Transcript Lecture 9: The World Community and the Collapse of European

World War I and The Struggle of
the European Order
VANQUISHED VICTORS NERVOUS NATIONALISM
AND THE DECLINE OF THE EUROPEAN WORLD
ORDER 1900-1929
CHAPTER 28
Stereopticon Images of the
Western Front
World War I from a Global
Perspective
 From a global perspective, World War I appeared
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as a European Civil War
Colonial and semi-colonial powers witnessed the
catastrophic failure of a system that seemed
invulnerable
European powers would call upon its colonies for
help and turn over colonial responsibilities to
indigenous people
An outside power (United States) would be
needed to tip the balance of war
The experience of this war transformed the
relationship between Europe and the world
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Key Questions: Europe and the
Great War
 What forces that propelled Europe to world
dominance would incite the First World War?
 How did the growing instability of the European
system lead to its collapse and the outbreak of
war in 1914?
 How did Germany hope to defeat two powerful
enemies on its flanks? How did it almost
succeed?
 How did the catastrophe of 1914 mark the
beginning of the end of the European era? How
did it reshape the continent and the Middle East?
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From a European Perspective…
 The forces of industrialism, nationalism and
liberalism that supported Europe’s
ascendency and confidence imploded
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The cultural self confidence and certainty that
had been building since the Age of Reason
would end by 1915
 The peace that ended this war in 1919 was
only temporary: The World Wars could be
viewed as one continuous war with a 20 year
cease fire
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Europe on the Eve of World War I
Europe in 1914
•What nations of modern Europe did not exist 100 years ago?
•What nations had vastly different borders?
World War I and the Post War Era: In A Nutshell
 The economic, political and social forces that had been building since
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Napoleon incited conflict within the European system
 Nationalism- fulfilling national destinies
 Capitalism- control of markets and resources
 Autocracy and democracy- internal dynamics and the balance of power
The imperialism that brought European rule over most of the world made
this conflict global in nature
The growth of technology and its application in warfare made this war
much longer and bloodier than anticipated
The unifying and divisive forces of nationalism dominated the post-war
settlement of Europe, but European imperialism would repress nationalist
movements in most of their colonies
The peace settlement was to bitter to be accepted by the losers and too
mild to keep the losers down
Open the door for Marxist challenges to nationalism, liberal democracy
and imperialism
The victors were vanquished and or disillusioned
Set the stage for an even more brutal war 20 years later
World War I: The Causes
 Way to remember the causes of World War I: ANIMAL
Alliances- dividing Europe into armed camps
Nationalism- emotional bond and sense of destiny
Imperialism- global reach for empire
Militarism- focus on solving disputes through military
engagement
Anarchy- lack of international law and mediation
Leaders- leaders who sought popular support and led
nation to war
Alliances and The First World War: Creating a chain
reaction
 Following Franco-Prussian War France felt
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insecure- allied with Russia to check
Germany (1894)- A Defensive Pact
Germany’s Growing Sea Power threatens
British interests- Britain joins Russia and
Britain in 1907 (Triple Entente)- Cooperative
Agreement
Germany counters with alliance with AustriaHungary and Italy (Triple Alliance)- (1882)A
Defensive Pact
Most stable and powerful nations allied to the
most unstable- the actions of one nation
could spark a general war
Italy did not join Austria and Germany in
1914- joined Britain France and Russia in
1915
Nationalism and the Rush to War
 France and wounded nationalism
 French set on revenge since 1871- loss of Alsace and
Lorraine territory
 Nationalism and the Powder Keg of Europe: The Balkans
 Aspirations for independence- Greater Serbia
 Bosnia- Absorbed into Austria- Serbia outraged
 Balkan Wars: 1912 and 1913-Challenge to Turkey and a fight
for the spoils
 Assassination of the Austrian Archduke by a Serbia
Nationalist – spark that set off war…
 Russia as the supporter of Serbian Nationalism
 Russian interests in Southeastern Europe checked by
Austria
 Austria feared Slavic nationalism and its Russian
supporters
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Saw Germany as a counterweight to Russia
 National indignation hard for governments to check-
popular press and jingoism- militant chauvinistic
nationalism
German Nationalism: Scene All Quiet on
the Western Front (1930)
 How
does this scene in the movie capture the
spirit nationalism and the virtues of war? How
does it beckon back to the writings of von
Treitschke?
