World War 1
Years – 1914 – 1919
Text Book Page - 374-396
Main Idea of WWI
“World War I began in Europe. However,
other world powers, as well as European
colonies around the world, were drawn
into the conflict.”
Chapter 14 Vocabulary
•
Pacifism
•
Stalemate
•
Militarism
•
No man’s land
•
Entente
•
Zeppelin
•
Ultimatum
•
U-boat
•
Mobalize
•
Convoy
•
Neutrality
•
Total war
•
Atrocity
•
Conscription
•
Self –determination
•
Propaganda
•
Armistice
•
Collective security
•
•
Pandemic
Reparations
Important People
• Kaiser William II
• Woodrow Wilson
• Archduke Francis
Ferdinand
• David Lloyd George
• Gavrilo Princip
• Czar Nicholas II
• Alfred von Schlieffen
• T.E. Lawrence
• Arthur Zimmerman
• Georges Clemenceau
• Vittorio Orlando
1914 – 1919: Overview
• Two huge alliances emerged in Europe: the Central powers,
dominated by Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the
Allies, led by France, Britain, and Russia
• Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand 1914 ignited
World War I, historians agree that all the major powers
share blame for the conflicts
• Trench warfare and new weapons contributed to a stalemate
on the Western Front
1914 – 1919: Overview
• 1917, USA entered the war, allowing the Allies to
achieve victory
• Paris Peace Conference imposed heavy penalties on
Germany and redrew the map of Eastern Europe
Section 1 – Stage is Set
• Pursuit of Peace
• World attempts at peace
• Olympics 1896 & Nobel Peace Prize
• Pacifism – opposition to all war
• First Universal Peace Conference
Causes of World War 1
• M. Militarism
• A. Alliances
• I. Imperialism
• N. Nationalism
Militarism
• Glorification of the military
• Grew out of Social Darwinism
• Arms race - expand their armies & navies
• *Germany & Britain fierce competition
Industrialized War
• Automatic machine gun
• Tanks & jeeps
• Submarine (U-boats)
• Airplane
• Poison gas & gas mask
• Zeppelins
• Convoys
Alliances
• Tangle of alliances
• Distrust led the great powers to sign treaties to
defend one another
• Two alliances emerged
• Triple Alliance – Italy, Austria- Hungary &
Germany
• Triple Entente (Allies)– France, Britain, Russia
Imperialism
• Imperial rivalries divided European nations
• Economic interests – competition!
Nationalism
• Aggressive Nationalism
• Germany & France – strong resentment because of a
previous war (Franco-Prussian War 1871)
• Germany wanted revenge for “lost provinces”
• Eastern Europe: Pan Slavism united Slavic peoples
under South Slavic State (Russia leading)
Section 2 - Guns of August
• Archduke Francis Ferdinand visits Sarajevo, capital
of Bosnia
• Serbian nationalists outraged by the visit
• Even more angry b/c visit was the same date that
in1389 the Serbians were conquered by Ottomans
• Same date in 1912 declared independence from
Turkish rule
Fatal Shot ** SPARK **
• Archduke ignored the warnings
• June 28, 1914 - open car with wife Sophie
• Conspirators hurled a bomb at passing car – missed
• Later, Gavrilo Princip fired twice – duke & wife
dead
The Ultimatum
• Ultimatum – or final set of demands
• To avoid war Austria sent Serbia a set of demands
• 1. Serbia must end all anti Austrian agitation
• 2. punish any Serbian involved in the murder plot
• Serbia agreed to most but NOT all terms
• June 28, 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia
Capital to Capital
• Diplomats sent notes from capital to capital across
Europe
• Forced larger forces into a deeper conflict
• Austria might not have pushed Serbia into a war
without the backing of ally Germany – Kaiser
William II wrote Austria a “blank check”
• Serbia had an alliance with Russia (Pan Slavism)
Capital to Capital
• Russia’s czar urged Austria to soften demands to
avoid war --- failed
• Russia mobilized (prepared) their army
• Russia appealed to their ally France
• France hated Germany (Franco-Prussian War
payback)
• Germany demanded France stay out – they did not
back down – Germany declared war on France
**Schlieffen Plan**
• Italy & Britain remained neutral & uncommitted
• Alfred Von Schieffen a German war general
developed a plan to attack France
• Avoid a 2 front war
• Schlieffen thought Russia would be slow to mobilize
• Germany would defeat the French quickly & then
fight Russia
Schlieffen Plan
• German armies march through Belgium to attack
French – August 3 they march through Belgium
• Marching through Belgium outraged Britain
• Britain had a treaty with Belgium guaranteeing they
would protect Belgian neutrality
• Britain Declares war on Germany
Section 3 – New Conflict
“Modern weapons resulted in huge numbers of
casualties and helped prevent either side from gaining
an advantage”
“A war of many fronts”
Western Front
• German forces swept through Belgium toward Paris.
