaHungary a “blank check” promising Germany’s
full support if war broke out between Russia
and Austria-Hungary.
• On July 28th, Austria-Hungary declared war on
Serbia.
Mobilization of troops
• Russia was determined to Support Serbia.
• On July 28th, Czar Nicholas II ordered
mobilization of the Russian army against
Austria-Hungary.
• Mobilization: process of assembling troops
and supplies for war.
• In 1914, mobilization was considered an act of
war.
Conflict Broadens
• Germany reacted quickly.
• German government warned Russia that it
must end its mobilization within 12 hours.
• Russia ignored the warning, Germany
declared war on Russia on August 1st.
Schlieffen Plan
• Like the Russians, the Germans had
a military plan.
• General Alfred von Schlieffen helped draw up the
plan which was known as the Schlieffen Plan.
• It called for a two-front war with France and
Russia because the two had formed a military
alliance in 1894.
• Germany would conduct a holding action
against Russia while most of the army would
invade France rapidly.
• After France was defeated, Germans would
move east against Russia.
• August 4th – Great Britain declared war on
Germany.
• By this time, all the great powers of Europe
were at war.
Lesson 2 – World War 1
Pg 542
Call To Arms
• In August 1914, European governments had
no trouble convincing men to fight for their
countries.
• At this time, almost everyone believed the war
would be over in a few weeks.
• Citizens who saw them off believed the
soldiers would be home by Christmas.
1914-1915: Illusions and Stalemate
• Government propaganda: Ideas that are
spread to influence public opinion, for or
against a cause.
• Propaganda stirred hatred between nations
before the war
The Western Front
• German hopes for a quick end to the war
rested on a military gamble
• The Schlieffen plan had failed.
• German advance was stopped a short distance
from Paris at the First Battle of the Marne
(sept 6-10)
• To stop the Germans, French military loaded
2,000 Parisian taxicabs with fresh troops and
sent them to the front line.
The Western Front
• War quickly turned into a stalemate as neither
the Germans nor the French could be moved
from their trenches.
• stalemate: A situation in which further action
is blocked; a deadlock.
• They were kept in nearly the same positions
for four years.
The Eastern Front
• Unlike the Western Front, the war on the Eastern
Front was marked by mobility.
• Russian army moved into eastern Germany but
was defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg on Aug
30, and the Battle of Masurian Lakes on Sept 15.
• After these defeats, Russia was no longer a threat
to Germany. The cost in lives was enormous
• Russian casualties stood at 2.5 million killed,
captured, or wounded.
• The Russians were almost knocked out of the war.
The Eastern Front
• Austria-Hungary, Germany’s ally, wasn’t as
successful early on.
• They had been defeated by the Russians and
thrown out of Serbia as well.
Italy
• Italians betrayed their German and Austrian
allies in the Triple Alliance by attacking Austria
in May 1915.
• Italy joined France, Great Britain, and Russia,
who were previously known as the Triple
Entente, but now called the Allied Powers, or
Allies.
The Central Powers
• Encouraged by their success against Russia,
Germany and Austria-Hungary joined by
Bulgaria in Sept 1915, attacked and eliminated
Serbia from the war.
• Successes in the east allowed German troops
to move back to the offensive in the West.
Trench and Air Warfare
• On the Western Front, trenches dug in 1914
became elaborate systems of defense by 1916.
• Germans and French each had hundreds of miles
of trenches, protected by barbed wire up to 5
feet high and 30 yards wide.
• Concrete machine gun nests and heavy artillery
protected the trenches.
• Troops lived in holes in the ground, separated by
a strip of territory known as “no man’s land”
Trench warfare: new kind of war
• Military leaders had been trained to fight wars
of movement.
• Began with artillery barrage to flatten barbed
wire and shock the enemy.
• Then, a mass of soldiers would climb out of
the trenches with bayonets, hoping to work
their way toward enemy trenches.
• Men would advance unprotected across open
fields and were fired at by enemy’s machine
guns.
• In 1916 and 1917, millions of young men died
in this fashion.
• In 10 months at Verdun France, 700,000 men
died over a few miles of land.
• WWI had turned into a war of attrition, a war
based on wearing down the other side with
constant attacks and heavy losses.
Bellringer
• Write a one paragraph response on the
following question:
How had World War 1 become a war of
attrition?
*pg 544
War Planes
• By end of 1915, airplanes appeared on the
battlefield for the first time in history
• First used to spot enemy’s position
• Soon planes began to attack ground targets,
especially enemy communications.
• At first, pilots fired at each other with
handheld pistols.
• Later, machine guns were mounted on planes.
Zeppelins
• The Germans also used giant airships, the
zeppelins, to bomb London and eastern
England.
• They caused minimal damage but scared
many people.
• Germany’s enemies soon found out that
zeppelins, filled with hydrogen gas, went up in
flames when hit by antiaircraft guns.
A World War
• Because of the stalemate on the Western Front,
both sides wanted new allies.
• New allies would provide an advantage in troops,
money, and war goods.
