WORLD WAR I
“The Great War”
1914 - 1919
Section 1
Marching Towards War
The Causes of WWI
• Nationalism
– Deep devotion to one’s country
• Militarism
– Glorification of military power
– Keeping a standing army always ready for war
• Imperialism
– A strong nation seeks to dominate other countries
The Pursuit of Peace
• By 1914 Europe had enjoyed a century of
relative peace
• The support of Pacifism – opposition to
all war
• 1899 the first Universal Peace Conference
• Hague Tribunal – World Court to settle
disputes between nations
Aggressive Nationalism
• One of the forces
pushing Europe to
the Brink
• Especially strong in
France & Germany
Nationalism in France
• Longed to regain its position as Europe’s
leading power
• Very bitter about their defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War
• Angry about German occupation of
Lorraine and Alsace
Alsace and Lorraine
Rivalries Among European
Powers
Economic Rivalries
• Britain is threatened
by Germany’s rapid
economic growth
Imperialism Causes
Rivalries
• France and Germany
compete for colonies
i.e. Morocco
Militarism and the Arms Race
Militarism and the Arms Race
• Militarism is the glorification of the
military
• The “Great Powers” expanded their
armies and navies
• Fierce competition in the “arms race”
• Military leaders became important figures
A Tangle of Alliances
Two huge alliances emerge
as a result of treaties by 1914
The Triple Alliance
(Central Powers)
• Germany
• Austria – Hungary
• Ottomans sign treaty
with Germans
The Triple Entente
(Allied Powers)
• France
• Britain
• Russia
• Japan grows close to
Britain
Section 2
Europe Plunges into War
“The great European disaster is well on it’s
way. If so many seeds have been sown,
surely the weeds will sprout up soon and
surely so much stock piled gunpowder
will explode.”
- Peace Bertha
April 1913
Assassination at Sarajevo
• Background Info:
– Austria-Hungary annexes territory
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (1908)
– Bosnia was home to many Serbians
– Serbians were furious at the takeover
– In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (A-H)
announced he would visit Sarajevo the capital of
Bosnia
• News of the visit angered many Serbians
– Unity of Death/Black Hand (Serbian terrorists)
vowed to take action
The Assassination of the
Archduke
The Fatal Shots
• The archduke and his
wife rode through
Sarajevo in a open car
• First attempt – bomb
hurled at car was
unsuccessful
• Ferdinand was killed by
Gavrilo Princip after
visiting a wounded
soldier later that day
A Harsh Ultimatum
• Austria sent Serbia an ultimatum - a
final set of demands
– End all anti-Austrian agitation
– Punish any Serbian official involved in the
assassination
– Austria must join the investigation
• Serbia only partly agreed – July 28th
1914 Austria declared war on Serbia
From Capital to Capital
• Kaiser William II
(Germany) promises
support to Austria
• Nicolas II (Russia)
supports Serbia
• France pledges
allegiance to Russia b/c
of Franco-Prussian War
• Germany declares war of
France
How the Dominoes Fell
1. Austria declares war on Serbia
2. Germany supports Austria
3. Russia supports Serbia
4. France aligns with Russia
5. Germany then declares war on France
Problem of the Two-Front War
• German officials did not want to fight a two
front war
– Eastern Front vs. Russia
– Western Front vs. France
• What to do??
The Schlieffen Plan
1.
2.
3.
4.
Germany would have to
defeat France quickly
then fight Russia
Germany would have to
march through
Belgium – 8/3/1914
This causes Britain to
declare war on
Germany
Germany’s defeat at the
Battle of the Marne
destroyed the Plan
Section 3
A Global Conflict
Key Information
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Newspapers began to call it “The Great War”
8.5 million French troops
9 million British troops
12 million Russian troops
11 million German troops
WWI Strategy – “Total War”
• What is it?
– The channeling of a nation’s entire resources into
a war effort
• How does a government achieve total war?
– Institution of conscription – “the draft”
– Governments raised taxes and borrowed money
– Governments rationed food, gasoline, & other
materials
– Civilians and soldiers can be considered to be part
of the war effort
WWI Strategy – Trench Warfare
• Warring armies burrowed into a vast
system of trenches
• Rats, lice and heat became major
problems
• “Over the top” orders were given and
soldiers would leave their trenches and
rush toward enemy lines
In the Trenches
In the Trenches
Trench Foot Info..
• Many soldiers fighting in WWI
suffered from trench foot
– This was an infection of the feet caused
by cold, wet and unsanitary conditions.
– If untreated, trench foot could turn
gangrenous and result in amputation.
– 20,000+ men in the British Army were
treated for trench foot in one year!!
Trench
Foot
Trench Foot Info..
• The only remedy for trench foot was
for the soldiers to dry their feet and
change their socks several times a
day.
– British soldiers were under orders to
change their socks at least twice a day
Technology in Modern
Warfare
• World War I was very devastating due to
new technology
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Poison gas
The Airplane
Machine Gun
Submarines
Zeppelins
Tanks
Poison Gas
THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE HUMAN
RACE
From ape to ape
Poison Gas
"Our men were swallowed up by the mysterious cloud. At the
same time, I felt its effect on my breathing. It burned in my
throat. I felt a pain in my chest and could barely breathe any
longer. I spit up blood and became dizzy. I thought I was lost."
