Transcript WWI - darienps.org

WWI: The Great War
1914-1918
In the decades before the war:
 What
role did Otto von Bismarck play until
he was dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II ?
 What did the new Kaiser/Emperor do?
 #5:
How did political leaders encourage
the drift toward war?


Military leaders
Popular opinion?
Balance of Power- Alliances
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Issues for each country
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Ottoman – “Sick man of Europe”
French – Desperate to restore its pride
Austria-Hungary - A dozen nationalities
Balkans - A simmering pot of ethnicities
Germany - A new powerhouse in the center of Europe
Britain- An island unto itself
Russia – The “big slow bear” of Europe
Belgium – Weak but guaranteed neutrality (since 1839)
Alliances and the First World War:
Triple Alliance, 1882
Then Bismarck allied with Italy and Austria-Hungary
the TRIPLE ALLIANCE, 1882…this kept Germany safe.
Alliances and the First World War:
Germany encircled
When Kaiser Wilhelm II became Emperor, he dumped the Russian
alliance. He kept the Triple Alliance, but…
Alliances and the First World War:
Franco-Russian Alliance, 1892
Instead, in 1892, Russia made an alliance with FRANCE.
Although it was only a DEFENSIVE alliance, it was Germany’s worst
nightmare!
Alliances and the First World War:
Webs of Alliances
There were many more alliances.
Alliances and the First World War:
Anglo-Japanese Naval Agreement, 1902
A very important one was the 1902 Anglo-Japanese naval alliance,
which freed up Great Britain from protecting its Empire in the far east…
Alliances and the First World War:
Triple Entente, 1907
In 1907 Russia joined Britain and France to make the Triple Entente.
Europe had divided into two massive superpower blocs.
People thought this BALANCE OF POWER would keep the peace.
Alliances and the First World War:
The Balkans
But Russia was also allied to Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.
When trouble erupted in the Balkans in 1914, the nations found their
alliances dragged them into war…LATER, ITALY WILL NOT HONOR
its alliance and will join other side…
Germany versus Great Britain
Why did Germany regard England as its mortal enemy ?
A German Navy Toast of the Era

Between Napoleon’s
1815 downfall and
1904, Great Britain
sought no alliances.
It kept a tiny standing
army and no
conscription.
We will never forgo our hate.
Hate by water and hate by land.
Hate of the head and hate of the hand.
Hate of the hammer and hate of the
Crown.
Hate of the seventy millions choking
down.
We love as one, we hate as one
We have one foe and one alone:
England!
Image analysis: Can you name the
members of the Triple Entente?

Concerns of each?
 Britain:
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Naval buildup
Russian
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A-H in Slavic lands
• Slavic Nationalism
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Germany
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The Dardanelles problem
France
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Franco-Prussian memory
Alsace-Lorraine stolen
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The Balkan Powder Keg
Compare the two maps below…
Nationalism
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Greece
Albania
Bulgaria
Romania
Serbia
• Wanted to annex
Bosnia and
Herzogovenia
1835
By 1914…
The Catalyst of the War: June 28th 1914
…a shot heard round the world
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Sarajevo- city now in BosniaHerzegovina
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Area was controlled by AustriaHungary
Large Serbian Population
Archduke Ferdinand was shot and
killed by a Serbian nationalistAssassin, Gavrilo Princip, a
member of the Black Hand… They
wanted ???

B-H united with SERBIA
Archduke (prince)
Franz Ferdinand of
Austro-Hungarian
empire
What was the blank check?
and the ultimatum…?
 “The
Slavs are made to be
subservient…Serbia must learn to fear us
again.”
 48
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Hours to repond…
How did Serbia respond?
How was A-H planning to respond?
Who declared war on who first?
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How did France get
into the war?
Britain?
Austrian Artillery in Russia
What difficulties did Russia
have as it mobilized for war?
Germany’s Schlieffen Plan
20 years old
 “Paris
for lunch, St.
Petersburg for dinner”
 Belgium’s neutrality ??
 Britain enters the War!
 Italy bows out !
 Germans Near Paris
(Sept 1914)

Battle of the Marne
Troops move to the Front in Taxis!
Europe is mobilized!!!
The First German Offensive in
France: The Marne
 Just
miles from
Paris, the
Offensive is
stopped.
 Battle of the
Marne (river) the
Germans are
pushed back
Let’s Review: Causes of WWI
 Long
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Militarism and military buildup
Alliances formation
Nationalist tensions in the Balkans
Imperlialistic rivalry of Great powers
 Short
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Term:
Term:
Anarchist organization against A-H : Black Hand
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Germany’s blank check
A-H’s strict ultimatum
It is said that in WWI
each alliance was
pulled into war by its
weakest member…

