Transcript The Great War, 1914-1919

APEURO Lecture 7B
Mrs. Kray
Some slides taken from Susan Pojer
Europe in 1914
The Major Players: 1914-17
Allied Powers:
Central Powers:
Nicholas II
[Rus]
Wilhelm II [Ger]
George V [Br]
Victor Emmanuel
II [It]
Enver Pasha
[Turkey]
Pres. Poincare [Fr]
Franz Josef [A-H]
1. Militarism & Military Plans
Arms Race: Armies exploded after wars of unification.
Total Defense Expenditures for the Great Powers [Ger., A-H, It., Fr., Br., Rus.]
in millions of £s.
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1914
94
130
154
268
289
398
Never before
and never since
have a greater
percentage of
populations
served in their
nations’ military
1910-1914 Increase in
Defense Expenditures
France
10%
Britain
13%
Russia
39%
Germany
73%
1. Militarism and Military Plans

Conscription and regular
military training militarized
society
 Mass citizen armies
Kaiser Wilhelm II

Government leaders
associated national
greatness with a strong
military

Germany’s desire to build a
world-class fleet
antagonized Britain
 The Influence of Sea Power on
History, 1890
1. Militarism and Military Plans:
The Schilieffen Plan

Each nation developed
complex blueprints for war
 Involved RR timetables, troop
movements, battle strategies

These plans affected political
decisions
 Limited options for policy makers
 Escalated regional conflicts

Schilieffen Plan = German
plan developed after FrancoRussian alliance in 1894
2. Alliance System: Bismarck’s
System

Goal: maintain a balance of power, keep France
isolated

Three Emperors’ League 1873  Germany Austria,
Russia

Austro-German Alliance 1879

Triple Alliance 1882  Germany, Italy, Austria

Reinsurance Treaty 1887  Germany & Russia
 Signed after Russia refused to resign an alliance with Austria

With this alliance structure no Great Power could count
on the support of any other should it initiate an
aggressive war
2. Alliance System:
Bismarck’s System Breaks Down

Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck in 1890
 Let Reinsurance Treaty lapse
 Counted on personal relation with Russian tsar (they
were cousins) to keep the peace

1894: Franco-Russian Alliance

1904: Entente-Cordiale  Britain & France

1907: Anglo-Russian Entente  Britain & Russia

These series of loose agreements among Britain,
France, and Russia became known as the Triple
Entente
2. The Alliance System: Two Rival
Camps
Triple Entente:
Triple Alliance:
3. Imperialism

Conflicts among imperial powers increased tensions and
hardened the emerging alliance structure

Italy’s pursuit of colonies in N. Africa put it into conflict with
France and pushed it into the Triple Alliance
3. Imperialism:
Moroccan Crises, 1905 & 1911

Kaiser Wilhelm provoked the
crisis to test the new alliance
between France & Britain

Dispute over French control of
N. Africa

Effect
 Actually drew France & Britain
closer
 Convinced Britain of the need for
more alliances
○ Approached Japan, France, and
Russia in the net decade
4. Mass Politics

By 1914 many European states faced
significant internal problems  strikes, ethnic
violence, extremist groups, and outsiders
demanding rights
 To promote unity, governments promoted
imperialism and fanned nationalist sentiments

As leaders contemplated the momentous
decision for war they may have viewed the
crisis as an opportunity to solve domestic
problems
 Germany Wilhelm called for Burgfrienden (civil
peace) for the duration of the war
 Britain  suffrage and Irish home rule were tabled
5. Intellectual Context

Fin de siècle
 Many observers sensed that a major war loomed on
the horizon
 40 yrs. Since Franco-Prussian War

Darwinism & irrationality in philosophy
 Some glorified war as a natural product of human
advance
 Separate weak from the strong

Believed war would be short and decisive
 Faith in technology and science
6. Nationalism

Crimean War destroyed the Concert of Europe  no
mechanism to contain conflict anymore
6. Nationalism:
Pan-Slavism: The Balkans, 1914
The
“Powder Keg”
of Europe

Ottoman Empire =
“Sick Man of Europe”
 As their power
receded, Balkans
became a powder
keg of competing
interests

Many embraced PanSlavism nationalist
movement to unite all
Slavic peoples
6. Nationalism: Background on the Balkans

1877-1878: Russo-Turkish War  Russia wins
 Treaty of San Stefano  Serbia, Montenegro, & Romania
gained independence & Bulgaria created
○ Serbia became leader of Pan-Slavism movement; backed by
Russia
○ Treaty assumed Russia would dominate Bulgaria  gain access
to the Mediterranean Sea but this would threaten Britain (Suez)

