Chapter 17 The First World War 1914-1919
Chapter 17 The First World War
1914-1919
“War is rich old men protecting their property by sending middle class and lower class men to die. It always has been.”
-George Carlin, American comedian and social commentator
Bismarckian System of AlliancesFrance angry over loss of Alsace-Loraine
Wilhelm II fired Bismarck in
1890 and refused to renew the Russian-
German Treaty
Bismarck’s First step was the
formation of the Three
Emperor’s League
Russian-French Alliance changed the
situaion in 1894
1855 Bessemer Process = mass production of steel
Germany Naval Expansion1898 and 1900 Naval Laws
British felt threatenedSpent large portions of the “People’s
Budget” on militarization
1905 Moroccan
Crisis brought UK and France
together against
Germany
British alliances
with Japan, France,
and RussiaImproved
relations with USA
1910 Funeral for King Edward VIIkings of England, Germany, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium,
Sweden, and Russia all related to Edward VII
CousinsGeorge V and Wilhelm II George V and Nicholas II
•Militarism–Arms Race (modernized weapons)
•Economic• Industry and Colonial Competition
•Alliances–Complex
•Nationalism–Cultural superiority and independence
Long Term Causes of WWI
Imperial Rivalry
Tension was high
Trouble in the BalkansPrelude to WWI
1908-1909 Bosnian crisis
(Annexation crisis or First Balkan Crisis)
A-H annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina from Otto
Bulgaria seceded from the Ottomans
Relations between A-H and Serbia/Russian damaged
Nationalism in the Balkans
1912-1913
Balkan Wars
4 Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire (“sick man”)
Austria-Hungary feared the spread of nationalist revolt
(especially the new Serbia)
Shrinking Ottoman Empire
Serbia (Russia ally) wanted to unite all ethnic Serbs
Heir to Austria-Hungary throne
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand(1863-1914)
June 28, 1914 Ferdinand is visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia
Assassinated by Serbian Nationalists who wanted Bosnia from A-H
From the Memoir of Count Franz von HarrachAs the car quickly reversed, a thin stream of blood spurted from His Highness's mouth onto my right cheek. As I was pulling out my handkerchief to wipe the blood away from his mouth, the Duchess cried out to him, "For God's sake! What has happened to you?"
At that, I seized the Archduke by the collar of his uniform, to stop his head dropping forward and asked him if he was in great pain. He answered me quite distinctly, "It is nothing!"His face began to twist somewhat but he went on repeating, six or seven times, ever more faintly as he gradually lost consciousness, "It's nothing!"
Then came a brief pause followed by a convulsive rattle in his throat, caused by a loss of blood. This ceased on arrival at the governor's residence.
The two unconscious bodies were carried into the building where their death was soon established.
Gavrilo Princip
(1894-1918)The
Black Hand
Outbreak of War!
• A-H = War on Serbia (Killed FF)• Russia Supported Serbs• Germans Supported A-H• Germany = War on Russia
and France• Germany Invaded France
through Belgium (Neutral)• British = War on Germany
Short-Term Causes of WWI• Assassination
of Ferdinand• Diplomacy failed
to keep the peace• Rapid industrial
mobilization– Once one nation
mobilized others must respond or lose the war before it began
The Allied PowersBritain, Russia, France, Italy, USA, etc.
The Central Powers Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottomans
Allied and Central
“Short War” myth and Propaganda
Austrian Author Stefan Zweig
Who deserves the blame?
Battle FrontsEuropeMiddle EastBalkansSouth AfricaPacific IslandsThe Seas
Colonial nations generally aided their colonizers
Eastern & Western Fronts“Stalemate and Slaughter”
Western Front
Schlieffen Plan
Developed 1905Eliminate France
while Russia mobilized
1st Battle of the MarneSept 5-12, 1914
France stopped the Germany short of Paris
Trench Warfare
1916-1917 Little to no movement
Lice, Rats, Cold, Wet, Dysentery, Gangrene,
etc.