Who were the
weakest members of
each side? What
were their
weaknesses?
Why is WWI called a total war?
 What
was the role of government in
WWI?
German U-Boats: What Other New
Weapons?
New Powerful Ships
 Steel
ships powered by
diesel engines
 Turrets capable of
sending shells miles
 Radio
How did the war change the role of
women in society?
Women will get the right to vote in US and Britain
after the war.
Trench warfare ensues, Stalemate is common
“The Furnace”: Verdun, 1916
10 months battle…
A War of Attrition and French Elan
German Gen Falkenhayn: “Bleed them white!”
40 million shells are fired / 600,000 men die
Gen Petain: They shall not pass!
Verdun: Bleed Them White!

The town of Verdun-sur-Meuse was chosen by
Gen. Falkenhayn to "bleed white" the French!
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Important protected route to Paris
Very Historic Site (Attila the Hun fought the Franks
here; Treaty of Verdun 843 between Charlemagne’s
grandsons; Battle site in Franco-Prussian War)
600,000 dead; 400,000 injured = over 1 million
longest battle of war
French prevail in the end…new hope
Battle of the Somme at same time: a British
attack to relieve the attack on French at Verdun
 another 1 million casualties
The Eastern Front

Russian forces invade
Germany and AH

Battle of Tannenberg, 9/1914
Symbol of Czar’s inability
 Lack of railroads & industry

1917 - Russia in Turmoil
1.7 MILLION
RUSSIANS WERE
KILLED IN WWI
4 million casualties….
Later, Czar Nicholas and
his whole family are
ordered executed by
Marxist leader Vladimir
Lenin
In Russia…2 Groups of Angry Socialists
Note how names are opposite of their position
 Social
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Revolutionaries
wanted democratic socialism
power from peasants
Social Democrats
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Want complete revolution: Marxist
Power from urban workers
Lenin at the London meeting 1905
Divided over waiting: Mensheviks or
Revolution NOW: Bolsheviks
• “Majority”
1917 Revolution: led by
Kerensky’s SRs
 Stage
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1: February Revolt
Begins with bread riots in streets
Uncaring Czar returns to war front
1917: February Soldiers in Petrograd support
rioters
 Duma Restarted
 Czar is blocked from returning, then abdicates
 Thousands of soldiers refuse to fight
February Revolution
The Provisional Government
 The
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President Alexander Kerensky, a
Social Revolutionary, moderate
Wants constitutional socialist
democracy
The Duma’s WWI decision:
• Keep fighting!
 The
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Duma, or Parliament
Soviets = “councils”
Factories and military barracks
Bolsheviks dominate Petrograd Soviet
Stage 2: The (more famous)
October Revolution
Lenin leads his Social Democrats to physically
overthrow Kerensky and the Duma
Propaganda Film by Bosheviks
Lenin and Bolsheviks Get Russia
out of “Imperialists War”
 Treaty
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of Brest-Litovsk
Russians make peace with Germany
Lose 25% of lands to Germany
The Russian Civil War
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Kerensky flees
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White movement
opposes Marxist
extremes
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Fights the
Communists (Reds)
US and European
countries sent
troops
Lenin and Gen.
Leon Trotsky are
better organized
than the Whites, so
Reds triumph
Reds versus Whites :
who drew this cartoon?
Lenin Restored Order
 Kronstadt
Revolt: He puts it down brutally
 New Economic Policy: temporary
capitalism
 New Name: Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR)
 New? Capital: Moscow
 New Party Name: Communist Party
 Sets up Gulags for anti-revolutionaries
Stalin after
Lenin
1925-53
•Command Communist
Economy
•5 Year Plans
•Collective Ownership
•Gulags
Ottoman Front: Dardanelles
 Gallipoli
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Peninsula, to help Russia
ANZAC disaster
 Younger
(Australia-New Zealand Army Corp)
Winston Churchill’s mistake?
The USA tried to stay out of the
fighting but couldn’t
sink the Lusitania – kill 139 US
 President Wilson objects:
 Germans
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unrestricted attacks by U-boats
Germans apologize
• At first Germans promise the “Sussex Pledge”
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 But
No attacks on passenger ships
Warning before attacking merchant vessels
Sailors given time to get to lifeboats
early 1917, Germans abandon pledge
Passenger
Liner
Lusitania

