Download War and Revolution

World War I and Its
Aftermath
Chapter 23/25
Nationalism and Alliances

On the eve of World War I, Europe
was consumed with nationalism
• Slavs in the Balkans, Central Europe
• Poles in Russia
• Irish in British occupied Ireland

The Triple Alliance (Central, Axis)
• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

The Triple Entente (Allies)
• France, Great Britain, Russia
Militarism


Aggressive Preparation for War
The Empires were building massive armies
as tensions grew.
• Russia, 2 million
• France, 1 million
• Germany, 1 million



Conscription – mandatory service
Military leaders more influential in politics.
Government decisions based on what was
best for army, not society
Balkan Crisis

1914 – Serbia wanted
independence for Bosnia,
which was a province of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• Supported by Russia


To calm the tension Archduke
Francis Ferdinand (heir to the
throne) visits Sarajevo (the
capital)
He and his wife are
assassinated on June 28,
1914 by Gavrillo Princip
• The Black Hand (terrorist group)
• Serbia was behind the attack.
The Response



Austria-Hungary wanted to attack
Serbia, but was afraid of Russia’s
wrath – goes to Germany
With German backing, AustriaHungary declares war on Serbia, July
28, 1914 - World War I begins.
Russia immediately mobilizes to
support Serbia.
Entrance of UK and France



Germany sees Russian mobilization as an act of
war against them; warns them to call off.
Russia ignores, Germany declares war on Russia
on August 1. Russia notifies France.
Schlieffen Plan – keep Russia busy while
Germans invade France
• Dual front war
• Do not let France & Russia hook up – disastrous
• Knock France out, concentrate on Russia


When France remained allied with Russia,
Germany declared war on August 4; moved into
Belgium to prepare for attack.
Great Britain declares war on Germany for
violating Belgian neutrality
E
U
R
O
P
E
1914
“Splendid Little War”


Total War
Increased Government Intervention in
Economies
• Planned Economies – military central


Very popular among Europeans
Tremendous amount of volunteers into
army, Red Cross, aid associations, etc.
• Women



Industrial labor
Propelled suffrage forward
Propaganda campaigns
• Carefully controlling media to manipulate
public opinion in support of a given cause
Propaganda Posters
The Western Front

German advance
was halted at the
Battle Of Marne
• Sept 6-10, 1914

War quickly
stalemates in the
trenches of
Belgium and
Northern France.
Trench Warfare




Elaborate defense systems dug into the
ground
Needed protection from accurate and
deadly weaponry
Protected by Barbed Wire, Machine gun
nests, and heavy long–range artillery
Massive charges out of the trenches to
gain land
• No Man’s Land

Very little progress became a war of
attrition – waiting it out
World War I at Sea

Despite tremendous advances in naval
technology, war stayed on land.
• Central Powers recognized advantage of British on water
• Only one major sea battle was fought, Jutland (1916)



No decisive victory
British had intense blockage of German waters
Germans used U-boats (submarines) to run the
blockage and destroy British battle ships
The Eastern Front


Russian advance halted at Tannenberg,
Germany- Aug 30, 1914.
German army overpowers the Russians push
them back to their own soil
• Russia is never a threat to Germany
• Russians sustain almost 2.5 million casualties 19141915



Austria is attacked by Italy in March, 1915 –
Italians change sides.
Germany pushes Italians out, saves AustriaHungary
Bulgaria enters the war, and helps Germany
attack Serbia - eliminates them from the war
The War Spreads

The Ottoman Empire enters the war in 1915
• Both Central and Allies wanted control of the Black Sea
– Turks join Central Powers after insulted by British
• Gallipoli – 1915 – Ottomans & Bulgarians defeat British
Australian troops
• T.E. Lawrence “of Arabia” – guerilla warfare; turns war
in favor of British with aid of nationalist Arab tribes

The United States officially enters the War, 1917
• Unrestricted submarine warfare against merchant ships
• The Sinking of the Lusitania, 1915 – 1100 Civilians killed
when Germans torpedoed luxury liner en route from
New York to England – over 100 were American
• Zimmerman Note – Germans attempted to bring Mexico
into the war against US
The New Technology of War
Airplanes
Poison
Gas
U Boats
Machine Guns
Tanks
Heavy
Artillery
The End



Winter 1917 – Russia leaves the war due to
internal civil war
Erich von Ludendorff – new German
commander, orders advance on Paris to
break monotony of war
Germans pushed back by newly arriving
Americans
• Fresh to war
• Revitalize Allied efforts


German government in chaos as Kaiser
abdicates and flees Germany
Germans call for armistice on Nov 11, 1918.
WWI In Numbers



Of the 65 million troops deployed 1914-1919, we estimate 10
million were killed in action, and another 22 million were wounded
Another 9 million civilians were killed in attacks and war related
famines.
A flu epidemic killed nearly 50 million people globally in 1918 –
many historian attribute the War’s use of medical resources as a
reason for this.
The Paris Peace Conference -1919

Hosted by “Big Four”
•
•
•
•


Woodrow Wilson, U.S.
David Lloyd George, U.K.
George Clemenceau, France
Vitorrio Orlando, Italy
All but U.S. wanted to punish Germany
League of Nations created
• International peace keeping body designed
to prevent future wars by settling disputes
diplomatically

Armies would be used only as a last resort –
neutral peace keepers
• US Never Joins – Senate refused to give LN
access to US military forces
The Treaty of Versailles


Germany had to pay reparations (damages) to
France and England
Germans had to cut military, eliminate air force &
reduce navy
• Plunges Germany into horrible depression



France given Alsace & Lorraine; demilitarization
zone along Rhine River
Germany’s Asian and African colonies given to
France & UK
Ottoman Empire broken up – Middle East
possessions to France & UK
• Did not grant independence as promised.

