Transcript WWI - msmiller

World War I
1914-1918
M.A.N.I.A
1. Militarism
2. Alliances
3. Nationalism
4. Imperialism
5. Assassination
Causes of WWI

1. MILITARISM

Bertha von Suttner from Austria
 Lay Down your Arms (1889)

Germany had surged ahead of Britain
industrialization in the 1890s.
Britain strives to have a fleet of ships larger
than any two of its rivals
1898 Kaiser Wilhelm II expands German
Navy
By WWI both Germany and Britain have
Dreadnoughts



Causes of WWI

2. ALLIANCES
– 1870, Balance of power upset by the
Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War
 Bismarck seeks to isolate France and is
concerned about Russia who blamed
Germany for Russia's frustrated efforts to
get Balkan Territory
 1879, Dual Alliance; Germany and Austria
Causes of WWI


Triple Alliance, 1881
 Italy joins Germany and Austria looks
for support for its imperialistic agenda
in the Mediterranean and Africa
Russian-German Reinsurance Treaty,
1887
 Secret agreement. The two countries
promise neutrality if either goes to war
with another country
 Kaiser Wilhem II refused to renew the
treaty after Bismarck leaves in 1890
Causes of WWI


Britain in “Splendid Isolation” after 1891
 Ends with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance
in 1902
Entente Cordial (1904)
 Britain and French settle all colonial
disputes in Africa
 Britain sees a coming crisis with
Germany
Causes of WWI

Triple Entente, 1907
 Britain, Russia and France ally in
reaction to the Triple Alliance
 Not a formal alliance

Europe was dividing into armed camps.
Causes of WWI

3. NATIONALISM

The Eastern Question


A weak Ottoman Empire withdraws
from the Balkans. Now what?
Pan-Slavism


Serbs, Bosnians, Solvenes, and Croats
want a single state
Russia focuses on the Balkans after it's
defeat in the Russo-Japanese War
Causes of WWI

First Balkan Crisis

The Young Turks led by Pasha set up a
parliamentary government in the Ottoman
Empire


1911-1912, Italy takes Libya. Exposes
Ottoman weakness.
1908, Austria annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina


Violation of Congress of Berlin (1878)
Should have caused a war, but it did
not.
Causes of WWI

First Balkan War, 1912

Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria allied to drive
out the Turks


In less than a month, the Balkan
territories were divided among the
Balkan states
Serbia tries to get access to the Adriatic
sea, but is blocked when Austria created
Albania.
Causes of WWI

Second Balkan War, 1913

Bulgaria attacks Serbia and Greece


Upset that these two countries were
acquiring territory in Macedonia
Serbia backed by Russia defeats Bulgaria.
Gets Macedonia and Albania for the
moment

Austria with German help prevents
Serbia from holding on to Albania
 Russia
humiliated
Causes of WW I

4. IMPERIALISM



The expansion of one nation’s authority by
the establishment of colonies in another’s
territory.
The more colonies a nation possesses, the
richer and more powerful the nation often
becomes.
Competition for the colonies was clearly a
cause of WWI.
Causes of WWI

Berlin Conference 1885
 Germany challenges other nations

Kruger Telegram, 1902


Algerciras Conference, 1906


Kaiser congratulates Boer victories
Kaiser urges Moroccan Independence in
spite of France
Second Moroccan Crisis, 1911

Germany sends gunboat to Morocco
Assassination leads to war


June 28, 1914—The
heir to the AustroHungarian throne,
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, was killed
while visiting the city of
Sarajevo in the province
of Bosnia.
Serbian nationalist,
Gaveliro Princip
jumped out of a crowd
and fatally shot the
archduke and his wife.
A Chain Reaction

Kaiser Wilhelm II pledges unwavering support
to Austria: “the blank check”
 Austria makes harsh demands of Serbia

July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declares war
and begins to attack the next day
 The Russians stepped in to defend the
Serbs. Mobilizes against Germany and
Austria
 France mobilizes on the German west
border
 French Plan XVII: get Alsace & Lorraine
A Chain Reaction

Aug. 1, Germany declares war on France.

