2. GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College World War I

3. “The Great War”

4. “A war to end all wars”

5. World War One: Basic Facts A monumental event of heavy artillery and trench fighting 37.5 million casualties (15 million soldiers killed) Chemical weapons (poison gas) deployed Four empires destroyed German Austria-Hungarian Russian Ottoman

6. How did it happen? Balance of power (realism) Domestic conflict (liberalism) Rise of nationalism (constructivism) Rise of imperalism (Marxism)

7. Background: German Industrialization Krupp Plant

8. Background: German Unification War with Denmark (1864) War with Austria (1866) War with France (1870-1)

9. Bismarck’s Revived Concert (1870-1890)

10. Germany Outflanked

11. Alliances Become Less Flexible Triple Alliance (1882) Germany Austria-Hungry Italy Triple Entente France and Russia (1893) Britain and France (1904) Britain and Russia (1907)

12. Kaiser Wilhelm II: Moroccan Crises Crisis One (1905-6) German opposition to French claims Crisis Two (1911) Gunboat diplomacy

13. Austria-Hungary’s Franz Josef: The Bosnian Crisis (1908) Young Turks come to power Bulgaria claims independence Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia- Herzegovina

14. Balkan Crises First war (1912): Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece against Turkey Second war (1913) Serbia, Greece, and Romania against Bulgaria

15. Igniting the Conflict June 28, 1914 Serbian nationalist (terrorist) assassinates Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo

16. Europe on the Eve of WWI

17. Sequence of Events July 23: Austria-Hungary secures German support, sends ultimatum to Serbia July 25: Serbia secures Russian support, rejects ultimatum July 26: Germany and Austria reject British call for international conference July 29: Austria attacks Serbia; Russian troops mobilize against Austria

18. Nicholas II inspects Russian troops

19. Sequence of Events (cont.) July 31: Germany demands Russian demobilization August 1: Germany declares war on Russia; British and French troops mobilize as Germany invades Luxembourg August 3: Germany declares war on France August 4: Britain declares war on Germany as German troops march into Belgium

20. Kaiser Wilhelm inspects the troops

21. Belgians retreat into Holland

22. Germany’s Schlieffen Plan

23. Stalemate

24. German trench

25. German artillery battered

26. RAF (British) aviators

27. Downed German Zeppelin

28. Battles of Verdun and Somme (1916)

29. Somme, France

30. U.S. Enters the War (1917)

31. Competing explanations

32. Realism: Balance of Power Classical Realists: State leaders locked themselves into inflexible alliances Neo-Realists: Germany’s rise upset the existing balance of power

33. Realism: Balance of Threat Stephen Walt: Perceptions (not merely resources) matter

34. Liberalism: Domestic Politics Domestic conflict in Germany and UK Germany: class divisions lead “iron and rye coalition” to launch “social imperialism” UK: divisions with Liberal Party led to waffling

35. Constructivism: Nationalism Pan-Slavism challenged two empires Anti-Slavic sentiment in Germany Stronger than family ties

36. Marxism-Leninism: Imperialism Monopoly capitalism Imperalism: Competing for overseas territories Problems with this explanation