World War I

Worldwide impact

World War I (1914-1918)

• World War I (1914-1918) was caused by competition among industrial nations in Europe and a failure of diplomacy. The war transformed European and American life, wrecked the economies of Europe, and planted the seeds for a second world war.

Questions

• What were the factors that produced World War I?

• What were the major events of the war?• Who were the major leaders?• What were the outcomes and global effects of

World War I?• What were the terms of the Treaty of

Versailles?

Alliances

• The alliance system in Europe started with Prussia

• Prussia wanted to unite the German states into a German nation

• Germany united (allied) with Austria-Hungary and Italy

• France and Germany were enemies and so France allied with Russia

Alliances

• Great Britain remained neutral until Germany started to build up its navy

• Great Britain loosely allied with France and Russia forming the Triple Entente

• Nationalism – intense pride for one’s homeland was a powerful idea in Europe

• Self-determination – the idea that people who belong to a nation should have their own country and government, was a basic idea of nationalism

Alliances

• A small country called Serbia, allied with Russia, wanted a unified Balkan nation

• A Serb national assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand

• This assassination forced Austria-Hungary to declare war with Germany siding with them

• Russia, allied with Serbia, declared war with France siding with them (France wanted Germany defeated)

MAIN causes of WW I

Militarism / Alliances / Imperialism / Nationalism

Spark: Archduke Ferdinand (Austria) assassinated

Causes of World War I

• Alliances that divided Europe into competing camps

• Nationalistic feelings• Diplomatic failures• Imperialism• Competition over colonies• Militarism

World War I

The war began in Europe in 1914:

Central Powers

Germany and Austria-Hungary

Allies

Britain, France, and Russia.

Major Events

• Assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand, he was shot by a Serbian nationalist.

• United States enters the war - 1917• Russia leaves the war – 1917 (Communist

Revolution led by Lenin)

Major leaders

• Woodrow Wilson – President of United States• Kaiser Wilhelm II – German leader

Outcomes and global effect

• Colonies’ participation in the war, which increased demands for independence

• End of the Russian Imperial, Ottoman, German, and Austro-Hungarian empires

• Enormous cost of the war in lives, property, and social disruption

Treaty of Versailles

• Forced Germany to accept responsibility for war and loss of territory and to pay reparations

• Limited the German military• League of Nations

Treaty of Versailles (Verse-EYE)

• The French and English insisted on punishment of Germany.

• A League of Nations was created.

• National boundaries were redrawn, creating many new nations.

1917 Revolution and Rise of Communism

• Tsarist Russia entered World War I as an absolute monarchy with sharp class divisions between the nobility and the peasants. The grievances of workers and peasants were not resolved by the Tsar. Inadequate administration in World War I led to revolution and an unsuccessful provisional government. A second revolution by the Bolsheviks created the communist state that ultimately became the U.S.S.R.

Questions

• Why did Russia erupt in revolution while fighting in World War I?

• How did communism rise in Russia?

Causes of 1917 Revolutions

• Defeat in war with Japan in 1905• Landless peasantry• Incompetence of Tsar Nicholas II• Military defeats and high casualties in World

War I.

Russian Revolution

– Czar Nicholas II’s reforms were too little too late– No industrial power = no national power– Loss to the Japanese was humiliating

announcement of weakness– WWI participation sucked Russia dry and made

civil war inevitable – Weak resistance to well organized and mobilized

Bolshevik radicals– Total abdication and assassination end the

Romanov Dynasty

Rise of communism

• Bolshevik Revolution and civil war• Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy• Joseph Stalin, Lenin’s successor• According to communism, history is dominated

by the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat – the upper class and the laborer.

• Karl Marx, a German economist/philosopher is credited with the idea of communism.

Vladimir Lenin

• Marxist Revolutionary

• NEP allowed some capitalism and helped Soviet economy recover from early communist stagnation

• Dies of stroke, 1924

Leon Trotsky

• Co-founder with Lenin• Organized and trained the

RED ARMY• Practice of decimation made

Red Army “effective”• Rival of Stalin’• Assassinated in Mexico with

an ice-pick

Understanding the League of Nations and the mandate system

• After World War I, international organizations and agreements were established to avoid future conflicts.

• What was the League of Nations and why did it fail?

• Why was the mandate system created?

League of Nations

• International cooperative organization• Established to prevent future wars • United States not a member• Failure of League because it did not have

power to enforce its decisions

The mandate system• During World War I, Great Britain and France agreed

to divide large portions of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East between themselves.

• After the war, the “mandate system” gave Great Britain and France control over the lands that became Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine (British controlled) and Syria and Lebanon (French controlled)

• The division of the Ottoman Empire through the mandate system planted the seeds for future conflicts in the Middle East.