World War I

1914-1918 “This is a war to end all wars.” -American President Woodrow Wilson

Introduction • Originally called “The Great War”

• 8.5 Million Dead, More Than 17 Million Wounded.

• The “war to end all wars”

• First major war since 1815.

• Unlike World War II, no clear-cut lines of good and evil.

• Until World War II, the world’s most destructive conflict.

• The Industrial Revolution meets warfare.

• “Total War”

• Set the pattern for the 20th century.

Underlying Causes of WWI

Imperialism

-Creates intense competition

Nationalism

-“National patriotism”

- Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid 19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic people. The main focus was in the Balkans where Southern Slavs had been ruled over by the two great empires, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The Slavic peoples are a people with similar language, background, and religion as Russia

Entangling Alliance System

Militarism

1914

The Immediate Cause of

World War I

Immediate Cause of World War I

• Sarajevo, Bosnia

• June 28, 1914

• Archduke Franz

Ferdinand

• Gavrilo Princip

• Black Hand Society

• The July Crisis:

Austro-Hungary gives

Serbia an ultimatum

World War I Alliances

Allied Powers

– Great Britain

– France

– Russia

– Japan (1914)

– Italy (1915)

– USA (1917)

Central Powers

– Germany

– Austria-Hungary

– Turkey (1914)

– Bulgaria (1915)

August 1914

• Germany faced with a

two-front war

• Must quickly eliminate

France, then face Russia

• The Schlieffen Plan

– Swift attack through neutral

Belgium

– Sweep around Paris from

the north, encircle the city

– Shift forces to the east to

deal with Russia The Schlieffen Plan

World War One Video Sequence of the Start of WWI

New Kind Of War Technology Changes Warfare

Poison Gas

Tanks

British Mark I Crossing a Trench

Stuck in a Trench French Renault Light Tank

Aerial Warfare

A German U-boat

Cannon

Field Artillery Gun

Trench Warfare

Soldiers in Caves

Soldiers in Trenches

No Man’s Land

Total War

Total War: war fought both on the battlefield and at home

• Draft men for war.

• Raise taxes and borrow money for war.

• Ration supplies and goods at home to save some for the troops.

• Use the press and print to spread propaganda- the spreading of ideas to promote a cause or damage an opposing cause.

• Allow women to fill the jobs that were left empty by the men fighting in the war.

1917

The Fateful Year

The United States and

World War I • Isolationist tradition

• Wilson declares USA neutral in European war

• Wilson calls for “peace without victory”

• US banks loan European countries money

President Woodrow Wilson

The Sinking of the Lusitania

• May 7, 1915

• British passenger

liner

• Sunk by German U-

boat

• 1,200 lives lost

• 128 Americans dead

• Pushed USA closer to

War

The Lusitania

Germany Announces Unrestricted

Submarine Warfare

• January 31, 1917

• Germans promise to

sink any ship that

enters the war zone

– Cut off supplies to

Britain & France

– Force Allied surrender

• US merchant ships

sunk

The Zimmerman Telegram February 28, 1917

• British intelligence intercepted German telegram to Mexico

• Germans promised Mexico territory lost to USA in Mexican War (1846-48)

• Mexico did not take the telegram seriously

• The USA, however, did

• April 6, 1917 – USA declared war on Germany

The Zimmerman Telegram

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk March 3, 1918

• Bolsheviks signed a separate peace with Germany

• Germany now free to shift troops to the Western Front

• Treaty took Russia out of the war.

Signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Turning Points of the War

• Entry of the United States in 1917 on the

Western Front.

• Russian withdrawal because of the start of

the Russian Revolution.

Germany’s Desperate Situation

• Russia out of the war, but fresh American troops on the Western Front

• Austria-Hungary and Turkey almost knocked out of the war

• Food shortages in Germany

• Numerous strikes in major cities

• 500,000 workers on strike in Berlin (January)

• Increasing inflation

• November 11, 1918 – armistice signed, ending World War I.

The Fourteen Points

• January 8, 1918

• Peace proposal

• Encourage Allies and Central Powers to end the war

• Some points were contrary to secret agreements made among the Allies

President Woodrow Wilson

The Fourteen Points

• 8 Points dealt with territorial matters

• Open, rather than secret, diplomacy

• Freedom of the seas

• General disarmament

• Removal of trade barriers

• The establishment of a League of

Nations….most important

Human and Economic Losses • 8.5 Million People Died

• 17 Million People are Wounded.

• Famine and Disease spread through many regions.

• Factories, farms, and homes are destroyed.

• Nations had huge war debts to pay.

Total of all Costs 186,333,637,000

• The Allies, bitter at the destruction, insisted that the Central Powers (especially Germany) make payments for war damage they caused. These payments were called REPARATIONS

Consequences of World War I

• Four empires destroyed

– German Empire

– Austro-Hungarian Empire

– Ottoman Empire

– Russian Empire

• Economic devastation

• Projection of the U.S. into world affairs

• Russian Revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union

• Rise of Mussolini & Fascism in Italy

• Rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany