World War I- The Great War

Reasons for World War I• Nationalism

• Imperialism

• Militarism

• Entangling Alliances

• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Nationalism

Aggressive nationalism was one leading cause of international tensions.•Nationalist feelings were strong in both Germany and France.

•In Eastern Europe, Pan-Slavism held that all Slavic peoples shared a common nationality. Russia felt that it had a duty to lead and defend all Slavs.

•Each group obsessed with having independent countries.

1

ImperialismImperial rivalries divided European nations. • New countries, like Germany/Italy need empires to gain

resources

• England/France held vast colonies in North America, Africa, Asia, Australia

• Germany/Italy had missed Age of Exploration

• Russia still carried medieval hope of expanding to Constantinople

• In 1906 and again in 1911, competition for colonies brought France and Germany to the brink of war.

MilitarismThe 1800s saw a rise in militarism, the

glorification of the military. • The great powers expanded their

armies and navies, creating an arms race that further increased suspicions and made war more likely.

Standing Armies in Europe, 19141

Entangling Alliances• The development of Italy and Germany

required a new system of alliances to keep a balance of power in Europe

• Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy • Austria-Hungary and Germany will be

known as the Central Powers

• Triple Entente: France, Russia, Great Britain • Later known as the Allies

Causes and Effects of European Alliances

Distrust led the great powers to sign treaties pledging to defend one another.

These alliances were intended to create powerful combinations that no one would dare attack.

The growth of rival alliance systems increased international tensions.

1

European Alliances, 19141

In 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary announced he would visit Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia.

•At the time, Bosnia was under the rule of Austria-Hungary. But it was also the home of many Serbs and other Slavs.

News of the royal visit angered many Serbian nationalists.• They viewed Austrians as foreign oppressors.

Members of a Serbian terrorist group assassinated the Archduke and his wife.

Assassination in Sarajevo2

The Assassin and Assassination

Who’s to blame?Germany Felt it must stand behind

Austria-Hungary as its ally

Austria-Hungary Blamed Serbia for terrorism Wanted to crush Serbian nationalism

Russia Supported Slavic people Feared Austria-Hungary wanted to rule all Slavs

France Backed Russia Felt it might someday need Russian support against Germany

Britain Felt duty to protect Belgium Feared power of Germany across the English channel.

The Historians’ ViewHow could an assassination lead to all-out war in just a few weeks?

Today, most historians agree that all parties must share blame.• Each of the great powers believed that its cause was just.• Once the machinery of war was set in motion, it seemed impossible to stop.• Although leaders made the decisions, most people on both sides were equally committed to military action.

2

The Schlieffen Plan• Schlieffen Plan: German plan of Alfred von

Schlieffen to avoid two front war

• Main idea-Russia would mobilize more slowly than France

• 7/8's of the German army would invade Belgium to avoid French frontier defenses and crush France in 6 weeks

• Then the German army could use the Railroad to move to the Eastern Front just as slow Russians began moving

A world at war

Failure of the Plan• Germany asked Belgium’s permission to use

their country to invade France.• Belgium refuses

• Germany invades anyway.• Britain declares war on Germany for violating

Belgium’s neutrality.

• Major failure of the plan:• British involvement• Belgium resistance stronger than thought

• Ties Germans up for a month

• Russian mobilization is faster• France uses the railroad to move troops around.

The Western FrontGerman forces swept through Belgium toward Paris.

Russia mobilized more quickly than expected.

Germany shifted some troops to the east to confront Russia, weakening German forces in the west.

British and French troops defeat Germany in the Battle of the Marne. The battle of the Marne pushed back the German offensive and destroyed Germany’s hopes for a quick victory on the Western Front.

The result was a long, deadly stalemate, a deadlock in which neither side is able to defeat the other. Battle lines in France remained almost unchanged for four years.

