Europe and USA on the eve of World War I

World War I is a part of Paper II. It also introduces Paper I

There has been tremendous change in the 20th Century

Developments in chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics opened up new vistas in travel, communications, electronics, agronomy and weaponry. In 1900 Orville and Wilbur Wright flew a small powered aircraft. Sixty-eight years later millions of people watched the moon landing on TV.

The 20th Century

Life expectancy in many parts of the

world doubled between 1900- 2000.

General Trends Before World War I

• The ideas and technology of the West dominated the World

• Charles Darwin (On the Origin of the Species by the Means of Natural Selection, 1859)• Karl Marx (Communist Manifesto, 1848)• William Roentgen (X-ray, 1895)• Albert Einstein (breakthroughs on the nature

of the universe)• Ernest Rutherford (atomic energy and matter)

General Trends Before World War I

• Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur, and Robert Koch (improved hygiene, understanding bacteria, inoculations, Sulfa drugs)– Decline in smallpox, diphtheria, cholera,

typhoid fever, scarlet fever, anthrax, and rabies epidemics improved life expectancy in the West and eventually globally.– Scientists were understanding vitamins

and their role in health

This won’t hurt a bit!

Urban Life before 1914• Slums, poverty, and crime were widespread

but many middle class areas had gas or electric light. The telephone (hardwire) was increasingly available. Cable had been laid across the oceans

• Water was much cleaner – filtration and chlorine. Sanitation was much improved by 1914

• City transportation was chaotic – horse and carriage, electric trams, underground trains, and automobiles mixed together

Cable Ship 1858

Telephone 1900

USA 1904 Water Pipes

London Sewer (1900-1907)

Technology before 1914

• The development of structural steel and reinforced concrete combined with the elevator changed the urban landscape.• Advances in photography and

motion picture• Wireless was in its infancy.

New York Skyline C1905

Paris 1902

Liverpool, England

Technology before 1914• Steam power well established in the 18th and

19th centuries. • By the late 1800’s - 1900’s the internal

combustion engine (gasoline and diesel) developed.

• Dynamo increased the availability of electrical power.

• Rayon synthetics and new metal alloys were developed for industrial use

Automobile C1907

Car 1914

Tractor C1900

Farming in Manitoba (C1900)

Farming USA 1900

Political Trends before WW I• Throughout the industrial Western world

people were moving to the city. Cities often overcrowded.

• Marxism, socialism and Trade Unionism was growing and competing with traditional “Laissez-Faire (Liberal)” economic theories

• Women by 1914 becoming more interested in the vote.

• Minority groups (ex. Serbians and Irish) were increasingly wanting independence or Home Rule.

Factory in Chicago, 1900

Economic Trends • The West needed overseas markets for

their goods.• The Western powers were eager to

secure the raw materials it needed to fuel their factories.

• Politicians needed to get support of voters by expanding opportunities for overseas trade

European Empires• Britain ruled a quarter of the globe and

dominated world commerce• France had a very large empire in Africa and

possessed lands in the Far-East • The old empires of Spain, Portugal and Holland

were still active• Germany, Japan and the USA had imperial

ambitions. The USA and Germany had surpassed Britain in steel production and were ready to assert themselves

The impact of World War I (1914-1918) on European empires and

monarchies

World War I weakened or destroyed many European empires and caused an enormous shift in European societies

WW I (1914-1918) caused enormous political change:

• The Austrian-Hungarian Empire was dismembered. The Austrian-Hungarian Emperor abdicated

• German Emperor William II was forced to abdicate. Germany lost its empire.

• Czar Nicholas II was deposed and he, along with his entire family, was murdered by the Bolsheviks

• The Ottoman Empire collapsed• The USA emerged as a world power

Edward VII King of England 1901-1910

King George V of England

George V King of England

Kaiser William II of Germany

Czar Nicholas II of Russia

Woodrow Wilson

Military Advances before WW I• TNT, nitroglycerin and cordite developed• Metallurgists developed improved casting

techniques and better rifling. Massive howitzers, mortars, long-range naval guns were designed to be more accurate, faster loading, and more lethal by 1914

• Fragmentation grenades and shells improved• Breech loading bolt-action military rifles

were far superior in range and velocity by 1900 than 1880

German artillery WW I“Big Bertha”

German Mauser standardtechnology before WW I

Military Technology before 1914

Battleships were bigger, faster (turbines) and carried guns that could fire as far as the horizon. They were more heavily armored than previous ships. (Consider: HMS Dreadnought (1906) could catch or outrun any ship afloat and simultaneously engage a combination of the older design battleships. By 1914 HMS Dreadnought was already a “second tier vessel.”

HMS Barham

Military Technology before 1914

• Propellants and guidance systems for torpedo were developing.

• Canning and refrigeration were developed - would help keep large armies fighting day and night, seven days a week in all seasons.

• trains made it possible to move large amounts of men and equipment quickly.

• In 1914 aircraft were still in their infancy. • Tanks had yet to be developed.

Military Technology before 1914

• The Maxim machine gun was well-established in all armies by 1914. They could fire about 500 rpm.

• The technology for gas warfare was available by 1914.

• Antipersonnel mines were developed.• The submarine propulsion systems and

hydraulic technology were developed before 1914.

Gas attack against British lines

machine gunner with gas mask

German Submarine

German Zeppelin WW I