Transcript World War I The “Great War”

World War I
The “Great War”
Mr. Weiss
World History
MAIN Causes of WWI
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Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism
Cause: Militarism
 All
major nations wanted a
large army in response to
nationalism, imperialism and
the perceived threats from
other armies
Cause: Alliances
Caused many countries to join
fighting once war had begun
 Before the war: Triple Alliance and
Triple Entente
 Later: Central Powers and Allied
Powers
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Cause: Imperialism
 Desire
for increased territory
and wealth led to competition
over colonies
Cause: Nationalism
 Desire
to prove national
greatness led to rivalries
between great powers
 Highly nationalistic ethnic
groups were calling for
independence (e.g., Serbians,
part of Slavic ethnic group)
What is a catalyst?
The Catalyst:
Background
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Ottoman Empire had
declined and some
Balkan countries
were now
independent
Austria took over
(annexed) Bosnia
and Herzegovina,
part of Slavic ethnic
group
Serbia, also Slavic,
resented Austrian
aggression; wanted
large Slaviccontrolled region
The Catalyst
 Assassination
of Archduke
Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
– Serbian nationalist group, Black
Hand, wanted Bosnia freed from
Austria
– 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip of the
Black Hand killed the Archduke on
June 28, 1914
The Catalyst Leads to War
–Austria wanted to punish Serbia
and set demands; most agreed
to, but not enough
–Austria declares war against
Serbia on July 28, 1914
War Spreads
 July
28—Russia (also Slavic)
mobilized troops to the
Austrian border
 Aug 1—Austria’s ally Germany
saw this as a threat and
declared war on Russia
War Continues to Spread
 Aug
3—Germany declared war
on France, Russia’s ally
 Aug 4—after Germany
attacked neutral Belgium, to
get to France, Britain declared
war on Germany
The Schlieffen Plan
First—attack France to the west
 Second—attack Russia to the east
 Worked well to start: in Paris by
Sept 3
 Intended to keep Germany from
having to fight on two fronts at the
same time
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The Schlieffen Plan
Count Von Schlieffen
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Alliances Before the War
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Triple Alliance:
– Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Triple Entente:
– France, Russia, Britain
Alliances Shift After War
Starts
 Central
Powers
–Germany, Austria-Hungary
–later, Bulgaria and Ottoman
Empire (wanting to regain
lost territories)
 Allied
Powers (the Allies)
–Great Britain, France, Russia
–soon Japan, and later Italy
–also Serbia, Greece,
Romania, etc.
–much later, the U.S. (1917)
Europe in 1914
“Short” war goes long
German plan worked well to start:
in Paris by Sept 3
 Battle of the Marne— began on
Sept 5, after 8 days of battle,
German offensive was stopped
 Russians soon attacking Germany
in the east
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– the Schlieffen Plan has failed
Stuck in the trenches
 Example of trench warfare
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– Battle of Verdun in Feb 1916—each
side lost more than 300,000 men
Trenches on the
Western Front
New technology of war
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Machine guns
Poison gas
Grenades
Armored tanks
Larger artillery: canons
Submarines
Airplanes armed
with machine guns
Western Front
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Mostly in France, near German border
500 miles of trenches dug in France
Trench warfare
No Man’s Land—the uninhabited land
between the rows of trenches
STALEMATE—”stuck”, nobody makes
any real progress
Eastern Front
 Along
Russia’s borders with
Germany and Austria-Hungary
 Fewer trenches, more mobile
and more brutal than western
front
 Russians always short of
supplies
Russia’s Role
 Russia’s
huge population
provided plenty of soldiers to
send to the front
 Russia kept Germany from
winning the war by occupying
them in the east, dividing
forces
“Global” war
 Every
continent throughout the
GLOBE
 Fighting over colonies
 Also colonial subjects served
their European masters
Who’s Fighting?
