1914-1919 the world at war the lights are going out all over europe: we shall not see them lit again...
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1914-1919The World at
War“The lights are going out all over Europe:
we shall not see them lit again
in our lifetime.”Sir Edward Grey
English Foreign secretaryMonday, March 8, 1914
(4 months prior to outbreak of WWI)
Preparation for War
Largest ever peacetime armies / reserves German desire for “place in the sun”
– Recognition of power – like Britain– French disagree: Alsace-Lorraine 1871– English disagree: industrial / colonial
competition Alliance systems: Designed by Bismarck as
prevention of German shut-out
– first Germany w/Russia / Austria – vs. France– Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II unable to
maintain Bismarck’s complex relationships• SO France allies with Russia (odd combo
rad/conserv)• THEN GB and Russia enter alliance
Alliances after 1871Three Emperors’ League (Dreikaiserbund), 1873
Austro-German Alliance, 1878-1918
Alliance of 3 Emperors, 1881-1887
Triple Alliance, 1881-1915
Russo-French Alliance, 1892-1917
Germany
Aust.-Hung.Russia
Italy
France Triple Entente, 1907-1918
GB
Reinsurance Treaty, 1887 (Germany & Russia, secret treaty)
1902 GB allied w/ Japan
1904 = entente cordial btw. GB & Fr.
End of GB’s “splendid isolation”
Technology and Warfare
The Great Arms Race !!!! Weapons were ahead of tactics
– Machine guns– Barbed wire– Trench warfare– Hand Grenades– Heavy artillery– Tanks (Somme)– Gas Warfare –
mustard and nerve gas (see. CfL, 66-67)
British munitions plant
Technology and Warfare
Trench Warfare
The War at Sea
Heavy battleships – “Dreadnought”– Competition with
these ships began in the 1890s
– Each nation built heavier and larger ships
Submarines– Germans =
unlimited use– sparks US conflict
Sinking of the Lusitania
Germany sinks Lusitania – May 7, 1915 - 198 civilians, including 128 U.S. citizens killed
Great Britain and USA force Germany to adopt limited use of submarines
Jan. 1917 Germany returns to unrestricted use of subs – by April 1917 USA enters WWI!
The War in the Air
German Aircraft
US 94th
Why War? Crises:
– Balkans: tensions increase –Austria/Russia•Crisis 1: 1908 Austria annexes Bosnia &
Herzegovina– Russia intervenes on behalf of the Slavs – Germany intervenes and Russia defeated &
humiliated
•Crisis 2: 1st & 2nd Balkan Wars– 1912 Balkan League (Se, Bu, Mo, Gr) vs. Ottomans – 1913: Gr, Se, Ro, OE vs. Bu over Macedonia &
Albania = Serbia blocked; Albania independent
•Crisis 3: June 28, 1914 Serbian Gavrillo Princip of “Union of Death” / Black Hand kills Archduke Franz Ferdinand – heir to throne!
War Begins Austria: must subdue Serbian
separatism – July 23, 1914: 10-pt. Ultimatum to Serbia
“blank check” from Germany • July 25: William II & Theobald von Bethmann-
Hollweg– War declared
• Austria vs Serbia, July 28; vs. Russia, July 30• Russia & France mobilized – Germany declares
war vs. Russia, Aug 1 / vs. Belgium, Aug 3 Von Schlieffen Plan:
• Germany invades Belgium & violates Belgian Neutrality treaty of 1839 – France declares war, Aug 4
• 2-front: knock out France through Belgium, then on to Russia – trains troops for two fronts
– Result• Great Britain declares war on Germany, Aug 4• Aug 23 Japan (GB ally) declares war on Germany
Western Front - 1916
Western Front: focus on FranceBattle of the Marne: September 6-10, 1914 – Trench Warfare: GB & Fr halt German advance on Paris
First Battle of Ypres: Oct. 14, 1914 / Second Battle of Ypres: April 22, 1915
Battle of the Somme, 1916: Allied offensive
8 miles gained --- 2 ½ men die per inch; “I am staring at a sunlit picture of hell” Siegfried Sassoon
Battle of Verdun, 1916: German offensive
Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele): July 1917---stalemate continues – in water!
