Download Glencoe World History: Modern Times

In 1919, the German government was allowed to
submit a counterproposal to the Treaty of
Versailles. In it the Germans agreed to many of
the terms including reparations, territorial
adjustments, and reduction of military. However,
the counterproposal said that for Germany to sign
the treaty as it stood, the country would be
signing its own death warrant. It asked that a
neutral inquiry into the question of responsibility
for the war be held, one that would inspect the
archives of all the nations that had fought. The
counterproposal was rejected almost entirely.
I. Nationalism and the System
of Alliances (pages 422–423)
A. Liberals during the first half of the 1800s
hoped that the formation of European
nation/states would lead to peace. However,
the imperialist states that emerged during the
second half of the 1800s became highly
competitive over trade and colonies.
B. Two main alliances divided Europe: The
Triple Alliance (1882) was made up of
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy; and
the Triple Entente (1907) was made up of
France, Great Britain, and Russia.
I. Nationalism and the System
of Alliances (pages 422–423)
C. During the early 1900s, several crises
erupted, particularly in the Balkans, which
created a great deal of anger and tension
between the nations of the two alliances.
Each nation was willing to go to war to
preserve its power.
D. European ethnic groups, such as Slavs in
the Balkans and the Irish in the British
Empire, dreamed of creating their own
national states, which also increased
tensions in Europe.
I. Nationalism and the System
of Alliances (pages 422–423)
E. Another source of strife in Europe was dissent
within nations. As Socialist labor movements
became more powerful, they used strikes to
achieve their goals, which led to unrest.
F. Conservative national leaders feared that
revolutions would break out. Some
historians believe that these leaders may
have been willing to go to war in order to
suppress internal dissent.
I. Nationalism and the System
of Alliances (pages 422–423)
G. After 1900 there was a huge increase in the
size of European armies, which increased
tensions among nations.
H. The two sides thought that the war would be
quick and decisive.
I. As militarism, or the aggressive preparation
for war grew, so did the influence of military
leaders. Because military leaders insisted
that their plans could not be changed,
political leaders were forced to make
decisions based on military instead of
political reasons.
II. The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914
(pages 424–425)
A. While militarism, nationalism, and
the desire to control internal dissent all had a
part in starting World War I, the outbreak of
fighting stemmed directly from events in the
Balkans in 1914.
B. States in southeastern Europe had long
struggled for independence from the Ottoman
Empire. Russia and Austria-Hungary
competed for control of these new states. In
1914, Serbia wanted to form a large Slavic
state in the Balkans. Serbia was supported by
Russia and opposed by Austria-Hungary.
II. The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914
(pages 424–425)
C. Many Europeans were afraid that
this conflict in the Balkans would lead to war.
D. In June of 1914, Archduke Francis
Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife
were killed by the Serbian terrorist Gavrilo
Princip in the city of
Sarajevo. The
Siberian terrorists
wanted Bosnia to
become independent
from Austria-Hungary.
Assassination at Sarajevo
II. The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914
(pages 424–425)
E. The Austro-Hungarian government
wanted to declare war on Serbia but was
worried that Russian would come to Serbia’s
aid. Austrian leaders asked for help from its
German allies. Emperor William II agreed to
give Germany’s full support. In July, 1914
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
F. Russia responded by supporting Serbia.
Czar Nicholas II ordered partial and then full
mobilization of the Russian army. AustriaHungary and Germany considered the
mobilizations acts of war.
II. The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914
(pages 424–425)
G. The Germans warned the Russians
to halt mobilization, and the Russians refused.
Germany then declared war on Russia on
August 1. Because Russia and France were
allies, Germany had planned its strategy
against Russia and France, which was to
defeat France first and then attack Russia
with full force. This plan, designed by General
Alfred von Schlieffen, was called the
Schlieffen Plan. Germany declared war on
France on August 3.
II. The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914
(pages 424–425)
H. The Germans demanded that Belgium—a
neutral country—allow German armies to
pass through on the way to France. This
action led Britain, who was allied with France
and Russia, to declare war on Germany. By
August 4, World War I had begun.
German officer reading
the declaration of war in
the streets of Berlin
When President Woodrow Wilson declared war
in 1917, he called it the “war to end all wars”
and said that the United States would fight to
“make the world safe for democracy.” The
government asked for volunteers, saying it
needed a million men. However, public support
was not as strong as the government would
have liked. In the first six weeks after war was
declared, about 70,000 men volunteered, which
led Congress to start the draft.
