WWI The Stage is set for war

Nationalism One force at work that would propel Europe into war was nationalism or deep devotion to one’s nation. By the turn of the 20th century, a fierce rivalry had developed between Germany, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, and France.

Nationalism This rivalry stemmed from competition for materials and markets. Germany had the fastest growing economy because of their new industries. Germany and Great Britain were now competing for industrial dominance.

Imperialism Another force that helped set the stage for war in Europe was imperialism. The nations of Europe competed for colonies in Africa and Asia. As they continued to compete for overseas empires, their sense of rivalry and mistrust of one another deepened.

Militarism Increasing nationalism led to an arms race. The policy of glorifying military power and keeping an army prepared for war was known as militarism.

Tangled Alliance Growing international rivalries had led to the creation of several military alliances among the Great Powers as early as the 1870s. Prussia’s chancellor Bismarck saw France as the greatest threat to peace so he tried to isolate them.

Tangled Alliance In 1879, Bismarck formed the Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary. Three years later, Italy joined the two countries forming the Triple Alliance.

Tangled Alliance Kaiser Wilhelm II became ruler of Germany and forced Bismarck to resign. He was eager to show the world how mighty Germany had become. He let his treaty with Russia lapse in 1890 and Russia responded by forming a defensive military alliance with France. Wilhelm also built a large navy, which threatened Great Britain. In 1904, Britain formed an entente, or alliance, with France. In 1907, Britain made another entente with both France and Russia called the Triple Entente.

Triple Entente

The Balkans New Countries formed from nationalism including Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia.

The Balkans Russia and Austria-Hungary were in direct conflict over Serbia. Russia was mostly a Slavic nation, like Serbia, and supported Serbian nationalism. Austria feared rebellion from its Slavic population. In 1908, Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, which both had large Slavic populations. Serbian leaders were outraged and Russia offered support, but they were unprepared for war. Germany backed Austria and Russia backed down.

A Shot Rings Throughout Europe The heir to the Austrian throne was Archduke Ferdinand. Him and his wife were shot as they rode through the streets of Sarajevo. The killer was 19 year old Gavrilo Princip.

A Shot Rings Throughout Europe Since the assassin was a Serbian, Austria decided to punish Serbia. Germany supported Austria. Austria gave Serbia a list of demands, which the Serbians accepted most of them. They wanted the rest of the demands to be settled by an international conference. Austria rejected the offer and declared war. Russia backed Serbia.

The Schlieffen Plan Under the Schlieffen plan, a large part of the German army would race west to defeat the French, and then return to the east to fight the Russians.

The Schlieffen Plan Germany demanded that its troops be allowed to pass through Belgium on their way to France since the French had left that border unprotected. Belgium refused, Germany invaded, bringing Great Britain into the conflict.

European Nations take Sides Germany and Austria-Hungary were known as the Central Powers and were later joined by Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain, France, and Russia made up the Allies and were later joined by Italy, Japan, and the U.S.

Western Front By the end of August, the Germans had overrun Belgium and swept into France. On September 5, the Allies attacked the Germans northeast of Paris. After four days, the German Generals gave the order to retreat.

Western Front The First Battle of the Marne was perhaps the single most important event of the war. A quick victory in the West was no longer possible. Germany would now have to fight a long war on two fronts.

The Trenches By early 1915, opposing armies on the Western Front had dug trenches to protect themselves. This became known as trench warfare. Armies traded huge losses for small land gains.

Trench Warfare Military strategists were at a loss. All this new technology did was kill huge numbers of people more effectively.

Trench Warfare It reached a peak in 1916. Germans launched a massive attack against the French at Verdun. Both sides lost more than 300,000 men. The British tried to relieve the pressure from the French and attacked the Germans northwest of the Verdun. By the end of the Battle of the Somme, each side had suffered over 500,000 casualties.

Eastern Front In the Eastern Front, a battlefield along the German and Russian border, was a more mobile war than that in the west. Russia had launched attacks into both Germany and Austria. They were defeated in Germany quickly. Eventually, with the help of the Germans, Austria defeated the Russians.

Eastern Front By 1916, Russia’s war effort was near collapse. Because Russia had not yet industrialized, they were in constant shortages of supplies and food. The Central Powers set up blockades to prevent the Allies from shipping supplies Russia’s greatest asset was its population. More than 2 million Russian soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured in 1915 alone. And yet the army was able to rebuild itself. This was important because it forced Germany to fight on two fronts.

Gallipoli Campaign As the war dragged on, Allies searched for a way to end the stalemate. A promising strategy was to attack the Dardanelles to gain the gateway to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople. This would allow them to establish supply lines to Russia. This became known as the Gallipoli campaign.

Gallipoli Campaign By May, Gallipoli had turned to a stalemate, which the Allies gave up on in December. Determined to topple the Ottoman Empire, British helped nationalists rise up against their Turkish rulers. Allied armies took control of Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Damascus.

WWI The Japanese took control of the German outposts in China and Germany’s Pacific Island colonies. English and French seized three of four of Germany’s African colonies.

United States Germany decided to establish a blockade around Britain. In 1917, the Germans announced they would sink without warning any ship in the waters around Britain

United States The Germans knew that this might lead to war with the United States. They gambled that their blockade would starve Britain before the U.S. could mobilize. They sank three American ships.

United States The British intercepted a telegram from Germany’s foreign secretary, Zimmermann, to the German ambassador in Mexico. The message said that Germany would help Mexico re-conquer the land it had lost to the U.S. in exchange for being a German ally. When the Zimmermann note was made public, the U.S. called for war against Germany

Russia Withdraws By 1917, nearly 5.5 million Russian soldiers had been wounded, killed, or taken prisoner and the war-weary Russian army refused to fight. Lenin came to power in Russia. He offered Germany a truce and March 1918, Germany and Russia signed a treaty, which ended the war between them.

Allied Victory In March 1918, the Germans mounted one final, massive attack in France. At first, the Germans crushed anything in their way and again reached the Marne River, less than 40 miles outside of Paris.

Allied Victory The Allies counterattacked the exhausted German troops with 140,000 fresh American troops. In July 1918, the Allies and Germans clashed at the Second Battle of the Marne. With 2 million more fresh Americans, Allied forces began to advance on Germany. The Central Powers began to crumble.

Allied Victory Final on November 11, 1918, World War I came to an end.

Treaty of Versailles President Wilson had drawn up a series of proposals known as the Fourteen Points. The first 5 points were to end secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, and reduce national armies and navies. 6 through 13 were specific suggestions for changing borders and creating new nations. The guiding idea behind these points was self determination which meant a nation was to determine how they wanted to be governed.

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles The treaty between the Allied powers and Germany signed on June 28, 1919, was called the Treaty of Versailles. Adopting Wilson’s 14th point, the treaty called the League of Nations that would keep international peace.

Treaty of Versailles The treaty also punished Germany. The defeated nation lost territory and had restrictions placed on its military. It also placed sole responsibility for the war on Germany and they were forced to pay reparations to the Allies.

Treaty of Versailles In the end, the Treaty of Versailles did little for a lasting peace. There are several reasons why: 1. U.S. rejected the treaty. 2. The war-guilt clause left a legacy of bitterness and hatred in the hearts of the Germans. 3. Throughout Africa and Asia, people in the mandated territories were angry at the way the Allies disregarded their desire for independence. 4. Both Japan and Italy, who fought with the Allies, had gained less territory than they wanted.

Legacy of the War About 8.5 million died as a result of the war and another 21 million wounded. An entire generation of Europeans wiped out. One account put the total cost of the war at 338 billion.