• Russia mobilized more quickly than Germans
expected
• They won a few victories in east so they sent more
troops to the east (bad idea…weakened German
forces)
• British Troops reached France and aided along the
Marne River --- dug in for the winter STALEMATE
Trench Warfare
&
No man’s land
Costly Battles
• 1916 both sides launched offensives to break the
stalemate
• German forces tried to overwhelm the French at
Verdun
• 11 month struggle – 500,000 casualties on both sides
• Somme River – 1 day 60,000 British killed or
wounded
Eastern Europe
• August 1914 Russian armies pushed back into
eastern Germany
• Battle of Tannenberg - Russia suffered one of the
worst defeats in the war
• Russia poorly equipped to fight modern war
• Throw massive amounts of peasant soldiers into
combat
Southern Europe
• 1915 Bulgaria joined the Central powers (AustriaHungary, Germany, Italy
• Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary & Germany
• Italians retreated
• British and French forces later helped stop the
Central Powers’ advance into Italy
War Outside Europe
• Japan allied with Britain used the war as an excuse to seize
German outposts in China and the islands in the Pacific
• 1914 Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers Turks
closed off water straits
• 1915 Allies sent massive troops to open strait
• 1916 Arab nationalists led a revolt against Ottoman rule –
British sent Colonel T.E. Lawrence
• **Lawrence of Arabia – guerilla raids against the Turks
War in the Colonies
• European colonies were drawn into the struggle
• People in the colonies had mixed feelings about
serving
• They expected that their service would be a step
toward citizenship or independence
Section 4 - Winning the War
Main Idea –
•
in their efforts to achieve victory, governments
committed all their nations’ resources to the war
effort.
Total War –
• The channeling of a nation’s entire resources into a
war effort
Collapsing Morale
• Economic Impact
• Conscription – the draft
• Atrocities – horrible acts against innocent people
• Propaganda
• Is the spreading of ideas to promote or a cause or to
damage the opposing cause.
• Women in the War
• Women took over men’s jobs, kept the economies going
Revolution in Russia
• March 1917 brought down the Russian monarchy
• Allies welcomed the overthrow of the czar
• **1918 – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany
• Ended the Russian participation in WW1
USA Enters the War
• Unrestricted submarine warfare
• Sinking of the Lusitania – May 1915
• Zimmerman Note
• 1917 British intercepted a message from German foreign
minister Arthur Zimmerman to his ambassador in Mexico
• Mexico’s support – Germany would help Mexico
reconquering territory lost
• Note became public & anti-German feelings intensified in
USA
USA Declaring War*
• April 1917
• Congress to declare war on
Germany
• 1918 – 2 million men joined
the war effort
• Saved the western front for
the Allies!
*Wilson’s Fourteen Points
• America failed to maintain neutrality
• Wilson wanted to be a peacemaker
• January 1918 – issued Fourteen Points
•
•
•
•
**Freedom of Seas
**Free Trade
**large sale reduction of arms
**End secret treaties
• Self – Determination**
• The right of people to choose their own form of
government
Campaign to Victory
• By July 1918 German’s exhausted their efforts across
France & Belgium
• September the German generals told their Kaiser
that they would not and could not win the the war.
• **** the German people ANGRY
• Kaiser William II fled Germany
• Austria- Hungry collapses!!
Campaign to Victory
• German government sought an armistice
• Armistice- an agreement to end fighting with the
Allies
• November 11, 1918 – Great War came to an end
Section 5 – Making Peace
Main Idea –
•
In their efforts to achieve victory, government
committed all their nations’ resources to the war
effort.
Cost of World War I
• Human Costs
• 8.5 million dead
• 17 million wounded
• Political Costs
• Collapse of governments
• Unrest in colonies
• Rising threat of communism
• Financial Costs
• War loans, much destroyed, loss of economic power in
Britain
Costs of World War I
• Pandemic
• Spanish Flu
• 1918 – 20 million people dead!
• Political Turmoil
• governments collapsed in Russia, Germany, AustriaHungary & Ottoman Empire
• Chaos in Russia
• Chaos in colonies
Paris Peace Conference
** Big Three **
British Prime Minister – David George
USA President – Woodrow Wilson
French leader – Georges Clemenceau
Difficult Issues
• Collective Security
• A system in which a group of nations acts as one to
preserve the peace of all
• *** League of Nations!!!***
• Attempt to act as a peace keeper in Europe
• Weak & ineffective due to the absence of the USA
**Treaty of Versailles**
• June 1919
• Germans were ordered to sign a treaty drawn up by
the Allies
• Germans forced to
•
•
•
•
take blame for WWI
To pay huge reparations for war damage
To pay Allied soldiers or their widows & families
$ 30 billion
Treaty of Versailles
• Was more about revenge than lasting peace
• Germany’s responsibility for the war and their loss
of territory
• Start of WWII is a direct result of the harsh
treatment of Germany after WWI.
• 20 years later – and even deadlier war!!
Results of WWI
• Demanded economic retribution from Germany,
Austria, Bulgaria & Turkey
• Aus -Hungary lost 2/3rds of its empire – formed
new nations of Yugoslavia (Serbia),
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria
Be able to answer:
• How did the industrial revolution affect the course
of the war?
• How did the treaty of Versailles punish Germany?
• What do you think Woodrow Wilson meant by
“peace without victory”?