Transcript The Great War: The World in Upheaval

The Great War: The World in
Upheaval
John Singer Sargent, Gassed, 1918-1919,
Imperial War Museum, London
http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/Gassed/Gassed.htm
The Drift Towards War
Nationalism
French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars spread it through
Europe
Inherent in nationalism is the right to Self Determination:
Peoples of the same ethnic origins, language, political ideals
have the right to form sovereign states
Often concept ignored by colonial power
Two Sides to Nationalism
Unifying force
United France, Britain, and Germany behind their
gov’ts and gave them strength
Divisive force
Russia, Ottoman, and Austria-Hungarian Empires
contained numerous ethnic and religious minorities
Gov’ts could not rely on full support from minorities
since minorities oppressed
Ex. Independent Serbia threatens Austro-Hungary
National Rivalries
Territorial Disputes
French loss of Alsace-Lorraine region to
Germany from Franco-Prussian War 1871
Huge Rivalry b/n Great Britain and
Germany
Economic
• England lost industrial output to Germany by
1914
Military
• Expensive naval race to be used to control
trade routes and protect merchant shipping
• Keep an army “ready for war”
• Both built super battleships: dreadnoughtsEngland
English naval ship
German naval ship
Peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize
winner: 1895 Frederic Passy
“The entire able-bodied population are preparing
to massacre one another; though no one, it is
true, wants to attack, and everybody protests his
love of peace and determination to maintain it,
yet the whole world feels that it only requires
some unforeseen incident, some unpreventable
accident, for the spark to fall in a flash…and
blow all Europe sky-high.”
Frederic Passy, quoted in Nobel: The Man and His
Prizes,
Colonial Disputes
European nations continuously clash in corners
of the globe
Germany unified in 1871; came late to the colonial race
German resentful that Britain and France had already “carved up the
world”
Balkan Wars (1912-13) strained relations as they fought for
possession of European territories of the Ottoman Empire
Public Opinion
Citizens strongly patriotic
Intense desire to “come
in first”
Content of cheap, massproduced newspapers,
pamphlets, and books
fuel national arrogance
and aggressive
patriotism
Picasso’s Gunner Guillaume de Kostrowitzky, 1914
Look for signs of “Napoleon’s glory of France”
The Tangled Alliance System
Otto von Bismarck
1871 German “blood and iron” chancellor insisted Germany was a
“satisfied” power and wanted to avoid war
Feared war on 2 fronts so form alliances
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Came to throne at 29
Ambitious and impetuous
Forced Bismarck to resign
Built up military and navy to rival Britain
Understandings and Alliances
http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_outbreak.html
Triple Alliance
Also known as the Central Powers
Germany, Austria-Hungary
Enter into it originally for fear of France/Russia
Italy joins later b/c also fearful of France
•
Switches to Allied Powers in 1915 b/c promised “spoils of war” by
Triple Entente
Also known as the Allied powers
France and Britain 1904
Russia added in 1907
Did not bind them to fight with each other, but that they would not against
each other
Signed a military pact in 1914 so in crisis they would not be left alone
Powers Plan for War
Military leaders devised inflexible
military plans and timetables
France’s Plan XVII focused on
offensive maneuvers and attacks on
German border
Knew that they were heavily industrialized w/
rail so keep large # of troops at their border
Germany’s Schlieffen Plan
Try to avoid 2 front war
Swift attack on France, then defensive attack
on Russia
Speed was vital so go through Belgium to
get to France
Of course, Belgium was neutral and not
part of any “alliance”
The Balkans: “Powder Keg” of Europe
Ottoman Empire on decline late 19th c.