 How might nationalism set off an assassination
and magnify the response to it? All Quiet on the
Western Front
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Imperialism and The Great War
 By 1900, the major European powers ruled the
world
 Every colonial claim had the potential for
conflict
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Germans challenged Britain and
France in Africa
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Italy wanted an African empire
 Imperial conquests and nationalist rivalries
 Germany’s drive for colonies and naval build
up threatened British naval dominance
 Challenge the imperial status quo
 Warring powers would draw men and material
from colonial populations
 Japan (an ally of Britain) saw war as the
opportunity to gain German territories
Militarism: The Nationalist Response to
Self Preservation
 Military buildup beginning in the late 19th Century
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Most nations adopted universal conscription
German and Austrian military expenditures doubled between
1910 and 1914
Naval arms race between Britain and Germany
Military leaders held overwhelming influence
 Inflexibility of military planning: Germany and the von Schlieffen
Plan
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Germany expected a two front war: France and Germany
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Russia slow to mobilize: dedicate few resources east
Rush a bulk of resources west (disciplined railroad application)envelop Paris- Then transport troops against Russia
Russian mobilization would force Germany to quickly attack
France
The West and the von Schlieffen Plan
Von Schlieffen’s plan was adapted by Helmut von Molke to
include invading Belgium- This would bring Britain into the war
Anarchy: The Lawlessness Among Nations
 International community an anarchy with no
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effective enforcement of international law
International cooperation extended only as far
as narrow military alliances
No permanent international forum to mediate
disputes
Limited opportunity for neutral negotiations- In
lawless communities, force is the law
One of the results of the war- The League of
Nations
Leaders: Deciding for War
•“Prosecuting an active foreign policy
would smother internal troubles”
•Leaders were rewarded by popular
support for standing their ground and
threatening war to settle disputes.
•Many leaders were more afraid of not
fighting war than fighting- much
different 20 years later
•Struggling Hapsburg Empire benefits
from Wilhelm II’s saber rattling foreign
policy
•Growing nationalized mass society
demanded assertive leadership
•The three emperors pictured in the
bottom row would effectively be the
last for their nations
The Guns of August: The Animal
Unleashed
June 28: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist- Austria
presents Serbia with an ultimatum
July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
July 29: Russia, Serbia's ally, orders the mobilization of troops.
August 1: Germany, an ally of Austria-Hungary, declares war on
Russia and demands the neutrality of Russia's ally France;
France refuses and mobilizes. (remember von Schlieffen Plan)
August 3: Germany declares war on France.
August 4: Germany invades neutral Belgium, as per the Schlieffen
plan to knock-put France; Britain responds by declaring war on
Germany.
November 5 Ottomans join Central Powers (anti-Russian)
Italy joins the Allies April 1915
Americans declare neutrality but economically support allies
The Allies and Central Powers
1914
The Declaration of war by Britain in 1914 would include the British
Empire including Australia, New Zealand and Canada
Expectations in the Summer of
1914
 War would be quick and decisive
Germany’s wars in 1860’s and 1870’s
were largely 1 battle affairs (New
technology and the modern state?
 War would bring glory to people and
nations- War as cultural hygiene (von
Treitschke)
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France- Revenge and return of Alsace- Lorraine
Germany- Support Austria and check Russia- end
alliance that threatened security
Austria- End Russian influence in South Eastern
Europe- check Slavic nationalism
 Britain did not want a single nation
dominant on the continent
The Western Front in 1914: An Unexpected Stalemate
 Failure of the von Schlieffen
Plan August-September 1914
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Belgium actively resisted
Germany’s march through their
country
German armies unable to flank
the French north of Paris (far
western line)
 By October, both sides set
opposite lines of defensive
trenches- little movement and
much destruction
Bleeding the Opponent: The Somme, Verdun and the
War of Attrition
 The Germans and Austrians able to hold the
underequipped Russian army
 Attempts to “break out” on the western front in 1916
degraded into a war of attrition- Victory measured in
enemy blood
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Verdun- The French Gettysburg February-December
1916
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French fortress town
Attacked to “bleed France white”
France lost 550,000 and the Germans 434,000
The Somme-(February-November 1916) British
offensive to take pressure off French at Verdun
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British lose 420,000- 58,00 on first day
Germans lose 500,000
French lose200,00
 Nations exhausted but unwilling to quit the field
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French armies began to refuse to engage the enemy
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Readings: The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme PBS The War
The War of the
Industrial
Revolution:
New Technology
from
http://www.henhudschools.org/webpages/alupien/resources.cfm?subpage=730973
Trench Warfare
Trench Warfare
“No Man’s
Land”
War Is HELL !!
German submarine U9 (1914)
A Canadian soldier with mustard gas burns, ca. 1917-1918
British 55th Division troops blinded by tear gas await treatment at an
Advanced Dressing Station near Bethune during the Battle of Estaires, 10
April 1918, part of the German offensive in Flanders.
German infantry improvising gas masks during the First World War
(probably 1915)
British Vickers machine gun crew wearing anti-gas
helmets, July 1916
A German trench in the swamp area near the Hell Lakes on the Eastern
Front , 1915
Sacrifices in War
French Renault Tank
British Tank at Ypres
U-Boats
The Airplane
“Squadron Over the Brenta”
Max Edler von Poosch, 1917
The Flying Aces of World War I
Eddie
Rickenbacher,
US
Francesco
Barraco, It.
