World War I

MAIN CAUSES OF WWI

• Nine million men and women died in fighting during WWI; 21 million more were wounded or disabled and 20 million civilians died of disease and starvation as a direct result of the war. What cause, event, or circumstance can you think of that would justify a war of this magnitude?

Militarism

• Militarism--glorification of the military--loving the military.

• Countries began to build up the arsenals. Germany and Great Britain famously squared off in an arms race.

• Russia also developed its military forces.

• This gave much influence to military leaders prior to WWI

Alliances

• agreements between countries to help each other in war

• Alliances in the early 1900s• Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungarian Empire and Italy.

• Triple Entente: France, Russia, and Great Britain

• Alliances in WWI

Alliances in WWI

• Central Powers• 1. Germany • 2. Austro-Hungarian Empire

• 3. Bulgaria• 4. Ottoman Empire

• Allies• 1. France• 2. Russia• 3. Great Britain • 4. Italy (May, 1915)• 5. Others (Serbia, Japan, Belgium)

• 6. USA

• Respond: What would happen if one minor country in the alliance structure were brought into a conflict with another country? Be specific

• How can an alliance structure be seen as a “cause” of war?

Imperialism• When one country takes over another. There was much tension between European countries over colonies, prior to WWI

• Agadir Crisis (fight over Morocco) is an example

• Countries coveted their enemies’ colonies.

• Russia wanted to chip away at Ottoman lands, for example.

• Japan wanted the German sphere of influence in China.

Nationalism

• Love for and pride in one’s country (“our country is best”).

• Most clearly seen in the Serbian desire for expansion. Many ethnic Serbs lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was controlled by Austria-Hungary.

Conclusion of Causes: MAIN

• Question: Is there one cause that could be considered more significant than others? Can one of these actually cause the other three? Respond:

• The spark that ignited war!• Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina—June 28, 1914

• Assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia, from Austria-Hungary

I. Which side had the better strategic position? Why?

I. Which side had the better strategic position? Why?

“It’s The End of the World As We Know It”

World War One: The Events

Overview• 65 million combatants from 30 countries representing every continent.– 29 million become casualties.

• Naval battles around the world and land battles in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

• Revolutionary technology, but evolutionary tactics(?)

Background to War—the Balkans• 1. Serbia, Romania and Montenegro gain

Independence in 1878.• Not all Serbs were satisfied. Wanted to include all Serbs within border and wanted access to water (Albania?)

• 2. A-H annexed Bosnia in 1908• 3. First Balkan War 1912—Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro vs. Ottomans.

• 4. Second Balkan War 1913—Everyone vs. Bulgaria.

• 5. Tense part of Europe, it was.

Central Powers-Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the

Ottoman Empire

Allies- Great Britain, France,yrt5 Russia,

later..Japan, Belgium, Italy, U.S.

War Breaks Out• 1. June 28, 1914: Gravilo Princip of the Black Hand assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

• 2. July 23, 1914 Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an Ultimatum (list of demands or war) and Serbia said “No!” July 28, A-H declared War on Serbia

• 3. July 30, Russia moved troops to German and Austrian Borders.

• 4. August 1, German declared war on Russia, August 3 France.

• 5. August 3 German invaded France by way of Belgium

• 6. August 5, Great Britain declared war on Germany

The Four Fronts of the War

• Western, Eastern, Balkan, Italian

The Great War (1914-1918)

•The Schlieffen Plan

•Designed to prevent a two-front war

Western Front (in France)

• 1. Western Front: According to the Schlieffen Plan Germany should fight one front at a time. Germany invaded France and got 50 miles from Paris, but they were stopped.

• 2. The war of the Western front became a war of stalemate: fighting with little progress.

• 3 1916 Battle of Verdun, began by Germany, left almost 700,000 killed or wounded.

• 4. The French started the Battle of the Somme which left almost 1 million killed or wounded.

• 5. Other battles were the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of Passchendaele, and the Battle of Ypres.

• 5. By 1918 the Germans were weakened by low supplies and the entrance of the United States.

The Battle of VerdunTrenches were easily attacked, but a constant barrage of fire power did

little more than flatten barbed wire. Soldiers would then run towards their enemy’s trenches in an attempt to eliminate them. Unprotected men crossing fields were easy targets for

machine guns. Millions were killed between 1916 and 1917.

At Verdun, 700,000 men were killed over a 10 month period across a few miles of land.

The Battle at the Somme

• The French and British armies met at the Somme river where the plan was to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun.

• Of the 100,000 British troops, 20,000 were killed and over 40,000 were wounded by July 1,1916.

• This only changed the warfront by ten miles.

Eastern Front

• 1. Mainly Russia fighting Germany and Austria-Hungary.

• 2. At first Russia did well, but then at the Battle of Tannenberg in 1915 Russia suffered a terrible loss.

• 3. Most Russian soldiers had bad weapons due to the Tsar’s bad leadership.

• 4. In 1917, after the Russian Revolution, Lenin took Russia out of the war in the Treaty o f Brest-Litovsk. Russia lost 1/4 of its land as part of the deal.

The Balkan Front• 1. The Ottoman Empire joined

the Central Powers in November 1914.

• 2. The Allies decided it would be good to defeat the Ottomans by taking the Dardanelles (a narrow waterway that connects the Black Sea and the Mediterranean).

• 3. In April 1915 the British (and Australians and New Zealanders) attacked the Ottomans at Gallipoli. However, they failed and many died.

• 4. The only Allied success against the Ottomans was in the Middle East (Palestine, etc) where TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) got help from Arabs who hated Ottoman rule.

T.E. Lawrence (A.K.A. Lawrence of Arabia)

The Italian Front

• 1. May 1915 Italy joined the Allies, after being promised Austrian lands if they were to win.

