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Alliances, War, and a
Troubled Peace
Chapter 18
A. Introduction to The Great War
• 1. Causes of the Great War
• Causes summed up in acronym M.A.N.I.A
• Militarism
• European nations mass-producing weapons
• Also, militaries in European building large
armies
• Alliances
• Prior to the Great War, Britain, France, and
Russia allied in the Triple Entente
• Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy allied in
the Triple Alliance
• Alliances make the Great War a world
conflict
• Nationalism
• Serbia, in Austro-Hungarian Empire, wants an
independent nation
• Imperialism
• European nations competing for resources
and colonies
• Assassination of Francis Ferdinand
• Archduke of Austria-Hungary assassinated
by a Serbian named Gavrilo Princip
• The assassination provided the spark
which started the war
• 2. Consequences of the War
• World War I causalities massive
• New weapons and technology
• The Russian Revolution occurs in 1917,
Vladimir Lenin transforms Russia into the
communist Soviet Union
• The Ottoman Empire collapses
• The Treaty of Versailles, ending the war,
creates problems that lead to WWII
B. Strategies and Stalemate
• 1. War!
• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia
• Serbia backed by Russia, who mobilized their
army
• Russian mobilization caused Germany to declare
war on Russia, Aug. 1, 1914
• France declared war on Germany
• The Schlieffen Plan (1905)
• German battle plan created by Alfred von
Schlieffen to fight a two-front war against
France and Russia
• Called for invading France through Belgium,
taking the French out, then attacking Russia
before they could march
• Aug. 4, 1914, Germany invades Belgium, causing
Britain to declare war
• Now all major European powers at war
• 2. Illusions
• For the most part, Europeans greeted outbreak of
war with celebrations and parades
• Why?
• Many Europeans believed war to be a positive,
thrilling experience
• Europeans believed the war would only lst a few
weeks
• Propaganda incited nationalism and the
demonization of the enemy
• 3. Realities of War
• German invasion of Paris halted at the First Battle of
the Marne River, Sept. 1914
• The development of Trench Warfare occurred
• European leaders believed in a war of attrition
• Only constant attacks and heavy losses would
gain territory
• Battle of Verdun (Feb-Dec, 1916)
• 700,000 casualties
• Western front of the war bogged down in trenches,
immobile
• 4. New Allies
• Trench warfare created a stalemate, alliances
look to new allies to break it
• Turkey and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers
• Italy switched to the Allied Powers b/c of promise
of Austrian land
• Japan allied with Britain and took over German
territories in China and the Pacific
• 5. New Weapons
• New weapons also emerged to deal with breaking
the stalemate
• 1915, airplanes used for combat along with
zepplins
• German U-boats or submarines wreaked havoc
on allied ships in the Atlantic
• 1917, British tanks used
• Poisoned gas
• 6. The U.S. Enters the War
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson attempts to
remain neutral
• Verbally denounced Europeans, claimed they
should make peace bases on his Fourteen Points
• Free and unrestricted trade in the sea
• End secret alliances
• Allow nations self-determination
• Create a League of Nations to stop wars
before they happen
• a) Why did the U.S. get Involved?
• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
• German policy of firing on any non-german
ship in the Atlantic
• May 1915, German U-boats sink British passenger
liner The Lusitania, 1100 killed, 125 Americans
• The Zimmerman Note intercepted by the British
• Message from German foreign secretary
Arthur Zimmerman suggesting a GermanMexican Alliance
• The Russian Revolution 1917
C. The Russian Revolution
• 1. Why did the Revolution Occur?
• Russia completely militarily inept, lots of
casualties (2 million dead by 1916)
• Nicholas II weak and thought to be under control
of his wife Alexandra and her advisor Grigori
Rasputin
• Famines caused by war effort
• Women in factories toiling in harsh conditions,
long hours
• Political factions in the Duma discontent
• 2. The Revolution
• March 1917, women and workers revolt in
Petrograd due to long hours and bread lines
• Soldiers refuse to fire on protestors, join them
instead
• Tsar Nicholas abdicates throne same month
• 3. The Provisional Government
• The Duma created a new provisional gov’t mainly
dominated by constitutionalists
• BUT, socialist parties such as the Mensheviks, began to
organize soviets or councils of workers and soldiers
throughout Russia
• Constitutionalists under Alexander Kerensky decided to
remain in the war, angering the people
• Military discipline in the war began to disintegrate
• Meanwhile, Germans, sneak in Vladimir Lenin who had
been exiled in Switzerland
• 4. Lenin and the Communist Dictatorship
• Lenin toured Russia arguing for peace, land, and bread
• Lenin and his chief collaborator Leon Trotsky attempted a
coup in summer, 1917, but failed
• In October, Lenin and Trotsky succeed in an armed
overthrow of the provisional government
• Winter, 1917, Lenin and the Bolsheviks in control of
Russia
• The Bolsheviks banished all other political parties, seized
banks and factories and nationalized land
• 5. Russian Withdrawal and Civil War
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1917)
• Treaty between Russia and Germany
• Russia gets to pull out of war, but has to give
Germany Poland, Finland, the Baltic States,
and Ukraine
• Also had to pay heavy indemnities or
payments for damages
• New Bolshevik gov’t met resistance
• Red Russians favored communist government vs.
