WORLD WAR I

Marching Toward War

Rising Tensions in Europe The Rise of Nationalism

What is nationalism?• By 1907 Europe was split into

two rival sides • Germany, Austria, and Italy (The

Triple Alliance) • France, Britain, and Russia (The

Triple Entente)

• Both sides formed alliances to protect the other if one was attacked

• Each nation-state saw war as a chance to expand the state and achieve their political ambitions

Marching Toward War

• Imperialism and Militarism • European countries

establishing colonies (imperialism) around the world led to an intense competition

• Between 1890 and 1914 European armies doubled in size as countries sought to build the largest, most technologically advanced militaries (militarism)

Marching Toward War• Crisis in the Balkans

• A Restless Region • As the Ottoman Empire declined, states in the Balkans wanted to free themselves from

Ottoman rule; but Austria-Hungary and Russia both wanted to control the states in this region

• Serbia, supported by Russia, was determined to create a Slavic state in the Balkans but Austria was determined to prevent that from happening; many saw Serbia as a catalyst for war

• Assassination of Francis Ferdinand• June 28, 1914 Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophia were

assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serbian terrorist organization

Marching Toward War• Austria saw this incident as an opportunity to take out

Serbia • Austria asked Germany for support • With German support, Austria issued an ultimatum to

Serbia on July 23 which was designed so Serbia would reject it, giving Austria-Hungary the excuse to declare war

• “July Ultimatum” was rejected and Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28; this launched World War I

World War Military Alliances

Marching Toward War• Declarations of War

• Russia, supporting Serbia, launched full mobilization of its army to Germany and Austria on July 29th

• On August 1st, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia• On August 2nd, Germany demanded that Belgium (neutral country) allow

German troops to pass thru Belgian territory to attack France • August 3rd Germany declared war on France• On August 4th Britain declared war on Germany “officially” over the

violation of Belgian neutrality; this officially launched all the great powers of Europe into war- one which was met with enthusiasm at first

Europe Plunges Into War

Great War Begins• Nearly all of Europe took sides• Germany and Austria-Hungary

(later joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria) became known as the Central Powers

• Great Britain, France, and Russia became known as the Allied Powers (or the Allies); Italy and Japan later joined as well

Europe Plunges Into WarBloody Stalemate• General Alfred von Schlieffen developed the Schlieffen Plan which would prepare

Germany for a 2 front war against both France and Russia• More troops would be sent to France because Russia lacked railroads to send supplies and troops to the

front• Plan depended on quick French surrender, after the surrender troops would be sent east to Russia

• September 1914 Schliffen Plan was in ruins after the Battle of the Marne outside of Paris

• Allies defeated the Germans and they knew quick victory in France was not possible and Germany would have to fight a two front war

• A stalemate soon developed where neither side could win a convincing victory• Both sides dug into trenches for the next 4 years

Europe Plunges Into WarTrench Warfare• Armies on both sides dug miles of

trenches and attacked each other across a “no man’s land” (area between the opposing sides trenches) for minimal military gain

• Life in the trenches was full of mud, poor food, sickness and misery

Europe Plunges Into WarTrench Warfare• Trenches stretched 500 miles from the

North Sea to the Swiss Border• New weapons(tanks, machine guns,

poison gas, submarines, airplanes) killed greater numbers of soldiers but did not bring a swift end to warfare

• 1916 slaughter reached its peak• Battle of Verdun 300,000 causalities on both

sides• Somme River 500,000 causalities over 4 months

• Gains for each side in these battles? Germans advanced 4 miles, British advanced 5 miles

Europe Plunges Into WarThe Battle on the Eastern Front

• Stretched from Germany to the Russian border

• Russians and Serbs battled Germans and Austro-Hungarians

• More mobile war than in the west• Russian Struggles

• Russia was less industrialized than the rest of Europe

• Army constantly short of supplies and weapons• Harder for Russians to receive supplies because of

their access to the ocean• Russian armies main asset was men• Russians used their advantage in manpower to keep

the Germans occupied in the east so they could not fully attack Western Europe 

A Global ConflictWar moved beyond Europe• As the war dragged on the European powers

looked for new fronts and other allies around the world to help to the balance in their favor