May 1915
 Over 1000 Died! - 139 Americans are killed as
well
 Though denied at the time by the Brits, this ship
was carrying War Material which violated the
rules of war - only recently was this verified.
Convoys of Military and Civilian Ships
were created to stop UBoat attacks- US
was helping Britain and France
Why does US Enter the War?
1.
2.
Sussex Pledge abandoned/ uboats !
AND Final Straw for US Involves…
Arizona, New Mexico and Texas?!
• 1917 British agents intercept a telegram from
Germany to the Mexican Embassy

The Zimmerman Telegram
What were the goals of Woodrow
Wilson’s 14 Points?
 Prevent
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future war?
No secret treaties
Freedom of the seas
Free trade between nations
Right of self determination of people
• Limit colonization
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Reduce weapons
League of Nations
Meanwhile, the Influenza of 1917
Was a Pandemic
 Millions
die in the Influenza
epidemic of 1917- More die
in the epidemic than the
WAR!
 Troops at the Front are
exhausted- and sick!
AN ESTIMATED 20 MILLION DIE IN THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC!!!THAT’S WHY WE ARE SO WORRIED TODAY ABOUT FLU EPIDEMICS!
The End of the War is Near
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Germany no longer has an Eastern Front
American forces were entering the
war at 250,000 troops a month!
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Wilson: The Yanks are Coming...
2nd Battle of the Marne
• Final Push toward Paris as Germany is depleted
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Battle of Amiens – Allies push forward
Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria want peace
Austria-Hungary has a revolution
11/9/18- Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates and a
German republic is formed

November 11 (Veteran’s Day) – Armistice signed End of the War!
What were the costs of the War?
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First World War (1914-18):
About 15 million military and civilian deaths
About 9 million military battle related deaths.
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Germany: 1,773,700
Russia: 1,700,000
France & Empire: 1,327,000
Austria-Hungary: 1,100,000
Britain & Empire: 908,371
Italy: 460,000
Turkey: 236,000
Romania: 219,800
USA: 50,585
Serbia: 45,000
Belgium: 13,716
Battle lines in the
West were only 30
miles different
from the start of
the war!!!
Shell shock
The Treaty of Versailles
The Big Three
• Wilson and?
What attitudes did
European leaders
take at the Peace
Conference:
• Clemenceau,
George, Orlando?
The Big Three + Orlando of Italy
How did boundaries and territory
change as a result of the Treaty?
 Negotiations
at
Versailles
 Look at Map, 1919
Provisions in the Versailles Treaty
Territorial Losses
I.
I.
II.
Germany, Russia, A-H, Ottoman Empire
Alsace-Lorraine back to France
Britain, France gain Territories
II.
I.
Middle Eastern Mandates
Reparations – determined by a commission –
G.: $31 bill.; Austria, Ottoman broken up
IV. Military Restrictions
III.
I.
Austria, Germany’s reduced/demilitarized Rhineland
War Guilt Clause applied to Germany
VI. League of Nations to avoid future war
V.
Which of the 14 Points, had it been
implemented by around 1900,
could have most helped avoid the
war?
Wilson’s Hopes and Reality
WIILSON’S ORIGINAL 14 POINTS
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Ending secret treaties
that lead to WWI
Freedom of the Seas
Removing economic
barriers to trade
Fairness toward colonial
people’s and selfdetermination
A League of Nations to
ensure lasting peace
THE ACTUAL TREATY
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Secret treaties were found
impossible to abolish
completely
The British dominated the
seas
Countries still had tariffs to
protect domestic industry
“Mandates” allowed for the
subjugation of colonial
peoples
The League of Nations
could only recommend.
• No Germany or Russia
• No US
• Japan will drop out
Why did the US not join the League
of Nations?
The Wounds that Never Heal…

10 million battle deaths
 10 million civilian deaths
 Another 21 million
wounded on both sides of
the conflict
 56% of all fighting soldiers
in the war became a
casualty of some sort.
 First documented cases of
“Shell Shock”
The Lost Generation
 Lasting
psychological effects:
 Shell Shock, nationalism, pacifism,
socialism, cynicism
 Tombs to the unknown soldiers erected in
nearly every country
Disillusioned
Art of the Lost Generation
“The Hero” by George
Grosz
 “I saw heroism, but it
was blind...instead I
saw misery, stupidity,
cowardice and
horror.”

Germany was embittered!
(social, political, economic upheaval)
The Road Ahead…