Paradox: Western Civilization has both great achievement and violence.

Gave us Shakespeare, Da Vinci, and Newton.

West is at the top:

Controls 2/3 of world’s surface

Why do they have a war that kills 10 million and begins the end of the reign of domination?

World War I ends the ‘Old World” in Europe

Countries still had ruling dynasties

Queen Victoria of England

Victoria’s grandchildren:

Maud-Queen of NorwaySophie-Queen of GreeceMarie-Queen of RomaniaAlexandra-Czarina of RussiaWilhelm-Kaiser of GermanyGeorge-King of England

Dynasties that end in WWI

Hohenzollern 1614 Prussia/GermanyRomanov 1613 RussiaHapsburg 1452 AustriaOttoman Empire 1453 officially

637 unofficially

Reasons for War

External Pressures

1.Coloniespressure to gain and control

land

AfricaChina

2. Rivalries:

*Austria vs. Russia-control of Balkans

*France vs. Germany-Alsace-Lorraine

*England vs. Germany-Navy

3. Armaments

Countries spending 70-150 million per year on weapons

Dreadnought cost £4 or $22 m.Largest company in Europe:Krupp Steel

Internal Pressures

Class Struggle

Industrial Revolution causes great disparity of wealth

Average Yearly Wages in England

Agriculture worker $4320 (today’s $)

General Labor $3751Miner $7634Skilled ship builder $9381

German Domestic $37.50-50.00

Karl Marx

Class Warfare

Jean Jaures

Goal of Socialism is to

improve conditions for working class

Work within the system

Vladimir Lenin

Supports Marx’s ideas

Wants revolution in Russia

Nationalism: love of country or desire for own country

Old World Empires rule other ethnic groups

Austria-Hungary has many groups within borders

Serbs in southern A-H want to be part of the country of Serbia

Serbian separatist group the Black Hand

Austrian heir Franz Ferdinand

goes to Sarajevo

Assassinated by Black Hand

Garvilio Princip

Princip

WeaponsWeapons

Rifles

Lee-Enfield .30310 rounds

German Mauser 985 rounds

French Lebel Model 1886

8 rounds

Rifles have an effective range of 800-1000 yards

Accurate to 400 yards

Machine guns

Machine guns fired 400-600 rounds per minutes

= 70-100 riflemen

Artillery

Range: 300 yards to 9 miles

Shells from 15 pounds to 1 ton

French 75mm Field gun

Big Bertha1 ton shell 9 miles

Airplane

Fokker Dr-1 TriplaneThe Red Baron

Poison gas

Submarines

500 yards

1000 rifles 10 shots per minute – 5 minutes

50,000 bullets

20 machine guns 500 rounds per minutes

50,000 bullets

Plus artillery