Transcript maincauseswwi-AP Euro

World War I
MAIN CAUSES OF WWI
• Nine million men and women died in fighting during
WWI; 21 million more were wounded or disabled and 20
million civilians died of disease and starvation as a direct
result of the war. What cause, event, or circumstance can
you think of that would justify a war of this magnitude?
Militarism
• Militarism--glorification of the military-loving the military.
• Countries began to build up the arsenals.
Germany and Great Britain famously
squared off in an arms race.
• Russia also developed its military forces.
• This gave much influence to military
leaders prior to WWI
Alliances
• agreements between countries to help each other
in war
• Alliances in the early 1900s
• Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungarian
Empire and Italy.
• Triple Entente: France, Russia, and Great Britain
• Alliances in WWI
Alliances in WWI
• Central Powers
• 1. Germany
• 2. Austro-Hungarian
Empire
• 3. Bulgaria
• 4. Ottoman Empire
•
•
•
•
•
•
Allies
1. France
2. Russia
3. Great Britain
4. Italy (May, 1915)
5. Others (Serbia, Japan,
Belgium)
• 6. USA
• Respond: What would happen if one minor
country in the alliance structure were
brought into a conflict with another
country? Be specific
• How can an alliance structure be seen as a
“cause” of war?
Imperialism
• When one country takes over another. There
was much tension between European
countries over colonies, prior to WWI
• Agadir Crisis (fight over Morocco) is an
example
• Countries coveted their enemies’ colonies.
• Russia wanted to chip away at Ottoman
lands, for example.
• Japan wanted the German sphere of
influence in China.
Nationalism
• Love for and pride in one’s country (“our country
is best”).
• Most clearly seen in the Serbian desire for
expansion. Many ethnic Serbs lived in BosniaHerzegovina, which was controlled by AustriaHungary.
Conclusion of Causes: MAIN
• Question: Is there one cause that could be
considered more significant than others? Can one
of these actually cause the other three? Respond:
• The spark that ignited war!
• Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina—June 28, 1914
• Assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia, from
Austria-Hungary
I.
Which side had the better
strategic position? Why?
I.
Which side had the better
strategic position? Why?
“It’s The End of the World As
We Know It”
World War One: The Events
Overview
• 65 million combatants
from 30 countries
representing every
continent.
– 29 million become
casualties.
• Naval battles around the
world and land battles in
Europe, Africa, and Asia.
• Revolutionary technology,
but evolutionary tactics(?)
Background to War—the Balkans
• 1. Serbia, Romania and Montenegro gain
Independence in 1878.
• Not all Serbs were satisfied. Wanted to include all
Serbs within border and wanted access to water
(Albania?)
• 2. A-H annexed Bosnia in 1908
• 3. First Balkan War 1912—Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece,
and Montenegro vs. Ottomans.
• 4. Second Balkan War 1913—Everyone vs. Bulgaria.
• 5. Tense part of Europe, it was.
Central Powers-Germany, AustriaHungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire
Allies- Great Britain, France,yrt5 Russia, later..Japan, Belgium,
Italy, U.S.
War Breaks Out
• 1. June 28, 1914: Gravilo Princip of the Black
Hand assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz
Ferdinand.
• 2. July 23, 1914 Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an
Ultimatum (list of demands or war) and Serbia
said “No!” July 28, A-H declared War on Serbia
• 3. July 30, Russia moved troops to German and
Austrian Borders.
• 4. August 1, German declared war on Russia,
August 3 France.
• 5. August 3 German invaded France by way of
Belgium
• 6. August 5, Great Britain declared war on
Germany
The Four Fronts of the War
• Western, Eastern, Balkan, Italian
The Great War (1914-1918)
• The Schlieffen
Plan
• Designed to
prevent a
two-front war
Western Front (in France)
• 1. Western Front:
According to the
Schlieffen Plan
Germany should fight
one front at a time.
Germany invaded
France and got 50
miles from Paris, but
they were stopped.
• 2. The war of the
Western front became
a war of stalemate:
fighting with little
progress.
