By the early 1900s the great powers of Europe were plunging toward war. Four factors fueled this:
nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and the system of alliances.
Militarism- glorification of armed strength. This was very important to many European leaders before
WWI because they believed that they could achieve their goals through threat or force. By late 1800s,
European nations had large well-trained armies and were ready to mobilize (prepare ones army for war)
Other nations would mobilize in self-defense.
Competition: Britain build the Dreadnought (1st modern battleship) Germany quickly rushed to build
similar ships.
Triple Alliance- Bismarck (Germany) was afraid that France would seek revenge for the 1871 defeat in
the Franco-Prussian war and wanted to develop an alliance that would keep Britain and Russia from
being together. In 1881 Bismarck formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Russia. Three Emperors
league: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia. It stated that each member remained neutral if one of them
went to war. The next year Bismarck got into a Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
Three Emperors league ended due to rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia over the Balkans.
1888 William II became Kaiser of Germany and by 1890 he had dismissed Bismarck as chancellor and
abandoned Bismarck’s policies.
Triple Entente- France, Russia, and Great Britain (France helped out Russia with a financial crisis)
Both France and Russia had secret understandings with Italy, giving the Italians a foot in both rival
camps.
By 1907 powers of Europe had divided into two armed camps. If war broke out between two rival
powers, all six nations were almost certain to become involved.
Balkan “Powder Keg”
Serbia gained independence in 1878 and now wanted to gain the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
because Serbia was landlocked and these two territories would provide an Outlet to the Adriatic Sea.
Congress of Berlin made these two provinces protectorates of Austria-Hungary. Serbia was bitterly
disappointed because of this decision.
Russia- largest Slavic country and saw itself as the protector of the Balkan Slavs.
Pan-Slavism- Unity of all Slavic peoples under Russian leadership.
Kaiser William II of Germany tried to bring the Ottoman Empire into the Triple Alliance who was an old
enemy of Russia. He planned to extend German influence into the Balkans. Britain and Russian ties
strengthened because of Germany and Germany supported Austria-Hungary.
Balkan “powder keg”
Francis Ferdinand
Gavrilo Princip- Member of Serbian Nationalist group called the Black Hand, he fired the shots that killed
Francis Ferdinand.
Ultimatum- one party threatens harmful action to another if their demands are not met.
Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia
1. The Serbian government must suppress all groups that opposed the Austro-Hungarian
government
2. Serbia must dismiss school teachers and ban books that did not support Austria-Hungary
3. Serbia must dismiss government officials who spoke out against Austria-Hungary
4. Austro-Hungarian officials must be allowe`d to participate in the trials of those accused in the
assassination.
If Serbia did not agree to the ultimatum’s terms, Austria-Hungary would use military action.
When Serbia did not meet the ultimatum on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
Austria-Hungary expected a quick victory.
Mobilization of Europe
Russia prepared to support Serbia by moving its troops to its border with Austria-Hungary. Also they
sent troops to their border with Germany.
Germany demanded that Russia stop its mobilization or face war. Russia ignored the ultimatum and
on August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia. Convinced that France would side with Russia,
Germany declared war on France two days later.
In 1839, shortly after Belgium’s independence, the great powers of Europe had guaranteed its
neutrality. Being neutral Belgium had to agree that it would not help out any belligerents (warring
nations). Border between France and Germany was heavily fortified, so that Germans demanded to
cross Belgian territory. If Germany could defeat France quickly it could then focus on Russia. Britain
protested what Germany was considering and Germany scoffed at this “scrap of paper”.
On August 4, 1914 German soldiers marched into Belgium. Great Britain declared war on Germany
later that day.
Later in August, Japan entered the war on the side of Great Britain and France. Japan wanted German
possessions in China and the Pacific. Japan wanted German possessions in China and the Pacific.
Central Powers- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Ottoman Empire
Allied Powers- France, Britain, Russia, and their allies
New weapons and tactics
U-boat- submarine German
Poison Gas- German
Tank- Britain
Modern battleship- Britain
Airplanes
Long Rang artillery
Machine guns
Trench warfare
Airplane battles were called dogfights
Baron Manfred von Richtofen most famous Ace (Red Baron) He shot down some 80 aircraft
While men were off at war women had to take over the jobs in the main land.
Government set up agencies whose jobs was to control the news about the war.
Battle of Tanneberg- Russia vs Germany
Russia’s allies ask them to help out with the German forces and Russia ends up
losing half of their force including 90,000 prisoners of war.