Second Battle of the Marne: March-August, 1918 – last decisive round of battles (w/ involvement of USA)
Third Battle of Ypres: Passchendaele
Eastern FrontEastern Front & Beyond:
Battle of Tannenburg – Aug. 30, 1914 (Gens. Hindenburg & Ludendorff)
Battle of Masurian Lakes – Sept. 9, 1914
Italy 1915 – abandons Germany & joins Allies by declaring war on Austria-Hungary
Gallipoli – British & Australians vs. Turks – April 1915
Ottoman Empire: Lawrence of Arabia—in 1917 British Col. T.E. Lawrence encourages Arabic revolts against Ottomans
The United States Weighs In
Jan. 1917: Wilson pushes for “peace without victors”
America not involved directly until April 6, 1917
Major incident:– Zimmerman Tele. 2/17:
Germans use US telegraph lines to relay to their embassies in US and Mexico that unrestricted use of submarines will resume
The War on Land
1917…little hope… BUT…
1917…Russian Bolshevik Revolution begins
March 3, 1918…Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, see pg. 739
Germany can move West
BUT….
1918…US enters the war! – 2nd Battle of the Marne Aug 8, 1918 German General Lundendorff admits defeat
Germany defeated…
Germany’s defeat…Sept. 1918– October 6, 1918 German gov’t.
requests armistice talks– Arguments over armistice ---
soldiers revolt and est. revolutionary councils (“soviets”)
– Nov. 9, 1918 Wilhelm II abdicates – flees to Holland
Nov. 11, 1918: Friedrich Ebert declares the first German Republic in Weimar (Weimar Republic) and official armistice
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Victors– Great Britain– France– United States– Italy– Belgium– Portugal
Difficulty in Making Peace
Directly Defeated
–Germany–Austria-Hungary–Ottoman Empire–Bulgaria
Indirectly Defeated
–Russia
Major Personalities
Georges Clemenceau: France “The Tiger”
Woodrow Wilson: USA
David Lloyd George: Great Britain
“squeeze the orange until the pips squeak”
Vittorio Orlando: Italy
The Treaty of Versailles: a difficult peace
January 1919 – Paris – US, France, Great Britain, (Italy) +23 others– No Germany or Russia
The fight begins:– France: desire to punish Germany
• Demilitarize• Rhineland as buffer state
– Woodrow Wilson: desire for “Peace without Victors”• League of Nations (Jan 25, 1919); “open covenants of
peace”, reduction of armaments; self-determination
– GB: prevent France’s “buffer state”; make Germans pay $$
In the End– 5 sep. treaties w/ G, Au, Hu, Bu & OE
Results of Treaty of Versailles (& others)
Results: Germany is blamed for the war (Article 231 War Guilt Clause)– Army can be no bigger than 100,000– Reparations: for causing war - 32 billion dollars– Navy to be no larger than 24 ships – no subs– No new developments in air force– Demilitarize the Rhine area (but not a buffer state)– Lost 27,500 square miles of land League of Nations
(Alsace Lorraine, part of Prussia) New nations—imperialism continues
– Austria/Hungary:• Austria / Hungary / Czechoslovakia / Romania / Poland /
Yugoslavia– “Polish Corridor” to Baltic– France: Lebanon / Syria = mandates– GB: Iraq / Palestine (w/Jewish Nat'l. home) =
mandates– Japan: Germany’s holdings in China
Results
The beginning of the end of 19th century imperialism…
Total number dead - over 9 million – France 1,500,000 Britain 1,000,000– Italy 500,000 US 116,708– Russia 1,700,000 Germany 2,000,000– Austria 1,250,000
A peace…made in quicksand
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