1878: Congress of Berlin called to resolve AngloRussian dispute
 Bulgaria would be divided & Austria occupied (but didn’t
annex) Bosnia-Herzegovina
○ Austrians felt threatened by Pan-Slavism within its borders and
across the Balkans
 Serbs wanted Bosnia-Herzegovina too
○ Black Hand created bent on expelling Austrian influence in
Balkans
6. Nationalism: Background on the Balkans

1912-1913: First Balkan War
 Balkan League (Serbia,
Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro)
attacked Ottomans
 Their victory leaves Serbia
poised to gain access to Adriatic
Sea
 London Conference: Albania
created specifically to deny
Serbian access to the sea;
Russia forced to back down
again & accept it
The Spark: Assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1914
The
Assassination:
Sarajevo
The Assassin:
Gavrilo
Princip
The Outbreak of War: Who’s to Blame?

The assassination set in motion a sequence of
events that plunged Europe into war.
The Outbreak of War: The Nitty-Gritty

Austria believed Serbian government behind the assassination,
issued an ultimatum to Serbia
 Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany gave his only reliable ally, Austria, a “blank
check” to settle its ethnic issue permanently which emboldened Austria to
take a hard line and risk war with Serbia’s ally Russia
○ Fearing Germany’s military plans, France in turn stood firm behind its ally
Russia
○ Britain refused to signal its intentions clearly, instead tried to mediate the
dispute
 Serbia rejected one point of Austria’s ultimatum, Austria declared war on
Serbia

Prompted Russia to declare war on Austria but Russia’s war plan
presumed a war against BOTH Germany and Austria, forcing the
Russia army to mobilize on both nations’ borders

In response, Germany declared war on Russia, triggering the trap of
the alliance system; France entered the conflict

Germany implemented its Schlieffen Plan, but to get to France
quickly it had to go through neutral Belgium thus bringing Britain into
the conflict
Mobilization
 Home by Christmas!
 No major war
in 50 years!
 Nationalism!
It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go;
It's a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square,
It's a long, long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there!
Recruitment Posters
A Young Australian Recruit
Recruits of the
Central Powers
A German Soldier Says
Farewell to His Mother
Austro-Hungarians
New French Recruits
A German Boy Pretends to Be a
Soldier
Soldiers Mobilized
14
12
Millions
10
8
6
4
2
0
France
Germany
Russia
Britain
The Nature of War

Military tactics often lag a generation
behind technology
 Generals learned Napoleonic tactics of rapid
movement and the massed infantry assault
 But new technology favors defensive fighting

9.2 million Europeans were killed in
WWI, largely because of an inability to
conceive of new tactics in dealing with
defensive weapons
The Western Front: A War of
Attrition
Trench Warfare
“No Man’s
Land”
French Renault Tank
British Tank at Ypres
U-Boats
Allied Ships Sunk by 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”]
Looking for the “Red Baron?”
The Zeppelin
Flame
Throwers
Grenade
Launchers
Poison Gas
Machine Gun
Krupp’s “Big Bertha” Gun
War Is HELL !!
Sacrifices in War
The War of Illusions: 1914

Germany gambled that its Schlieffen
Plan would allow it to defeat France
BEFORE Russia could mobilize
 Germans faced unexpected resistance
in Belgium  led to first war atrocities

First Battle of the Marne (West)
 German offensive halted
 Each side tried unsuccessfully to
outflank the other by racing to the
English Channel
 By Christmas, western front was at a
stalemate with more than 300 miles of
trenches

Battle of Tannenberg (East)
 Germans capture entire Russian army
A Multi-Front War
Stalemate: 1915

To break the stalemate, the Central Powers and the
allied forces expanded to war by bidding for new
allies
 Turkey joined the Central Powers in order to recapture
lost territory
 Allies bribed Italy via the promise of Austrian territory
(Treaty of London)

Each side engaged in probing offensives aimed at
finding the enemy weak spot
 Gallipoli Campaign

Germany and Britain both attempted to blockade the
other and starve it into submission
 Unrestricted submarine warfaer
 Lusitania incident
Two Armed Camps!
Allied Powers:
Central Powers:
The Gallipoli Disaster, 1915
The Sinking
of the Lusitania
Slaughter: 1916-1917

By 1916, the effects of total war were exhausting all nations
involved in the conflict

