Ch. 19
(1914-18)
1

On the 28 th day of June in 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was shot by a Serbian nationalist.
Within a month, most of Europe would be at war that would kill 16 million people and leave another 20 million wounded…
2


M

A

I

N

S
3

M

Germany competing with the UK to build battleships.

The British feared an attack on their
Empire
4

M

Germany competing with Russia and France to expand their armies
1880

Germany 1.3m

France 730K

Russia 400K
1914
5.0m
4.0m
1.2m
5

A
Triple Alliance
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Italy
Triple Entente
Great Britain
France
Russia
6

7

I

The Great Powers had competed in the late 1800s for colonies & territory (in
China and mainly Africa) why? For natural resources and markets

The British and Germans feared one another’s growing influence in Africa.

The Austrians feared both Serbia &
Russia in the Balkans
8

9

N
This was an era when nations wanted to assert their power and influence.

In Europe, the Slavs, aided by Serbia and
Russia, wanted to be free of Austrian rule.
Serbia’s national flag
10

S ignificant Individuals:
A European “Family Affair”
The royal cousins whose personal rivalry mirrored Europe’s diplomatic rivalries (from L to R): Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany; King George V of Britain; Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
11


June 28,1914

Heir to Austrian throne
Franz Ferdinand visits
Sarajevo.

Capital of Bosnia, recently grabbed by
Austria.

Hotbed of Slav nationalism
Seal of the
Black Hand
12

 “Black Hand” terrorists attack the
Archduke

Bomb attempt fails in morning

Gavrilo Princip shoots
Archduke and wife in the afternoon.

Austrians blame Serbia for supporting terrorists.
13


Austria, supported by
Germany, sends Serbia a tough ultimatum.

Serbia agrees to all but two terms of the ultimatum.

7/28 : Russia mobilizes her troops to support Serbia

Germany demands that
Russia stands her armies down.

8/1: Germany declares war on Russia
“Demands must be put to Serbia that would be wholly impossible for them to accept …”
14


8/3: (A) Germany invades neutral Belgium
(B) France declares war on Germany

8/4: Gr. Britain declares war on Germany
(other members of British empire soon follow – Australia, Canada,
N. Zealand, others…)
German troops, 1914
15


With the Ottoman Empire soon siding with Germany, most of Europe is at war…60 nations around the world

NOTE:
1.
Germany & allies: “Central Powers”
2.
Britain/France/Russia : “the Allies”
16

17

18

The Western Front: Schlieffen Plan

Destroy France before Russia could mount an effective offensive…then focus all troops on Russia

Avoid French defensive line by invading
Belgium…capture Paris and France would fall
Alfred von Schlieffen
(1833-1913), chief of the
German general staff
19

1 st Battle of the Marne Sept.-Nov. 1914
•German invasion stopped by French at the Marne River
•Both sides dig defensive trenches
•Trenches “popcorn” out rapidly until…
20

TRENCHES – 400 MILE LINE FROM NORTH SEA TO SWITZERLAND
21

Aerial View of trenches


Trench warfare was characteristic of the
Western Front

Massive casualties in weeks-long battles over control of a few hundred yards of territory.
23

WEAPONS OF DESTRUCTION
• Industrialization & advances in technology:
•submarines (u-boat)
•aircraft and bombs
•flame-thrower, tank, poison gas, grenades
•the machine gun
•Long-range artillery
•
Modern warfare strategies had not yet adapted to these new weapons.
24

The Machine Gun
British Vickers—fired 8 rounds per second, at a distance of 2,900 yards.
25

Super Killing Machines:
•They drove men into trenches and foxholes.
•War, became a battle of inches (stalemate)
26

Artillery
27

CHEMICAL WARFARE
Types: Mustard, Chlorine, & Phosgene
•Drifted in the wind—often affected their own troops
Germans 1 st to use poison gas: Battle of Ypres (1915)
28

Survivors of a Gas Attack
•Burned body & lungs
•caused blindness, asphyxiation, & death
•Chemical Warfare banned after World War I
29


The French suffered
371,000 casualties; the Germans suffered
337,000 casualties.