They were poorly equipped and had bad leadership is why they lost. France and Britain decided to take
over Constantinople and the Dardanelles so that they could get supplies to Russia. After 8 months of
fighting and hundreds of thousands of lives lost the battle ended in a stalemate and France and Britain
were not able to get Russia the supplies that were needed. After this battle Britain has a blockade on the
North Sea. At first the blockade was aimed at cutting off the flow of raw materials to German factories.
Eventually the blockade became an attempt to ruin the German economy and starve the German
people. Germany then blockades Britain. Germany issues an order stating that any British ship carrying
food or weapons will be shot down. Germany blew up a ship called the Lusitania which was carrying 128
Americans on it. Woodrow Wilson stated that next American killed we would declare war on Germany.
Even though America was neutral they sold weapons to both sides during the war. Britain also told
stories of atrocities to try to get American to back the war effort. Also, Britain decoded a letter from
Arthur Zimmermann. Zimmermann wrote a telegram to the German Ambassador in Mexico, promising
Mexico that if they helped out during WWI when Germany won it would give them Texas, New Mexico,
and Arizona. Germany also blows up more British ships that have Americans on them and on April 6,
1917 American declares war on Germany.
Russia’s exit from WWI
People began to loose faith in the Tsar and the Duma (government body of Russia) because of the war
and because of the extreme poverty that the country was in, even though serfdom had been abolished
over 50 years ago. In the past the government had always been able to use the military against the
disturbances, but this time, however, the soldiers sided with the demonstrators and in March of 1917
the Tsar abdicated, giving up his throne. He and his family were soon imprisoned.
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was organized when unrest had began in
Russia. These people wanted a more radical control. They called for immediate peace and land reform.
Two factions fought for control of the soviets.
Mensheviks- moderates
Bolsheviks- radicals
Vladimir Lenin who was a follower of Karl Marx led the Bolsheviks.
November 7, 1917 the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and took control of Russia
renaming them the communist party. Bolsheviks then signed a separate peace treaty with Germany in
March 1918. This angered the allied powers, but Russia would not budge. After this Russia had a civil
war for about three years. Reds (Bolsheviks) vs Whites (Mensheviks and other opponents of the
Bolsheviks)
Terms of Peace
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points (main aim was to have a treaty that was fair to all central and allied
powers)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
no secret treaties
freedom of the seas for all nations
removal of all economic barriers, such as tariffs
reduction of national armaments
adjustment of colonial claims so they were fair to both the imperialist powers and the colonial
peoples
6. establishment of “a general association of nations” to guarantee political independence and
protection to small and large states alike.
The remaining 8 dealt with specific countries.
Bulgaria surrendered at the end of September 1918 and soon after that the Ottoman Turks
surrendered as well. By October 1918 Austria-Hungary had broken up and stopped fighting and
formed separate governments. President told Germany that he would only deal with a government
that truly represented the German people. Kaiser gave up his thrown in early November 1918 and
the Weimar Republic was announced.
11-11-1918 at 11:00 a.m. an armistice (ceasefire) was signed.
Paris Peace Conference
USA- Woodrow Wilson
Britain- David Lloyd George
France- Georges Clemenceau
Italy- Vittorio Orlando
These people came up with separate peace treaties for everyone.
They blamed Germany for starting WWI and everyone except Wilson wanted full punishment.
Treaty of Versailles- made Germany admit it was guilty of starting the war, also said that only
Germany had to pay reparations (payments for war damage) Also Germany had to abolish its
military draft and could only have an army of one hundred thousand troops. They also could not
manufacture tanks, planes, u-boats, and heavy artillery.
Germany complained that this did not go along with Wilson’s 14 points, but the Weimar republic
signed it anyway. When territory was divided up the solved many problems, but created many
because of the new territory in other countries.
The Ottoman Turks did try genocide on the Armenians. There were 2 million Armenians and they
killed 1.5 million.
League of Nations
1. to promote international cooperation
2. to keep peace among nations, by settling disputes and reducing armaments.
World Court- Permanent Court of International Justice. This court would determine cases involving
international law.
1. Assembly- would be composed of representatives of all member nations. Regardless of size,
each nation would have one vote.
2. Council- main peace keeping body, would consist of 9 members. 5 permanent (USA, Italy, Japan,
France, Britain)
3. Secretariat- acts as administrator
If a country went against the League of Nations then the countries could impose economic sanctions,
such as blocking trade with the offending nation
The League set aside the colony as a mandate, to be ruled by the government of an “advanced” nation.
The ruling would promise to “prepare” the people there for independence.
By 1940 59 nations had joined the league including Germany in 1926 and the Soviet Union 1934. United
States never joined the league. Some Americans were wary of the League’s powers and some wanted
changes in the Versailles treaty, which included the League Covenant.