• Europeans attacked the Ottoman Empire at the Dardanelles

• Wanted to open a supply line to Russia• February 1915 Battle of Gallipoli turned into

a bloody stalemate after a huge loss of life• In Asia and Africa Germany’s colonial

possessions were attacked• Japanese attacked German Pacific colonies• English and French attacked Germany’s

colonies in Africa• British and French colonial subjects were enlisted

to fight for their colonial masters

A Global Conflict• America Joins the War• 1915 Germans use new technology, the submarine, to control the

seas• Germans begin to sink boats without warning around Britain, policy

called unrestricted submarine warfare• May 1915 the Germans sink the Lusitania, a British passenger ship

that had Americans on board• Americans were outraged and the Germans shortly agreed to stop

sinking neutral ships

A Global Conflict• Germany did not keep their word about

submarine warfare and returned to this tactic in 1917

• They knew that it could lead to U.S. entering war on the side of the allies

• Germany hoped that the naval blockade of Great Britain would starve the Allies into defeat before the U.S. entered the war

• February 1917 the U.S. intercepts the Zimmerman note that promises German help to Mexico regain lost territory to the U.S. if Mexico helps Germany

• This was the last straw and the Americans entered the war on the side of the Allies

• April 2, 1917 U.S. declares war on Germany

A Global ConflictWar Affects the Home Front• War affected soldiers and civilians• War became a total war, countries devoted

all of their resources to winning the conflict• Government took control of the economy

Told factories what to produce, production all for war effort

Goods in short supply were rationedGovernments suppressed anti-war activity

and used propaganda (one sided information) to keep up morale and support the war effort

• Many women went to work in factories• Changed the view of what people thought

women were capable of

A Global ConflictAmerican troops gave Allies military advantageMarch 1917 Russia withdraws from the war, no longer

had the leadership or resources to continue fightingGermany could focus all of their forces on the

Western FrontBy May 1918 German forces had reached the Marne

RiverJuly 1918 Allies using fresh American troops

defeated the Germans in the Second Battle of the Marne

German offensives became less effective, troops became exhausted

Fall 1918 Armies of the Central powers began to collapse and surrender

Fall 1918 German troops mutinied, deserted, refused to fight

Germans signed an armistice with the allies Nov. 11, 1918

A Global Conflict

Legacy of the War

A. Entire generation of young European men were wiped out

• 8.5 million died, 21 million were wounded

B. Idea of war on a global scale

C. New technologies led to more destruction and death

D. Economic Impact• Drained countries of wealth, to fight was and

rebuild• Destroyed farmland , villages and towns

E. Led to feelings of insecurity and despair that was reflected in the art and literature of the time

F. The peace treaty promoted anger and resentment

• We are Making a New World• Paul Nash (1918)

A Flawed Peace• January 1919 Allied powers met to discuss what would happen now that the war

was over• Big Four countries dictated most of the decisions (U.S., France, Great Britain, Italy)• Russia, Germany and the other Central Powers were not represented• U.S. president Woodrow Wilson came with a plan called the Fourteen Points,

Wilson’s plan to bring peace to Europe• Main goal was to provide countries with the idea of self determination, or the right

to choose their own government• European nations wanted to punish Germany and did not want to go along with

Wilson’s ideas

A Flawed Peace• June 1919 Treaty of Versailles was signed

between Germany and the Allied powersoTreaty established a League of Nations

to negotiate peace among nations and to prevent future wars

oPunished GermanyoGermany and other Central powers lost

huge amounts of territory in Europe, Africa and the Pacific

• New countries were formed out of the Central Powers• Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia• In the Middle East former Ottoman Territory came

under the control of Great Britain and France

• Russia also suffered loss of land

A Flawed Peace• Placed the responsibility of

starting the war on Germany and made them have to pay reparations (pay for damages caused by the war) to the Allies

• Treaty created bitterness and hard feelings in Germany and other European nations

• Treaty was a factor in starting World War II

• U.S. came out of the war as a world power