1914-1918:
The World
at War
Differing Viewpoints
 “Family Feud”
 “Fall of the Eagles”
 “The War to End All Wars”
 “The War to ‘Make the
World Safe for Democracy’”
Causes
of the
War
1. The Alliance System
Triple Entente:
Triple Alliance:
Two Armed Camps!
Allied Powers:
Central Powers:
The Major Players: 1914-17
Allied Powers:
Central Powers:
Nicholas II
[Rus]
Wilhelm II [Ger]
George V [Br]
Victor Emmanuel
II [It]
Enver Pasha
[Turkey]
Pres. Poincare [Fr]
Franz Josef [A-H]
Europe in 1914
2. Militarism & Arms Race
Total Defense Expenditures for the Great
Powers [Ger., A-H, It., Fr., Br., Rus.]
in millions of £s.
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1914
94
130
154
268
289
398
1910-1914 Increase in
Defense Expenditures
France
10%
Britain
13%
Russia
39%
Germany
73%
3. Economic & Imperial Rivalries
4. Aggressive Nationalism
Pan-Slavism: The Balkans, 1914
The
“Powder Keg”
of Europe
The
“Spark”
Archduke Franz Ferdinand &
His Family
The Assassination: Sarajevo
The Assassin:
Gavrilo
Princip
Who’s To Blame?
Inevitability of War
 June 28, 1914 Archduke
Francis Ferdinand of
Austria assassinated
 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
Inevitability of War
 July 28, 1914 A-H
declares war on Serbia
 July 29, 1914 Russia
orders full mobilization
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
 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
The Schlieffen Plan
http://youtu.be/lJXAcl8D51Y
4 min
The Schlieffen Plan
 Invade western front 1st
 After defeating France
concentrate on the
Eastern front
 Avoid fighting a 2 front
war
The Schlieffen Plan’s
Destructive Nature
 Germany made vast
encircling movement
through Belgium to
enter Paris
 Underestimated speed
of the British
mobilization
– Quickly sent troops to
France
The Schlieffen Plan’s
Destructive Nature
 Sept 6-10, 1914
– Battle of Marne
– Stopped the Germans but
French troops were
exhausted
– Both sides dug trenches
for shelter
STALEMATE
German Atrocities in Belgium
Mobilization
 Home by Christmas!
 Glorification of War!
 Nationalism!
It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go;
It's a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square,
It's a long, long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there!
Recruitment Posters
1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate
 Many Europeans were
excited about war
– “Defend yourself against
the aggressors”
– Domestic differences
were put aside
1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate
 War would be over in a few
weeks
– Ignored the length and
brutality of the American
Civil War
(prototype to World War I)
1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate
 Belief that Modern industrial war could not
be conducted for more than a few months
 “Home by Christmas”
1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate
 “Fatal attraction of war”
– Exhilarating release from
–
–
–
–
every day life
A glorious adventure
War would rid the
nations of selfishness
Spark a national re-birth
based on heroism
Dulce Et Decorum Est
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xeftgx_dulce-et-decorum-est-wilfredowen_creation
Soldiers Mobilized
14
12
Millions
10
8
6
4
2
0
France
Germany
Russia
Britain
The War of
the
Industrial
Revolution:
New
Technology
French Renault Tank
British Tank at Ypres
U-Boats
Allied Ships Sunk by U-Boats
The Airplane
“Squadron Over the Brenta”
Max Edler von Poosch, 1917
The Flying Aces of World War I
Eddie
Rickenbacher, US
Francesco
Barraco, It.
Eddie “Mick”
Mannoch, Br.
Willy Coppens de
Holthust, Belg.
Rene Pauk
Fonck, Fr.
Manfred von
Richtoffen, Ger.
[The “Red Baron”]
Curtis-Martin
U. S. Aircraft Plant
Looking for the “Red Baron?”
The Zeppelin
Flame
Throwers
Grenade
Launchers
Poison Gas
Machine Gun
Krupp’s “Big Bertha” Gun
Trench Warfare
 Trenches dug from
English Channel to
Switzerland
 6,250 miles
 6 to 8 feet deep
 Immobilized both sides
for 4 years
Trench Warfare
“No Man’s
Land”
http://youtu.be/SXtsiqrhqsU
Opening Scene All Quiet on the Western Front - 4 min
The Western
Front:
A “War of
Attrition”
A Multi-Front War
The Western Front
Life in the Trenches
 Elaborate systems of defense
– barbed wire
– Concrete machine gun nests
– Mortar batteries
– Troops lived in holes underground
Life in the Trenches
 Boredom
– Soldiers read to pass
the time
– Wrote Poetry
(Wilfred Owen)
“Death is everywhere”
 “We all had on us the stench of dead bodies.” Death
numbed the soldier’s minds.