“Sick Man of Europe”
Many broke away on the peninsula
Ex.Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia
Serbia wanted to unite the Slavs on
Peninsula
Austria Hungary against it for fear it
would stir rebellion of among its Slavic
population
1908 Austria annexes BosniaHerzegovina with large Slavic pop.
Creates hostilities
The Guns of August
June 28,1914: Austrian Archduke
Franz Ferdinand and wife, Sophie were
assassinated by Serbian nationalist:
Gavrilo Princip
July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war
on Serbia
Russia mobilizes troops to defend
Serbia as ally on borders of Austria and
Germany
Aug. 1: Germany declares war on
Russia and France, invades Belgium
to reach France
Aug. 4: To protect Belgium’s neutrality,
Britain declares war on Germany
Gavrilo Princip, member of the Black Hand
organiztion, who assassinated the Archduke and
his wife in June 1914
Reactions to the Outbreak of War
German troops “To Paris”
French troops “Send me the Kaiser’s moustache”
German sociologist, Max Weber, “This war, with all its
ghastliness, is nevertheless grand and wonderful. It is
worth experiencing.”
Sir Edward Grey, British foreign minister in late summer 1914,
“The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them
lit again in our lifetime.”
When war began, very few imagined that their
side might not win. No one foresaw that
everyone would lose.
Battle of the Marne
Germans make it to outskirts of Paris by
September 1914
Allies regroup and attack at the valley of
the Marne River
Every soldier taken to front
600 taxis from Paris sent
After 4 days, Germans retreat
Schlieffen Plan in ruins
Germany will be forced to fight the 2
front war as Russian troops already
invade from east
Trench Warfare
Opposing troops prepare their
defenses
Machine guns most potent
weapon
Great for defense, but useless
for offense b/c weight, time to
set up
Soldiers dig trenches to escape
streams of bullets
All connected without gaps
Dug communication trenches in
back
“No man’s land” littered with dead
British trench at Battle of Somme, July 1916
Notice one soldier sleeps as the other stands
guard
Stalemate, 1914-1917
By end of Aug. 1914, Germany had
overrun Belgium and swept into France
By Sept. 3, Germans were on the
edge of Paris
First Battle of the Marne 1914
One of the most important battles of
WWI
Allies push Germans back
Proves that Germans quick victory is
no longer possible
Turns into long, bloody stalemate and
trench warfare
The deadlocked region running from
North Sea to the Switzerland becomes
known as the Western Front
French soldiers waiting for assault behind ditch
Western Front
•A “terrain of death”
•Nearly 500 miles
from North Sea to
Swiss border
Battles of WWI
Verdun, 1916
1916 saw the bloodiest battles
Battle of Verdun
Germans attack French forts
Lose 281,000 and cause 315,000
French casualties
Germans advanced 4 miles
Battle of the Somme River
July British attack Germans in valley
of the Somme River
Britain 420,000 casualties
60,000 on 1st day
Germans lose 450,000
French 200,000
British gained 5 miles
Battle of Somme 1916
Eastern Front
Battlefield along German and Russian border
Russians and Serbs v. Germans and Austro-Hungarians
Russian Struggles
By 1916, Russia’s war effort near
collapse
Russian army was continually short
on food, guns, ammunitions,
clothes, boots, and blankets. “
Cut off from Allied supply
shipments b/c of German control of
Baltic Sea
Russian asset: Numbers
Huge # of battlefield losses, but
still could replace w/ their large
population
Held up the Germans
New Weapons of War
German photo with British tank
John Singer Sargent’s painting titled “Gassed”
Machine guns
Poison gas
Wore masks for protection
Introduced by Germans but used
by both
Caused blindness, severe
blisters, death by choking
Tank
Armored combat vehicle that
moved on chain tracks
Introduced in Battle of Somme
1916
Slow, clumsy but eventually
improved and aided Allies
More weapons
Airplane
1st time used in combat
Used for photos of enemy lines
Both sides begin using them to
drop bombs
Guns attached and pilots
fought each other in air
Submarine
1914 introduced by GermansU-Boats
Germans waged “unrestricted
warfare” on Allies
Primary weapon: torpedo
U-boat sinking a troop transport ship
The War at Sea
Britain
Cuts German overseas telegraph cables
Blockaded the coasts of Germany and Austria-Hungary
Set out to capture or sink enemy ships at sea
Germany
Retaliates with blockade to British
Germans attack every vessel they could
British ocean liner, Lusitania