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Middle East (Arab nationalists helped
Britain)
Asia (Japan took German colonies;
India fought for Britain)
Africa (English & French wanted
German land)
Americas: Brazil, Canada and later, U.S.
Australia (fighting for British)
“Total” War
 Every
country involved
devoted its TOTAL resources
to the war effort
 Governments took over
factories, etc.
Life on the Home Front
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Rationing in Europe
– Limiting the amount of daily supplies that
people could buy (gasoline, sugar, etc.)
– On a volunteer basis in U.S.
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Propaganda
– Persuading the population to support the
war
Women worked in factories & on farms
replacing men who had gone to fight
U.S. Enters the War
 U.S.
policy of isolationism had
kept it out of the war, though
they helped Allies
 Unrestricted submarine warfare
by Germans sank British and
U.S. ships, including passenger
ships (Lusitania)
U.S. Enters the War cont.
Zimmerman Note—US learned of
German telegram offering Mexico
US territory if it joined Germany
 US entered war on April 2, 1917
 Took a year to get 2 million US
soldiers over
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Russia’s Problems
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WWI had contributed to problems in Russia and
helped cause revolution
“Bloody Sunday” – January 22, 1905
200,000 workers and their families went to the Czar
with a petition demanding better working
conditions and a national assembly.
Generals ordered troops to fire on the crowd.
1,000 wounded, several hundred dead.
Strikes and violence erupted across the country.
Eventually, the Czar created the Duma (Parliament)
and gave new freedoms. (He took away the Duma
after 10 weeks).
Demonstrated a need for reform in Russia.
Russia’s Problems
Russian Revolution of March, 1917
led to fall of Czar Nicholas II
 New provisionary government
does not leave war, this led to
resentment and…
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Russia Leaves the War
 Bolshevik
Revolution of Nov,
1917 led to Communist
takeover of Russia
 Bolshevik leader Lenin signed
peace treaty with Germany in
November, 1917
–Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Final Act
 With
Russia out, Germany
could focus on Western Front
 BUT…arrival of US troops and
exhaustion of German army
and supplies led to defeat of
Germany
Fighting Ends
 Central
Powers signed the
Armistice (end to fighting)—
Nov 11, 1918
 11pm on 11-11-1918.
 Today we call it Veteran’s Day.
Treaty of Versailles
Allied Powers met to create a
post-war treaty at the Palace of
Versailles
 Started on Jan 18, 1919 & signed
on June 28, 1919 (5 years after
assassination)
 Big 4: US, France, Britain, Italy
(Japan virtually shut out)
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The Fourteen-Point Plan
Woodrow Wilson’s proposal for peace
– End to secret treaties
– Freedom of seas
– Reduce national armies and navies
– Self-determination for colonial
peoples
– “just” peace (no harsh punishment)
– League of Nations
In the End…
Britain & France agreed to League of
Nations but not the rest of Wilson’s
plan
 The U.S. Congress does NOT
approve the League of Nations and
does not join.
 Without the U.S. joining the League
it is not able to wield much power.
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In the End…
 Germany
was punished:
–“War guilt” clause, Germany to
pay $33 billion over 30 years to
Allies
($407
billion in 2008 money)
–Lost lots of territory
–Restrictions on German military
The Result
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Empires Ended: Russian,
German, Ottoman, AustrianHungarian
 Ex-colonies administered by
League; colonies angry at
treatment by Europe
More Results
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Japan and Italy angry—gained little
Germany left virtually destroyed,
broke, in debt, embittered…ready for
Hitler 20 years later
These harsh restrictions left Germany
devastated and led to political and
economic instability.
SPOLIER ALERT! This eventually leads
to World War II.
Total Costs
 8.5
million soldiers died
 21 million soldiers wounded
 1918 flu epidemic killed as many
as 50 million
– Made worse by wartime conditions
Total Costs cont.
A generation “lost”
 Farmland, homes, & villages
destroyed
 Total cost in 1918 dollars: $338
billion (about $4 trillion in today’s
money)
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