Battle of Verdun (West)
 To break the deadlock, Germany rolled the dice on another bold plan
 One of the longest and deadliest battles in history
 1.1. million French and German casualties

Battle of the Somme (West)
 To take pressure off the French, Britain launched offensive in July
 Bloodiest day in British military history  lost 30,000 soldiers in the first
three hours

Brusilov Offensive (East)
 Russians make gains over Austrian army but Germany able to stabilize
their collapsing ally

Central Powers able to knock Serbia out of the war
Verdun – February, 1916
 German offensive.
 Each side had 500,000 casualties.
The Somme – July, 1916
 60,000 British soldiers killed in one day.
 Over 1,000,000 killed in 5 months.
Exhaustion and Revolution: 1917 Russia drops out of the war
1918
 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918

Germany violated earlier
pledge and began
unrestricted submarine
warfare again
 This plus the Zimmerman Note
brings the U.S. into the conflict
 U.S. entry proves decisive

November 11, 1918 –
Armistice Day
 Facing a revolutionary situation
at home the German High
Command asked for an
armistice.
Government and the Economy

Abandonment of laissez-faire practices

Many nations managed production via
bureaucratic centralization
 Germany: War Ministry under Walter Rathenau
○ helped Germany deal with severe shortages and maintain
adequate supplies by overseeing production in the War
Ministry
 Britain: David Lloyd George made Minister of Munitions
after shortage of shells

Large businesses and labor unions benefited
because of these large government contracts
Paying for a Total War

Three options: raise taxes,
depreciate currencies, and
borrow money

All nations appealed to their
citizens’ patriotic duty to
purchase war bonds

The war cost the nations
involved over $350 billion

Inflation became a serious
problem
National Unrest and Agitation

Almost every nation experienced internal conflicts,
and their enemies attempted to exploit them

Easter Rising, 1916
 German government aided Irish rebels who wanted
independence from Britain
 Britain forced to divert men and resources

Allies promoted creation of independence
committees for various minorities in the AustroHungarian Empire
 Led to dissolution of the empire

Col. T.E. Lawrence sent to promote Arab nationalism
within the Ottoman Empire
Turkish Cavalry in Palestine
T. E. Lawrence
& the “Arab Revolt”, 1916-18
The Home Fronts

WWI represents the culmination of the trend toward mass
politics
 Governments called on citizens to sacrifice for the war effort by
enlisting, buying war bonds, and rationing
○ Rationing went furthest in Germany  limited calories per day

Germany became a military dictatorship under Erich
Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg

Women entered the workforce  helped them earn the right
to vote

Skilled workers gained the most  wage increases & unions
 Strikes were rare but did occur, particularly after 1918

Small businesses & the lower middle class often struggled
with competition from large businesses favored by
government officials
For Recruitment
Munitions Workers
French Women Factory
Workers
German Women Factory Workers
Working in the Fields
A Woman Ambulance Driver
Red Cross Nurses
Women in the Army Auxiliary
Russian Women Soldiers
“Women’s Battalion of Death”
Propaganda

Propaganda came up age during WWI
 To motivate citizens, governments employed
both positive and negative attacks on the enemy

War portrayed as a battle over civilization
against a brutal inhuman foe
 Demonizing the enemy seemed a logical
culmination of mass political pressures like antiSemitism, xenophobia, extreme nationalism,
and glorification of struggle

Led to first genocide of the 20th century
Australian Poster
American Poster
Financing the War
German Poster
Think of Your Children!
Turkish Genocide Against Armenians
A Portent of Future Horrors to Come!
Turkish Genocide Against Armenians
Districts & Vilayets of Western
Armenia in Turkey
1914
1922
Erzerum
215,000
1,500
Van
197,000
500
Kharbert
204,000
35,000
Diarbekir
124,000
3,000
Bitlis
220,000
56,000
Sivas
225,000
16,800
Western Anatolia
371,800
27,000
Cilicia and Northern Syria
309,000
70,000
European Turkey
194,000
163,000
73,390
15,000
2,133,190
387,800
Other Armenian-populated Sites
in Turkey
Trapizond District
Total
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
Results of the War

1914, Europe stood at its zenith of power
 the war changed this

Violent and extreme forces were liberated by the war
and Russian Revolution
 Would lead to rise of totalitarian movements in the 1920s &
1930s

Laissez-faire ideas about the economy were
abandoned
 Versailles settlement laid the seeds of the Great Depression

WWI & Russian Revolution dramatically altered
diplomatic structures and destroyed the balance of
power

Prewar cultural trends toward irrationality and
alienation dominated the interwar period