• Death toll: 1,198 people, 139 of them Americans
• US protested, Germany ceases submarine campaign hoping to keep
US neutral
Homefront and War Economy
Wage total war: devote all resources to war
Armies demand more weapons, ammunitions, food
Gov’ts ration food, pay higher taxes
Germany’s draft extended to 16-60
Unemployment vanishes
Thousands of Africans, Indians, Chinese recruited for
heavy labor
Women fill jobs vacated by men
Women drawn to “male” jobs
Most “crucial” job was shell-making although dangerous
• TNT –poisoning b/c of exposure
Middle-upper class women liberated from older attitudes
1917 Britain establishes auxiliary units for army, navy, air
force and work as nurses, physicians, in communications
Propaganda
Gov’ts suppressed
antiwar activity
Censored news about
war
Used propaganda or
one sided information to
persuade and keep up
morale
German War Economy
German civilians paid high price
British naval blockade severed
overseas trade
Contributes to ½ million German civilians
starving
Potato crop failure 1916 known as the
“turnip winter”
People forced to survive on 1,000
calories/day
Women, children, elderly hard hit
Soldiers raid enemy lines to scavenge
African Colonies Suffer in the War
German colonies
SW Africa and German Cameroon were
conquered in 1915 by allies
East Africa remained undefeated until end of
war
Europeans took foodstuffs, imposed
heavy taxes and forced Africans to grow
export crops and sell them at low prices
Uprisings occur in colonies as few
Europeans are there to lead
1,000,000 Africans served in armies, 3x
that # serve as “porters” to carry army
equipment
Ex. France drafted Africans b/c of shortage of
men
Ottoman Empire at War
Aug. 2, 1914 sign secret alliance
with Germany in hopes of gaining
land against their enemy: Russia
Gallipoli campaign was the most
extensive military operation
outside of Europe
Winston Churchill (British Navy)
suggested Allies strike Ottomans, the
weak Central Power, to hurt
Germans
Wanted to open warm-water supply
line to Russia
Gallipoli Campaign 1915
British expedition to seize the
approach to the Dardenelles
British, Canadian, Australian, and
New Zealand soldiers land on
beaches of Gallipoli
Turkish forces pin them b/n hills
and sea
Engaged in trench warfare again,
results in stalemate with 250,000
casualties on each side
Canada, Australia, N.Zealand suffer
huge casualties which result in
weakened ties to Britain &
nationalism
Armenian Genocide 1915
By 1880s, 2.5 million Christian
Armenians in Ottoman Empire had
begun to demand their freedom
1890’s Turkish troops killed tens of
thousands
By WWI, Armenians pledge support
for Ottomans enemies, Russia
Fearing the Armenians, whom they
expect to be pro-Russian, the Turks
expelled 2 million of them from their
homelands in eastern Anatolia
During the forced march across the
mountains, approx. 600,000 died of
starvation or were killed by Turkish
soldiers
“Those who fell by the wayside”,
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, written by
Henry Morgenthau, Sr. and published in
1918.
Armenian Genocide
Fundraising poster for
the American Committee
for Relief in the Near
East – the United States
contributed a significant
amount of aid to help
Armenians during the
Armenian Genocide
The United States in WWI
Grew rich during the war
Neutral but did roaring business
supplying France and Britain
Businesses engaged in war
production made huge profits
Civilians invested in war bonds
and growing food in backyard,
“victory gardens”
Employment opportunities reason
for African American migration to
north
America Joins the Fight
Jan. 1917 Germany resumes their
unrestrictive submarine warfare in
Atlantic to block Britain
Sank 3 American ships
Zimmerman note intercepted
February 1917
Stated that Germany would help
Mexico “reconquer” the lost
territory to the US if they ally with
them
President Wilson asks Congress to
declare war on April 2, 1917
The Influenza Epidemic
In the spring of 1918, a powerful new
enemy emerged, threatening nations
on each side of World War I. This
“enemy” was a deadly strain of
influenza. The Spanish flu, as it was
popularly known, hit England and India
in May. By the fall, it had spread
through Europe, Russia, Asia, and to
the United States. The influenza
epidemic killed soldiers and civilians
alike. In India, at least 12 million people
died of influenza. In Berlin, on a single
day in October, 1,500 people died. In
the end, this global epidemic was more
destructive than the war itself, killing 20
million people worldwide.