3

Trench warfare•Trench Warfare: trench systems stretching 500 miles across France from Belgian coast to Switzerland

•Causes war to stalemate as each side takes turns bombarding and then charging across “no man's land” (area between enemy trenches) in futile attacks against trenches and machine guns

Trench life-the smelly truth

Trench diagram

No man’s land

Looking out before going “over the top”

Rats, Rot, lice and dysentery-ooh the smell!

• Common things in a trench• Rats

• Black and brown-sometimes got to cat size• Spread disease and contaminated food

• Trench rot• Constant damp inside the trenches could cause

feet to rot and later be amputated

Other problems•Lice infestation was common

•Caused itching and misery and a lot of shaved heads

•Food•Beef, bread, and biscuits

•When flour was short sometimes made bread out of turnips

Lice poem

• I killed them, but they would not die.Yea! all the day and all the nightFor them I could not rest or sleep,Nor guard from them nor hide in flight.

• Then in my agony I turnedAnd made my hands red in their gore.In vain - for faster than I slewThey rose more cruel than before.

• I killed and killed with slaughter mad;I killed till all my strength was gone.And still they rose to torture me,For Devils only die in fun.

• I used to think the Devil hidIn women’s smiles and wine’s carouse. I called him Satan, Beelzebub. But now I call him, dirty louse.

Europe at War, 1914–19183

New weapons and technologyInvention Description Use in World War I

Automatic machine gun

Mounted gun that fires a rapid, continuous stream of bullets

Made it possible for a few gunners to mow down waves of soldiers

Tank Armored vehicle that travels on a track and can cross many kinds of land

Protected advancing troops as they broke through enemy defenses. Early tanks are slow, clumsy, and break

Submarine Underwater ship that can launch torpedoes, or guided underwater bombs

Used by Germany to destroy Allied ships. Helped bring U.S. into war

Airplane One or two seated propeller plane equipped with machine gun or bombs

At first, used mainly for observation. Later, flying aces engage in “dog fights”

Poison gas; gas mask

Gases that cause choking, blinding, or severe skin blisters; gas masks can protect soldiers from poison gas.

Thrown into enemy trenches, killing or disabling troops. Gas masks make poison gas less important.

Notable Battles•1st Battle of the Marne: French General Joffre “miraculously” shifts enough troops to stop German advance and save Paris *500,000 casualties

•No more quick victory for Germans

  •Battle of the Somme: British attack and force Germans to withdraw and dig defensive trenches to keep from being pushed out of France *600,000 casualties

• Battle of Verdun: Germans attempt to advance, but GB/FR use trenches to stop, the battle lasts for months of trench warfare causing 700,000 casualties

Naval battles•The Naval War •Battle of Jutland: Germany fails to break through English naval blockade • Submarine War: Germany forced to use “unrestricted submarine warfare” to stop US supplies from reaching England, but offends US •U-Boat=German Submarine

•Convoy System: defeats

submarine warfare •Using warships to protect groups of merchant ships

The Eastern Front• Battle of Tannenburg: Russian army splits and is defeated by

the Germans

• Russian Revolution: Russian war failures, casualties and starvation cause mass chaos and revolts against Czar Nicholas's government

• March Revolution: Alexander Kerensky overthrows Czar Nicholas

but plans on continuing WWI to not let down the Allies

• November Revolution: Vladimir Lenin gains support by promising to withdraw Russia from WWI, begins civil war with Kerensky

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Lenin signs a separate treaty with Germany • Russia loses large amounts of land • Creates Western distrust of USSR• Allies invade Russia to save war supplies and stop

communism

• Russia gets out of the war in 1918 because of the Revolution

Collapsing Morale

• As morale collapsed, troops mutinied or deserted.

• Long casualty lists, food shortages, the total destruction of property and life, and the failure of generals to win promised victories led to calls for peace.

• In Russia, soldiers left the front to join in a full-scale revolution back home.

• The United States provides the needed relief!

By 1917, the morale of both troops and civilians had plunged.