•
•
3 1916 Battle of Verdun, began by
Germany, left almost 700,000
killed or wounded.
4. The French started the Battle of
the Somme which left almost 1
million killed or wounded.
• 5. Other battles were the
Battle of the Marne, the
Battle of Passchendaele,
and the Battle of Ypres.
• 5. By 1918 the Germans
were weakened by low
supplies and the entrance
of the United States.
The Battle of Verdun
Trenches were easily attacked, but a constant barrage of
fire power did little more than flatten barbed wire.
Soldiers would then run towards their enemy’s trenches in an
attempt to eliminate them. Unprotected men crossing
fields were easy targets for machine guns.
Millions were killed between 1916 and 1917.
At Verdun, 700,000 men were killed over a 10 month period
across a few miles of land.
The Battle at the Somme
• The French and British armies
met at the Somme river where
the plan was to relieve pressure
on the French at Verdun.
•
Of the 100,000 British troops,
20,000 were killed and over
40,000 were wounded by July
1,1916.
• This only changed the warfront
by ten miles.
Eastern Front
•
•
•
•
1. Mainly Russia fighting Germany
and Austria-Hungary.
2. At first Russia did well, but then
at the Battle of Tannenberg in 1915
Russia suffered a terrible loss.
3. Most Russian soldiers had bad
weapons due to the Tsar’s bad
leadership.
4. In 1917, after the Russian
Revolution, Lenin took Russia out
of the war in the Treaty o f BrestLitovsk. Russia lost 1/4 of its land
as part of the deal.
The Balkan Front
•
•
•
•
1. The Ottoman Empire joined the
Central Powers in November 1914.
2. The Allies decided it would be good
to defeat the Ottomans by taking the
Dardanelles (a narrow waterway that
connects the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean).
3. In April 1915 the British (and
Australians and New Zealanders)
attacked the Ottomans at Gallipoli.
However, they failed and many died.
4. The only Allied success against the
Ottomans was in the Middle East
(Palestine, etc) where TE Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia) got help from
Arabs who hated Ottoman rule.
T.E. Lawrence (A.K.A. Lawrence of Arabia)
The Italian Front
• 1. May 1915 Italy
joined the Allies, after
being promised
Austrian lands if they
were to win.
• 2. In 1917 the
Germans and
Austrians defeated the
Italians at the Battle of
Caporetto.
New Weapons of War
Machine Gun
• 1. Machine gun-could shout 8 rounds
per second and send
bullets 2,900 yards.
(Russian Machine Gun on the Eastern Front)
• 2. Artillery: cannons
could shoot deadlier
bombs. At Verdun 24
million shells were
used (1,000 per square
meter)
Poison Gas
• 3. Poison gas: The
Germans used it first,
but by the end of the
war even the Allies
were using it.
4. Flame throwers.
Tanks
• 5. Tanks: The British
used the tank to break
through barbed wire.
Airplanes
• 6. Airplane: 850 and
the beginning; 10,000
at the end. Still, not
used much compared
to everything else.
• Fokker D VII vs.
Sopwith F1 Camel
U-boats
• 7. Submarine: used to
sink ships.
Trench Warfare
• 1. 475 miles of trenches
stretched from the North
Sea to Switzerland, on the
Western Front in France.
• 2. “No man’s land”
separated the enemy
trenches.
• 3. Soldiers sat for weeks,
if not months in the
muddy, nasty trenches.
They had to fight off rats
and they often suffered
from “trench foot”: when
feet rot because they are
too wet for too long.
• 4. Life in the trenches was
boring, frightening, and
deadly all at once.
German Trenches
Trench foot; and if this looks
bad…
Ouch!
Reflections of a Soldier
•
At the age of 92, Arthur Savage was asked about his memories of life
on the Western Front.
•
“My memories are of sheer terror and the horror of seeing men sobbing
because they had trench foot that had turned gangrenous. They knew
they were going to lose a leg. Memories of lice in your clothing driving
you crazy. Filth and lack of privacy. Of huge rats that showed no fear of
you as they stole your food rations. And cold deep wet mud
everywhere. And of course, corpses. I'd never seen a dead body before
I went to war. But in the trenches the dead are lying all around you. You
could be talking to the fellow next to you when suddenly he'd be hit by a
sniper and fall dead beside you. And there he's stay for days.”