• 2. In 1917 the Germans and Austrians defeated the Italians at the Battle of Caporetto.

New Weapons of War

Machine Gun(Russian Machine Gun on the

Eastern Front)

• 1. Machine gun--could shout 8 rounds per second and send bullets 2,900 yards.

• 2. Artillery: cannons could shoot deadlier bombs. At Verdun 24 million shells were used (1,000 per square meter)

Poison Gas

• 3. Poison gas: The Germans used it first, but by the end of the war even the Allies were using it.

4. Flame throwers.

Tanks

• 5. Tanks: The British used the tank to break through barbed wire.

Airplanes• 6. Airplane: 850 and the beginning; 10,000 at the end. Still, not used much compared to everything else.

• Fokker D VII vs. Sopwith F1 Camel

U-boats

• 7. Submarine: used to sink ships.

Trench Warfare• 1. 475 miles of trenches stretched from the North Sea to Switzerland, on the Western Front in France.

• 2. “No man’s land” separated the enemy trenches.

• 3. Soldiers sat for weeks, if not months in the muddy, nasty trenches. They had to fight off rats and they often suffered from “trench foot”: when feet rot because they are too wet for too long.

• 4. Life in the trenches was boring, frightening, and deadly all at once.

German Trenches

Trench foot; and if this looks bad…

Ouch!

Reflections of a Soldier

• At the age of 92, Arthur Savage was asked about his memories of life on the Western Front.

• “My memories are of sheer terror and the horror of seeing men sobbing because they had trench foot that had turned gangrenous. They knew they were going to lose a leg. Memories of lice in your clothing driving you crazy. Filth and lack of privacy. Of huge rats that showed no fear of you as they stole your food rations. And cold deep wet mud everywhere. And of course, corpses. I'd never seen a dead body before I went to war. But in the trenches the dead are lying all around you. You could be talking to the fellow next to you when suddenly he'd be hit by a sniper and fall dead beside you. And there he's stay for days.”

War of Attrition

•A war based on wearing the other side down by constant attacks and heavy losses.

The Great War (1914-1918)

• RMS RMS Lusitania Lusitania torpedoed— torpedoed— 1,198 people 1,198 people killed, killed, including 128 including 128 Americans (7 Americans (7 May 1915)May 1915)

The US enters the War• 1. Americans were at first against entering the war.

• 2. But the British were good at sending propaganda (one-sided information) to the US. Americans began to hate Germany and side with the Allies (this was easy since America has a lot in common with England: language, history, etc.)

• 3. Also the Germans began to sink ships with Americans (such as the Lusitania). Americans didn’t like this.

• 4. Finally, Germany tried to get Mexico to help. It sent the request in the infamous Zimmerman Telegram that was intercepted. Americans were outraged. By 1917 the US had declared war against Germany.

The End of the War• 1 In 1917 the US entered the war on the side of the Allies. US forces fought on the Western Front.

• Germany defeated at the Second Battle of the Marne (July 1918) Ludendorff gave up, socialists gained power.

• 2 In Sept 1918 Bulgaria surrendered to the Allies.• 3. In October 1918 the Ottomans surrendered. • 4.The Austro-Hungarian empire surrendered Nov. 1918.

• 5.. Nov. 11, 1918 Germany agreed to an armistice (end to fighting) with the Allies, after it kicked out the Kaiser.

• 6. 8 million soldiers died. But 20 million more people would die due to a massive flu epidemic in the next few years.

The Biggest Killer

• 125,000 Americans died in World War I.• However, the biggest killer of 1918 was not the war, it was the Flu.

• It was most deadly for those 20 to 40.• About 600,000 Americans died from this influenza virus – about 40 million people worldwide

• This began as an avian virus. • The current bird flu virus can lead to perhaps the same amount of deaths as the virus of 1918…or more.

On the Home Front

Total War•Involving a complete mobilization of resources and people.

•How was this carried out?

Nationalization• The process of changing business operations from private to public/government ownership.

• Planned economy--Germany most successful with it’s War Materials Board.

• Great Britain’s Ministry of Munitions under David Lloyd George oversaw munitions plants.

• France—lost much of it’s coal and steel to German occupation. Not as organized as to other countries.

• Germany was most successful at shifting toward total war.

• France was least successful• Russia was unprepared and failed to keep up with demands. Most soldiers, but they were ill-equipped. Like A-H, lacked unity.

Rations

• Germans suffered much in food losses. Imported 20% of its food from GB before the war. 750,000 starved.

Public Opinion

• Internal opposition came from liberals and socialists.

• Unions went on strike• Russia had a revolution• Governments cracked down.• They also turned to…

Propaganda: One sided information designed to persuade people to believe in certain

cause.

Examples of Expanding Government Control and

Censorship• Conscription—All countries relied on this, even GB

• Defense of the Realm Act in GB---

• Auxiliary Service Law in Germany—All men at home had to work on war related jobs.

Impact on Women

• New jobs, but for how long?• By 1919, 650,000 unemployed women.

• Did obtain suffrage after the war.

Economic Effects

• Benefit to large munitions producers

• Inflation hurt everyone in Europe. Only in GB did workers wages keep up with cost of living.

• Skilled workers did well. Unskilled workers did not.

Effect on Unions

• Right to collectively bargain in exchange for what?

Europe Before WWI

Europe after WWI

German Upheaval• November Revolution of 1918—The Social Democrats (SPD) vs. the more radical German Communist Party—two governments.

• Revolution of 1919--Social Democrats allied with right wing Free Korps to crush a communist uprising. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg were murdered.

• Left a strong fear of communism among the middle class.

Roughly 10 million military deaths