Aug. 3, Germany invades Belgium on the
way to France
 Aug. 4, Britain declares war on Germany
The Schlieffen Plan

Germany’s military plan


In the event of a two-front war
 Plan to attack France first and defeat them in 6
weeks then redeploy the bulk of the army to defeat
Russia.
 Assumed that Russia, with its lack of railroads,
would take longer to mobilize.
Problems:
 Belgium did not allow German troops to pass.
Germany declares war on Belgium.
 Great Britain was an ally of Belgium and declared
war on Germany.
By September 13, six million soldiers
were on the march across Europe.
 WESTERN FRONT—Germany fought
the French and British.
 EASTERN FRONT—Germany fought
Russians.

Battle of the Marne

By Sept. 2, 1914 the Germans had pushed to within
26 miles of Paris.

At the Battle of the Marne, the French halted the German
advance with the help of the British.


End of Mobilization effort
 Belgium had proved surprisingly resistant
 French were not lured into Alsace and Lorraine
 Russians mobilize to the East more rapidly than
the Germans expected
Treaty of London, 1915
 Italy joins the Allied forces
Trench Warfare

When the Germans withdrew to a more
defensible position and entrenched, the
“Race to the Sea” began. Each army tried to
outflank the other with its trenches until the
trenches extended all the way across France
to the North Sea.

The Front remained basically unchanged for nearly 3 ½
years.
Trench Warfare





The war in the west was fought from two
parallel lines of trenches that stretched for
600 miles across France.
Men ate, slept, fought, and died in these
miserable ditches.
Front trenches were protected with barbed
wire and booby traps.
Between the trenches lay “no-man’s land”.
Thousands died trying to advance their line of
trenches a few yards.
Trenches were infested with rats, lice and
disease.
The Deadly Year of 1916
 Battle of Verdun, February
 German sought a battle of attrition that would force
France to sue for peace
 France does not back down.
 French General Philippe Pétain hailed as a
hero
 France lost 540,000 men, Germany lost 430,000
 Battle of Somme, July
 Britain and France try to break German lines
 Loses: Britian 420,000; France 200,000; Germany
650,000
New Weapons

WWI = the Industrial Revolution in warfare



Machine-guns
 Leading cause of Causalities
 First used by the Germans
Tanks
 Artillery is mobilized
Airplanes
 Germans develop the first fighter plane (the
Fokker)
 Machine guns synchronized with the
Propellers
New Weapons

Poison gas
 Germany use Mustard gas early in the
war
 Zeppelins (blimps)
 Used to bomb London and other
civilian targets
 Radio
 Wireless technology revolutionizes
warfare
German Submarine U-9 (1910)
German Zeppelin
The Battle on the Eastern Front

Russians and Serbs battled Germans,
Austrians and Turks.
 Central powers gain the advantage

By 1916, Russia’s war effort was near collapse.
Russia was not industrialized—lacked supplies

Allies were unable to ship supplies to Russia’s ports.

Russia had one asset—its numbers. Throughout the war
Russia suffered tremendous battlefield losses (2 million
in 1915) but the army was able to rebuild its ranks.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

Russia wants out of the war

After the Russian Revolution Lenin take Russia out of war

Germans get ¼ of Russian Territory


Fighting Rages Beyond Europe

Gallipoli Campaign, 1915



Allies attack a region in the Ottoman
empire known as the Dardanelles—a
narrow strait that is the gateway to
Constantinople.
Goal—defeat and establish a supply line to
Russia
Ended in a stalemate
 200,000 British troops killed
Fighting Rages Beyond Europe

Middle East
– T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
– British officer
– Lead Arabs to victories over the
Turks
War at Sea