The battle became a symbol of French determination to hold ground and repel the enemy at any cost.
30

Battle of the Somme July-Nov. 1916
• British & French felt a massive assault on German forces would turn tide of war.
• After a week of constant bombardment, the British went
“over the top”
• By the end of the first day, British casualties were 110, 000
(19,000 dead).
31

Battle of Verdun 1916
24 million shells used equates to
1,000 shells per square meter of the battlefield
.
32

Few from either side made it out of “No Man’s Land”
33

was
The Southern Front:
Gallipoli –British Campaign to secure Dardanelles Straits,
1915

Colonial Troops —Australia and New Zealand

As many as 250,000 casualties on each side before British withdrawal
34

Why did it take so long for America to get involved in the war?
 America was isolationist
 Many saw the War as a “European problem”
35

Central Powers:
• 11 million German-
Americans
Allies:
• Close cultural ties
• Irish-Americans hated Great Britain
• Big business loaned much
$ to allies
US Exports to both sides:
Nations
Britain
France
1914 1915
Germany $344,794,276 $28,863,354
1916
$594,271,863 $911,794,954 $1,526,685,102
$159,818,924 $364,397,170 $628,851,988
$288,899
36

What did it take to get the US involved?
1. Blockades
Britain blockaded all German ports…nothing in or out
Germany announced a submarine war around Britain
37

What did it take to get the US involved?
1. Blockades
In May, 1915
Germany told
Americans to stay off of British ships
They could/would sink them
38


1. Blockades
May, 1915
Lusitania torpedoed, sunk with 1200 passengers and crew (including
128 Americans)
Was eventually found to be carrying
4200 cases of ammunition
German Propaganda Justifying Lusitania sinking
39

What did it take to get the US involved?
Note in Bottle After
Lusitania Disaster
The US sharply criticized Germany for their action
Sussex Pledge
Germany agreed not to sink passenger ships without warning in the future
40

What did it take to get the US involved?
2. Unlimited Submarine Warfare
1917 : To break the British blockade and the stalemate in the war,Germany announced
“unlimited submarine warfare” in the war zone
41


3. The Zimmerman Note
US intercepted a note from Germany to Mexico
It promised Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona back to Mexico in return for an alliance
42

What did it take to get the US involved?
Zimmerman Note & the sinking of 4 unarmed American ships led to a declaration of war
43

April, 1917
Woodrow Wilson asks
Congress for a declaration of war
44

Objective 1:
Shift US economy from producing consumer goods to military goods
To accomplish this: necessary to expand powers of federal gov’t.
(allow the gov’t. to do things that we had never allowed b4!)
45

Wilson given greater control over US economy:
1.
Created War Industries Board under direction of Bernard Baruch
(leading US businessman)

Set production quotas

Decided who got what raw materials

Coordinated production
OUTCOME?: production up 20%
46

Wilson given greater control over US economy:
 Other gov’t. controls:
1.
Created RR Administration
- Direct what got moved where & when
2.
Created Fuel Admin.
- controlled coal production
- rationed gas & heating oil
3.
Created Food Admin.
- food production
47


Finance (pay for) the War

1/3 of money from taxes

2/3 from public borrowing by selling war bonds
48

49

50

51

52

Objective 3: rally public support
US Gov’t created propaganda agency:
Committee on Public Information
1.
CPI hired artists & ad agencies to create all sorts of propaganda:
- paintings
- posters
- cartoons (movie theater)
53

54

55

56

(Renner calls a timeout for a Quick Review)
 “MAINS” sent Europe spiraling towards war

Strong isolationist sentiment in US

War quickly mired in stalemate
 Germany resumed “unltd. sub warfare”
 Zimmermann telegram “last straw” pushing US into War

US mobilized: gov’t. control of production, food, fuel, propaganda, resumed the draft to raise an army
57

Woodrow Wilson
Campaign slogan:
“he kept us out of the war”

by March, 1917: Russia on verge of collapse

Staggering losses in the war

Mutinies on Russian ships

Mass desertions from army

Strikes by Russian workers

Starvation in cities

Enter Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

Exiled by the Czar b/c of revolutionary agitation

Germans helped him return to Russia to incite revolution

March, 1917
Russian people revolt…Nicholas II abdicates the throne
Ends 300 yrs of rule by Romanov dynasty