Allies Win the War
1917 Russia withdraws from the war
because of civil unrest and revolution
Allows Germany to launch massive
attack on Western Front
Fresh American troops push back
Germans and Central Powers begins to
crumble
Bulgarians and Ottoman Turks surrender
Revolts in Austria Hungary
Germany signs an armistice (ceasefire)
in November 1918 and the war came to
an end
Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down and
Germany becomes a republic
Legacy of War
Use of new technologies
War on global scale
Price of human life
Death of soldiers amd
civilians
Lost generation of men
Economic impact
Drained economic $338
billion
Sense of disallusionment
Double Revolution in Russia
Russian in 1916 suffering numerous defeats
Run out of ammunition, ordered to use
guns of fallen, railroads break down,
crops rot in fields, widespread hunger,
fuel scarce
February Revolution of 1917
Food runs out in Petrograd, (St. Petersburg)
Women stage massive demonstrations, soldiers
mutinied
Striking workers join soviets (councils) to take
over factories and segments of military
Czar Nicholas II and family abdicate the
throne
• Set up a provisional gov’t
February through October witnessed a power
struggle with the provisional gov’t and soviets
Petrograd, July 4, 1917. Street demonstration on
Nevsky Prospekt just after troops of the
Provisional Government have opened fire with
machine guns.
What’s a Soviet?
Revolutionary councils
that consisted of
workers, peasants, and
soldiers
Had great influence in
the cities
Become more powerful
than the provisional
gov’t
Provisional Gov’t’s Struggle for
Power
Political struggles b/n Soviets and the
Provisional Gov’t
Gov’t makes changes
Peoples support at first
Disband police
Repeal limits on speech, press
Abolish laws that discriminate against ethnic
groups
Workers demonstration in March 1917. Left
banner reads “Feed the children of the
defenders of the motherland"; the right banner,
"Increase payments to the soldiers' families defenders of freedom and world peace“.
Still didn’t satisfy popular demands
for an end to the war and land reform
The provisional gov’t pledged to
keep commitment to allies
Soviets, in contrast, call for
immediate peace and gain peoples
support
Lenin (1870-1924)
Son of gov’t official, prosperous family
Brother executed for plotting to kill the czar
Years in exile in Siberia and Switzerland
Devotes time studying Marxist thought &
writing political pamphlets
His goal was to create a party that would
lead revolution
April 1917 snuck in a sealed railway car by
the Germans
Bolshevik slogans: “All Power to the
Soviets!” and “Peace, Land, and Bread
Gained support by promising
immediate peace, all power to the
soviets, and transfer land to
peasants and factory workers
The October Revolution
On Nov. 6, 1917 (Oct.24th in
Russian calendar-Julian)
Bolsheviks rose up to take
over city of Petrograd
Nationalized all private lands and order
peasants to hand over crops w/out
compensation
Took over factories and drafted the
workers into required labor brigades
Created a secret police to arrest and
execute opponents
Bolshevik, by Boris Kustodiev, located in
Moscow at The Tretyakov Gallery
US journalist, John Reed 18871920, who witnessed the Bolshevik
seizure of power referred to them
as “ten days that shook the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Bolshevik leaders sign it
with Germany on March
3, 1918
Gave Germany
possession or control of
1/3 of Russia’s territory
and ¼ of population
Lost Poland, Finland,
and Baltic States (Latvia,
Estonia, Lithuania)
The End of the War in Western
Europe, 1917-1918
US President Woodrow Wilson
wanted to stay out of the conflict
Late 1916 Germany practicing
unrestrictive submarine
warfare sinking ships supplying
food supplies to Britain
This would bring in US
April 2, 1917, Wilson asked
Congress to declare war on
Germany
Despite some protests, the US
entry proved decisive in breaking
stalemate
“The world must be safe for democracy.”