The Airplane
• Airplanes were
primitive
– Had only 1- 2 seats
– With machine gun
– Mostly used for
reconnaissance
• “Dog Fights”
– Air combat between
planes
Automatic Machine Gun
• Usually 2-man teams
• Provided a
continuous stream of
bullets
• This weapon was the
main reason for the
war settling into a
STALEMATE
Submarine
• German “U-Boats”
– To sink merchant ships
• Unrestricted
Submarine Warfare
– Made the oceans unsafe
for all
• Allied response –
convoys
– Small groups of
merchant ships
protected by warships
Zeppelins
• Gas filled balloons
used by the
Germans to bomb
the English coast
• They were able to
carry a much
heavier load than
airplanes
The Tank
• Developed to end
Trench Warfare
• Used a mounted
machine gun
• Ran by a 8 man crew
A Global Conflict
A War Fought on Many Fronts
• Oceans
– Unrestricted submarine warfare
• Europe
– Eastern and Southern Europe
• Australia
– Australia and New Zealand
• Asia
– China, India, and Turkey
– Colonies began to join the war
• Africa
– Colonies began to join the war
A Global War
Map of the World showing the Participants in World War I
Green: Allies (some entered the war or dropped out later)
Orange: Central Powers
Grey: Neutral Countries
Major
Conflicts
of the War
Battle of Somme River
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Britain vs. Germany
5 month battle
60,000 British casualties in one day
1,000,000 dead by the end of the battle
Battle of Verdun
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France vs. Germany
11 month battle
400,000+ casualties on both sides
Battlefield with the highest density of dead per
square yard
The Gallipoli Campaign
Aim of the Gallipoli Campaign
• Attack and defeat the
Ottoman Empire via
the Dardanelles
• Establish a supply line
to Russia.
The Gallipoli
Campaign
• Effort to take the region
took place in 1915.
• Allies including Australia,
New Zealand (ANZAC),
British, and French forces
battled Turkish troops
• Another bloody stalemate250,000 casualties on
Allied side
Propaganda War
• Aim was to keep complete casualty figures and
other discouraging information from the people
• Propaganda – spreading of ideas to promote a
cause or to damage an opposing cause
Propaganda
Examples
Anti-German Propaganda
Rationing Propaganda
War-Bond Propaganda
(World War II)
Propaganda for Women
Enlistment Propaganda
USA Political Cartoon
•
Impact on Women
• Women took over jobs
• Manufactured weapons
and supplies
• Nurses worked on the
“front lines”
• Helped women’s rights
Collapsing Morale
• By 1917 over 5.5 million Russian troops had
been killed, injured or taken prisoner
• Revolution in Russia 1917 – ended Russia’s
involvement in the war
– Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
– Allowed Germany to concentrate on the western
front
• This opened the door for…….
The U.S. Declares War!!!!
Why?
1. German sub attacks on ships carrying
U.S. citizens
2. May 1915 sinking of the Lusitania
3. Cultural ties to “allied” forces
4. The Zimmerman Note (1917)
The Zimmerman Note
Declaring War
• 1917 President Wilson asks
Congress to declare war
– “To make the world safe for
Democracy”
• 1918 2 million “fresh” U.S.
Troops joined the Allied
Forces
Campaign to Victory
• Early 1918 Allies pushed the Germans
back across France and Belgium
• Uprising among hungry city dwellers
erupted in Germany
• Wilhelm II steps down 11/1918
• New German government sought an
armistice – agreement to end war
• 11:00 am November 11th 1918
Section 4
A Flawed Peace
• 8.5 Million Deaths
• Double that amount
were wounded
• Flu Pandemic spread
across the globe
• Flu killed 20 million
people
Financial Losses
• Homes, farms, factories
and churches destroyed
• Allies felt Central Powers
should make reparations
or payments for war
damage
• Total cost is estimated at
$338 billion
The Paris Peace
Conference
• The Big Four
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Woodrow Wilson-USA
Georges Clemenceau-France
David Lloyd George-England
Vittorio Orlando-Italy
The Paris Peace Conference
• Allied leaders had
different ideas
• Wilson’s 14 Points
1. Freedom of the Seas
2. End of secret treaties
3. Weapons Limitations
4. End of tariffs and
other economic barriers
5. Self-determination
6. League of Nations
The Treaty of Versailles
• June 1919 outside Paris
• Forced Germany to accept full blame for
the war (“War Guilt Clause”)
– $30 billion in reparations
– Returned Alsace & Lorraine to France
– Removed territory from western & eastern
Germany
– Stripped Germany’s overseas colonies
– Germany’s military severely reduced
– Germany signed reluctantly
The Treaty of Versailles
• Problems with the Treaty
– African and Asian territories were not granted
independence
– Italy and Japan gained less than what they had
wanted
– War guilt clause left a bitterness in German
people
The New Eastern Europe
• New nations emerged where Ottoman and
Austrian empires stood
– Austrian Empire
• Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Austria and Hungary
– Ottoman Empire
• Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon
– Russia lost land as well
• Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
– Poland established from Russia and Germany
Treaty of Versailles
• Main Points of the Treaty
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Establishment of the League of Nations
Break-up of Empires (Ottoman and A-H)
Territorial Losses (Germany and Russia)
Military Restrictions (Germany)
War Guilt Clause (Germany)
The
Ottoman Empire
After World War I
Before WWI
After WWI
THE END