Trench Foot
Artillery bombardments followed by troop charges
Millions Killed
“Over The Top”
“No-Man’s-Land”
“Once you are ordered to go ‘over the top’ your lifespan is measured in minutes, not years”
Battle of Verdun – French VictoryFeb-July 1916 300,000 killed
Battle of the SommeBritish/French Victory
July-Nov. 1916 1,000,000+ Casualties(60,000 British in 1 day)
Inventory of a British Private, Battle of the Somme 1916 by Thom Atkinson
Town of Passchendaele, Belgium before
and after the 1917 battle
War of Attrition
New Technology
Machine Gun
“Creeping Barrage”
Radio
Hand Grenade mass production
Poison Gas
Tanks
Flame Thrower
Zeppelins and Balloons
Airplanes
Most people killed by artillery barrages
Eastern Front
1914 Russia pushed into
Germany, but was repelled
Russian casualties reached
2,500,000
German Victories at the Battles of Tannenberg and Masurian LakesGeneral Ludendorff General Hindenburg
The Widening
WarOttomans,
Bulgaria, and Italy, join
1915 Battle of GallipoliOttomans defeated invading British
British encouraged Arab
revolts against Ottoman TurksT.E. Lawrence
(1888-1935)“Lawrence of
Arabia”
Armenian Genocide 1915-1923History of fighting between Muslim Turks and
Christian Armenians since 1453 fall of ConstantinopleSome Armenians supported Russia in WWI
1,500,000 killed2/3 of Armenian population
The War at SeaAllied Blockade
British HMS Dreadnaught
German U-Boats
German Unrestricted
WarfareSink any boats approaching
Europe
May 7, 1915 British Lusitania Sunk
Shipping Convoys
The Home Front“Total War”
Government control of industry, prices, and wages
Rationing, censorship, and restricted freedoms
War of attrition needs industrial output
German
Auxiliary Service Law required males (17-60) to work jobs critical to the war effort
Scrap collection, recycling, and
thrift fueled home front war machines
"Gold gab ich für Eisen"
Britain, Germany, and Austria gave women the vote after the war
Women made progress
Women in non-combat
roles
Growing Political Tensions
Strains of Total War, limited rights, and Allied blockade take their toll
All social classes killed
President Woodrow
Wilson kept US neutral
however…
Why the USA
Joined the War
$2,000,000,000+loaned to Allies
US ships sunk by German Unrestricted Warfare
Arthur Zimmermann
German foreign Secretary
1-16-1917Zimmermann
Note To Mexico
Wilson wants to be a part
of the Peace Talks
April 2, 1917 Wilson asked Congress for permission to go
to war
1917 Russian Revolution
Growing sense of
anger and desire for
reform
intelligentsia
A Soviet is a Russian council or assembly of government officials
Different cities and govt departments had soviets
Russian industry behind and suffering huge losses
Tsar Nicholas II resisted
sharing power with the Duma
and took charge of the
military
1917 soldiers in St. Petersburg mutinied and 10,000 women rioted
demanding bread and peace
Nicholas abdicated
Provisional Governmentincreased freedoms and rights, but…
Alexander Kerensky(1881-1970)
Provisional Government
continued the War
Collapse of order and military
(ex. Order No. 1)
Russian Military Intelligence Report
The Bolshevik Revolution
Vladimir Lenin(1870-1924)
Marxist leader of the Bolsheviks
Anti-WWI
April, 1917Germany
helped Lenin return to Russia to
cause chaos
Lenin Believed...
Violence would destroy capitalism
Humans can cause revolutions in any country
Oct. 1917 Bolsheviks held a small majority in the Soviet
1917 October Revolution Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government
Leon Trotsky
(1879-1940)2nd to Lenin
Led armed uprising
Joseph Stalin
(1878-1953)
Reasons for Bolshevik Success
Anti-War
Better leaders in a time of chaos (Lenin and Trotsky vs. Provisional or Imperial Govts.)
