wwi: the collapse and recovery of europe
DESCRIPTION
In class notes for WWITRANSCRIPT
The Collapse and Recovery of Europe
1914-1970s :
Strayer Ways of the World
Chapter 21
Over View
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914-1918
Decolonization
Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918
A. By 1900, Europeans, or people of European ancestry, controlled most other peoples of the world.
B. An Accident Waiting to Happen
1. modernization and Europe’s rise to global ascendancy had sharpened traditional rivalries between European states
2. both Italy and Germany unified ca. 1870
a. Germany’s unification in the context of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) had embittered French-German relations
b. rise of a powerful new Germany was a disruptive new element
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918
3. by around 1900, the balance of power in Europe was shaped by two rival alliances
a. Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy)
b. Triple Entente (Russia, France, Britain)
c. these alliances turned a minor incident into WWI
“Powder Keg of Europe”I. At the turn of the century, war was
imminent. As nationalism weakened the Ottoman Empire, the Slavic peoples of the Balkan region struggled to free themselves from Ottoman control. Serbia declared independence in 1878, allying themselves to Russia. Serbia then wanted to unite with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were controlled by Austria-Hungary.
II. Serbia could count on Russia's support, and Austria-Hungary could count on Germany's. Because of the high tensions in this area, the Balkans became known as the "Powder Keg of Europe." All that was needed to ignite the world into war was a spark.
Black Hand
This group was formed by 11 Serbs.
The Black hand was a secret society that’s sole intent was to unify all Serbs through violence and terrorism.
Spark
1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Gavrilo Princip, of the Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand, assassinated the Archduke and his wife.
Serbia’s PM refused to send the Assassin over to Austria- Hungary government
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918
4. June 28, 1914: a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne
a. Austria was determined to crush the nationalism movement
b. Serbia had Russia (and Russia’s allies) behind it
c. general war broke out by August 1914
Causes of WWI
MAIN
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–19185. factors that contributed to the outbreak
and character of the war:
a. popular nationalism
i. freedom movements like that of Serbia
ii. intense nationalist competition between countries
iii. gave statesmen little room for compromise
iv. assured widespread popular support for starting war
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918
b. Industrialized militarism
i. military men had great prestige
ii. all states had standing armies
iii. all states but Britain relied on conscription
iv. large number of new weapons had been invented (tanks, submarines, airplanes, poison gas, machine guns, barbed wire)
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918
c. Europe’s colonial empires
i. funneled colonial troops and laborers into the war effort
ii. battles in Africa and South Pacific
iii. Japan (allied with Britain) took German possessions
iv. Ottoman Empire (allied with Germany) suffered intense military operations and an Arab revolt
Questions for Review
1. What aspects of Europe’s 19th century history contributed to the First World War?
2. Which aspect do you believe played the greatest role in starting the war? Explain.
The Trench
A form of combat where armies fight each other from opposing fortified positions, usually consisting of long, dugout holes or trenches
http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/greatwar/g3/cs1/g3cs1s2a.htm
United States Is a neutral nation providing
weapons to both side of the war.
A German U-boat sinks the Lusitania a British liner 128 American citizen were killed aboard
the ship
Zimmermann Note: Germany PM promised the Mexican
government that in return for their help, they would help Mexico capture territories lost to the US
April 1917 US entered the war shifting the balance of power.
War Machine Guns,
Air Planes, tanks, submarines, use of poison Gases all played a dynamic role in WWI
Total Casualties 16 million
9 million Military 7 million Civilian
This Became a Total War Channeling of a nation’s entire resources
into a war effort
Propaganda Spreading of Ideas to promote a cause or to damage an opposing Cause
Women Step up: Work in Factories- manufacturing weapons
and supplies Worked in the field during food shortages Nurses- Some become national hero's
Ending the War IV. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) made the
conditions that caused WWII
A. Germany lost its colonial empire and 15 percent of its European territory
B. Germany was required to pay heavy reparations
C. Germany suffered restriction of its military forces
D. Germany had to accept sole responsibility for the outbreak of the war
Legacy of The Great War
V. The United States appeared as a global power
A. U.S. manpower had been important in the defeat of Germany
B. The United States became Europe’s creditor
C. Many Europeans were fascinated by Woodrow Wilson’s ideas
i. Fourteen Points
ii. League of Nations
iii. But his vision largely failed, and the U.S. Senate refused to join the league
Legacies of the Great War
1. Enormous expansion of government authority
2. Massive propaganda campaigns to arouse citizens
3. Women replaced men in factories4. Labor unions accepted sacrifices5. The war left widespread
disillusionment among intellectuals in its wake
6. Led to questioning of Enlightenment values
7. Led to questioning of the superiority of the West and its science
Legacies of the Great War
8. Rearrangement of the map of Central Europe
a. creation of independent Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia
b. created new problems of ethnic minorities
c. triggered the Russian Bolshevik revolution (1917)
9. Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
c. British promises to both Arabs and Jews created a new problem in Palestine
Legacies of the Great War
10. In Asia and Africa, many gained military skills and political awareness
a. Britain promised to start the process of creating self-government in India in return for war help
