Post on 04-Apr-2020
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