World War I -Key Concepts-
Dec 22, 2015
I. Hopes for a World Order of Progress and Peace
• Benefits of modern science as solutions for social problems
• Material wealth filtering down to the poor
• Era of permanent, international peace seemed to have dawned
• Growth of international cooperation
• Creation of a wide variety of international organizations
II. Origins of World War I
• Competitive Nationalism• Entangling Alliances
--Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy--Triple Entente: England, France, Russia
• A Growing Arms Race--1st German Navy Bill (1897): Von Tirpitz-- “Risk Theory”
II. Origins of World War I (cont)
• “General Mobilization” Theory
• Problems:--Rigid Planning--Geared for Large-Scale War--Never Practiced--No Margin for Error--Little consultation with civilian leaders
• The German “Schlieffen Plan”
• International Crises between 1905-1914
III. Pan-Slavic Nationalism: The Catalyst for War
• Russia’s Support for Pan-Slavism
• Austria’s Problem with Serbian nationalism
• Assassination in Sarajevo-- “Black Hand”--Archduke Franz Ferdinand--June 28, 1914
III. Pan-Slavic Nationalism (cont)
• The Austrian Response• The Russian Reaction
--General Mobilization on July 30th
• Mobilization out of control--German Declaration of War on August 1st (Russia) and August 3rd (France)--British Declaration of War on August 4th
• Popular War Enthusiasm
A. A Massive “Meat Grinder”: The Western Front
• Early Battles of the War--The Battle of the Marne (September 6, 1914)
• Immovable front for two and a half years
• Trench warfare--25,000 miles of trenches
• Cavalry gives way to infantry
A. The Western Front (cont)
• “The Race with Death”-- “Going over the top”-- “No Man’s Land”
• Gap between officers and enlisted men
• Daily routine of the World War I soldier
B. Industrial Death
• Impact of Heavy Artillery• The importance of the
hand grenade and the machine gun
• Tanks and airplanes• Increasingly not seeing
the enemy—the dehumanization of warfare
• All Quiet on the Western Front
B. Industrial Death (cont)
• The role of poison gas--Chlorine--Phosgene--Mustard Gas
• The emotional toll of gas warfare
• The use of pets
V. Case Studies in Industrial Warfare
• Battles of Attrition• The Battle of Verdun
(February-June, 1916)--German attack opened by most massive military bombardment in history--longest single battle of the war--The “sacred road”--600,000 men died
V. Case Studies of Industrial Warfare (cont)
• The Battle of the Somme (July-November, 1916)--Seven Days and Seven Nights of British bombardment--60,000 British dead in 12 minutes--1 million dead for just 7 miles of land
• The Changing atmosphere of War--complete breakdown of human existence
VI. The “Home Front”
• The concept of total• Government
management of the war effort
• Food and energy shortages
• Increasingly demoralized and disillusioned
• No realistic war aims
VI. The “Home Front”
• Brings changes in hair length and fashions
• World War I innovations--Chanel #5--Spam--Deodorant
• Impact on language and culture-- “Dud”-- “Lousy”-- “Rats!”-- “Gas Attack”
VII. The End of the War
• American Entry into the War: April of 1917
• The illusion of German strength
• The realization of German military disaster
• Formation of the Weimar Republic (November, 1918)
• The Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
VIII. The Costs of the War
• A Generation of Men Lost• International Flu
Epidemic• A Leadership Vacuum
was created in Western Europe
• European Economies were destroyed
• Individual Emotional Damage
• “The Great Interruption”