World War I (1914-18),
and the Russian Revolution (1917)
World War I
World War I
• Balkan Origins
– Resentment between
Austria-Hungary,
Serbia
– Franz Ferdinand
assassinated,
Sarajevo
(June 28, 1914)
– Austria declared war
(July 28)
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie
World War I
• “The Great War” Begins
– Allied Powers: Russia, France, Great Britain, Italy
– Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman
Empire
World War I
• The Western Front
– German objectives
• Prevent France from
assisting Russians
• Defeat France quickly
– Invaded through Belgium
(August 1914)
– FIRST BATTLE OF THE
MARNE (September)
The Schlieffen Plan
• French and British
counterattacked
• Germans halted, dug in at
Aisne
– Stalemate!
World War I
Destruction of Louvain (August 1914)
World War I
Shelling of Reims Cathedral (September 1914)
World War I
World War I
World War I
World War I
World War I
“Big Bertha”
World War I
• Eastern Front: The
Gallipoli Campaign
(1915-16)
– Allied objectives
• Cut Ottomans off from
Germany
• Get supplies to Russians
– Ottoman artillery blocked
squadron, troops
– Allies evacuated 
Ottoman victory
World War I
• The Armenians (1915)
Ottoman march of Armenians to prisons
– Most were loyal to
Ottomans
– Growing nationalism,
Armenian volunteers in
Russian army
– Armenian “collaboration” 
deportation from Anatolia to
Syrian desert
– Reprisals elsewhere too
– Death toll: approx. 1
million!
World War I
• The Arab Revolt
(1916-18)
Prince Faysal, and Lawrence
Raiding of an Ottoman train, in Lawrence of Arabia
– Result of British
arrangement with Husayn
ibn Ali, amir of Mecca
– British agreed to recognize
independent Arab state
– The revolt
• Commanded by Prince
Faysal, with assistance of
T.E. Lawrence
• Attacked Ottoman
garrisons
• Disrupted Ottoman
communications, supply
lines
World War I
1962
World War I
• Questions?
The Russian Revolution
• Russia’s Problems
– Tsar Nicholas II (r. 18941917) inept, reluctant to
share power
– War going poorly!
– Tsar’s departure for front 
Alexandra’s control of
government
– RASPUTIN
(ca. 1872-1916)
• “Holy man”!!!
• Advisor to Alexandra
• Assassinated
The Royal Family
The Russian Revolution
Rasputin later in life
Rasputin the “puppet master”
The Russian Revolution
• The Fall of the Tsar
– Severe food shortages  riots in Petrograd
(March 8, 1917), joined by soldiers
– Nicholas II persuaded to abdicate (March 15)
– Duma established provisional government
• Goal: constitutional democracy
• Aimed to continue war effort
– SOVIETS formed, sought land reform
The Russian Revolution
• Vladimir Lenin
(1870-1924)
– Leader of Bolshevik
Party
– Had been exiled 
Petrograd (April 1917)
– Opposed provisional
government
– “Peace, land, bread!”
– Revolution!
The Russian Revolution
• The Bolshevik Revolution
– Gained majority among
soviets
– Coup (November 6-7,
1917)
– New government: oneparty rule, under Lenin
– PEACE OF BRESTLITOVSK (March 3, 1918)
• Russia out of the war
• Had to cede territory
– Royal family executed
(July 1918)
The Russian Revolution
• Questions?
World War I
German U-Boat
World War I
• The USA Enters the War
The sinking of the Lusitania
– German U-boats blockaded
British Isles (Feb. 1915)
– Torpedoed Lusitania (May
1915)  1,200 drowned!
– Warning by Wilson 
Germans pulled back
– Germans resumed
unrestricted sub warfare
(January 1917)
– USA declared war April 6
World War I
• The Defeat of the Central Powers (1918)
– Germans continued war effort  reached
Marne again (May)
– First American troops arrived (June), with
additional reinforcements each month
– Western, eastern fronts rolling back
– Central Powers capitulated
• Ottomans (October 31)
• Austria-Hungary (November 3)
• Germany (November 11)
World War I
• Woodrow Wilson
(1856-1924)
– President (1913-1921)
– “Fourteen Points” for
new international order
• Open diplomacy
• National selfdetermination
• International body
– Popular in Europe!
World War I
• Treaty of Versailles (June 28, 1919)
– Ended war with Germany
– The Arrangements
•
•
•
•
Alsace-Lorraine returned to France, demilitarization of Rhineland
German colonies turned over to Great Powers
Military to be largely dismantled
Reparations!
World War I
• League of Nations
– Wilson’s idea
– Goals
• Preserve world peace,
order
• Include all states
– Executive council:
Great Powers
– Met yearly from 19201939
World War I
• Aftermath
– Death toll
• 10-13 million soldiers!
• 7-10 million civilians!
– Disillusionment,
cynicism
– Declining European
hegemony
– New international
order
Käthe Kollwitz, Mother with Dead Son (1937-38)
World War I
World War I
World War I
• Questions?