b. Japan was strengthened by the war
Questions for Review
1. What are some of the major criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles?
2. In what ways and to what extent was WWI a turning point in history?
As the Great depression sweep across the Pacific, Japan suffered from the a huge decline in trade. Unemployment soared.Peasants were only a mouthful from
starvation.
Japan set its sights on Manchuria because of the large amount of natural resources they had
The Master Plan Japanese Ultra-nationalist
set up explosives and blew up tracks on Japanese railroads; they then blamed the Chinese for the act.
Claiming self defense; Japan retaliated by attacking Manchuria.
Who cares about the League When the League of Nations
condemned Japanese aggression against China, Japan simply withdrew from the League of Nations.
Later members of the League failed to take military action against Japanese aggression
Book of the Week
“They [Japanese soldiers] bayoneted one little boy, killing him, and I spent an hour and a half this morning patching up another little boy of eight who had five bayonet wounds including one that penetrated his stomach, a portion of omentum was outside the abdomen.”
December 13 1937
Japan attacked the cultural center Nanjing
After the city surrendered Japanese killed thousands of soldiers and civilians and brutalized many more.
Historians estimate that 20,000 women from as young as seven to the elderly were raped. Rapes were often performed in public during the day, and often in front of spouses or family members. Then killed immediately after rape, often by mutilation.
“Thirty girls were taken from language school last night, and today I have heard scores of heartbreaking stories of girls who were taken from their homes last night--one of the girls was but 12 years old....Tonight a truck passed in which there were eight or ten girls, and as it passed they called out "Ging ming! Ging ming!"--save our lives.”
Nanjing Massacre as ranging between 200,000 and 300,000
Japanese troops torched newly-built government buildings as well as the homes of many civilians
Soldiers pillaged from not only the wealthy but the poor as well.
soldiers killed during combat, surrendered soldiers summarily executed after the battle, plain-clothed guerilla combatants, plain-clothed soldiers hiding among civilians, civilians wrongly suspected of being guerrilla combatants, or those bystanders attacked during the period of indiscriminate killing, rape and looting
It is estimated that over one-third and as much as two-thirds of the city was destroyed as a result of arson
The Armenian Genocide, 1915
U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau Sr., concluded a “race murder” was occurring. He cabled Washington and described the Turkish campaign:
”Persecution of Armenians assuming unprecedented proportions. Reports from widely scattered districts indicate systematic attempt to uproot peaceful Armenian populations and through arbitrary arrests, terrible tortures, whose-sale expulsions and deportations from one end of the Empire to the other accompanied by frequent instances of rape, pillage, and murder turning into massacre, to bring destruction and destitution on them.
These measures are not in response to popular or fanatical demand but are purely arbitrary and directed from Constantinople in the name of military necessity, often in districts where no military operations are likely to take place…there seems to be a systematic plan to crush the Armenian race.”
The documentary, The Armenian Genocide aired on PBS in April, 2006.
The Armenian Controversy To this day, the Turks deny that the Genocide occurred.
This is a VERY controversial issue to the Turks.
Turkey suspended its military ties with France in 2006
after the French parliament's lower house adopted a bill
that that would have made it a crime to deny that the
Armenian killings constituted a genocide.
23 countries acknowledge the event was genocide
In early October 2007, the U.S. Congress opened
debate on whether or not to declare the Armenian
event a genocide – much to the dismay of the Turkish
government.
Questions for Review
1. In what ways was the Great Depression a global phenomenon?
2. How did the Great Depression impact the rise of Japan?
3. How did ethnocentrism factor into the actions taken by Japan?
4. Why is the Armenian genocide so controversial?
