Task 8.5 World War I

Cause and Effect

Imperialism

Arms RaceAlliances

Nationalism

Defence Spending, 1870-1914

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

£m 94 130 154 268 289 398

1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1914

Causes World War I

Imperialism

Arms RaceAlliances

Nationalism

First, nationalism led to …… Transition, imperialism led to…, Transition, the arms race led to…. Transition, the alliances led to

led to

resulted

caused

produced

brought about

set off

First,

Second,

Third,

In addition,

Finally,

Germany/Austria-Hungry Alliance

Austria declares war onSerbia

Russia/Serbia Alliance

Gavrilo Princep of Serbia assassinatesArchduke Ferdinandof Austria

Russia Declares war on Austria

Germany Declares war on Russia

France declares war on Germany

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

• Triple Alliance = Germany, Austria, Italy• +Turkey + Bulgaria - Italy = Central Powers

• Entente Cordiale = Britain, France• + Russia + Italy + (later) US = Allied Powers

• Revolutionary technology, but evolutionary tactics

ROAD TO WAR• Germany, Italy, Russia, Austro-

Hungary all fairly recently “unified” with significant internal unrest

• Germany seeks new markets/prestige of colonies

• Massive arms race

• Multiple and extensive alliances

Wilson - pro-Neutral but also pro-Britain Submarines – British navy blockades German

ports, u-boats only way to fight back-Lusitania – part cruise ship, part munitions transport

Economic ties – America was in a recession – JP Morgan and bankers loan vast money

-Military orders from France and Britain huge Psychological and ethnic ties – align with British

(democratic) – Germany embodies autocrat Germany’s unscrupulous war efforts – makes

Germans look like opportunists-Zimmermann Note-Attack on neutral Belgium

Russian Issue- Autocracy pre-1917 then Communist in 1917. US can not join the other democracies of the world

U.S. Motives

Schlieffen Plan• Germans want to finish off French before Russia is ready to

fight

• Germans believe French will immediately try to retake Alsace-Lorraine

• Original plan called for economy of force on the left while heavily weighting the right flank• Von Moltke revised and distributed forces more evenly across the

front

• Plan failed when Germans were held up by Belgians, then stopped by French and British at the Battle of the Marne• Russians also mobilized more quickly than expected

1914• June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the

throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is assassinated in Sarajevo

• July 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia

• August 1 Germany declares war on Russia

• August 3 Germany declares war on France

• August 4 Great Britain declares war on Germany

1914 • August 4 Germany

invades neutral Belgium

• August 26-30 German army achieves its greatest victory of the war on the Eastern front at the Battle of Tannenberg

• September 5-10 First Battle of the Marne halts German invasion in France

• September 15 First trenches of the Western front are dug

1915• January 19, 1915 First German Zeppelin air raid

on England

• February 4 Germany declares a submarine blockade of Great Britain. Any boat approaching England is considered a legitimate target

• April 22-May 5 Second Battle of Ypres marks first use of chemical weapons

• April 25 Allies begin assault on Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey

1915• May 7 Sinking of the

passenger ship Lusitania• Killed 1200, 123

Americans

• May 23 Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary

• August 30 Germany responds to U.S. anger by ceasing to sink ships without warning

• December 28 Allies begin withdrawal of troops from Gallipoli

1916• February 21 - December 18,

1916 The longest battle of the war, the Battle of Verdun, is fought to a draw with an estimated one million casualties

• July 1-November 18 The Battle of the Somme results in an estimated one million casualties and no breakthrough for the Allies

• December 31 Russian Rasputin, is murdered by relatives of the Tsar

Homefront

• Fighting the war– Draft-work or fight– Government agencies created– Women roles changed– Propaganda

• Propaganda-enforced loyalty– Committee of Public Information, George

Creel– Restrictions on immigration (xenophobia)– Espionage Act 1917

◊Censorship of radical writings– Sedition Act1918

◊Anti-socialist and anti union

Homefront

•Financing the war–Liberty Bonds–War Industries Board-Bernard Baruck

◊Raw materials, production quotas, fixed prices◊Conserve grain passage of 18th amendment

–War Trade Board◊Investigated war profiteers

–National Board Labor Board◊Forced labor disputes threatening war production

–Labor Policies Board-Felix Frankfurter◊Set wages and working conditions◊Government instituted collective bargaining

Homefront

•Roles Changed– Women

◊Took jobs reserved for men (400,00)◊Leads to 19th Amendment

–Blacks and Hispanics◊Took jobs from the stemmed tide of immigration ◊500,00 Blacks moved north-”The Great Migration”

–Children◊Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts◊Physical Education becomes part of HS curriculum

1917

• February 1, 1917 Germany again declares unrestricted submarine warfare

• April 6 The United States declares war on Germany

• July 6 T.E. Lawrence and the Arabs capture Aquaba

• July 16-November 10 Third Battles of Ypres, known as Passchendaele, results in minor gains, but still no breakthrough

1917• November 7 Bolshevik

socialists, led by Lenin, overthrow Kerinsky government

• December 3 The new Russian government, represented by Leon Trotsky, signs an armistice with Germany