Woodrow Wilson’s war message.
The Collapsing Fronts
Last 2 years of war have little
support and much rebellion
Spring 1918 Germans try to throw
all might to western front
It failed
Bulgaria surrendered 1918
Ottomans concluded an armistice
on Oct.30
Austria-Hungary surrenders Nov.4
Germany accepts armistice on
Nov.11, 1918
Paris Peace Conference 1919
Leaves a bitter legacy
32 nations represented w/
different and conflicting aims
Big three: Georges Clemenceau
of France, Lloyd George of
Britain, and Woodrow Wilson of
US, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy
Central Powers not permitted to
attend
Blockade on Germany remained
Soviet Union not invited
Signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 in the
Hall of Mirrors
Wilson’s Fourteen
Points
Wilson’s proposal that prompted Central Powers to end
war
They accepted this proposal as basis for armistice
and thought they would be used at conference
First Five Points
Included an end to secret treaties, freedom of
the seas, free trade, and reduced national
armies and navies
Adjustment of colonial claims with fairness
toward colonial peoples
Sixth –Thirteenth Points
Suggestions for changing borders and creating
new nations
Guiding idea behind it was SELFDETERMINATION
• Allow people to decide what gov’t they wished to live
Fourteenth Point
Proposal of a “general association of nations”
that would protect “great and small states
alike”
• Wanted an organization that would solve world
conflicts
The Peace Treaties
Hardest terms originate with the French who
wants permanent weakening of Germany and
Britain
Treaty of Versailles 1919
Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919
“War Guilt Clause” –Article 231
required Germany to accept sole
responsibility for the war and pay
reparations to Allies for next 30 years
Demand a reduction of military of
former Central Powers
Ex. German army limited to
100,000
Denied German navy and air
force
Prohibit any political union of
Germany and Austria
Other treaties
Treaty of St. Germain and Trianon 1920
Divide Austria and Hungary
Suffer severe territorial losses
Ex. Hungary to 1/3 of size and pop. goes from 28 to 8 mil.
Treaty of Sevres 1920
Dissolved the Ottoman Empire
Not acceptable to Turkish nationalist: Mustafa Kemal
Head of Turkish nationalist movement
Drives out Greek, French, British, Italian forces
Abolishes sultanate and replaces it with Turkish nationalists
Republic of Turkey is recognized in 1923
Mustafa Kemal or Atarurk becomes 1st President of Turkey
• Westernization and gov’t policy of secularization that separated existing Muslim religion and
state
League of Nations
Created as a world organization to safeguard
peace and international cooperation
Flaw is that it had no power to enforce decisions
It relied on “collective security”
Aggression from one state is aggression against all
Never happens because major powers didn’t always
belong
• Ex. Germany and Japan leave it in 1933
The United States Congress refuses to let US
join
New Nations
Self-determination key to int’l peace
In Europe, it becomes reality but not
Europe’s new countries
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Yugoslavia – “Land of the South Slavs”
The Mandate System !!
Self-determination applied to Europe, but not elsewhere
How they dealt with Germany’s former colonies in Africa, Arab
territories of Ottoman Empire
Mandate system – Examples
French control in Lebanon and Syria
British control in Palestine and Iraq
Allies view it as a compromise b/n imperialism and selfdetermination
To the people, more imperialism
“Peace Built on Quicksand”
No lasting peace
US rejects it b/c we want to stay out of European
affairs
Isolationism
We sign separate treaty with Germany and its
allies several years later
War Guilt Clause left legacy of bitterness and
hatred for Germans
Africans and Asians angry b/c they did not get their
independence
Mandate system just more colonialism
Japan and Italy gained less than what they thought
they would gain by joining Allies