Transcript The Great War

The Great War
Nationalism
Imperialism
Militarism
Alliance System
Materialism
Stages of Alliances 1815-1914
1. Stop Revolutionaries (Concert
System)
2. Serving national interests
(Bismarckian System)
3. Balance of Power: Prevent War…
sort-of (Post-Bismarckian System)
Effect of Alliances: 1815-1914
• Suspicion
• Friction
• Suspension of War while building
more tension
• Aids in serving self-interests
• Militaries grow larger
Rivals
• Germany felt deprived of their
‘place in the sun’
• France angry at loss of AlsaceLorraine (Franco-Prussian War)
• Britain saw need to ‘protect’
colonies
• Russia wanted to reverse
humiliations of the 19th century
• Italy desired equal status on the world
stage
• Austria-Hungary were trying to
preserve her culturally fragmented
empire
• Ottoman Empire (Turkey) was falling
apart and was in ‘survival’ mode
• Smaller states sought national
independence or preservation of
recently won independence (Serbia &
Bulgaria)
• Japan sought Eastern
domination as it continued to
modernize
• USA tried to remain isolated
and economically benefited
by selling supplies to both
sides
Hatreds & Rivalries
Serbia (Russia’s
Austria-Hungary
Little Brother)
Russia
Germany
France
Britain
The Game of High Politics
Diplomacy of Threat
Questions:
1. Could the War have been avoided?
How? If not, why not?
2. Is nationalism harmful or not?
Who/what does it harm (if at all)?
3. Is it okay for a government to foster
a sense of nationalism in its people
and encourage materialism in
order to keep its people loyal and
dutiful?
4. How does faith in science and a
belief in scientific objectivity affect
Mankind’s outlook and actions?
5. Is today’s society doomed to
repeat mistakes made by Europe
100+ years ago? Will we have
another war in the early decades of
the new Millennium? Justify your
response.
1914: Basic Facts:
• 1914 saw the largest standing
armies in the history of all Mankind
• Everywhere saw at least 1-3 years
compulsory service to the military
for all males
• No-one knew war was coming…
sort of…
1914: The Two Sides
Central Powers
Germany
A-H
Turkey
Allied Powers
Serbia
Russia
France
Belgium
Britain
Canada
Europe at the beginning of the
war.
War Begins…
• June 28, 1914: Assassination of
Archduke Francis Ferdinand
• June 1914: A-H Receives a ‘blank
check’ from Germany
• June 1914: A-H Sent ultimatum to
Serbia
• July 28, 1914: A-H declared war on
Serbia
• July 29, 1914: Russia mobilized military
• August 1, 1914: Germany declared war
on Russia
• August 3, 1914: Germany declared war
on France
• August 4, 1914: Germany marched into
Belgium enacting the Schlieffen Plan
• August 4, 1914: Britain declared war on
Germany
Germany is fighting a two-front war!!!
The only plan for this is...
The Schlieffen Plan
The Belgium army held up the Germans until
help from France & Great Britain arrived.
• August 10-23: Russian advance on
Austria and German on the Eastern Front
• August 26-30, 1914: Russia soundly
defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg
(Russia never fully recovers)
• September 4-10, 1914: the First Battle of
the Marne: German advance in Western
Front halted
• September 1914: Trench Warfare on the
Western Front began
• October 14, 1914: Canadian forces
arrive to re-enforce Allied troops
• Oct 18 - Nov 12, 1914: First Battle
of Ypres
• Nov 2, 1914: Russia declared war
on Turkey
• Nov 5, 1914: Turkey joined Central
Powers
• Dec 25, 1914: Truce in the Western
Trenches
The corrupted Schlieffen plan had failed,
leaving the belligerents in a race to outflank
each other; by Christmas the stagnated
Western Front comprised over 400 miles of
trench, barbed wire and fortifications. There
were already 3.5 million casualties. The East
was more fluid and home to actual battlefield
successes, but nothing decisive and Russia's
massive manpower advantage remained. All
thoughts of a quick victory had gone: the war
was not over by Christmas.
1915
Germany now plotted a change of
tactic, fighting defensively in the West
and trying to defeat Russia quickly by
attacking, while the Allies aimed to
break through on their respective
fronts. Meanwhile, Serbia comes
under increased pressure and Britain
plans to attack Turkey.
1915
• Jan 8, 1915: Germans form
Southern army to help failing A-H
• January 1915: 1st use of: Zeppelins
& Poison Gas (both by Germans)
• Feb 4, 1915: Germany began
unrestricted sub warfare
• April 22- May 25: 2nd Battle of Ypres
• April 22, 1915: Poison gas 1st used on
Western Front
• April 25-Dec 10, 1915: Gallipoli Campaign
April 26, 1915: Italy joined Allies (Treaty of
London)
• May 7, 1915: Lusitania sunk
• July 13-15, 1915: German 3 prong offensive
against Russia (Russian Campaign)
• September 1, 1915: American outrage made
Germans stop sinking civilian ships
• September 5, 1915: Czar Nicholas II made
himself ‘Commander-in-Chief’
• Sept 12, 1915: Germany took over
Austrian army
Despite attacking on the Western Front, Britain
and France make few gains; they also incur
hundreds of thousands more casualties than
their enemy. The Gallopoli landings also fail,
causing the resignation of a certain Winston
Churchill from British government. Meanwhile,
the Central Powers achieve what looks like
success in the East, pushing the Russians
back into Belorussia...but this had happened
before - against Napoleon - and would
happen again, against Hitler. Russia's
manpower, manufacturing and army remained
strong, but casualties had been huge.
