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WORLD WAR I Much of the tension in Europe prior to the outbreak of World War I came from a rise in nationalism, a feeling of intense loyalty to a country or group. Nationalism encouraged newly united nations such as Italy and Germany to show their power. Their actions threatened older nations, Great Britain and France. European tensions also grew as powerful countries built great empires in the late 1800s and early 1900s. European countries competed for colonies in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world. These colonies not only provided new markets and raw materials, they also boosted a nation’s status. Each Ottoman Empire nation’s attempt to expand its overseas empire brought it into conflict with another. Since the tensions were so high it didn’t take much to push all of Europe into war. 1 It was June 28, 1914, and the people of Sarajevo, Bosnia, crowded the city streets. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, next in line to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was in town for a visit. As he and his wife rolled along in their open car, a gunman attacked. Both the archduke and his wife were killed. Gavrilo Princip was a member of a Serbian nationalist group. Princip and his group plotted the murder of Franz Ferdinand. They hoped to bring down the Austro-Hungarian Empire and unite the Slavs (people from Ottoman Empire Archduke is killed Central and Eastern Europe). It was Princip who fired the shots that killed the archduke and his wife. 2 Austria-Hungary assassination. blamed Serbia for the With Germany’s support, it gave Serbia a list of demands, which Serbia refused. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. This declaration of war created a domino affect in Europe. July 30, 1914 - Russia (Serbia’s ally) begins to mobilize armed forces. August 1, 1914 - Germany (Austro-Hungarian Empire’s ally) declares war on Russia. August 3, 1914 - Germany declares war on France (Russia’s ally), begins invasion of Belgium. August 4, 1914 - Britain (had pledged to protect Belgium) declares war on Germany. Archduke is killed Ottoman August 6, 1914 - Austro-Hungarian Empire declares Empire war on Russia. August 12, 1914 - France and Britain declare war on Austro-Hungarian Empire. 3 Allied Powers Allied Powers Central Powers Central Powers Allied Powers Allied Powers Central Powers Ottoman Empire 4 The most prominent way of fighting during World War I was trench warfare. Trench warfare is warfare in which opposing armed counterattack, relatively forces and permanent attack, defend from systems of trenches dug into the ground. The opposing systems of trenches are usually close to one another. Trench warfare is resorted to when the superior firepower of the defense compels the opposing forces to “dig in” so extensively as to sacrifice their mobility in order to gain protection. 5 On January 9, 1917 German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg announced Germany’s intention to use unrestricted submarine warfare. His one major concern and fear was that it would provoke an American response. By 1917, the war was not going well for Germany on the Western Front. Unrestricted submarine warfare was a result of desperation and the belief that the ferocity of such a tactic might just keep America out of the war if the results were spectacular and shocking enough. German U-Boat 6 7 On May 1, 1915, the Lusitania, which primarily ferried people and goods across the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Great Britain, had left port in New York for Liverpool to make her 202nd trip across the Atlantic. On board were 1,959 people, 159 of whom were Americans. Approximately 14 miles off the coast of Southern Ireland a German U-boat launched a torpedo. The torpedo hit the starboard (right) side of the Lusitania. The Lusitania sunk within 18 minutes. Though there had been enough lifeboats for all passengers, the severe listing of the ship while it sunk prevented most from being launched properly. Of the 1,959 people on board, 1,198 died. The toll of civilians killed in this disaster shocked the world. Americans were outraged to learn 128 U.S. civilians were killed in a war in which they were officially neutral. Destroying ships not known to be carrying war materials went against normal protocols. The sinking of the Lusitania heightened tensions between the U.S. and Germany but did not end in America joining the war. 8 In February 1917 the British discovered the Zimmerman Telegram and passed it on to the United States. It was written by Arthur Zimmerman, the German foreign minister, to the German ambassador to Mexico, Count von Bernstorff. The Germans were asking the Mexicans to join the war and be their ally. If they agreed, Germany would give Mexico land they lost in the Mexican-American War. The Zimmerman Telegram and the sinking of the Lusitania caused Americans to realize that Germany was a threat. Therefore, The United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. They fought on the side of the Allies. Arthur Zimmerman 9 American soldiers were nicknamed “doughboys” because the buttons on their uniforms resembled boiled dough dumplings, a popular food. They saw their first serious fighting in June 1918, when the American Expeditionary Force helped turn back German forces at Chateau-Thierry on the Marne River east of Paris. The American troops then advanced to Belleau Wood. For the next three weeks, doughboys battled around the clock through the forest against a solid wall of German machine-gun fire. The American and French forces fought back German attacks along the Marne and the Somme Rivers. American Doughboy By mid July they had stopped the great German offensive that had come close to ending the war. 10 The Allies now began an attack of their own. In mid-September, a half million American soldiers defeated the Germans at Saint-Mihiel. Later that month, more than 1 million American troops joined the Allies in the Battle of the Argonne Forest. It became the biggest attack in American history. The Battle of the Argonne Forest raged for nearly seven weeks. Soldiers struggled over the rugged, heavily-forested ground. Rain, mud, barbed wire, and German machine-gun fire hindered the Allies’ advance. Many soldiers died. Yet by early November, the Allies had won the battle. They had pushed back the Germans and broke through their lines. The Germans now faced an invasion of their own country. 11 The Allied victory featured some brilliant individual acts of heroism. For example, Eddie Rickenbacker was a captain in the 94th Aero Squadron. He fought 134 air battles and shot down 26 enemy air craft. He was considered the “Ace of Aces” by the American press. To be considered an “Ace” pilot you had to shoot down 5 enemy planes. 12 The first chemical weapons were used by the Germans during World War I. The First Tanks of World War I – British Tank British plane used during World War I. While Germany struggled on the Western Front, its allies faced defeat elsewhere. In late 1918, the Ottoman Empire was on the brink of collapse. Austria-Hungary broke apart, as protest in major cities helped bring down that centuries-old empire. By early November, the governments of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had surrendered to the Allied Powers. On November 9, Germany asked for an end to the fighting. This became official on November 11, 1918. 13 President Wilson wanted the war to end with no winners or losers so he created the “Fourteen Points” and presented them at the peace treaty conference in Versailles, France. These points included: •Smaller military forces. •An end to secret treaties. •Freedom of the seas. •A league of nations. President Wilson wanted “peace without victory” which means there are no winners and no losers. President Wilson feared that if there is no “peace without victory” Germany will be so angry that President Woodrow Wilson they will start a war in the future that will be the worst war the world has ever seen. 14 The leaders of France and Britain did not share Wilson’s view. They wanted Germany to pay heavily for its part in the war. The only thing they would agree to was Wilson’s call for a League of Nations. According to the final Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to: • Pay $33 billion in reparations. • Limit their military to 100,000 and no air force. • Lose the rights to all of their colonies. • Limit their making of military supplies such as guns, tanks, airplanes. etc. and no British prime minister David Lloyd George (left) at Versailles with the French prime minister Georges Clemenceau and U.S. president Woodrow Wilson. 15