Download WWI Fill In Notes File

CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I
“The Great War”
“The War to End All Wars”
Lots of books on this subject
Archduke Franz Ferdinand & his
wife Sophie
June 28th, 1914
• The Archduke and his wife are
assassinated in Sarajevo
• Killed by a Serb nationalist
Gavrilo Princip
Gun he used; Browning pistol
Princip grabbed moments after
shooting
Consequences
• Austria-Hungary blames Serbia
• Demands apology & many other things
Serbia can’t possibly do
Consequences
• Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
• Serbia is protected by Russia
• Austria-Hungary is allies with Germany
News of war spreads in U.S.
United States
• When war starts in 1914 U.S. wants to
stay out of war
1914
• Central Powers: Germany & AustriaHungary
• Allied Powers: Russia, France, Great
Britain
By end of 1915
• Ottoman Empire joins Central Powers
• Italy joins the Allies
• Two equally powerful sides leads to a
stalemate
World War One
The War Itself
Modern War
• WWI was the first “Modern War”
• First machine guns, tanks, airplanes,
poison gas, etc. used in war
• Generals still were trained to order troops
to march toward one another and kill
• This led to the creation of large stalemated
trench systems that held terrible conditions
The Schlieffen Plan
• Germany knew a war on two fronts was possible
• To avoid this they developed Schlieffen Plan
• Plan:
– Assert all resources on France and try to defeat them
quickly
– Then focus on Russia
– Had to attack through Belgium (Neutral)
– When they did this Great Britain declared war on
Germany
The Western Front
• Germany’s battle with France
– Tried for quick victory
– 1.5 million soldiers died in first 4 nights
– Led to development of Trench Warfare
• Trench Warfare:
• Dug vast trenches across France
• Between armies laid “no mans land”
Trench Life
Ready for battle
Going over the top
Well Deserved Rest
The Armenian Massacre
• Conflict in the Ottoman Empire
• Thought Ethnic Armenians were aiding Russia
• Spring of 1915 forcibly removed Armenians from
their homeland
• 600,000 died from violence and starvation
• Ottoman leaders accused of Genocide
– The deliberate destruction of a racial, political, or
cultural group
U-Boats
• German developed submarines called U-Boats
• Germany installed a policy of unrestricted
submarine warfare
– Any ship traveling in the waters around great Britain
was subject to German attack
• Germans believed U.S was bringing supplies to
Great Britain on civilian ships
• U.S was selling millions of dollars of war goods
to Britain
Lusitania
• A U.S passenger ship that was sunk by German
u-boats
– 1200 people killed / 120 Americans
• U.S complained about the loss of American lives
• Germans feared of U.S entry in war
– Germany agreed to stop attacking ships
• Germany started to lose war to Britain
– reestablished the submarine warfare
– U.S close to joining war
The Zimmerman Note
• A secret message from German diplomat Arthur
Zimmerman to officials in Mexico
– German proposed Mexico to attack U.S
– In return Germany promised Mexico land
• Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico
– Hope U.S war with Mexico would keep them from
entering WWI
• April 1917 U.S joined the war with the Allied
Powers
Western Front
• New Weapons:
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Machine guns
Long range guns
Tanks
Aerial battles between pilots
• Stalemate:
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Heavy losses to both sides
Neither gained advantage
Struggle for Verdun
“While gains and losses of land were measured in
yards, lives were being lost the the hundreds of
thousands.”
The Eastern Front
• Germany’s Battle with Russia
• Russia made heavy advances into Germany
• Russia though was poorly trained, equipped and
led
• Suffered huge losses and problems at home
• New gov’t realized fate and signed humiliating
treaty with Germany in 1918
Other Fronts
• Italy:
– Made secret agreement with France and Britain
• Asia and the Pacific:
– Japan joined Allies in 1914
• Took over German territory in Asia and the Pacific
• The Ottoman Empire:
– Worst fighting on coast of Turkey
– Placed blockade of supplies to prevent allied aid from
reaching Russians
• Africa:
– Germany lost most of their territory in Africa
The Armistice
• Germany had thrown all its resources into
a last, unsuccessful attack on the Western
front in France.
– America’s arrival ended this treat and
Germany’s chance to win the war
– Now lacked:
• Food, Medicine, Oil, and weapon
• German generals urged government to
sign an armistice: a halt to the fighting
The Armistice
• In 1918 Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman
Empire surrendered
• Rebellions in Germany forced the Kaiser
to give up the throne
Paris Peace Conference
• January 1919 an international peace
conference is held in Paris
• Wilson was greeted as a hero by the
French
• Wilson wanted an “organized common
peace”
• The French wanted REVENGE for the
War from the Germans
The Results
• Wilson produced a plan for the “League of
Nations” in which members pledged an
attack on one as an attack on all
• American gov’t refused to join
• The other Allies accepted it
Treaty of Versailles
• Signed June 28, 1919 in France
– officially ended the war
• Reparations (Britain wanted)
– Committee ruled that Germany owed $33 Billion to the Allies
– This was far beyond what it could afford to pay
• Guilt Clause (France wanted)
– Take full responsibility for the war
• Reduce Military
– Limit the size of its military
• Loss of Land
– Give back conquered land and then some
– Loss colonies
German Reaction
• Furious, though no choice but to sign
• Reparations crippled economy
• Bitterness would affect German politics in
years to come
Changes In Europe
• Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire lands
broken apart
• Independent nations created: Austria,
Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia,
Turkey
• France, Germany, Russia, Belgium all had
crippled economies following war
• U.S, Japan prospered
War Ends
• The final assault of WWI came on September 26, 1918
when over a million allied soldiers began to drive
German troops out of France for good
• November 11, 1918 an armistice, or cease fire, was
signed
• Over 50,000 Americans had died
• 1 million French troops died, 4,000 French towns were
destroyed
• 900,000 British troops died
• Russian deaths were also very high
• All told, the war killed over 20 million civilians from
fighting, starvation, disease, etc.