World War I
Overview
 World War I was the first true world-wide conflict; referred to
as “The Great War”
 The first total war (the govt mobilized every person and
resource for the war)
 New military technology made it more destructive than all
previous conflicts
 Toppled several monarchies
 Created several new nation-states in Eastern Europe
 Helped lead to the Russian Revolution
The Road to War
 The early 20th
century was
dominated by
European
imperialism
 No major wars for a
century
The Road to War
 Europe had always had a history of conflict
 In the previous century, the continent had been overrun with
Napoleonic Wars
 Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) had created a balance of
powers that was upset with the creation of new empires such
as Germany.
 Otto von Bismarck humiliated France and challenged Britain
 Germany joined the quest for new colonies in Africa and Asia
Underlying Causes of World War I
 Nationalism – each ethnic group wanted
their own nation and you should promote
your nation’s interest above all others
 Sometimes nationalists assert their
nation is more superior than others
 Encouraged rivalries between several
European countries
 Led to creation of new independent states in
the Balkans
 Austria-Hungary was composed of several
ethnic groups that wanted to break up the
empire and create their own countries
Underlying Causes of World War I
 Imperialism – possession of oversea
colonies was a sign of great power
 Many European countries were competing for
colonies in Africa and Asia; competing claims
created tension
 One quarter of the world was under the British
Empire
 Germany threated British economic supremacy
 Russian interests threatened Austria-Hungary
and Turkey
Underlying Causes of World War I
 The Alliance System – Europe had divided into two major
alliances:
 Triple Alliance (1882) – Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
 Triple Entente (understanding) - Great Britain, France, and
Russia
 Alliances were meant to preserve power but it meant that if any
two of these countries went to war, they all went to war
Underlying Causes of World War I
 Militarism – military values and goals took over civilian
society
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Bismarck had united Germany through Prussia’s military power
Every country built up military power
Kings wore military uniforms
Generals became influential in government
The Spark
 June 28, 1914 Archduke
Francis Ferdinand of
Austria is assassinated by
the Serbian nationalist
group “The Black Hand”.
 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
 Declared war when Serbia
only agreed to 8 out of 10
demands
The Spark
 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
The War Begins
The War Begins
 Began with France, Britain, and Russia on one side (the
Triple Entente) against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and
the Ottoman Empire (Central Powers)
 Italy was part of the Triple Alliance with Germany, but joined the
Entente after a secret agreement guaranteeing land from AustriaHungary
 Most European countries chose sides
 As Triple Entente grew, came to be known as “Allied Powers”
Illusions of Grandeur
 Many Europeans were excited about war
 “Defend yourself against the aggressors”
 Domestic differences were put aside
 War would be over in a few weeks
 Ignored the length and brutality of the American Civil War (prototype
to World War I)
 Belief that Modern industrial war could not be conducted for
more than a few months
 “Home by Christmas”
Illusions of Grandeur
“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
Fighting the War
 Schlieffen Plan
 German plan finalized in 1905 to plan victory in a war in which
the German Empire might find itself fighting on two fronts –
France (west) and Russia (east)
 Concentrate troops in the west, quickly defeat France, and then
rush troops to the east by rail to face the Russians before they
had a chance to mobilize
 It was successful for the first month but ultimately failed
Fighting the War
 King Albert I of Belgium denied permission
for Germans to move troops through Belgium
 “Belgium is a country, not a road”
 August 2, 1914 Germany declared war on
France
 August 4, 1914 Great Britain declared war on
Germany for violating Belgian neutrality
 Germany made vast encircling movement
through Belgium to enter Paris
 Underestimated speed of the British
mobilization
 Quickly sent troops to France
A War on Multiple Fronts
 In the end, Germany had a war to fight on two fronts
 Technically three when Italy entered the war between the Italians
and Australians
 President Woodrow Wilson called upon Americans to
remain neutral
Fighting on the Western Front
Sept 6-10, 1914
 Battle of Marne
 Stopped the Germans but French troops were
exhausted
 Both sides dug trenches for shelter
Fighting on the Western Front
 Trench warfare: Both sides dig
ditches to create fortified positions
 Separated by fields of barbed
wire and mines called “no man’s
land”
 Trenches dug from English Channel
to Switzerland
 6,250 miles
 6 to 8 feet deep
 Immobilized both sides for 4 years
In the Trench
Elaborate systems
of defense
 Barbed wire
 Concrete machine gun
nests
 Mortar batteries
 Troops lived in holes
underground
In the Trench
 Boredom
 Soldiers read to pass the
time
 Sarah Bernhardt came
out to the front to read
poetry to the soldiers
In the Trenches
 “We all had on us the stench of dead bodies.”
 Death numbed the soldier’s minds.