• December 9 British capture Jerusalem

Woman in World War I

• 30,000 woman join military– Nurses, physical/occupational

therapists, clerks– Took place of men in the work

force

• Red Cross• Leads to support for 19th

amendment– Spearheaded by Wilson– Women suffragettes became

avid patriots and organizers of women in support of the war effort

1918• January 8, 1918 President

Woodrow Wilson declares his 14 points as the path to world peace

• March 21 Germans launch the first of five major offensives to win the war before American troops appear in the trenches

• April 25 British and Australian troops stop the German advance near Amiens

1918

• May 23 German shells land on Paris

• August 8 Allied counteroffensives on the Somme push the German army back

• September 29 Allied troops break through the German fortifications at the Hindenberg line

• November 11 At eleven o'clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the war ends as Germany and Allies sign an Armistice

STALEMATE• Allies halt Central

Powers; both sides dig in• No flanks for either side

to attack• Barbed wire

entanglements up to 150’ deep

• Neither side gains more than 10 miles in over 2 years

• Mass is supreme principle• Massed assaults• Massed fires

Trench Warfare• Machine gun and

artillery make it difficult to attack a trench

• Huge artillery preps make “No Man’s Land” virtually impassable

Trench Warfare Evolves

• Three group (squad) infiltration:• Squad one finds and fixes enemy• Squad two finds and exploits weak spots• Squad three supports two and exploits

breaches• Strong points reduced later from rear/flanks

• Combined arms: • grenades, machine guns, flame throwers in

infantry squads• fires smoke, gas, to keep defenders’ heads

down

RUTHLESS TACTICS• Chemical warfare

made trench warfare more horrible– Mustard agents

deployed– Nerve agents

• Machine Gun– Maxim– 600 b/m

Tanks• Brits introduce in

Sept 1916

• Means to cross No Man’s Land with protection from machine guns

• Initially employed piecemeal and in too small numbers to be decisive

• Unreliable and slow

Tanks• Battle of Somme, Sept 1916• 36 of 60 tanks make it

into battle• Scattered across 3 mile

front

• Cambria, Nov 1917• Used in mass (300 tanks)• Opened 12x6 mile front

• Amiens, August 1918• 500 tanks, 13 infantry

divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, 2000 artillery pieces, 800 aircraft

First modern “combined-arms” battle

Submarines• New aspect of “Total War”

• Targeting “neutral merchant” ships

• Germans announce submarine blockade• Part physical, part psychological

weapon

• Draws Allied resources away from offensive operations• Civilian control of production

• Sinking of ships with US passengers is major factor in US’s eventual entry into the war

Aviation

“Red Baron”• Used initially for

reconnaissance/spotting• Wireless communication

critical development in spotting

• Arial combat originally a counter-reconnaissance function

• Troops on the ground don’t like the planes overhead….

• By the end of the war, planes were being used to drop bombs on railways, intersections, factories, etc…

“Jenny” JN-4

Jaeger

Battle for Belleau Wood• 4 June 1918 Germans reach their “high water mark”, but

are turned back by 5th Marines at Les Mares Farms, 50 miles from Paris

• 5 June 1918, 4th Marine Brigade (5th and 6th Regiments,

6th Machine Gun Battalion) enters Belleau Wood to stop German advance

• French are retreating as Marines arrive

• One Frenchman advises Marines to join the retreat, Capt Lloyd Williams replies “Retreat, hell, we just got here”

• Marines begin picking off Germans at 800 yards (200 yds considered far to Germans)

Belleau Wood• Dan Daly: “Come on you sons of bitches. Do you want to

live forever”

• Marines fight until 16 June when an Army unit relieves them

• 22 June Marines reenter fight • 26 June Major Shearer sends signal, “Woods are now

entirely US Marine Corps.”

• Victory was not the product of sound tactics, but of the discipline and determination of the Brigade

Esprit de Corps

I believe they are soldiers from Montezuma, At least when they advanced this morning they were all singing “From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli”French soldier describing the Marines in Belleau Wood

Devil Dog title given to the Marines by German soldiers for their ferocious fighting

Armistice-November 11, 1918truce (agreement to end fighting)-For Germany- withdrawal of Russians = new hope for successful end to war. Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare-For Allies-American troops pouring into war fronts and Allied forces began advancement towards Germany; Battle of Belleau Wood-September 1918-General Ludendorff informed leaders that war was lost and demanded that government ask for peace; Allies unwilling to make peace; November 1918- sailors in Kiel, Germany mutiny and within days councils of workers and soldiers forming (Socialist Party), taking over civilian and military offices; Social Democrats under Friedrich Ebert announce creation of democratic republic--Kaiser in exile.

German government signs armistice two days later

Treaty of Versailles• Big 4 meet in Paris

– Woodrow Wilson– Lloyd George of

Britain– Orlando of Italy– Clemenceau of

France

• Signed June 28, 1919

• Reparations• Mandates

Reparations•payments made to the victors (winners) by the vanquished (losers) to cover the costs of a war

•after surrender, Germany stripped of all weapons and made vast payments to cover all costs of the war to France ( Georges Clemenceau)•a separate Rhineland as a buffer state between France and Germany

14 Points

Versailles Treaty

Mandates-Europe

Mandates-Middle East