World War I

Europe’s Suicidal Conflict

Results

• 1914 – 1918

• Redraws borders on 3 continents

• Destroys much of Europe

• Millions dead

• USA comes out of it an Economic and

Political giant

• Lays the groundwork for World War II

Causes

• Nationalism – ultra-patriotism (e.g. all German speaking peoples should be united under Germany)

• Imperialism – Stronger countries building empires out of weaker ones (very economic in nature)

• Militarism – all major European countries except GB had draft, also stockpiled weapons, they thought it was a waste if you didn’t use it.

Alliance Systems

• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy –

form Triple Alliance

• France, Russia, Great Britain – form

Triple Entente

The Spark

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand

• Nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph

• Heir to Austrian Throne

• June 28, 1914 Sarajevo, Capital of Bosnia

• Ferdinand assassinated

by a Slavic terrorist

Gavrilo Princip

• Member of the Black

Hand

• They thought Bosnia

should belong to

Serbia

• Austria blames Serbia

• Austria & Germany declare war on Serbia

• Russia Mobilizes to protect slavs in Serbia

• Germany Declares war on Russia Aug 1,

1914 and France 2 days later

• Germans hoped to knock out French

quickly so went through neutral Belgium

• Aug 4, Great Britain enters the war because

they pledged to help Belgium

• Central Powers – Germany, Austria-

Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire

(Turks)

• Allied Powers – France, Russia, G.B., later

Italy and about 20 other countries

• Everyone thought the war would

be “over before Christmas”

• It wasn’t

The Schlieffen Plan

• German plan of attack

• Take out France

quickly, then move on

to Russia to avoid a

two front war

The Western Front

• Germans push to the Marne River about 40 miles from Paris by October

• Then they were pushed back to Belgian town of Ypres (ee-Pear)

• With winter coming they cut their losses and dug in

• North sea to Switzerland – 400 miles of trenches

Trench Warfare

• Machine Guns and Artillery could wipe out

a whole charge of men

• Germans used Mustard gas

• British will eventually develop the Tank,

but unreliable until the end of the war

War at Sea

• Unterseeboot – U-Boat, Germany used

Submarine warfare

• International Law – you had to warn

commercial vessels and take prisoners

before you blew them up – subs can’t do

either

• British set up a blockade of Germany

• Germans start a Sub blockade of Britain in

hope to starve the island

• Feb 1915 – Germany declares the sea a war

zone. Any ships that enter will be destroyed

• At one point Britain had only 3 weeks of

food left

• This will anger the USA

USA declares Neutrality

• We send food,

supplies, ammo, to

both sides

• Our economy booms

• When Germans

declare Naval war

zone Wilson promises

to hold Germany to

“strict accountability”

• May 1, 1915 – Lusitania sunk by U-Boats,

1,198 passengers, 128 of them Americans

• Wilson demanded an apology, money for

damages, & commitment to abandon Sub

warfare

• March 1916 – Germany attacks French

passenger ship the Sussex, killed several

American passengers

• Germany agrees to Sussex Pledge –

promised not to attack without warning and

saving lives

• We start building up our armed forces

• 1916 – Wilson campaigns on peace

platform

• Wanted “peace without victory” and said

“Only peace between equals can last.”

• Germans were winning on the Eastern front

– Russia was collapsing

• Feb 1917 – Germans resume unrestricted

submarine warfare hoping to crush the

British before the USA can enter the war

• Zimmerman Note – German Foreign Sect.

Arthur Zimmerman sent a coded message to

Mexico suggesting that they should ally

with the Germans if war broke out and they

would get Texas, NM, and AZ back.

• Brits intercepted, Wilson makes it public

• March 1917, Russian Czar overthrown,

replaced by Democracy temporarily

• April 6, 1917 – USA enters the war

A.E.F.(American Expeditionary

Force)

• Led by John J.

Pershing

• By 1918 we had sent

over a million troops

• Germany and Austria-Hungary crush Italy

• Controlled Northern France

• Nov. 1917 – Bolshevik Revolution in

Russia led by Vladimir Lenin

• Lenin signs treaty with Germans

• All efforts go toward the Western Front

• 1.2 Million Americans push through

Argonne Forest

• “Vast network of uncut barbed wire, deep

ravines, dense woods, myriads of small

craters, obscured by heavy fog.”

• 47 days

• More ammunition was used than was used

in the whole Civil War

• Marched by night, shot and slept by day

• Nov 11, 1918 – Germany Surrenders

Life in the USA

• 1917 – Selective Service Act passed – men 21-30 sign up for military service, later its expanded

• Gov takes over industry and forms War Industries Board

• Herbert Hoover becomes Food Administrator – Wheatless Mon & Weds, Meatless Tuesday, ect. It was voluntary

• Trading with the Enemy Act – Postmaster

could censor any materials exchanged with

other countries

• Sedition Act – prohibited speech that was

“disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive”

regarding the Government or Armed Forces

• Espionage Act – punished anyone who

helped the enemy

• Americans who criticized the war went to

jail

• “The world must be made safe for

Democracy.”

Woodrow Wilson

14 Points

• Wilson’s plan for peace

• Sought to eliminate causes of war

• Banned secret treaties

• Guaranteed freedom of seas

• Remove international tariff barriers

• Reduce armaments

• Adjust colonial claims while respecting the

rights of the indigenous peoples

• League of Nations

Mistakes at Home

• Republicans and Democrats agreed to work

together

• Wilson Violated this in 1918 by urging

people to just elect Democrats, and then

didn’t take any Republicans with him to

Paris

Mistakes in Europe

• Allied leaders interested in punishing the

enemy and dividing the spoils of war

• They didn’t like him – he came across as

self-righteous and stubborn

Treaty of Versailles

• 4 empires had fallen – Russia, Austria-

Hungary, Ottoman, Germany

• The Big 4 – leaders at Versailles

– Wilson USA

– Clemenceau France

– Orlando Italy

– David Lloyd George Britain

New Nations Created

• Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland

• Austria-Hungary split into two nations

• Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia

• German representatives can either sign

treaty or let their people starve

• June 28, 1919 – Treaty signed

– Germany accepts sole responsibility for the war

– Stripped Germany of Coal fields, colonies,

Alsace-Lorraine

– Reduced German Army & Navy

– Had to pay $33 Billion

• Wilson goes along with this in order to get

his League of Nations put into treaty but…

• Senators back home wanted to revise the

LoN concept

• Wilson goes on speaking tour to drum up

support – but has a stroke and remains ill

and paralyzed for the rest of his presidency

• Senate never ratifies the treaty, so USA

never joins LoN

Global Effects

• League of Nations – but no US involvement

• Europe is devastated

• Middle east – British promised support for Arabs who wanted independence from Ottomans, created Iraq, Trans-Jordan, and Palestine for the Jews

• Armenia – Ottomans murder 1.5 million Armenians in Genocide campaign

• Russia – communists fight anti-communists

in 1918-1920 civil war. 1922 communists

solidify control and Russia becomes the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR)

• Germany – Kaiser William fled. Weimar

Republic set up but it was weak, Germans

were poor and starving

• Ferdinand Foch – “This is not peace, it is an

armistice for twenty years.”

USA

• 116,000 men lost

• No damage in homeland

• Civilians not starving, economy skyrockets, we become richest country in the world (and probably the most powerful)

• Shifted toward isolationism

• Progressivism is over – some goals accomplished

• Muckrakers were gone, people wanted to party