World War One The War to End All Wars

Major Causes of WWI  Nationalism-ignites competition  Imperialism-deepens rivalries  Militarism-the need to protect interests  Alliance system divides Europe

Kaiser Wilhelm II  Builds up military  Grandson to Queen Victoria  Withered left arm  Fires Bismarck 1890  Aggressive policies

Europe Divided into 2 Camps  Triple Alliance=Italy, Germany, A-H  Later Bulgaria  Known as Central Powers  Triple Entente=Russia, France, England  Later Serbia, U.S., etc  Known as Allies

The Spark That Ignites the War  6/28/14-Archduke in Sarajevo  Killed by Serbian Black Hand  A-H declares war on Serbia  Germany gives A-H a “blank check”  Russia aids Serbia

Ready to Rumble?  European armies mobilize  Germans enact Schlieffen Plan  Through neutral Belgium  Strong Right thru Belgium & turn east  Germans stopped just east of Paris  Britain comes to aid of Fr. & Belgium

The Schlieffen Plan

WWI-A new Style of War  New weapons-machine guns, gas, tanks  Trench warfare  War seen as romantic- turns to hell Much bloodier & longer than expected Paris Gun Effects of Poison Gas

Germany Attacks Belgium Germans as Huns Belgium's Peace A “Scrap of paper”

Trench Warfare  Massive assaults into “No Man’s Land”  Trench foot, rats, disease, boredom, shell shock, brutal deaths  In 3 years, Western Front moves 3 miles!

War in the East  Russia wins early, then incompetent  CP drives into Balkans  1915, Italy & Bulgaria join Allies  Allies (Churchill) try & fail to knock out Turkey at Galipoli Australian troops at Galipoli

Battles of Verdun & the Somme (1916)  Germans attack at Verdun-Petain defends- ”They Shall Not Pass” Huge loses- 700,000 lives  Allies try to end it at Somme-huge failure 125 square miles 1.1 million dead

In the Sea & American Entry  British blockade-try to starve out Germany  Germans use U-Boats’ Unrestricted submarine warfare  Lusitania sunk (1915) 139 Americans dead Americans protest - Germans relax submarine warare  Germans resume sub warfare April, America declares war on Germany

Total War  Massive support for war in massive drain on resources  Gov’t planning of all economic and social life Rationing, price and wage controls Everything and everybody for the war effort –War Raw Materials Board - ration and distribute all raw materials  Germany (1916) - Auxiliary Services Law Males work only at critical war effort jobs History’s first “totalitarian” society  Social impact Expanded role for labor unions and women Great social equality  Strain appears after increased repression

Russia Exits the War (1918)  Russia takes most casualties  Going very poorly  Czar Nicholas II out  Lenin leads Bolsheviks  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germans

War Draws To A Close  U.S. counters, Germany running out of troops  Germans fail break- through on WF  Austrian fronts collapses  War ends 11/11/18/11am

Ending the Great War - Great Peace?

Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points  Plan for world peace  Self determination  Open diplomacy  Freedom of the Seas  League of Nations  This is “Peace without Victory”

The Versailles Peace Conference  Big Four lead=Wilson of US, Lloyd George GB, Clemenceau of FR & Orlando of Italy  USSR & Germany left out  GB & Fr want to punish Germany  Wilson pushes 14 Points

Outcomes of the Treaty  Austria-Hungary is history-now 6 states  Ottoman Empire is history-Middle East now controlled by European powers  Germany gives up Alsace & Lorraine  Rhineland demilitarized  Peace dictated, not negotiated  Germany lost 15% of land  Germany no air force, all volunteer army, 100,000  Massive reparations-5 billion year, 33 billion  Germany take blame-war guilt clause

Europe in 1914

Europe in 1919

Overall Impact of WWI  10 million dead, 20 million wounded  Old Order gone-Hapsburgs, Romanovs, Hohenzollerans, Ottomans  Europe not all powerful  Bolsheviks a new force-Cold War later  U.S. as a new power  Women get new rights  Yet leads to WWII