The Great War, 1914-1918

Otto Dix, “Flanders” (painted: 1934-36)

Why is the Great War seminal?• Eventually involved most of the world• 65 million troops fought• Germany and France mobilized 80 percent of males (aged

15-49)• 18.4 million perished (soldiers and civilians)• 23 million wounded• Destroyed four empires (Hohenzollern/German, Habsburg,

Ottoman, Russian/Romanov)• Sparked communist revolution in Russia (and elsewhere)• Helped Hitler rise to power• Began de-colonization• Improved many women’s situation

Causes of the Great War

1. Alliance system: Triple Alliance:

GermanyAustria-Hungary Italy

Triple Entente: BritainFranceRussia

Alliance system (cont.)

• KEY: 1871: German unification upset balance

• 1879-1918: Austro-German Alliance

• 1881-1887: Alliance of Three Emperors

• Germany

• Austria-Hungary

• Russia

• Triple Alliance, 1882-1915

• Germany

• Austria-Hungary

• Italy

• 1887-1890: Russian-German Reinsurance Treaty

William (Wilhelm) II(b. 1859; r. 1888-1918)

• Grandson of William I• Wanted to be a

“Warrior King”• Lame• 1890: Forced

resignation of (irreplaceable) Bismarck

• Lost Russia 1890

France courts Russia

• 1891: Republican France and Autocratic Russia sign alliance (to 1917)

• “Marseillaise”, the hymn of the revolution

British Empire

• “Splendid Isolation”• 1900: Germany starts

building large navy• Boer War, 1899-1902• 1904: Anglo-French

Entente (Entente Cordiale): Britain got Egypt France got Morocco

• 1907: Anglo-Russian Agreement

2. Imperialism

• 1905-6: First Moroccan Crisis

• 1911: Second Moroccan Crisis

• German Panther at Agadir on July 1, 1911

• British called Germany’s bluff

• Resolved peacefully

3. Nationalism

• Serbian• Austrian• Russian• France vs. Germany

• 1871 and Alsace-Lorraine

• Germany vs. Britain• Naval Race

4. Short memory

• No major wars since 1815

• War as adventure• Schoolbooks• Intellectuals: Europe

was decadent, needed a war for renewal.

5. Military Plans

• Germany’s Schlieffen Plan

• Russia to mobilize against Germany and Austria-Hungary

• Planning made it more inevitable

Immediate catalysts

1908: Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina

1912: First Balkan War, the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria) took Macedonia from Ottoman Empire

1913: Second Balkan war, Bulgaria attacked Serbia, leading A-H to intervene

Immediate catalysts (cont.)28 June 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated

Black HandGavrilo Princip

Gavrilo Princip, 1894-1918

Immediate catalysts (cont.)

A-H decides to teach Serbia a lesson

Franz Joseph asks Germany for support

William II sends “Blank Check” (Austria could “rely on Germany’s full support.”)

23 July 1914: A-H presents ultimatum to Serbia

Immediate catalysts (cont.)

• 28 July 1914: A-H declares war on Serbia– Tsar Nicholas II orders partial

mobilization against A-H• 29 July 1914: Russia orders full

mobilization against A-H and Germany• 2 August 1914: German General von Moltke

demands that Belgium permit German armies to march through it

• 4 August 1914: Britain and France declared war on Germany

• 11 November 1914: Ottoman Empire declared war on Britain, France, and Russia.