The Great War 1914-1918
Underlying Causes of WWI
• Militarism
– a policy of aggressive military preparedness, military
values/goals take over civilian society
• Alliance System
– an association to further common interests of the members and
in this context, nations. (Triple Entente and Triple Alliance)
– nations pledged to intervene if an ally was attacked
• Imperialism
– Possession of overseas colonies. Competing claims created an
atmosphere of tension between major powers
• Nationalism
– loyalty and devotion to a nation, placing primary emphasis on
promotion of its culture and interests, encouraged rivalries
Section 2: Rivalries Lead to War
Spark that ignites the War
• States in southeastern Europe had struggled to
free themselves of Ottoman rule
• Rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia for
control of these new states created serious
tensions
• 1914, Serbia, supported by Russia, was
determined to create a large, independent
Slavic state in the Balkans
• Austria-Hungary determined to prevent this
from happening
• June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand,
heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, and his
wife Sophia visited Bosnian city of Sarajevo
• Members of the Black Hand, a Serbian
terrorist group that wanted Bosnia free of
Austria-Hungary, planned to kill the Archduke
• First assassination attempt failed, but Gavrilo
Princip succeeded in shooting and killing both
the archduke and his wife.
• Assassination set off a chain reaction in
Europe
• Austrian leaders wanted to attack, but feared
Russian intervention on Serbia’s behalf, so they
sought backing of their German allies.
• July 5, 1914 Germany issues A-H “blank check”
– pledging military assistance if A-H goes to war
against Russia
• July 23, 1914 Austria issues Serbia an ultimatum
(extreme demands that Serbia rejected)
• July 28, 1914 A-H
declares war on Serbia
• July 29, 1914 Russia
orders full mobilization
(assembling troops and
supplies and making
them ready for war) of
its troops
• August 1,1914 Germany
declares war on Russia
• August 2, 1914 Germany
demands Belgium
declare access to
German troops
“Belgium is a country, not a road”
• King Albert I of Belgium
denied permission to Germany
as it was a neutral nation
• August 2, 1914 Germany
declared war on France
– Why???
– The Schlieffen Plan!
• August 4, 1914 Great Britain
declared war on Germany for
violating Belgian neutrality
• By August 4, all the great
powers in Europe were at war
The sides formed
• Triple Entente
(Allies)
– France
– Great Britain
– Italy (1915)
– Russia (1917 exit)
– United States
(1917 entry)
• Central Powers
– Germany
– Austria-Hungary
(empire)
– Ottoman Empire
(1914)
– Bulgaria (1915)
Section 3: Fighting the Great War
Schlieffen Plan
• German plan to avoid a
two-front war by
concentrating troops in
the West and quickly
defeating the French and
then, if necessary, rushing
those troops by rail to the
East to face the Russians
before they had time to
mobilize fully.
Trench Warfare
• Trenches dug from English Channel to
Switzerland
• 6 to 8 feet deep
• Elaborate systems of defense
• Baffled military leaders
– Millions of young men sacrificed attempting the
breakthrough through “no man’s land”
• Diseases, lice, trench foot
• Trench Warfare video
Trench Warfare
• These new weapons made it easier to defend positions
than to attack
• New type of warfare baffled military leaders
• Soldiers dug miles of deep trenches to fortify positions.
• Trenches were separated by fields of barbed wire and
mines known as “no man’s land”
• Anyone who climbed out of the trenches faced instant
death from enemy machine gun fire
• Soldiers spent years in the trenches, facing shelling
from artillery fire for hours each day
• Since neither side could advance, fighting lines became
stationary
The changes of war
• New weapons crippled the
“frozen front”
– Poison gas (mustard gas)
– Hand grenades
– Flame throwers
– Tanks
– Airplanes
– Machine Guns
• (highest number of casualites)
– Submarines
Section 4: The Tide Turns
Russia backs out of war
• Russia facing problems –
revolutions
• Tsar is overthrown
• Germany, in secret, transports
Vladimir Lenin back to Russia,
hoping to create disorder
(contributes to the communist
revolution)
• Revolution occurs, Lenin
becomes leader
• He promised peace
• March 3,1918 Lenin signs the
Treaty of Brest-Litvosk with
Germany.
– Gave up Poland, Ukraine,
Finland, and Baltic provinces
– Russia officially out of the war
Entry of the United States
• United States was officially neutral, but
sympathetic to Britain and France
• American ships sent supplies to the Allies
• Germans respond with submarine warfare
• German U-boat sinks the Lusitania (May
1915), a passenger liner, killing over 1,100
people (including 100 American)
• U.S. protest, Germans agree to suspend
unrestricted submarine warfare
Zimmerman Telegram
• 1917 diplomatic
proposal from Arthur
Zimmerman of the
German Empire to
Mexico to make war
against the United
States
• Intercepted by
British
• Last straw for U.S,
they enter the war
• U.S. troops did not arrive in large numbers in
Europe until 1918
• Entry of the U.S. into the war not only gave the
Allied powers (Triple Entente) a psychological
boost, but also brought them a major new
source of money and goods
• President Woodrow Wilson
announced America’s war aims in
the Fourteen Points.
– To “make the world safe for
democracy”
– #1-5 - international law
recommendations
– #6-13 - European boundary
restructure
– #14 - League of Nations
• He wanted to redraw the map of
Europe so that each nationality
had its own state
• Demanded freedom of the seas
• End to secret diplomacy
• Creation of the League of Nations
Collapse and Armistice
• German officials soon discover that the Allies were
unwilling to make peace
• On Nov. 3, sailors in northern Germany mutinied
• Within days, workers and soldiers were forming
throughout northern Germany and taking over civilian
and military offices
• William II flees Germany on Nov. 9
• After William II leaves, the Social Democrats under
Friedrich Ebert announce creation of a democratic
republic
• Nov. 11, 1918 the new German government signed an
armistice (a truce to end the fighting)
Section 5: Peace and Its Aftermath
Paris Peace Conference (1919)
• Allied leaders
met in Paris to
negotiate peace
– Woodrow
Wilson (U.S.)
– David Lloyd
George (GB)
– Georges
Clemenceau (FR)
– Orlando Vittorio
(IT)
• Russia excluded
• Treaty of Versailles terms
turned out to be extremely
harsh for Germany
Peace terms ending the war
• Consisted of 5 separate treaties, Treaty of Versailles with
Germany was most important
• Implemented only 1 of Wilson’s Fourteen points, the forming of
an internal organization, The League of Nations
• Germans considered it a harsh peace
– War guilt clause: declared Germany (and Austria) responsible for
starting the war
– Germany has to pay reparations for all the damage Allied powers
suffered (Economic Effect)
– Reduce its army to 100,000, cut back navy, eliminate air force
– Alsace and Lorraine taken & given back to France
– Poland was now independent
– Loss of overseas colonies (Political)
– Land on both sides of the Rhine were demilitarized
– Food Rationed (Social)
A new map of Europe
• Map of Europe was largely redrawn
• German and Russian empires lost much
territory in Eastern Europe
• Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared
• New nations emerged: Finland, Lativa,
Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Austria, and Hungary, Yugoslavia
• Ottoman Empire was broken up