Eddie “Mick”
Mannoch, Br.
Willy Coppens
de
Holthust, Belg.
Rene Pauk
Fonck, Fr.
Manfred von
Richtoffen, Ger.
[The “Red
Baron”]
The Zeppelin
Flame
Throwers
Grenade
Launchers
Poison Gas
Machine Gun
The Western and Eastern Fronts: World War I
The Widening War
 British and Empire forces attack the
Ottoman Empire
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Campaign to seize control of straits
failed at Gallipoli in 1915
British and Arab allies take Ottoman
provinces of Mesopotamia (Iraq), Syria,
Palestine and the Arabian peninsula
 War in the Far East
 Japan takes German lands in the
Western Pacific and China
 War and the New World
 Germany’s blockade of Britain would
draw in The United States in April 1917
The Armenian Genocide: Nationalism,
Identity and the Horrors of Modern War
 Ottoman Turkey had been moving to become a
modern nation state
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This compromised its rule of Arab Muslims
Control over Christian Armenians particularly
tenuous.
 Armenians blamed for losses to Russia
 Turkish generals assaulted Armenian populationPopulation rounded up for a forced march to
Syria- up to a million dies
 Ethnic cleansing became a model for asserting
sovereignty in the 20th century
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One of thousands of mass Armenian graves
Turkish Genocide Against Armenians
A Portent of Future Horrors to Come!
World War I and the Arab Middle
East
 The Suez Canal would be an important target
in both World Wars
 Russia’s persistent appetite for Turkish
territory made it a natural German ally
 Britain’s attempt to seize Istanbul in 1915
Gallipoli attack a significant failure
 Britain shifted strategies to make alliances
with Turkey’s restive Arab population
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Britain and Arab Nationalism
 British operatives courted Arab
nationalists in their attempt to defeat
the Ottomans
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Famous Lawrence of Arabia (T.E.
Lawrence) as an agent
Promise of independence for Arabs
who were alienated by Young Turks
and Turkish nationalism
 Helped the British take Jerusalem
and Baghdad
 Post-war land grab in the Arab
Middle East by France and Britain a
bitter disappointment
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Zionism and The Balfour
Declaration
 Zionism- a movement of Diaspora Jews to return to
their ancestral homeland- a form of nationalism
 Zionists had been buying land from Palestinian
absentee landlords (ayan)
 Balfour Declaration- Made by British Foreign
secretary- promise to promote a Jewish homeland in
Palestine after the war- Britian also promised Arab
leaders that they would control these lands
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Arabs saw the British mandate of Palestine a double
betrayal
“ A land without people for a people without land”Zionist perspective
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The Breakdown of the Eastern Front: The Fall of the
Romanov Family
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Russia was unprepared militarily and technologically for
war
Eastern Front much more dynamic than the Western Front
Two million soldiers killed six million wounded or captured
by 1916
Tsar Nicolas and wife influenced by Siberian mystic
Gregory Rasputin- murdered 1916
March 1917- A general strike in Petrograd
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Army refuses to disperse the crowds
Duma (Russian Parliament) urges Tsar to step down
New provisional government continues the war
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Workers and peasants do not support war
Committees of workers and peasants Soviets grow in many regions
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Radical Marxists- mainly lower classes of workers, peasants and dissatisfied soldiers
Included Bolsheviks (violent revolutionary Marxists small faction of Russian Marxists)
Tsar’s family is exiled and eventually murdered in July
1918
America and Turning the Tide:
1917-1918
 1917- A bad year for the Allies
 Collapse of the Eastern front
 French exhausted by Verdun and the
Somme
 Italian front collapsing
 German gamble- risk war with the
United States with a blockade of Britain
(unrestricted submarine warfare)
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Germany entices Mexico to declare war
on America- The Zimmermann Telegraph
 America declares war on Germany 6
April 1917
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Psychological boost for the allies
AEF (American Expeditionary Forces)
would not arrive in numbers until 1918
America Prepares for the War to End All Wars
America, Germany and Breaking the
Stalemate: 1918
 Germany commits to a grand
offensive in 1918
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Move troops from Eastern front
Win the war before American
soldiers can relieve the allies
German attack stalls in July 1918
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Allies supported by 140,000 fresh
troops
Front is still in France and BelgiumStab in the back mythology
Two million Americans would lead a
counter offensive
Wilhelm II abdicates- New socialist
government signs armistice
11/11/1918 (Armistice Day)
The Armistice and the Victors Peace
of Versailles
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Delegates of victorious powers meet in Paris to create an “eternal
Peace”- Versailles focused on war against Germany
President Wilson proposed Fourteen Points as a basis for peacemain principles
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Disarmament
Self determination- align regional nationalism with political borders
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End secret treaties
General association of nations
Anger and revenge and fear among European allies compromised
Wilson’s ideas
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Disregard for balance of power and claims of great powers
Germany to accept blame for the war- payment of reparations
Too brutal to forget and too mild to destroy Germany
Seeds planted for a larger war in 20 years
America disillusioned and withdrew from European affairs
Non-European peoples hoped for self determination meant the end of
colonial rule- not so
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Arab territories controlled by France and Britain (Mandate system)
German territories taken by France Britain Australia and Japan
Colonial empires maintained
World War I Casualties
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
Russia
Germany
Austria-Hungary
France
Great Britain
Italy
Turkey
US
Managing the Post War World:
The 1920’s and the West
 Germany is isolated and saddled with limitations
from Versailles
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Civil unrest through early 1920’s- hyperinflation and
French occupation
Last years of decade more peaceful
 Soviet Union withdrawn from world events to
1930’s
 France – feared US and Britain’s unwillingness to
continue a military alliance
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Presses Germany hard on Versailles Treaty
 General peace an prosperity from 1924-1929
Nationalism: Self Determination and the New Europe
•What new nations were
created at Versailles? From
what nations were these
territories constituted?