Austria-Hungary split, establishment of
independent Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia
1919
1914
Failures of the Treaty of Versailles

Forced all guilt of war on Germany
• Created a rebellious and resentful culture that would be
ripe for the ideas of Nazism


As so many pre-war economies were militarycentric, even the Allied nations experienced
significant economic depression after the war.
League of Nations was dominated by the UK and
France, used it as an extension of imperialistic
authority – very ineffective, not taken seriously.
• Racial bias obvious – no African or Asian countries given
independence, only European.

Multicultural tensions in Central Europe
unchanged with national statuses.
Russia on the Eve of Revolution

Unpopular Romanov Dynasty
• Absolute government still in place

Industrially behind Europe
• Overworked workers striking constantly
• 80% of population were rural peasants

Facing defeat in WWI
• Czar insisted in personally overseeing
military despite no military training
• Lack of supplies
• Millions killed or wounded
The March Revolution, 1917

Industrial Workers Strike called by Soviets
(unions)– protesting war
• Supported by Duma (Parliament) who wanted
peace

Czar Nicholas II orders military action
against strikes.
• Militarty refuses, turns on czar.

The Soviets, Duma and military take over
St. Petersburg
• Czar Nicholas II forced off throne; exiled

Provisional Liberal government set up
under Aleksandr Kerensky
• Loose republican state – small middle class
and nobility in control
Lenin and the Bolsheviks



Vladimir Illyich Lenin
Bolsheviks – faction
of the Russian Social
Democrats
March Revolution not
aggressive enough
• Power should be in
the hands of workers
(extreme Marxist)
• Forced re-distribution
of wealth
November Revolution, 1917




Bolsheviks take over Duma by
winning majority in elections.
Create new party – the Communist
Party
Lenin comes to power - overthrows
Kerensky government
Treaty of Brest-Litovisk
• Russia cedes Poland to Germany in
exchange for release of war
Russia under Lenin







Not invited to Paris Peace Conference – West
afraid
All public and private property seized
Government control of banks and industry
State regulated agriculture
Russia isolated from West – Lenin hated capitalist
nations
Establishment of Cheka & KGB– secret police,
enforced Lenin’s policies
Removal of Orthodox patriarchy
Red and White Civil War


1918-1921
Red Army
• Soviet Communists, pro-Lenin
• Led by Leon Trotsky

White Army
• Czarist loyalists, nobility, religiously faithful
peasants, ethnic minorities – anti-Communist


New Economic Policy instituted in 1921 to
win over peasants and working class
Execution of imperial family secured red
victory.
Creation of the USSR

Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics
• Russian dominated

1923 – New Constitution
• Federalist system – central power
over ethnic states
• Supreme Soviet - Parliament,
universally elected

Single party – competition prohibited
• Commissars (party leaders) act
as executive– General Secretary,
premier
Ataturk and The Turkish
Republic


After WWI, Britain and France
carved up the remains of the OE
Ottomans remained in control of
Anatolian Peninsula (present day
Turkey)
• Invaded by Greece, 1920

Colonel Mustafa “Ataturk” Kemal and
the Young Turks
• Drove out Greeks
• Convened a national congress to
create a new Republic of Turkey
• Removed sultan, elected President,
1923
• Sweeping reforms


Reduced influence of Islam – created
secular state
Europeanized Turkish language and
culture
The Palestinian Question



Palestine – British mandate
Home land dispute
• Muslim Arab, 80% majority
• Jews, minority
Increased Jewish immigration
• Zionism – Movement to
reclaim the lands of ancient
Israel for the Jews
• The Balfour Declaration –
British support for a
national home for Jews in
Palestine as long as it did
not undermine the rights of
non-Jews in residence.
• Anti-Semite sentiment
increasing in Europe and
Soviet Union
Middle East Nationalism


Despite separation from Ottomans during
WWI, the Arabs were not a single nation.
1916 - The Mandates
• European designated borders/no
national identity
• Governed by the League of Nations
• France
 Syrian and Lebanon
• Great Britain



Iraq, Palestine, and Jordan
Saudi Arabia
• Ibn Saud, unified Northern Arabia
peninsula, 1920s
• U.S. oil interests restructure economy
Reza, Shah Pahlavi pushes the British out
of Iran and establishes a kingdom there in
1925.
India







Mohandas Gandhi
• “Mahatma” – “Great Soul”
Civil disobedience
1919 – Amritsar
1935 – Government of India Act
established role of Indians in
government; created a 2 house
parliament
The Salt March
Split in the Independence Movement
• Gandhi - religious, Indian, and
traditional
• Nehru – secular, Western, modern
Hindu/Muslim tensions
• Pakistan