White Russians who opposed it
• 1918, Bolsheviks murdered Nicholas and the
Romanov family
• Under Trotsky’s ruthless leadership, the red army
defeats the White Russians
• By 1921, Lenin and communists in control
• 1. 1917
• A good year for Germany, only a one front war, b/c
no more Russia
• Austrian victory over Italy
• BUT U.S. now joined war on Allied side
D. The End of the Great War
• 2. Germany’s Last Ditch Effort
• Second Battle of the Marne 1918
• Germany’s final attempt to break into France,
failed because of number of American troops
joining the defense
• Soon after American arrival, Central powers began
surrendering
• Ludendorff, head of Germany military wants to
make peace before allies invade Germany
• BUT, U.S. and allies refuse to make peace w/
autocratic ruler (Kaiser Wilhelm)
• Wilhelm refuses to abdicate throne, so Germany
revolts
• The German Social Democratic Party quickly
organized a democratic government on Nov. 9,
1918
• Same day, an armistice or cease fire signed
• 3. Results of the War
• Battle casualties alone, a little less than 10 million
• The war led to the creation of the Soviet Union
• War ended the western myth of inevitable
progress based on logic, reason, and science
• War bread resentment between European
nations as well as their colonies
• 4. The Fall of the Ottoman Empire
• British officer T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
undermined the Ottoman rulers and helped incite
a revolution
• Ottoman Empire in disarray allowed for British
invasion of present day Iraq, parts of the Arabian
Peninsula, and Palestine
• Treaty of Versailles(1919) allows Britain and
France to acquire mandates, territories under
their control
• 1920, Greece invaded Turkey, but military leader
Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), ran the Greeks out,
abolished the Caliphate in Turkey and created a
secular, modern Republic
E. The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
• 1. Obstacles to Peace
• Woodrow Wilson invited to lead peace negotiations at end
of War
• Wilson’s Fourteen Points a lot more idealistic than
European’s desires
• Negotiations led by The Big Four
• George Clemenceau (France)
• David Lloyd George (Great Britain)
• Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
• Woodrow Wilson (U.S)
• Each country had different, less idealistic ideas
• Britain and France wanted Germany to pay for damages
• Many nations had been promised land
• Britain had issued the Balfour Declaration, British support
for a Jewish homeland in Palestine
• France, specifically wanted a weakened Germany
• Minorities (Serbians, Bosnians, etc) wanted their own
nations
• 2. The “Peace”
• Basically, Wilson preaches 14 Points, but Europeans want land,
money, and revenge
• Russia not invited to the peace talks, b/c communist
• Germany not invited to participate, treated as losers
• Some allowed self-determination, others not
• a) League of Nations
• international body designed to stop problems before they occur
• Lacked any kind of military enforcement, so weak
• All members had to agree unanimously on decisions
• b) Germany
• Hit the hardest by the treaty
• Gave Alsace-Lorraine to France
• Demilitarized the Rhineland
• Reduced their army to 100,000
• Had to destroy air force, navy, tanks, etc
• Germany required to pay $25 billion in war reparations
• Germany forced to sign the War Guilt Clause, laying
responsibility for the war at their feet
• c) The East
• New countries created, grouping unlikely people
together
• Austria and Hungary split apart
• Czechoslovakia created w/ also included several
thousand Germans
• Southern slavs united into Yugoslavia, which also
included thousands of Germans
• Poland created using large parts of Russia
• Also, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
created
• d) Mandates
• Germany, Austria, had to give up all colonies
• Also, Ottoman empire dissolved
• League of Nations created mandates or territories
under the supervision of European nations (mainly
Britain and France)
• Britain received Iraq and Palestine in the Middle
East
• France obtain Syria and Lebanon
• e) Colonial Participation
• Colonies had fought in the war for their nations
• Algerians fought for French, Indians, Canadians, Australians, South Africans for the British
• Many nations begin to demand independence for their efforts
F. Evaluating the Peace
• Treaty of Versailles is one of the most notorious
modern treaties and had serious future repercussions
• 1. Economic Consequences
• John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
• Wrote The Economic Consequences of the
Peace (1920)
• Argued that reparations on Germany
and the treaty in general would ruin
Europe economically and lead to a
future war
• The U.S. never ratified treaty b/c fear of League
of Nations and being dragged into another war
• In reality though, probably the best treaty that
Europe as a whole had ever made
• 2. Failure to Accept Reality
• Ignoring powerful nations like
Germany and Russia a mistake,
Germany a huge part of European
economy
• Large amount of dissatisfaction in
new countries b/c of minorities
• The Treaty of Versailles had no
enforcement mechanisms