Transcript World War I
World War I How the War Began The setup for war Alliance system – Europe had divided into two alliances, the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and Great Britain) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Small conflicts in the early 1900’s had increased the tension between these two groups. Internal Problems As industrialization continued, many workers felt that they were being exploited. This led to number of radical groups forming throughout the world. These groups were often radical and believed in things like Socialism, Communism, and Anarchism. These radical groups cause problems for many governments as they often used violence as way to get their points across. Militarism As tensions mounted between the two alliances, countries began to expand their military. Many countries started a draft to increase the number of people in their military. As militaries grew, leaders began to make plans for quickly mobilizing their armies. Military leaders made these plans and argued that they couldn’t be changed without causing chaos in the armed forces. The Outbreak of War The Serbian Problem – By 1878 most of the Balkan countries had broken free from the control of the Ottoman Empire. After this, many of the larger European countries attempted to ally or take over these new areas. Serbia had the dream of creating a Slavic kingdom. The Slavs were a large ethnic group that were spread over several different countries in the area. Austria-Hungary was not interested in the formation of a Slavic kingdom. Part of their empire included Slavs and government thought they would fight to join if a kingdom formed. To prevent this, Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. Serbia was outraged by this move and prepared for war. They were supported by Russia, who was ethnically Slavic as well. However, German leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II, warned Russia to expect war if they didn’t accept Austria-Hungary as the rightful rulers of the two countries in question. Russia was weakened by a lose in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war and needed to back down. Serbia backed down as well but vowed revenge. The Outbreak of War Even though Russia had backed down, Serbia was still interested forming a Slavic kingdom. Russia’s withdraw of support forced Serbia to change their tactics. Instead of fighting the Austro-Hungarians, they began to support Bosnian revolutionary groups. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, went to Bosnia to try and win public support for AustroHungarian control of the area. While in Sarajevo, the capital, the revolutionary group known as the Black Hand, threw a bomb at the Archduke’s car. The bomb bounced off and rolled under the car behind them. Later that day, a 19 year old Bosnian named Gavrilo Princip, shot and killed the Archduke. Outbreak of War Austria-Hungary didn’t know if Serbia had been involved in the assassination, but saw this as their opportunity to eliminate Serbia. Austria-Hungary readied for the attack but was worried that Russia might help Serbia. To counter this, Austria-Hungary asked Germany for help. Germany responded by offering them a “blank check.” With Germany’s support, Austria-Hungary made a list of demands which basically asked Serbia to agree to Austro-Hungarian control. Serbia rejected the demands and on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. On July 28, 1914, Tsar Nicolas II was determined to protect Serbia. He ordered his army to mobilize against Austria-Hungary. However, his general told him that he couldn’t mobilize only part of his army. This meant that Russia also had to mobilize against Germany. On July 29, 1914 the entire Russian army mobilized. Outbreak of War Germany responded to Russia’s action by demand they stop mobilization. Russia refused and on August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. However, this created another problem. The German battle plan for attacking Russia was known as the Schlieffen Plan, after German General Alfred von Schlieffen. The plan called on Germany to attack France if they ever needed to attack Russia. Under this plan, Germany would use a small force to hold off the Russians while the majority of their army would take out France. Once France was defeated then all the forces would shift to fighting Russia. On August 3rd Germany declared war on France. In order to get to France, Germany need to go through Belgium. Later that day, Germany demanded that Belgium let them go through their territory. Belgium was neutral and had signed a security agreement to with Great Britain to protect their neutrality. On August 4th Great Britain declared war on Germany. First Battles of the War As troops began to mobilize soldiers became excited at the prospect of battle. For a little over a few decades, Europe had been relatively peaceful. Soldiers saw this as a right of passage were excited to go. Everyone also thought that the war would be short and that everyone would be home by Christmas. Germany began the fight by invading northern France. The Schlieffen Plan called for them to come in from the north and encircle Paris. Thus capturing most of the French government and military. However, the German advance was stopped at the First Battle of the Marne. To get troops to the battle fast enough, France was forced to use 2,000 Parisian Taxis. The French won the battle and dug in to prevent the Germans from advancing. On the eastern front, the Germans were more successful. The Russians were defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of Masurian Lakes. Austria-Hungary had been less successful against the Russians. Their attempts to push the Russians back had failed and they required the Germans to come in and save them. In 1915, Italy betrayed the Triple Alliance and joined the war on the side of the Triple Entente. Trench Warfare The development of trench warfare was a surprise for the military leaders of countries in the war. No one really knew how to overcome the defensive advantage provided by trenches. For the first year the only strategy tried by the general was sending large waves of soldiers through no man’s land. This unfortunately only resulted in a large number of casualties. Images of Trench Warfare Images of Trench Warfare War in the Air WWI was the first time that airplanes had been used in combat. By the end of 1915 planes had appeared for all sides of the war. At first planes were used only for reconnaissance, because of this pilots shot at enemy pilots with hand guns. Later, machine guns and bombs were added as the planes proved they were reliable and useful. WWI Planes WWI Planes Rigid Airship Rigid Airship Widening of the War In August of 1914 the Ottoman Empire was drawn into the war. They joined the side of the Triple Alliance Italy had initially attempted to stay out of the war despite their membership in the Triple Alliance. In May of 1915, the joined the Triple Entente and declared war on Germany and Austria- Hungary. In 1917 England sent a military officer named T.E. Lawrence to the Middle East in order to stir up nationalist revolutions against the Ottoman Empire. The thought was that the Ottomans would withdraw from the war to maintain control of their empire. Widening of the War On May 7, 1915 the passenger ship Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat. The sinking was part of Germany’s attempt to prevent the US from helping the war effort by sending supplies. This ship however was a passenger ship and 1,100 civilians died. To try and stop retaliation from the US, Germany pledged to stop using the U-boats. This lasted until January of 1917, when the Germans tried to end the stalemate of war by once again starting unrestricted U-boat warfare. The thought was that they could cut off the British before the US would get involved. This plan failed and the US joined the war effort in April of 1917. End of the War March 1917, Russia faces a communist revolution. The Tsar is forced to return home. The communists win and withdraw Russia from the war. This was positive news for the Germans, however it was short lived. With the US entry into the war in April, Germany knew they were in trouble. With this in mind they attempted one final push. However, they we stopped at the Second Battle of the Marne on July 18, 1918. From this point on the Triple Entente with the help of the Americans steadily drove the Germans back. Finally, on November 11, 1918 the Germans agreed to end the war.