War of Attrition
• A war based on
wearing the
other side down
by constant
attacks and
heavy losses.
The Great War (1914-1918)
• RMS Lusitania
torpedoed—
1,198 people
killed, including
128 Americans
(7 May 1915)
The US enters the War
• 1. Americans were at first against entering the
war.
• 2. But the British were good at sending
propaganda (one-sided information) to the US.
Americans began to hate Germany and side with
the Allies (this was easy since America has a lot in
common with England: language, history, etc.)
• 3. Also the Germans began to sink ships with
Americans (such as the Lusitania). Americans
didn’t like this.
• 4. Finally, Germany tried to get Mexico to
help. It sent the request in the infamous
Zimmerman Telegram that was intercepted.
Americans were outraged. By 1917 the US
had declared war against Germany.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The
End
of
the
War
1 In 1917 the US entered the war on the side of the
Allies. US forces fought on the Western Front.
Germany defeated at the Second Battle of the
Marne (July 1918) Ludendorff gave up, socialists
gained power.
2 In Sept 1918 Bulgaria surrendered to the Allies.
3. In October 1918 the Ottomans surrendered.
4.The Austro-Hungarian empire surrendered Nov.
1918.
5.. Nov. 11, 1918 Germany agreed to an armistice
(end to fighting) with the Allies, after it kicked out
the Kaiser.
6. 8 million soldiers died. But 20 million more
people would die due to a massive flu epidemic in
the next few years.
The Biggest Killer
• 125,000 Americans died in World War I.
• However, the biggest killer of 1918 was not the war, it was
the Flu.
• It was most deadly for those 20 to 40.
• About 600,000 Americans died from this influenza virus –
about 40 million people worldwide
• This began as an avian virus.
• The current bird flu virus can lead to perhaps the same
amount of deaths as the virus of 1918…or more.
On the Home Front
Total War
• Involving a
complete
mobilization of
resources and
people.
• How was this
carried out?
Nationalization
• The process of changing business
operations from private to
public/government ownership.
• Planned economy--Germany most
successful with it’s War Materials Board.
• Great Britain’s Ministry of Munitions under
David Lloyd George oversaw munitions
plants.
• France—lost much of it’s coal and steel to
German occupation. Not as organized as to
other countries.
• Germany was most successful at shifting
toward total war.
• France was least successful
• Russia was unprepared and failed to keep
up with demands. Most soldiers, but they
were ill-equipped. Like A-H, lacked unity.
Rations
• Germans suffered much in food losses.
Imported 20% of its food from GB before
the war. 750,000 starved.
Public Opinion
• Internal opposition came from liberals and
socialists.
• Unions went on strike
• Russia had a revolution
• Governments cracked down.
• They also turned to…
Propaganda: One sided
information designed to persuade
people to believe in certain cause.
Examples of Expanding
Government Control and
Censorship
• Conscription—All countries relied on this,
even GB
• Defense of the Realm Act in GB---
• Auxiliary Service Law in Germany—All
men at home had to work on war related
jobs.
Impact on Women
• New jobs, but for how long?
• By 1919, 650,000 unemployed women.
• Did obtain suffrage after the war.
Economic Effects
• Benefit to large munitions producers
• Inflation hurt everyone in Europe. Only in
GB did workers wages keep up with cost of
living.
• Skilled workers did well. Unskilled workers
did not.
Effect on Unions
• Right to collectively bargain in exchange
for what?
Europe Before WWI
Europe after WWI
German Upheaval
• November Revolution of 1918—The Social
Democrats (SPD) vs. the more radical
German Communist Party—two
governments.
• Revolution of 1919--Social Democrats
allied with right wing Free Korps to crush a
communist uprising. Karl Liebknecht and
Rosa Luxembourg were murdered.
• Left a strong fear of communism among the
middle class.
Roughly 10 million military
deaths