• Bulgaria joined the Central Powers (Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire)
• Allies (Russia, Great Britain, France) declared war
on Ottoman Empire by landing troops at Gallipoli
(SW of Constantinople) in April 1915.
• Campaign was disastrous, Allies withdrew.
World War
• By 1917 The war had become a world conflict
• British officer stationed in the middle east
known as Lawrence of Arabia
• Urged Arab Princes to revolt
against their Ottoman
overlords
Widening of the War
• By 1918 British forces from Egypt mobilized
troops from India, Australia, and New Zeland to
destroy the Ottoman Turks in the Middle East.
• The Allies took advantage of Germany’s
preoccupations in Europe and lack of naval
strength
• Seized German colonies around the world with
help from alliances.
• Japan seized German held islands in the Pacific.
Australia seized German New Guinea.
United States Enters
• At first, USA tried to remain neutral
• Became more difficult
• Immediate cause: naval war between
Germany and Great Britain
Blockades
• Britain used superior navy to blockade
Germany, keeping war materials and goods
from reaching Germany by sea
• Germany set up their own blockade of Britain
and used unrestricted submarine warfare to
enforce it.
Lusitania
• May 7 1915 - German forces
sank British ship Lusitania
• 1,100 civilians including more than 100
Americans died.
• To avoid further antagonizing USA, Germans
suspended unrestricted submarine warfare on
Sept 15th 1915.
USA Joins
• January 1917 – Germans resume unrestricted
submarine warfare
• intended to starve British into submission.
• Emperor William II was assured that not a single
American will land on the continent.
• German officers quite wrong.
• April 1917 US troops joined, but not in large
numbers until 1918
• Gave psychological boost and major source of
money and goods.
Lesson 4 – World War I Ends
Last years of the war
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1917 not a good year for Allies
Offensives on Western Front badly defeated
Russia withdraws from war after a Revolution
However, entry of USA in 1917 gave the allies a
psychological boost.
• For Germany, withdrawal of Russia offered new
hope
• Germany was now free to concentrate entirely on
the Western Front.
Final Push
• Germany made one final military gamble
• March 1918 – grand offensive attack in the
West.
• By April, German troops were 50 miles from
Paris
• July 18th – German advance stopped at Second
Battle of the Marne.
• French, Moroccan, American troops
supported by hundreds of tanks, held off the
German advance.
Armistice
• More than a million American forces poured
into France
• Allied forces advanced towards Germany
• Sept 29th 1918 – German General Ludendorff
told German leaders that the war was lost.
• Nov 11th 1918 – Germans signed an armistice
to end the fighting.
Austria-Hungary
• Austria Hungary also experienced revolution
• As the empire grew tired of war, ethnic groups
within sought independence
• By the end of WWI, the Austro-Hungarian
empire ceased to exist.
• The empire was replaced by independent
republics of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
and Yugoslavia.
Paris Peace Conference
• January 1919 – representatives of victorious
allied nations met in Paris to make a final
settlement of WWI
• Germany not invited to attend, Russia could not
be present because of a civil war.
• Reasons for fighting the war changed
dramatically
• 1914 – European nations sought territorial gains
• By 1918, they were voicing more idealistic
reasons.
• Most important decisions
at the Paris Peace
Conference were made by:
• Woodrow Wilson
(President of USA)
• Georges Clemenceau
(French Premier)
• David Lloyd George (Prime
Minister of Great Britain)
Woodrow Wilson
• Nobody was more idealistic than USA
president Woodrow Wilson
• 14 points
• Wilson portrayed WWI as a people’s war
against absolutism and militarism, enemies of
liberty
• They could only be eliminated by creating
democratic governments and an association of
nations.
Great Britain and France
• David Lloyd George, newly elected prime
minister of Great Britain, had a more simple plan:
make Germany pay for this war.
• France’s approach was guided by national
security
• Georges Clemenceau, premier of France,
expressed that his people suffered the most from
German aggression.
• Clemenceau wanted Germany stripped of their
weapons, and also vast German payments –
Reparations – to cover the cost of war.
Conflict
• No surprise that the three conflicted at the
Paris Peace Conference
• Wilson wanted to create a League of Nations
to prevent future wars
• Clemenceau and Lloyd George wanted to
punish Germany
• Only compromise made it possible to create a
peace settlement
Compromise
• Wilson’s wish was granted
• January 25th 1919 – conference accepted idea
of League of Nations
• Wilson compromised on territorial
arrangements between the countries.
• Clemenceau obtained some guarantees for
French security.
Bellringer
• What was the Paris Peace Conference? Why
was it held?
• What specific goals did Clemenceau (France),
Lloyd George (Great Britain), and Wilson (USA)
have in the Peace Conference?
Treaty of Versailles – June 28th 1919
• Final peace settlement consisted of five
treaties with defeated nations (Germany,
Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey)
• Germans considered it harsh, especially the
War Guilt Clause, which declared that
Germany (and Austria) were responsible for
starting the war.
Treaty of Versailles – June 28th 1919
• Germany was ordered to pay reparations for
all damages that the Allied governments and
people sustained during the war.
• Germany also had to reduce its army to
100,000 men, cut back its navy, and eliminate
its air force.