Warring nations bought goods from neutral countries.
Each side tried to cut off the flow of supplies to its
enemy.
Most trade, especially with the US, was by sea.
British Naval Blockade
– British mine the North Sea trying to strangle the
Central powers
Unable to use its surface ships, the German navy
tried to blockade Britain using submarines, called Uboats.
Germany Sinks the Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, a British Luxury liner was
struck by a torpedo
 The ship exploded and sank, killing 1,298
people including 128 Americans.
 Germany said the Lusitania had been
carrying arms. Germany apologized and
promised not to attack merchant and
passenger ships without warning in the future.
 US increased trade with the Allies—America
had taken sides.
American Neutrality collapses

Unrestricted Submarine warfare


The Zimmerman note



Jan. 31, 1917 Kaiser Wilhelm II announced that Uboats would sink all ships in British waters—
hostile or neutral—on sight.
A telegram sent by the German foreign minister to
the German ambassador in Mexico.
The Telegram suggested an alliance between
Mexico and Germany and promised that if war
with the US broke out, Germany would support
Mexico in recovering”the lost territory in TX, NM
and Arizona.”
Sinking of 4 unarmed American merchant
ships with a loss of 36 lives.
Americans prepare to fight

April 6, 1917 Congress declared war. The
Allies rejoiced, hoping for American
suppliers—and soldiers.
 When the US entered the war, it had only
200,000 soldiers. Congress quickly
authorized a national draft. Soon, 3 million
men were drafted. Another 2 million
volunteered.
 American troops (called the American
Expeditionary Force (AEF)) were rushed to
France to fill the gaps left by nearly three
years of war.
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points
1. No more secret agreements
2. Free navigation of all seas.
3. An end to all economic barriers between countries.
4. Countries to reduce weapon numbers.
5. All decisions regarding the colonies should be
impartial
6. The German Army is to be removed from Russia.
Russia should be left to develop her own political setup.
7. Belgium should be independent like before the war.
8. France should be fully liberated and allowed to recover
Alsace-Lorraine
9. All Italians are to be allowed to live in Italy. Italy's borders
are to "along clearly recognizable lines of nationality."
10. Self-determination should be allowed for all those living in
Austria-Hungary.
11. Self-determination and guarantees of independence
should be allowed for the Balkan states.
12. The Turkish people should be governed by the Turkish
government. Non-Turks in the old Turkish Empire should
govern themselves.
13. An independent Poland should be created which should
have access to the sea.
14. A League of Nations should be set up to guarantee the
political and territorial independence of all states.
The Tide Turns

Breaking the blockade

The Convoy system—was developed to
defeat the German U-boats.


US Merchant vessels would travel in a large
group with a guard of circling destroyers.
With the US finally in the war, the
balance, tipped in the favor of the allies.

Their freshness and enthusiasm helped
win the war.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive

In March 1918, The Germans mounted one
final, massive attack on the Allies in France.
By late May they were within 40 miles of
Paris—but the German troops were
weakened.
 The Allies with the help of 140,000 fresh
American troops—launched a counterattack.
 July—Allies and Germans met at the Second
Battle of The Marne—the central powers
crumbled.
 November 11, 1918—Germany signs
armistice: World War I ends.
Paris Peace Conference
 The Big Four
 David Lloyd George, Britain
 Georges Clemenceau, France
 Woodrow Wilson, USA
 Vittorio Orlando, Italy
 Central Powers are left out.
 Italy leaves
Treaty of Versailles 1919
 Article 231 places sole blame on Germany
 Germany must pay reparations to Britain and France
 Germany army and navy severely reduced
 Rhineland demilitarized, Saar coal mines taken over by
France
 Germany loses all its colonies
 League of Nations created
 Germany and Russia not included
 U.S. Senate doesn’t ratify
The Final Toll
Lasted four years
 Involved 30 nations
 Bloodiest war in history to that time.
 ~20 million died
 ~20 million wounded
 ~20 million refugees
 Cost: ~$350 billion