•Germany agreed to accept full
responsibility for the War.
• Payment of reparations
to Britain and France.
• Demilitarized
The Post Versailles World
 The Experience of War and Illiberal Peace
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Communist Russia: The Spawn of
World War I
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Germans facilitate the entry of Vladimir Lenin into Russia (Reading
72 What is to be Done?)
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Three slogans
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Petrograd soviet seizes the provisional government November 6-7
1917
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Russia lost Finland, the Baltic States, Poland and much of the Ukraine
Lenin argued that boarders were not relevant- international movement would sweep
through Europe
Civil War between Reds (Communists) and Whites (antiCommunists)
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Power turned over to soviets
Bolsheviks- Renamed Communists- take control of government
Negotiated the end of the war with Germany and Austria- The
Treaty of Brest Litovsk
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Peace, bread and land
Worker control of production
All power to the Soviets
Whites had support of European powers and Japan (over 100,000 troops in 1919) but
were politically divided between monarchists and liberals
Reds had discipline and a popular program supported by terror Cheka- secret police
Revolutionary Terror “To break an omelet, a few eggs must be broken” War Communismseizing private property to defeat enemies
By 1921, Lenin’s Communists had established party control over
most of the old Romanov Empire
The Far East and the Post War Era
 Japan
 Japan’s export economy booms with war time demand
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Four giant Zaibatsu control Japanese industry
Japan’s hand in China and the Pacific greatly strengthened
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Take German territories in China and the Pacific
Twenty One Demands on China- Make China a Japanese
protectorate
Japan’s political and economic interests in China grow
 China
 Qing Dynasty ends 1911- Replaced by Sun Yat –sen and
Guomindang Party
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Westernized reform and republican government
Opposed by warlords- local anarchy continued.
Sun and the Guomindang party bring in Chinese communists
Sun dies in 1925- Chiang-Kai shek takes over Guomandang
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Breaks power of the warlords
Splits with Communists in early 1930’s
Unable to produce meaningful reforms like Bolsheviks or Meiji
emperors
World War I and The Future of the Far
East ca 1930
 Japan is growing militarily and
economically
 European states are weakened
by the war
 China struggles to unify and
reform under effective
government
 What do you see happening in
the Far East in the 1930’s?
The Spanish Influenza: 1918-1919
 Movement of people and conditions of camps
with crowds of men invited the rapid spread of
H1N1 Influenza virus.
 First wave in Spring 1918
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Aided by modern transportations systems and
malnourished populations
Killed people in all inhabited continents
Estimated to have killed 3-5% of the earth’s
population- wiped out entire villages in Alaska and
decimated Pacific Islands
 Second more deadly strain in August 1918
 Estimated final toll 50-100 MILLION
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The War and Africa
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India in the Years between Wars
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The New Order in the Middle East
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Egypt in the Post-War Era
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Dada: Art and the Reaction to the First World War
 Dada art- Art
against art?
 A rational response
to the irrationality of
war
 Otto Dix- German
artist and war
veteran
 The punk rock of
art
The Seeds of its Own Destruction: The
End of the European Age
 The divisions and rivalries that drove the age of
European exploration would explode into a “European
Civil War”
 The industrialization and military technology that
brought European rule to much of the world would turn
on itself to create a war of unprecedented destruction.
 World Trade would not recover to 1914 levels to
 The conflict that would follow the assassination of the
archduke would help to unravel the myth of European
cultural and intellectual superiority (Though Hitler would
exalt such myths in his Thousand Year Reich).