HISTORY 395 HISTORY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR Dr. Nancy Fitch Summer 2008
Jan 01, 2016
HISTORY 395HISTORY OF THE FIRST
WORLD WARDr. Nancy Fitch
Summer 2008
Maps Used in the PowerPoints
• Unless otherwise noted all of the maps are from:
• Martin Gilbert, Atlas of World War I: The Complete History (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1994)
Europe on the Eve of World War I
• Cultural Climate in Europe:– Intense Nationalism, especially in the
Austria-Hungarian Empire– Social Darwinism – the idea that competition
to promote the superior race good– Yellow Journalism – wars sell newspapers– Arms Race – who has the biggest guns, the
most battleships– Imperial Competition – planting flags in
Africa, Asia, and the Asian Pacific
The Great Game in Central Asia
• India British• Egypt – British for all
intents and purposes• Russia and Britain
divided Persia into sphere’s of influence in 1907
• Britain and Russia controlled oil in area
• Ottoman Empire center of ongoing competition
EUROPEAN FEARS AND AIMS BEFORE 1914
• Russia – protect Christians in Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire
• Russia – Warm water port• Germany – Desire for territory
in East• France – Alsace and Lorraine• Eastern and Central European
ethnic groups – their own relatively homogenous states
• Italy – territory within the Austria-Hungarian Empire
• All landlocked states – ports, access to the sea for military and economic reasons
War Breaks Out in July- August 1914
• Secret Alliance Systems– Austria declares war on
Serbia– Serbia calls on Russia– Austria calls on German– Russia calls on France– Germany violates Belgian
neutrality, provoking England
MAJOR COMBATTANTS IN 1914
• The Central Powers– Austria-Hungary– Germany– Ottoman Empire (later
in 1914)• The “Entente”
Powers– Russia– France– Great Britain– Italy (1915)– The United States
(1917)
The Generals’ Plans
• The Schlieffen Plan
• Plan 17
The Limits of von Schlieffen’s Plan
• German Generals from Alfred von Schlieffen to Helmut von Moltke had doubts Schlieffen Plan would work– Suggested Germans abandon Alsace and significant
part of East Prussia– Supplies threatened if had to lay siege at any of the
forts in Belgium and France – attack must be rapid– Germany greatly outnumbered in terms of
uniformed, trained soldiers• France – Peacetime draft• Great Britain – Voluntary Army• Germany, Austria-Hungary – small peacetime armies
German Hopes: Time and Big Guns
• Big Bertha – – Named for Bertha
Krupp von Bohlen– 420 mm howitzer– Transported in
pieces and assembled in place
– Devastating in Belgium, less successful in other battles – vulnerable when entente powers knew where they were
French Big Guns
• Soixante quinze (75 mm gun
• First hydraulic dual recoil mechanism
• Could fire 20-30 rounds per minute
• Terrific except maximum angle of fire 16 degrees
More French Guns
• French 155 mm long gun– No recoil mechanism– Accurate indirect fire
impossible– Heavy and range was
much shorter than German guns
German Big Guns
• German 105 mm howitzer– Hydraulic mechanism
beneath barrel– Light and portable– Angle of fire 45
degrees– Entente powers had
no comparable weapon
Other German Big Guns
• Top: German 150 mm howitzer– Had hydraulic recoil– Allowed Germany to
dominate battlefield in early years of war
• Bottom: German 220 mm howitzer– Big but portable– ¼ of Germany’s heavy
weapons– Maybe the best of the big
guns
Von Schlieffen’s Plan in action
War on the Eastern Front
• Russia Mobilizes faster than expected
• German Railroads as integral to Schlieffen’s strategy
• Early use weakens Right Wing
• Germany wins early battles at Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes
• Battle of Lödz
Battle of the Marne
• Germans closing to within 23 miles of Paris
• Paris aerial reconnaisance detects weak right wing – departing from Schlieffen Plan gives Entente their opportunity
• Germans retreat and dig in for long stalemate