Promise of improved lives
Dictatorship and Civil War
January 1918Bolsheviks used force to
eliminate the elected Assembly
Bolsheviks, 175
Land and factories seized by
peasants and workers
Bourgeoisie attacked
March 3, 1918Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany ended Russia’s involvement in WWI
Germany took 34% of
Russia’s population,
32% of farmland, 54% industry, and
89% coal mines
Russian Civil War 1918-1921Red Army (Communists)
vs.White Army (Supported by Allies)
Red Army commanded by Trotsky
Bolshevik Red Terror eliminated opposition
ChekaSecret Police
1918 royal family executed
Reds WonMore organized and united
Controlled strategic center
The end of the war
French Marshal Ferdinand
Foch(1851-1929)
1918 Appointed Commander-in-
Chief of the Allied Armies
Allied Naval Blockade Hurt Germany and A-H
Rationing, shortages, and socialist protests in Germany
Breakdown of AustriaFood shortage from blockade
Internal revoltDeath of Emperor Francis Joseph
June 1917 2,000,000+Americans arrived in France
Gen. Gouraud's orders to French and American soldiers, 16 July 1918
“The bombardment will be terrible. You will endure it without weakness...
The strong and brave hearts of free men beat in your breasts. None will look behind, none will give way. Every man will have but one thought - "Kill them, kill them in abundance, until they have had enough."
Germany’s final W. Front offensiveHindenburg, William II, and Ludendorff
March 1918 Attack Began
July 18, 2nd Battle of the Marne stopped Germany
1918 Battle of Amiensend of trench warfare on w. front
Gen. Ludendorff called the 1st day of battle "the black day of the German Army"
1918 SurrendersSept. BulgariaOct. Ottoman EmpireNov. Austria-Hungary
German Empire
Collapsed
Wilhelm II forced to abdicate
November 11, 1918
Armistice
German Weimar Republic 1918-1933
1919 - Failed Spartacist Revolt German Communists
Impact of the War
10,000,000 Soldiers Dead1-2 million from each Great Power 35-37% of Germans born between 1892-18952-3% of the population of Britain, France, and Germany15% of the Serbian population115,000 U.S. (only involved for a few months)
20,000,000 Wounded6,600,000 Civilians DeadCities Destroyed“Shell Shock”$332 billion in costs
Shell Shock
In Flanders FieldsIn Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
Canadian Lt. Col. John McCraeDied of pneumonia in 1918
1917 British King George V changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha to Windsor
1919 Paris Peace Conference
The Treaty to End the War
Russia and Germany
excluded from negotiations
The Big FourDavid Lloyd George
G.B.
Vittorio OrlandoItaly
Weakest of the 4
Georges Clemenceau
France
Woodrow WilsonUSA
British P.M. David Lloyd George
Punish the Germans, but don’t overdo it
French P.M. Georges
Clemenceau“The Tiger”
Revenge against Germany and
security for France
“For the catastrophe of 1914 the Germans
are responsible. Only a professional liar would deny this…
Our defeat would have resulted in a relapse of human civilization
into violence and bloodshed…”
“Mr. Wilson bores me with his Fourteen Points, why
God almighty had only Ten”
Italy denied land
expansion
Vittorio Orlando
President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen
Points
Many colonies pushed for independence but were ignored
June 28, 1919
Treaty of Versailles
Signed
“Guilt Clause”Blamed GermanyOwe $32,000,000,000Lost landBanned from L of NMilitary RestrictionsHumiliation
Rhineland Buffer Zone
Austro-Hungarian empire disintegrated Who deserves blame?
Austria (some blame)
HungaryCzechoslovakiaYugoslaviaPolandRomaniaAlsace-Lorraine back to France
The Middle East
1916 Britain and France secretly plotted to divide up Ottoman lands
Balfour DeclarationBritish support of Zionism in Palestine
King Faisal I of Iraq
Angry Arabs declared
independence
Crushed by Britain and
France
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk(1881-1938)
1st President of Turkey
Turks resisted occupation from allies