 6 months of civil war…Lenin’s Bolshevik Party defeat political rivals…win power

Czar and entire family murdered
 Or were they??? Proof that Anastasia escaped…….
Duhhh…how else could she have starred in the movie?
62

But back to the Russian Revolution…
 Russia quits the War…signs Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk w/Germany March, 1918

Impact: Germany moves troops from
Russia to the Western Front
63

Back on the US homefront:
Enforcing Loyalty
Strong backlash against all things German:
• People w/German names fired from jobs
• Books by German authors removed from shelves
• Orchestras refused to play works by Mozart, Bach
• Schools stopped teaching German as for. language

US Congress passed
 The Espionage Act (1917)
 The Sedition Act (1918)
Heavy fines and jail time for persons interfering with war effort or saying anything disloyal to the
US
65

 US gov’t used the laws to try and crush labor unions:

Eugene V. Debs (Amer. Railway Union) opposed the war…10 yr. jail sentence

Big Bill Haywood (the IWW) facing lengthy jail sentence…jumped bail, fled to Russia
66

American Troops Arrive in France

General John J. Pershing commands the
AEF (American Expeditionary Force)

Thru enlistments and the draft, US trained an army of 2 million men

Huge morale boost for the European allies


4 yrs of stalemate…food shortages in
Germany

Germany plans all-out offensive to win the war (troops from Russian front arrive)

The Spring Offensive: Germany pushes deep into France

Buoyed by arrival of Americans, Allies begin to drive Germans back
68


Allies continue to drive Germans back

Key battles:

Chateau-Thierry (June, 1918)

Belleau Wood (June, 1918)

2 nd Battle of the Marne (July, 1918)

Argonne Forest (Sept-Nov., 1918)
69

The Tide Turns…
End of the War (1918)

Central Powers Crumble:
 Revolution in Austria-Hungary
 Ottoman Empire surrenders
 German soldiers mutiny, public turns against Kaiser Wilhelm II

Armistice at Last
 After failure of German
Spring offensive, Kaiser abdicates power
 Germans want cease fire
 Armistice signed on
November 11, 1918 in a railway car (left)
 War that was supposed to end by Christmas ends…
4 years later
71

Ending the War ( con’t.)

Meeting of the “Big Four” at the Paris
Peace Conference
 David Lloyd George – Gr. Britain
 Georges Clemenceau – France
 Vittorio Orlando – Italy
 Woodrow Wilson – USA
 NOTE: Germany and Russia NOT invited

Fourteen Point Program
The main points:
• No secret treaties
• No reparations
• Freedom of the seas
• Free trade
• Reduction of arms
• Self-determination
• League of Nations


1 goal in mind – make Germany suffer for the war:
 pay reparations
 put Kaiser William I on trial

However, he did not want the Germans to be totally crippled economically or politically


France had been invaded twice since 1871
Clemenceau wanted to make sure it would not happen again.

Clemenceau wanted
Germany to pay fully for the costs of the war, stripped of all weapons, and be given a buffer state out the German
Rhineland (this took most of the German industrial area).

 War Guilt Clause
 German military dismantled
 Break up of German, Austrian, Russian and Ottoman Empire…map of Europe redrawn (will be problematic up to present day)
 Reparations: $33 billion
 League of Nations
 Legacy of bitterness and betrayal…
76

•
8 new nations: Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Finland, & the Baltic States
(Latvia, Estonia, & Lithuania)
•
4 new mandates in the Middle East (from Ottoman
Empire): Syria, Trans-Jordan, Iraq, Palestine
•
League of Nations--attempt to create an international organization to settle disputes before they escalated to war

78

Europe Before and After World War I
79


End of laissez-fair society: people see the huge power of government as a tool

America becomes THE leading world economic power

U.S. Senate rejected the League of
Nations…return to isolationism?

Post-war cynicism: human progress?

African Americans move to northern cities from the South