World War IThe Great War and Treaty of

Versailles

Causes of the Great War

• 1. Imperialism: All nations involved had empires and ambitions of expanding their influence (Africa, Middle East, Asia, Pacific)

• 2. Nationalism: In both Imperialist nations and oppressed nations (Serbians)

• 3. Secret Alliances: – Triple Alliance--1882

(Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy)– Triple Entente--1907

(France, Russia, Great Britain)

* Created a “domino effect” that started the war.

Other Causes• 4. Militarism: Build up of military power:

men, weapons, tanks, planes, ships

– Germany’s army by 1914: nearly 5 million men

* Enabled nations to go to war with one another.

• 5. Distrust and Hatred: Germany’s victory in Franco-Prussian War of 1870 still bothered France

• 6. War plans: each power poised and prepared for war – Military leaders devised inflexible

military plans and timetables

– France's Plan XVII focused on offensive maneuvers and attacks

– Germany's Von Schlieffen plan: swift attack on France, then defensive against Russia

Global war

The guns of August: triggered a chain reaction

1. June 1914, Austrian Archduke assassinated by Serbian nationalist

2. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, July 28

3. Russia mobilized troops to defend its Serbian ally against the Central Powers

4. Germany: July 31, sent ultimatums to Russia and France, which were ignored

5. Germany declared war on Russia and France, invaded Belgium to reach France

6. August 4: to protect Belgium's neutrality, Britain declared war on Germany

Sides of the War

• Allies:– France– Britain (King George V)– Russia (Czar Nicolas II)– Italy--1915– Belgium– United States--1917– Japan

• Central Powers:– Germany (Kaiser Wilhelm II)– Austria-Hungary– Ottoman Empire– Bulgaria

Mutual butchery

The western front

1. German invasion of France halted along the river Marne for three years

2. Trenches on the western front ran from the English Channel to Switzerland

3. Italy entered war with Allies, maintained defensive line against Austria-Hungary

Stalemate and new weapons

1. New technologies favored defensive tactics over offensive tactics

2. Poisonous gas: introduced by Germans, used by both sides

3. Eight hundred thousand casualties from mustard gas

4. Armored tanks used to break down trenches toward end of the war

5. Airplanes used mainly for reconnaissance

6. Submarines used especially by Germans against Allied shipping

7. Trench warfare

On the eastern front, battle lines more fluid

• Austrian-German forces overran Serbia, Albania, and Romania

• Russia invaded Prussia 1915, but was soon driven out

• Russians' counterattacks in 1916-1917 collapsed in a sea of casualties

long, costly battles

• At Verdun: French "victory" with 315,000 dead, defeated Germans lost 280,000

• At the Somme, Britain and Germany saw losses of 420,000 each

• New rules of engagement – Civilians became targets of enemy military

operations– Air raids against civilians; naval blockades

common

Conflict in east Asia and the Pacific

Expansion of the war beyond Europe

• European animosities extended to the colonies

• British and French forces recruited colonials into their armies

• Eventually, Japan, United States, Ottoman empire entered the war

Japan entered war with the Allies,

• Seized German-leased territory in China• New Zealand and Australia likewise seized

German-held lands in the Pacific• The Twenty-One Demands

1. Japan advanced its imperial interests in China

2. The Twenty-One Demands were designed to reduce China to Japanese protectorate

3. Britain intervened, prevented total capitulation of China to Japan

Battles in Africa and southwest Asia

• The war in sub-Saharan Africa 1. Allies targeted the four German colonies in

Africa2. Togoland fell quickly, but not the others3. Many Allied soldiers and workers died from

tropical diseases

• Battle of Gallipoli, 1915, in Ottoman Turkey

1. British decided to strike at the weakest Central Power, the Ottomans

2. Battle of Gallipoli a disaster, with 250,000 casualties on each side

3. Weakened ties of loyalty between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Britain

U.S. intervention and collapse of the Central Powers

1914-1916, United States under President Woodrow Wilson officially

neutral

• American public opposed participation in a European war

• The submarine warfare helped sway American public opinion

• German blockade sank merchant ships, intended to strangle Britain

• 1915, Germans sank Lusitania, a British passenger liner, killing 1,198 passengers

• Allied Pressure– Britain and France nearly bankrupt– Russian Revolution of 1917: Russia exits war

• Zimmerman Telegram – Germany asks Mexico to go to war with U.S.

United States declared war on Germany, 6 April 1917

Collapsing fronts after years of bloodletting

• April 1916, Irish nationalists attempted to overthrow British rule

• Central Powers: shortages, food riots, mutinies

• 1917, mutiny of fifty thousand French soldiers

• Spring 1918, massive Germany offensive on western front failed

• With fresh American troops, Allies broke the front and pushed the Germans back– German army in full

retreat– Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates

to Holland

• Central Powers collapsed, one after another; accepted armistices November 1918– Austria, Ottoman

Empire, Bulgaria surrender to Allies

Wilson’s Plan for Peace• January 1918: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson

presents his plan for post-war world• Fourteen Points--• 1. Self-determination:

– Independence for all colonialized nations

• 2. Peace without victory:– Defeated Central Powers shouldn’t be punished

harshly

• 3. Disarmament:– All nations should limit their militaries and weapons

• 4. Fair treatment for colonial peoples– Extend rights and freedoms to colonies

• 5. League of Nations:– International peacekeeping organization that handles

world’s problems– Alleviates need for secret alliances

Big Four

• President Woodrow Wilson: United States

• Prime Minister David Lloyd George: Great Britain

• Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau: France

• Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando: Italy

Terms of Treaty of Versailles• 1. Germany loses territory:

– Poland and Czechoslovakia gain independence– Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania gain independence

• 2. Austria and Hungary separated– Austria looses territory in Balkans– Yugoslavia created

• 3. Ottomans lose all territory outside of Turkey– Countries of Middle East given to Britain and France as

mandates• 4. Germany looses all of its overseas territories:

– Mandates to France, Britain, Japan• 5. Germany forced to demilitarize:

– Could only have volunteer army: 100,000 men--no draft– No artillery, tanks, warplanes– Navy could only have small fleet--no submarines

• 6. Germany forced to pay $33 billion in war reparations• 7. League of Nations created--without United States

Map of Post-War Europe

Revolution in Russia

February Revolution of 1917: uprising against shortages, mounting deaths in the war

• Facing mutinies, Nicholas II abdicated throne

• Provisional government established

• Struggle for power between provisional government and Petrograd soviet

– New government passed many liberal reforms– Did not undertake land reform, did not withdraw

from the war

V. I. Lenin (1870-1924) stepped into unstable situation

• A revolutionary Marxist, exiled in Switzerland

• Saw importance of a well-organized, disciplined party for revolution

• German authorities delivered Lenin to Russia, 1917, to take Russia out of war

• Headed radical Bolshevik Party: demanded power to soviets, withdrawal from war

The October Revolution • Minority Bolsheviks gained control of

Petrograd soviet• Bolsheviks' slogan "Peace, Land, and

Bread" appealed to workers and peasants

• Armed force seized power from provisional government in name of all soviets

• Russia withdrew from war, made a separate peace with Germany, lost one-third of Ukraine