1916
1916 began with all sides planning assaults:
Germany wanted to grind French
manpower down through a war of attrition,
forcing them to defend the symbolic
Fortress of Verdun at horrific cost, while
the Entente aimed to breakthrough on the
Somme. In the East, the Germans planned
to hold firm while different Russian armies
planned attacks. Meanwhile, Romania
enters the war as an Entente power.
1916
• Feb 21, 1916: Battle of Verdun
• May 4, 1916: Sussex Pledge
• July 1-Nov 19, 1916: Battle of Somme
began (about 60,000 Allied casualties in
the 1st hour)
• Aug 27, 1916: Romania joined the Allies
• Sept 1916: First use of tanks by the British
• Dec 18-26, 1916: US Pres Wilson
attempts peace talks with
Germany
• Dec 30, 1916: Allies refuse peace
talks without German agreement
to pay reparations
Although Verdun and the Somme cost
around a million casualties each, there are
no notable gains by the end. Meanwhile,
collapse has begun in the East, where the
Brusilov offensive destroyed the armies of
both Austria and Russia, leaving the
former a German auxiliary and causing the
latter a million further casualties. In
addition, Romania - an Entente knife in
Germany's back - is swamped by the
Central Powers who gain valuable oil and
grain.
1917
Britain and France begin 1917 under the
aegis of Neville, a man determined to
launch an ambitious plan of attack, while
German High Command is similarly
influenced, accepting predictions that a full
submarine campaign against all shipping
would break Britain before the US
responded. Meanwhile, the Russian
government has been fatally damaged...
1917
• Feb 1, 1917: Germany resumed unrestricted
sub warfare (breaking the Sussex Pledge)
• Feb 3, 1917: USA broke diplomatic ties with
Germany
• Feb 24, 1917: Britain sent USA copy of
Zimmerman Note
• March-July 1917: February Revolution in
Russia
• March 15, 1917: Czar Nicholas II abdicated
• April 6, 1917: USA declared war on Germany
• May 26, 1917: First US troops arrived in
France
• July 1-18, 1917: Kerensky Offensive
(successful at 1st, then failed)
• July31-Nov 18: Third Battle of Ypres
• November 7, 1917: Lenin’s coup d’etat (2nd
Russian Revolution)
• Dec 1, 1917: British capture Jerusalem (ended
673 years of Turkish/Ottoman rule)
• Dec 15, 1917: Treaty of Best-Litovsk proposed
Neville's failure forced the French to
become defensive and await their allies,
while Haig drove Britain forward alone in
a campaign that seemingly produced
little; however, the Allies formed a
Supreme War Council to co-ordinate and
millions of fresh soldiers are forthcoming
from America. In contrast, Russia's new
Soviet leaders have all but officially
surrendered: Germany has won the
Eastern Front.
1918
The Austro-German leadership believes the
Western Front must be stormed and a
surrender forced before US troops arrive in
strength; however, the Central Powers have
gained so much land from Russia that the
Eastern Front troops remain tied up. In
contrast, the Allies have survived a year of
discontent to find millions of reinforcements
arriving, ready for their new assaults.
1918
• Jan 18, 1918: Pres Wilson presents his “14
Points”
• March 3, 1917: Treaty of Best-Litovsk signed
• May 28, 1918: First major US assault
• July 15, 1918: Second Battle of the Marne
• Aug 8, 1918: “Black Day of the German Army”:
Canadian and Australian troops, plus 600 tanks,
shatter German forces
• Sept 26, 1918: Massive allied attack
• October 6, 1918: Yugoslavia declares
independence from Austria-Hungary
• October 7, 1918: Poland declares
independence
• October 28, 1918: Czechoslovakia declares
independence from Austria-Hungary
• October 30: Turkey agrees an armistice with
the allies
• November 1: Hungary declares
independence from Austria
• November 3: Austria and Hungary agree an
armistice with the allies
• November 9: Kaiser Wilhelm II of
Germany abdicates
• November 11: Armistice Day. At the 11th
hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,
Germany signs an armistice with the
Allies. The war is officially over
As the fighting slowly stops, the haggling
over peace treaties begins. Swathes of
Europe have been churned and ruined,
four empires have fallen, over 8.5 million
have been killed and over twice as many
wounded from across the globe. New
technology has been created, America has
risen to prominence as an economic
power and new countries are forming in
Europe and the Middle East. The world
has been irrecoverably changed.