1. The Great War

2. Causes
Web of Alliances
Nationalism
Imperialism
Militarism

3. *Web of Alliances

4. *Nationalism – devotion to one’s nation
What is a “nation”?
Sharing common history, culture, language and ETHNICITY
France – Alsace-Lorraine
The Balkans
*Imperialism – one country dominating others
Social Darwinism
The best nation would come out ahead in the competition between counties

5. *Militarism – glorification of military
Not a question of “if”, it’s a question of “when”
Increases in
Size of Armies
Stockpiles of
weapons
New Weapons
Machine guns
Mobile artillery
Gas
Submarines
Tanks
Airplanes

7. The Spark to start the Fire

8. Austria-Hungary’s Ultimatum
AH Empire sends Serbia an ultimatum
Stop anyone who speaks ill of the AH Empire
Newspapers, army and gov’t officials, etc
Do not hinder AH’s investigation of the assassination
Report everything to AH
What is Serbia giving up?
Do you think Serbia accepted this?

9. The Start of the War AH Empire declares war on Serbia
July 28th, 1914
Russia mobilizes for war
Seeing Russia is mobilizing, Germany declares war on Russia
France’s alliance w/Russia makes them declare war on Germany
Germany declares war on Belgium
???
The *Schlieffen Plan

10. *Trench Warfare
Machine Guns
Mobile artillery
Gas
Later on, Tanks

11. How did the US enter the war?
President *Woodrow Wilson
Urges neutrality
Britain sets up a blockade against Germany so Germany uses *U-Boats against allied ships
*Lusitania and Sussex

12. The Last Straw *Zimmermann Telegram April 2, 1917 January of 1917
President Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany

13. Commies! *Russian Revolution
Democratic revolution overthrows Czar Nicholas II but keeps Russians in war
Communists have new revolution
Led by *Vladimir Lenin
Russia stops fighting and makes peace with Germany
Germany sends eastern front troops to the west

14. American troops turn the tide
Germany attacks and attacks
With the incoming American troops, French, British and Italian troops were able to resist the German attacks
German offensive collapses
Armies get cut off and Germany surrenders

15. Armistice and Treaty of Versailles
Armistice – No more fighting
November 11th, 1917
5 million Allied troops dead
8 million Central power troops dead
6.5 million civilians dead
Treaty of Versailles – Peace treaty
June 28th, 1919

16. Wilson and his 14 points *14 points
“Peace without victory”
Wilson goes to the peace negotiations personally
Europeans loved him
Wilson could not convince European leaders to accept his plan
Kept League of Nations

17. Treaty of Versailles punishes Germany
Germany claims sole responsibility for starting World War I
Limited Germany’s army to 100,000
Enlisted men must be in army for 12 years; Officers – 25 years
Limited to tiny navy
NO SUBMARINES
Germany loses territory
Germany must pay reparations
$54 billion ($663.9 billion today)