 Shell shock
 Psychological devastation
“Death is everywhere”
 Mustard gas
– Carried by the wind
– Burned out soldier’s
lungs
– Deadly in the
trenches
where it would
sit at the bottom
[I saw his round mouth's crimson deepen as it fell],
Like a Sun, in his last deep hour;
Watched the magnificent recession of farewell,
Clouding, half gleam, half glower,
And a last splendour burn the heavens of his cheek.
And in his eyes
The cold stars lighting, very old and bleak,
In different skies.
Verdun – February, 1916
 German offensive.
 Each side had 500,000 casualties.
The Somme – July, 1916
 60,000 British soldiers killed in one day.
 Over 1,000,000 killed in 5 months.
War Is HELL !!
Sacrifices in War
The
Eastern
Front
The Eastern Front
 Russian army moved into
Eastern Germany on August
30, 1914
– Defeated
 The Austrians kicked out of
Serbia
 Italians attacked Austria in
1915
 G. came to Austrian aid and
pushed Russians back 300
miles into own territory
The Eastern Front
 Much more mobile
more than the West
– But loss of life still very
high
– 1915: 2.5 million
Russians killed,
captured, or wounded
The Eastern Front
 Germany and Austria
Hungary joined by
Bulgaria in Sept. 1915
– Attacked and eliminated
Serbia from war
The
Russian
Revolution
1917
Russia in WWI
 Lacked food, weaponry &
infrastructure
– Ottoman Empire shut down ally
supply lines
 People lost faith, Duma had no
power, protests were raging
– Duma called for reform Czar
Nicholas dissolved the Duma
– Army sided with the people
– Duma refused to disband
– Czar abdicated the throne &
was imprisoned with his
family
Lenin & the Bolsheviks
 Provisional government
fractionalized
– Petrograd Soviet of
Workers & Soldiers
Deputies Socialists
 Gov’t opposed land
reform – wanted to
continue war
 The Bolsheviks led by
Vladimir Lenin forced
power to be turned over
to the Soviets (council)
Peace, Land & Bread
 Lenin argued for an end to the
war & food & land redistribution
for the people
 Marxists – believed in a
bourgeoisie revolution needed a
capitalist system
– (Russia lacked that too)
 Lenin argued for a middle class
rev could establish a proletariat
dictatorship supported by the
peasantry
Peace & Civil War
 Nov. 7, 1917 Bolshevicks
overthrew the provisional gov’t
– Renamed The Communist Party
– Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – gave up
most of the Eastern front
– Executed the Czar & his family
 Civil War broke out (3 yrs)
– Red vs. White Army
– death & destruction of land, industry
–
–
–
–
& population
Fear of communism
U.S. & allies supported the White
Army
1921 Red Army won, Communist
gov’t formed
1922 renamed USSR
America
Joins
the
Allies
American Involvement
 Neutrality
– Sold arms, ammunition &
food to both sides
– Effect of the Allied Blockade
– Boosted the U.S. economy
The Sinking
of the Lusitania
 May 7, 1915
 Wilson demanded an apology, $
and a commitment not to use subs
 Sussex Pledge
The Zimmerman Telegram
 British intelligence
intercepted the note
– From Arthur
Zimmerman to Ger.
Ambassador to
Mexico
 Pres. Wilson had it
published causing
anti-German
sentiment & just
cause for war
The Yanks
Are Coming!
 April 6, 1917
 American Expeditionary
Forces
 June 14, 1917
 By July 1 million
American in Europe
 By Nov 2 million
Battle of Argonne Forest
 Sept 1918
 Last major battle of
the war
 Goal: cut Germany
supply lines
 Allies achieve their
goal even in the
toughest conditions
 47 days, 1.2 mil.
Americans
1918 Flu Pandemic:
Depletes All Armies
50,000,000 –
100,000,000 died
11 a.m., November 11, 1918
The Armistice is Signed!
War of Attrition =
9,000,000 Dead
The Somme American
Cemetary, France
116,516 Americans Died
World War I Casualties
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
Russia
Germany
Austria-Hungary
France
Great Britain
Italy
Turkey
US
Turkish Genocide Against Armenians
A Portent of Future Horrors to Come!
Turkish Genocide Against Armenians
Districts & Vilayets of Western
Armenia in Turkey
1914
1922
Erzerum
215,000
1,500
Van
197,000
500
Kharbert
204,000
35,000
Diarbekir
124,000
3,000
Bitlis
220,000
56,000
Sivas
225,000
16,800
Western Anatolia
371,800
27,000
Cilicia and Northern Syria
309,000
70,000
European Turkey
194,000
163,000
73,390
15,000
2,133,190
387,800
Other Armenian-populated Sites
in Turkey
Trapizond District
Total