4

The Yanks are coming!

Why Did the United States Enter the War?

• German submarines were attacking merchant and passenger ships carrying American citizens. • In May 1915, a German submarine torpedoed the British liner Lusitania, killing 1,200 passengers,

including 120 Americans.

• Telegram sent by German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann. • In exchange for Mexican support, Germany offered to help Mexico re-conquer New Mexico,

Texas, and Arizona.

• Propaganda: France and Great Britain twisted the war into a fight against democratic powers versus evil absolute monarchies

  • Economic Interest: US banks and business loaned $1.5 Billion to GB and FR.

• President Woodrow Wilson convinced Congress to declare war in April 1917 to keep the world "safe for democracy"

4

“Over There”Johnnie, get your gun,Get your gun, get your gun,Take it on the run,On the run, on the run.Hear them calling, you and me,Every son of liberty.Hurry right away,No delay, go today,Make your daddy gladTo have had such a lad.Tell your sweetheart not to pine,To be proud her boy's in line. (chorus sung twice)

Johnnie, get your gun,Get your gun, get your gun,Johnnie show the HunWho's a son of a gun.Hoist the flag and let her fly,Yankee Doodle do or die.Pack your little kit,Show your grit, do your bit.Yankee to the ranks,From the towns and the tanks.Make your mother proud of you,And the old Red, White and Blue. (chorus sung twice)

ChorusOver there, over there,Send the word, send the word over there -That the Yanks are coming,The Yanks are coming,The drums rum-tummingEv'rywhere.So prepare, say a pray'r,Send the word, send the word to beware.We'll be over, we're coming over,And we won't come back till it's overOver there.

Campaign to VictoryIn 1917, The United States declared war on Germany.

By 1918, about two million American soldiers had joined the Allies on the Western Front.

The Germans launched a huge offensive, pushing the Allies back.

The Allies launched a counteroffensive, driving German forces back across France and Germany.

Germany sought an armistice, or agreement to end fighting, with the Allies. On 11 am, November 11, 1918, the war ended.

4

President Woodrow Wilson issued the Fourteen Points, a list of his terms for resolving World War I and future wars. He called for:• freedom of the seas• free trade• large-scale reductions of arms• an end to secret treaties• self-determination, or the right of people to choose their own form of government, for Eastern Europe• the creation of a “general association of nations” to keep the peace in the future

Wilson’s Fourteen Points4

Casualties of World War I

Deaths Woundedin Battle in Battle

AlliesFrance 1,357,800 4,266,000British empire 908,371 2,090,212Russia 1,700,000 4,950,000Italy 462,391 953,886United States 50,585 205,690Others 502,421 342,585

Central PowersGermany 1,808,546 4,247,143Austria-Hungary 922,500 3,620,000Ottoman empire 325,000 400,000

5

The Paris Peace Conference

The delegates to the Paris Peace Conference faced many difficult issues:The Big Four: Woodrow Wilson (US), David Lloyed George (GB), Georges Clemenceau (FR), Vittorio Orlando (Italy)

•Great Britain and France wanted to punish the Central Powers

• Creates the Treaty of Versailles

• Creates the weak and ineffectual League of Nations • 60 nations join-not the US

The Treaty of Versailles:• forced Germany to assume full blame for causing the war.• imposed huge reparations upon Germany.

The Treaty aimed at weakening Germany by:• limiting the size of the German military, to 100,000 total

• No tanks, heavy artillery, airplanes, submarines, or draft • returning Alsace and Lorraine to France,• removing hundreds of miles of territory from Germany,• stripping Germany of its overseas colonies.

The treaty also chopped up and created new countries.The Germans signed the treaty because they had no choice. But German resentment of the Treaty of Versailles would poison the international climate for 20 years and lead to an even deadlier world war.

The Treaty of Versailles

Europe in 1914 and 19201914

5

Europe in 1914 and 19201920

5