 Shell shock
 Psychological devastation
 Mustard gas
 Carried by the wind
 Burned out soldier’s lungs
 Deadly in the trenches where it would sit at the
bottom
In the Trenches
Trench warfare baffled military leaders
 Attempt a breakthrough
 Then return to a war of movement
 Millions of young men sacrificed attempting the
breakthrough
Battle of Verdun
 10 months
 700,000 men killed
 Longest and one of the
most devastating battles
of war and the history of
warfare
 Tactical victory for France
 Had recaptured most of its
defensive system
New Technology
 New weapons crippled the “frozen front”
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Poison gas (mustard gas)
Hand grenades
Flame throwers
Tanks
Airplanes
Tanks
Subs
New Technology
Airplanes
 Dog fights in the air
 Bombing inaccurate
 Romanticized the battlefields
 Paris and London bombed
 Pilots fired pistols and threw hand grenades
New Technology
 German submarines or U-boats dominated the seas
 Used to attack large ships
 Britain placed a blockade around Germany and Austria-Hungary
in an attempt to starve them into submission
 Russia became isolated from the West
Eastern Front
 Russian army moved
into Eastern Germany on
August 30, 1914
 Defeated
 The Austrians kicked out
of Serbia
 Italians attacked Austria
in 1915
 Germany came to
Austrian aid and pushed
Russians back 300 miles
into own territory
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
Germany and Austria Hungary joined by
Bulgaria in Sept. 1915
 Attacked and eliminated Serbia from war
Eastern Front
 The Russian army fought badly, driven out of East Prussia
and Poland in 1915
 Failed counterattacks in 1916 and 1917
 Lack of leadership and heavy causalities caused
increased hostilities towards Czar Nicholas II
 Helped lead to the eventual takeover by Lenin and the
Bolsheviks
 Withdrawal of Russia from the war in 1917
War Outside Europe
 Serbia, Belgium, Italy, Romania, Greece, and Portugal joined
the Allied Powers
 The US was officially neutral but was sympathetic to
Britain and France
 American ships sent supplies to Allies and were attacked by
German submarines
 Lusitania sinking
 1917 – US enters the war (same year Russia leaves it)
 Most solders went to the Western Front and called “doughboys”
War Outside Europe
 World War I led to the end of the Ottoman Empire
 Sultan joined Central Powers to oppose Russia
 Armenia Massacre
 Ottomans fearful Christian Armenians would side with Christian
Russians
 Millions of Armenians were jailed or killed by Turkish soldiers
 Minor skirmishes in African colonies
 Both sides sent soldiers from various colonies to fight
 British Indians hoped support would earn their independence
 Britain gained support from Jewish settlers in Palestine by
promising to help carve them a homeland
The Home Front
 Women took war
factory jobs
 Received lower
wages than males
 Food shortages made
running a household
difficult
The Home Front
 Censorship
 Not told about high death toll
 Romanticized the battlefields
 “Soldiers have died a
beautiful death, in noble
battle, we shall rediscover
poetry…epic and chivalrous”
 “Newspapers described
troops as itching to go over
the top.”
 “Government reported to the
press that life in the trenches
promoted good health and
clear air”
The Home Front
 “On Leave”
 Troops would stay
together so they could
sympathize with each
other
 Impossible to hide death
 Women in mourning
 Badly wounded soldiers
returned home
 Opposition began to
emerge
The War Ends
 1917 – Russia surrenders (a separate peace)
 U.S. joins the war on the Allied side
 Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice
 The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
 Now celebrated at Veteran’s Day
Death Toll
Allied Powers
Central Powers
42 million served
23 million served
22 million casualties
15 million casualties
Impacts
 Social Impacts
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Men lost limbs and were mutilated
Birthrate fell markedly
Invalids unable to work
Ethnic hostility
Influenza epidemic
 Psychological impact
 “Never such innocence again”
 Bitterness towards aristocratic officers whose lives were never in
danger
Paris Peace Conference 1919
 All victorious nations attended
 Central Powers (or Russia) were not allowed to come and
had no say in the agreements
 Three most influential leaders were Woodrow Wilson (US),
David Lloyd George (Great Britain) and Georges
Clemenceau (France)
 Wilson wanted a world “safe for democracy” and this would
be the “war to end all wars”
 Fourteen Points
 Britain and France wanted to punish Germany
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
 Wilson announced his 14 Points when the US entered the
war
 Wanted each nationality in Europe to have its own state
 Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria, Finland,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey
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Also demanded freedom of the seas
End of secret diplomacy
Creation of League of Nations – nations would protect each other
Free trade
Reduced national armies and navies
Adjustment of colonial claims
Treaty of Versailles – 1919
 German Territorial Losses
 Independent Poland created
 Lost territory to France and Poland
 Return of Alsace-Lorraine to France; extension of French border to Rhine
River
 Lost all of its oversea colonies
 Britain and France divide the Ottoman Empire/Arab lands (Sykes
Picot Agreement)
 Austria-Hungary and Turkey
 Austro-Hungarian Empire divided into several new nation states
 Turkey lost its territories in the Middle East
Treaty of Versailles - 1919
 Punishment of Germany
 Germany lost its navy, and army reduced to small police force
 Forced to accept all blame for starting the war in the War Guilt
Clause
 Required to pay huge reparations (payments for damages) to
the Allies
 League of Nations
 Created the League of Nations, an organization of nations pledged to
defend each other against aggressors
 No military force of its own
 US, Russia, and several other major powers failed to join it
 Prelude to the United Nations
Economic Impact
 Germany was prohibited from importing or manufacturing war
materials and weapons
 Article 231 (“War Guilt Clause”): Germany forced to pay over
$30 billion in war reparations over 30 years
 Severe inflation and economic disaster affect Germany after the war
since large amounts of paper money printed to pay off war debts
 German people have trouble accepting that one nation should be
blamed for starting the war
 United States implements the Dawes Plan in 1924 to loan $200
million to strengthen the German economy and implement a
more realistic schedule of reparations
 United States rejects Treaty of Versailles and signs a separate
peace with Germany.