“The Great War”

“A war to end all wars”

World War One: Basic Facts• A monumental event of heavy artillery and trench

fighting• 37.5 million casualties (15 million soldiers killed)• Chemical weapons (poison gas) deployed• Four empires destroyed

– German– Austria-Hungarian– Russian– Ottoman

Nationalism

Imperialism

Alliances

Militarism

International Anarchy

The Great Powers

Great Britain

Germany

Austria

Russia

Italy

France

The Major Players: 1914-17

The Major Players: 1914-17

Nicholas II Nicholas II [Rus][Rus]

Nicholas II Nicholas II [Rus][Rus]

George V [Br]George V [Br]George V [Br]George V [Br]

Pres. Poincare Pres. Poincare [Fr][Fr]

Pres. Poincare Pres. Poincare [Fr][Fr]

Allied PowersAllied Powers::Allied PowersAllied Powers::

Franz Josef [A-H]Franz Josef [A-H]Franz Josef [A-H]Franz Josef [A-H]

Wilhelm II [Ger]Wilhelm II [Ger]Wilhelm II [Ger]Wilhelm II [Ger]

Victor Emmanuel Victor Emmanuel II [It]II [It]

Victor Emmanuel Victor Emmanuel II [It]II [It]

Central PowersCentral Powers::Central PowersCentral Powers::

Enver PashaEnver Pasha[Turkey][Turkey]

Enver PashaEnver Pasha[Turkey][Turkey]

Background: German Unification

• War with Denmark (1864)

• War with Austria (1866)

• War with France (1870-1)

II. Aggressive NationalismGermany became a military and industrial power, while the French were bitter about losing Alsace and Lorraine

The French were especially bitter about their 1871 defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the German occupation of the border provinces of Alsace

and Lorraine

Bismarck’s Revived Concert(1870-1890)

II. Aggressive NationalismRussia sponsored Pan-Slavism and felt that it had a duty to lead and defend all Slavs

II. Aggressive NationalismAustria-Hungary worried that nationalism might lead to rebellion within its empire

II. Aggressive Nationalism

Ottoman Turkey felt threatened by new nations on its borders

Kaiser Wilhelm II:Moroccan Crises

• Crisis One (1905-6)– German opposition to

French claims

• Crisis Two (1911)– Gunboat diplomacy

II. Aggressive Nationalism

By 1914, the Balkans were the "powder keg of Europe"

Austria-Hungary’s Franz Josef:The Bosnian Crisis (1908)

• Young Turks come to power

• Bulgaria claims independence

• Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina

Balkan Crises

• First war (1912): Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece against Turkey

• Second war (1913) Serbia, Greece, and Romania against Bulgaria

Bismarck’s Revived Concert(1870-1890)

The Three Emperors’ League (1872)

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78

The Dual Alliance

The Triple Alliance

The Reinsurance Treaty (1887)

The Franco-Russian Alliance (1894)

Deterioration of Anglo-German Relations

The Anglo-French Entente (1904)

The Anglo-Russian Entente (1907)

The Triple Entente

III. Rivalries Among European Powers

There was a rise in militarism and nations expanded their armies and navies

Competing explanations

Realism: Balance of Power

• Classical Realists: State leaders locked themselves into inflexible alliances

• Neo-Realists: Germany’s rise upset the existing balance of power

Realism: Balance of Threat

• Stephen Walt: Perceptions (not merely resources) matter

Liberalism: Domestic Politics

• Domestic conflict in Germany and UK

– Germany: class divisions lead “iron and rye coalition” to launch “social imperialism”

– UK: divisions with Liberal Party led to waffling

Constructivism: Nationalism

• Pan-Slavism challenged two empires

• Anti-Slavic sentiment in Germany

• Stronger than family ties

Marxism-Leninism: Imperialism

• Monopoly capitalism

• Imperalism: Competing for overseas territories

• Problems with this explanation

Sarajevo, Bosnia – June 28, 1914

COUNTRIES TAKE A SIDE

• Shocked Francis Joseph blames Serbia, feels serb gov’t knew of the plot

• Believed that Serbia wanted south Slav empire

• Wanted to deal harshly with the Serbs

• Needed German backing first• Kaiser Wilhelm II told Austria

that Germany would support any action they saw fit

• Essentially giving Austria a blank check to do anything.

AUSTRIA ANSWERS SERBIA

• Austria sends Serbia a severe ultimatum or final set of demands 7/23/14

• Serbia must end all anti-Austrian agitation and punish and Serbian official involved in the murder.

• Dismiss all officials hostile to Austria-Hungary• Allow Austrian officials into Serbia to investigate the

Archduke’s murder themselves• Serbia agrees to all of the terms except the last, rejecting it

as an infringement on Serbian sovereignty.• 7/28/14 Austria balk at Serbia and declare war on the Serbs

July 28, 1914 – Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia

July 30, 1914 – Russia prepared to defend Serbia

August 1, 1914 – Germany declares war on Russia

August 3, 1914 – Germany declared war on France

August 3, 1914 – Germany invaded neutral Belgium

August 4, 1914 – British declared war on Germany

Ready Since 1905

Response to possibility of a Two front war

France on the West

Russia on the East

Paris in Six Weeks

March Against Russia

German Atrocities in Belgium

German Atrocities in Belgium

II. The Conflict WidensOutraged by the invasion of Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany

"The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”

British politician Sir Edward Grey

German trench

FRENCH STRONGHOLD AT VERDUN.

- IDEA WAS TO BLEED FRANCE TO DEATH AND BREAK THERE SPIRIT

German first assault, February 21, artillery bombardment,

-five months of fighting causes

-430,000 German dead

-540,000 French dead

-Germans bleed French white but, not to death and hurt there military in the end

THEY

SHALL NOT PASS

FRENCH HOLD THE LINE.

-FORCE GERMAN STALEMATE

-CREATE PROBLEMS FOR GERMAN HIGH COMMAND

Somme, France

Tennenberg

German army quickly isolates and destroys the Russian forces, at the end of August.

Galicia Austria, ends the war for Russia

OTTOMAN EMPIRE SIDES WITH GERMNY. CLOSE DARDANELLES TO ALLIED SHIPPING

BRITAIN GOES TO OPEN AREA AND WINDS UP STAYING FOR A YEAR AND LOSING 65,000 MEN

American Neutrality• Wilson—neither threatened vital

American interest• American against the war Pacifists,

Isolationists, Socialist• Edward M. House and Robert

Lansing– Wilson’s pro-British advisors

• William Jennings Bryan– Against pro-British tilt

• Germany had no advocates in government

• British blockade of Germany– Violates American neutrality, Wilson

protests

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

U.S. Enters the War (1917)

British navy blocks German coast and starves people

Germany counters with U-boats

British Big naval advantage countered by hidden boats

RAF (British) aviators

Downed German Zeppelin

Submarine Warfare• Unterseeboot (U-boat)• Lusitania (May 1915)

– 1198 killed, 128 Americans

– Germans had warned the passenger was a target

• Bryan resigns when Wilson refuses to criticize both British blockade and U-boats

• Sussex pledge (1916)• 1916 preparedness measures

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

German Escalation

• Russia’s imminent collapse• Germany concentrates on Britain and

France– Renew U-boat war

• "Zimmerman telegram“• American declaration of war: “make the

world safe for democracy”

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

American Intervention

• Russian revolution (1917)– Vladimir Lenin and Bolshevik Party

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)– Publication of secret Allied treaties

• German 1918 offensive• American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

– John J. Pershing

• Allied 1918 offensive• Armistice 11-11-1918

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved