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World War I
Roots of the Conflict
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne and
future leader of Bosnia, triggered the worst war the world had ever known. In the end,
World War I (1914-1918) would redraw national boundaries on three continents, shift
the world balance of power, and take more than 10 million lives in combat, disease, and
famine.
Causes of the War
Nationalism: By 1900 great waves of nationalist feeling were sweeping across Europe.
The pan-German movement, led by Germany and including Austria, hoped to bring
together all German-speaking peoples. The pan-Slavic movement, led by Russia, tried
to unite Slavic peoples. These nationalistic beliefs were bound to lead to conflicts over
territory. Bosnia, a small state in the Balkans, was one of these contested lands.
Although many of its people were Slavs, it had been annexed by German-speaking
Austria.
Imperialism: Bosnia’s annexation was part of another form of international rivalry imperialism. For years, European nations had competed for territory throughout the
world in search of raw materials and markets. To everyone, bigger meant better.
Militarism: To protect their growing empires and display their national pride, the
European powers engaged in an enormous military buildup. Nearly all European
nations had a conscription system requiring young men to serve in the military. The
drafts produced huge standing armies (Germany had the best-trained army). All
nations stockpiled new weapons and ammunition.
Alliances: Under the pressures of nationalism, imperialism, and militarism, the nations
of Europe formed alliances to maintain a balance of power. Yet the system of mutual
defense agreements, designed to keep the peace in Europe, ultimately destroyed it. The
web of entangling alliances turned a small shooting incident into global violence.
Chain Reaction
1. Franz Ferdinand had been murdered by a Slavic nationalist who thought that Bosnia
should belong to its neighbor Serbia.
2. Austria blamed the government of Serbia for the killing and, with a pledge of
support from Germany, declared war.
3. Serbia’s powerful ally Russia, mobilized its armies to protect its fellow Slavs.
4. To Germany, this mobilization meant only one thing - war. Germany declared war
on Russia on August 1, 1914, and two days later on Russia’s ally France.
5. The Germans hoped to knock out the French quickly, then concentrate their forces
on the Eastern Front against the massive Russian army. Therefore, German troops
invaded neutral Belgium on August 4 on their way to France. This invasion brought
Great Britain into the war since they had pledged to defend Belgium.
*War had erupted. Opposing the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary
were the Allies - France, Russia, and Great Britain. About 20 other countries would
join the Allies, while Turkey and Bulgaria would side with the Central Powers.
Stalemate in the Trenches
*Everyone thought the war would be brief - “all over before Christmas,” a British
slogan said. But everyone misjudged the intensity of the fighting.
*The Germans pushed south into France only 40 miles from Paris. Casualties were
enormous. To hold the Allied position, the French generals told their officers to “dig
in.” From the North Sea south for 400 miles to Switzerland, Allied soldiers dug
trenches in which to live and fight. German troops did the same.
*With the move to the trenches, fighting on the Western Front became a bloody
stalemate that was to last nearly four years.
*Daytime in the trenches was bleak, uncomfortable, and often boring. Action came at
night. Under cover of darkness, troops and supplies were moved into the trenches.
Soldiers repaired their dugouts and the barbed wire in front of them.
*Attacks usually came before dawn. One side would blast the other with heavy
artillery, then send its soldiers “over the top,” bayonets fixed on rifles, to attack the
enemy’s trenches. Few ever reached the trenches, most were cut down by a hail of
machine gun fire in “no man’s land.”
*During one two-week battle in 1915 the Allies gained about 1,200 yards at the cost of
17,000 men.
New Weapons of War
*Slaughter continued year after year because many generals still clung to obsolete
battlefield tactics. The combination of old ideas and new technology produced heavy
losses for both sides.
*In an attempt to break the stalemate in the trenches, the Germans began using poison
gas in 1915. Soldiers feared its deadly greenish-yellow cloud.
*Against artillery and gas, the British devised the tank. They could smash through
barbed wire and clear the way for waves of infantry. Yet the tanks were unreliable and
commanders did not know how best to use them. Tanks did not really affect the war’s
outcome.
*Airplanes. too, played a part in the war. At first used only for observation, they were
later equipped with machine guns. Pilots engaged in dogfights with enemy planes.
*The most dreaded of the new weapons was the German submarine, or U-boat. The Uboats attacked without warning, sinking both military and commercial ships.
*Germany used submarines to retaliate against the British naval blockade of the Central
Powers. The British wanted to cut off supplies headed for Germany. In return, German
submarines began sinking merchant ships in an attempt to starve the British, who
depended on imported food.
The United States Goes to War
President Woodrow Wilson had vowed the United States would remain neutral.
However, several events occurred that made neutrality impossible, and the U.S.
eventually declared war on the Central Powers in 1917.
The Sinking of the Lusitania
*When the Lusitania sailed out of New York harbor bound for England, the Germans
knew that even though it was a civilian ship it was secretly carrying munitions. In early
May, 1915 a German U-boat sank the Lusitania, killing 1,198 passengers (128
Americans).
*The Lusitania incident convinced President Wilson of the need to prepare for national
defense.
The Sussex Pledge
*In March, 1916 a German submarine sank the French passenger ship Sussex, killing
several passengers. To keep the U.S. from entering the war, the Germans agreed to the
Sussex Pledge. In it they promised not to sink merchant ships “without warning and
without saving human lives.”
*The Sussex Pledge bought more time for the Germans. But the sinking of the Sussex
showed Congress how little time there was to prepare for war. Congress soon passed
laws to build up the army and navy, and organized industries and resources in case of
war.
*Wilson’s goal was to work for peace but prepare for war.
The United States Enters the War
*Several other events would soon pull the United States into the war.
*The Germans won several victories over the Russians on the Eastern Front which
allowed them to focus their attention on the west, where trench warfare was
deadlocked.
*In 1917 (less than a year after the Sussex Pledge) Germany resumed unrestricted
submarine warfare, gambling that they could crush the British at sea before the United
States had time to enter the war.
*In response to the German violation of the Sussex Pledge, President Wilson decided to
arm American merchant ships with naval guns. The United States was now practicing
“armed neutrality.”
*British intelligence intercepted a coded message from the German foreign secretary,
Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador in Mexico. It instructed him to offer
Mexico a deal. If Mexico would join Germany in an alliance against the United States,
Germany would restore territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico.
Wilson made public the Zimmermann Note in March, 1917, causing a tremendous
amount of anti-German feeling in the United States.
*Public opinion turned even more so against Germany when submarines sank several
American merchant ships.
*President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war. On April 6, 1917, Congress
voted to go to war. The President hoped that it would be “the war to end all wars.”
The Last Year of the War
*Despite heavy fighting in 1917, the Germans remained in control of northern France
and Belgium.
*In October 1917 Germany and Austria crushed Italy, a member of the Allies since 1915.
*In November 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution turned Russia upside down. Promising
the war-weary Russians “Peace, Land, Bread,” the Bolshevik wing of the Communist
Party took control, under the leadership of V.I. Lenin. In March 1918, Russia signed a
treaty with Germany and dropped out of the fight.
*With no opposition in the east, the Germans then began an all-out assault on the
Western Front. In one week in March 1918 they marched 30 miles to the west, more
than either side had achieved since 1914.
*To help the British and French forces stop the German advances, the United States
rushed more “doughboys” (nickname for U.S. soldiers) across the Atlantic. By the end
of the war there were 2 million Americans fighting in Europe.
*In June 1918, American soldiers helped block the Germans and Chateau-Thierry,
about 50 miles from Paris. Intense Allied fighting stopped the German advance and
began to push the enemy eastward. The tide of war had turned.
*The critical battle to end the war required attacking through the Argonne Forest, a
vast network of uncut barbed wire, deep ravines, dense woods, and thousands of shell
craters.
*For 47 days, 1.2 million American soldiers pushed toward the German lines, under
heavy enemy fire. In one month, more ammunition was used than in the entire Civil
War.
*Among the unstoppable infantry at the Argonne were several units of black troops.
Black soldiers fought bravely in all the major battles. Yet of the 200,000 African
Americans sent to France, only 20,000 saw action. Army policy kept black troops
separated from whites and assigned most of them to noncombat duties.
All Quiet on the Western Front
*By mid-October 1918, the German lines were crumbling. Allied soldiers continued to
fight their way forward and on November 8, 1918 the Germans asked for the Allied
terms of armistice (a truce).
*On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed, and at the eleventh hour of the
eleventh day of the eleventh month the fighting stopped.