Unit 7

Chap. 31

I) Causes of WWIFour MAIN Factors: A) Militarism

– Glorification of arms; force = only way to solve problems

– Industrialization (mass production); weapons – flame-thrower, machine gun, poison gas, tank, airplane, U-boat, trench warfare,…

– Social Darwinism; arms race (e.g. GB & German navies)

German Triplane

B) Alliances– 1882 - Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy (Bismarck)

–1907 – Triple Entente: France, Russia, Great Britain

C) Imperialism– Ambition of a powerful nation to dominate the affairs of another country

– Competition; rivalries (demand for new raw materials – industrialization)

D) Nationalism– Desire to unite all people of a nation under one gov’t (state)

– Balkan “Powder Keg” – many nations• Pan-Slavism: Russia (unite all Slavs)

• Entangling alliances (e.g. Serbia & Russia)

II) War BeginsA) Assassination at Sarajevo

–June 28, 1914 - Archduke Ferdinand & wife killed in Bosnia

–Gavrilo Princip – Black Hand

–Austria-Hungary - ultimatum to Serbia

B) The Great War begins (jump to 15 minutes)

–July 28, 1914 - A-H declared war on Serbia (mobilization)

–Germany and its leader William II (gave A-H a “blank check”), Russia, France, then GB declare war

–Schlieffen Plan (Germany)

The Schlieffen Plan

The AntagonistsCentral Powers Allied Powers

GermanyAustria-Hungary BulgariaOttoman Empire

Great Britain FranceRussiaItaly (1915)USA (1917)others… (Japanese, Indians, Arabs, Africans,…)

After two years of fighting the front lines (in yellow) had

barely moved; by 1916 the war was a stalemate

No Man’s Land

Preparing to “hop the bags”

Russian / Austrian / German

The increasing alienation between the Austrian and German

high commands caused some German officers to cynically

state "we are shackled to a corpse."

Austrian Chief-of-Staff Conrad von Hoetzendorf

B) Total War – entire nation’s resources used (colonies) approx.6 min in–Naval warfare (e.g. British blockade)

–Conscription – draft–Propaganda – exaggerate atrocities

–Women – nurses, factoriesC) Russian Revolutions (1917)

(47 mins)–~2 million Russians killed; riots–February Revolution – overthrows czar; democratic gov’t

–V.I. Lenin (Bolshevik (Communist) Revolution); pulls Russia out of war

IV) The “War to End All Wars”

A) The United States Declares War–Unrestricted submarine warfare;

was restricted since Lusitania incident (1915); 1200 died, 128 Americans died

–Cultural ties – w/ Britain & France; Russia was a democracy (temporarily)

–Zimmerman Note (from Germany, 1917); Mexico to invade U.S.; British intercept & decode

–Unrestricted submarine warfare resumes -Woodrow Wilson – war declaration to Congress (1917)

In April 1917, when Woodrow Wilson sent a declaration of war to Congress, he painted it idealistically as a war “to make the world safe for democracy” and as a “war to end all wars”

B) Last Days of the War–By 1918 - 2 million Fresh U.S. soldiers destroy morale of Central Powers

– Bulgarians & Turks surrender; revolution in A-H (separate gov’ts) - pull out of the war

– 11/9/18 - Kaiser abdicated, Weimar Republic (democracy)

– 11/11/18 @ 11:00am – Armistice; Allied victory

C) The Influenza Pandemic– 1918-’19: “Spanish Flu”

– Worst pandemic in history (2.5% mortality rate)

– 20-40 million deaths

D) Paris Peace Conference (first 13 min)– 1919 – “Big Four” (U.S., Britain,

France, & Italy)– 14 Points (“Peace w/o victory”)

1. No secret treaties2. Freedom of the seas3. Remove all economic barriers

(ex. tariffs)

4.Reduce armed forces5. Fair adjustment of colonies,… self determination-self rule14. League of Nations

The “Big Four”

E) Treaty of Versailles Justice or Vengeance– Most of 14 pts. NOT followed (Germ.

surrendered b/c of these pts.)– Germany – reduced

army & navy, destroy air force, lost land & colonies, War Guilt Clause, paid huge indemnity (stagflation); ~ 1 trillion % inflation

– “November Criminals” Germans finding some use for their

money

German stamps issued after WWI; note that some numbers have been stamped over due to

massive inflation

Europe in 1919

The “Polish Corridor”

F) Failure of the Conference1) Germany, Italy and Russia felt betrayed (didn’t get what they wanted); led to dictatorships

2) New boundaries and countries = problems & tensions

3) U.S. never joined the League (entangling alliances)

4) Extended hatred; no “peace w/ honor”

Final Statistics:– ~30 million casualties, 10 million dead (Russia - 2 mil., US - >115,000)

– Almost as many civilian casualties (besides the influenza pandemic!)

– > $300 billion estimated cost (cannot calculate social loss – “Lost Generation”)

The Great War in Numbers

A German Hospital

The End