The Great War 1914-1918

Underlying Causes of WWI

• Militarism– a policy of aggressive military preparedness, military values/goals

take over civilian society• Alliance System

– an association to further common interests of the members and in this context, nations. (Triple Entente and Triple Alliance)

– nations pledged to intervene if an ally was attacked• Imperialism

– Possession of overseas colonies. Competing claims created an atmosphere of tension between major powers

• Nationalism– loyalty and devotion to a nation, placing primary emphasis on

promotion of its culture and interests, encouraged rivalries

Section 2: Rivalries Lead to War

Spark that ignites the War• States in southeastern Europe had struggled to

free themselves of Ottoman rule• Rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia for

control of these new states created serious tensions

• 1914, Serbia, supported by Russia, was determined to create a large, independent Slavic state in the Balkans

• Austria-Hungary determined to prevent this from happening

• June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, and his wife Sophia visited Bosnian city of Sarajevo

• Members of the Black Hand, a Serbian terrorist group that wanted Bosnia free of Austria-Hungary, planned to kill the Archduke

• First assassination attempt failed, but Gavrilo Princip succeeded in shooting and killing both the archduke and his wife.

• Assassination set off a chain reaction in Europe

• Austrian leaders wanted to attack, but feared Russian intervention on Serbia’s behalf, so they sought backing of their German allies.

• July 5, 1914 Germany issues A-H “blank check” – pledging military assistance if A-H goes to war

against Russia

• July 23, 1914 Austria issues Serbia an ultimatum (extreme demands that Serbia rejected)

• July 28, 1914 A-H declares war on Serbia

• July 29, 1914 Russia orders full mobilization (assembling troops and supplies and making them ready for war) of its troops

• August 1,1914 Germany declares war on Russia

• August 2, 1914 Germany demands Belgium declare access to German troops

“Belgium is a country, not a road”

• King Albert I of Belgium denied permission to Germany as it was a neutral nation

• August 2, 1914 Germany declared war on France– Why??? – The Schlieffen Plan!

• August 4, 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating Belgian neutrality

• By August 4, all the great powers in Europe were at war

The sides formed

• Triple Entente (Allies)– France– Great Britain– Italy (1915)– Russia (1917 exit)– United States

(1917 entry)

• Central Powers– Germany– Austria-Hungary

(empire)– Ottoman Empire

(1914)– Bulgaria (1915)

Section 3: Fighting the Great War

Schlieffen Plan

• German plan to avoid a two-front war by concentrating troops in the West and quickly defeating the French and then, if necessary, rushing those troops by rail to the East to face the Russians before they had time to mobilize fully.

Trench Warfare• Trenches dug from English Channel to

Switzerland• 6 to 8 feet deep• Elaborate systems of defense• Baffled military leaders

– Millions of young men sacrificed attempting the breakthrough through “no man’s land”

• Diseases, lice, trench foot• Trench Warfare video

Trench Warfare

• These new weapons made it easier to defend positions than to attack

• New type of warfare baffled military leaders• Soldiers dug miles of deep trenches to fortify positions. • Trenches were separated by fields of barbed wire and

mines known as “no man’s land”• Anyone who climbed out of the trenches faced instant

death from enemy machine gun fire• Soldiers spent years in the trenches, facing shelling from

artillery fire for hours each day• Since neither side could advance, fighting lines became

stationary

The changes of war

• New weapons crippled the “frozen front”– Poison gas (mustard gas)– Hand grenades– Flame throwers– Tanks– Airplanes– Machine Guns

• (highest number of casualites)

– Submarines

Section 4: The Tide Turns

Russia backs out of war• Russia facing problems – revolutions• Tsar is overthrown• Germany, in secret, transports

Vladimir Lenin back to Russia, hoping to create disorder (contributes to the communist revolution)

• Revolution occurs, Lenin becomes leader

• He promised peace• March 3,1918 Lenin signs the Treaty

of Brest-Litvosk with Germany.– Gave up Poland, Ukraine, Finland,

and Baltic provinces– Russia officially out of the war

Entry of the United States

• United States was officially neutral, but sympathetic to Britain and France

• American ships sent supplies to the Allies• Germans respond with submarine warfare• German U-boat sinks the Lusitania (May

1915), a passenger liner, killing over 1,100 people (including 100 American)

• U.S. protest, Germans agree to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare

Zimmerman Telegram

• 1917 diplomatic proposal from Arthur Zimmerman of the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States

• Intercepted by British• Last straw for U.S,

they enter the war

• U.S. troops did not arrive in large numbers in Europe until 1918

• Entry of the U.S. into the war not only gave the Allied powers (Triple Entente) a psychological boost, but also brought them a major new source of money and goods

• President Woodrow Wilson announced America’s war aims in the Fourteen Points. – To “make the world safe for

democracy”– #1-5 - international law

recommendations– #6-13 - European boundary restructure– #14 - League of Nations

• He wanted to redraw the map of Europe so that each nationality had its own state

• Demanded freedom of the seas• End to secret diplomacy• Creation of the League of Nations

Collapse and Armistice

• German officials soon discover that the Allies were unwilling to make peace

• On Nov. 3, sailors in northern Germany mutinied• Within days, workers and soldiers were forming throughout

northern Germany and taking over civilian and military offices

• William II flees Germany on Nov. 9• After William II leaves, the Social Democrats under

Friedrich Ebert announce creation of a democratic republic• Nov. 11, 1918 the new German government signed an

armistice (a truce to end the fighting)

Section 5: Peace and Its Aftermath

Paris Peace Conference (1919)

• Allied leaders met in Paris to negotiate peace– Woodrow

Wilson (U.S.)– David Lloyd

George (GB)– Georges

Clemenceau (FR)– Orlando Vittorio

(IT)

• Russia excluded• Treaty of Versailles terms

turned out to be extremely harsh for Germany

Peace terms ending the war• Consisted of 5 separate treaties, Treaty of Versailles with Germany was

most important• Implemented only 1 of Wilson’s Fourteen points, the forming of an

internal organization, The League of Nations• Germans considered it a harsh peace

– War guilt clause: declared Germany (and Austria) responsible for starting the war

– Germany has to pay reparations for all the damage Allied powers suffered (Economic Effect)

– Reduce its army to 100,000, cut back navy, eliminate air force– Alsace and Lorraine taken & given back to France– Poland was now independent– Loss of overseas colonies (Political)– Land on both sides of the Rhine were demilitarized– Food Rationed (Social)

A new map of Europe

• Map of Europe was largely redrawn• German and Russian empires lost much

territory in Eastern Europe• Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared• New nations emerged: Finland, Lativa,

Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary, Yugoslavia

• Ottoman Empire was broken up