I. 1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
(pages 431–432)
A. The events of August 1914 shattered
two previously held ideas: that war was not
worth fighting and that diplomats could
prevent war.
B. Government propaganda—ideas spread to
influence public opinion—had stirred up
national hatreds before the war. When the
war began, propaganda was used to urge
people to defend their own country. The
majority of people thought their country’s
cause was just.
I. 1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
(pages 431–432)
C. All European wars since 1815 had
only lasted a few weeks. In August, 1914,
most people thought the war would be over
by Christmas.
Troops going to war
I. 1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
(pages 431–432)
D. On the Western Front, Germany swept
through Belgium into northern France and
was stopped a short distance from Paris at
the First Battle of the Marne. The Western
Front turned into a stalemate, with neither
side able to push the other out of the system
of trench warfare they had begun. The
trenches stretched from the English Channel
nearly to the Swiss border. For four years
both sides remained in almost the same
positions.
I. 1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
(pages 431–432)
E. On the Eastern Front, the war was far
more mobile. The Russian army moved into
eastern Germany but was defeated at the Battle of
Tannenberg and the Battle of Masurian Lakes,
making Russia no longer a threat to invade
Germany. The Russians defeated Austria-Hungary
and dislodged them from Serbia. The Italians, who
had been allied with Germany and AustriaHungary, broke their alliance in 1915 and attacked
Austria-Hungary. The Germans came to the aid of
the Austrians and together they defeated the
Russians in several battles and drove them back.
About 2.5 million Russians had been killed,
captured, or wounded. The Russians were almost
out of the war. After defeating Serbia, Germany
turned its attention back to the Western Front.
II. 1916 to 1917: The Great Slaughter
(pages 432–433)
A. The trenches on the Western Front
included massive tangles of barbed wire,
machinegun nests, gun batteries, and heavy
artillery. The soldiers lived in holes in the
ground. The territory between the two sides
was called no-man’s-land.
B. Military leaders did not know how to fight
trench warfare. They were used to mobile
battles. The only plan they could devise was
to order masses of soldiers to attack the
other side and try to break through.
II. 1916 to 1917: The Great Slaughter
(pages 432–433)
C. Each side tried this tactic. They
would begin with heavy artillery and then send
in thousands of troops. The men who
attacked were completely exposed to
machine-gun fire. Millions of young men died
in these attacks and no breakthrough came.
At Verdun, France, in 1916, 700,000 men
were killed in 10 months. World War I had
become a war of attrition, where each side
tried to wear the other down.
II. 1916 to 1917: The Great Slaughter
(pages 432–433)
D. Airplanes for war were used for the
first time in World War I. By the end of 1915,
airplanes spotted enemy positions from the air.
Later they attacked ground targets. In time,
machine guns were mounted on airplanes and
they fought each other for control of the air.
E. The Germans used their giant gas-filled
airships to bomb points in Britain, but
stopped when the British realized that they
could easily shoot down the airships.
II. 1916 to 1917: The Great Slaughter
(pages 432–433)
F. Because the war in the trenches
was bogged down, both sides tried to get new
allies and to widen the war. In November,
1914, Russia, Great Britain, and France (the
Allies) declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
In 1915, they tried to open a Balkan front by
attacking Gallipoli, near Constantinople.
Then Bulgaria entered the war on the side of
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman
Empire (the Central Powers). The Allies
withdrew from Gallipoli after a disastrous
campaign.
II. 1916 to 1917: The Great Slaughter
(pages 432–433)
G. Italy opened up a front against
Austria-Hungary on the side of the Allies.
H. In 1918, British forces from Egypt defeated the
Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. They
used troops from Australia, India, and New
Zealand.
I. The Allies seized German colonies in the rest
of the world. Japan, an ally of Britain, seized
German-held islands in the Pacific Ocean.
III. Entry of the United States (pages 434–435)
A. The United States tried to stay neutral in the
first years of World War I. This became more
difficult as the war dragged on.
B. The naval war between Britain and
Germany became the reason why the
United States joined the war. In order to
keep supplies from reaching their enemies,
each country enforced a naval blockade of
the other. German submarines sank both
military and civilian ships, including
passenger ships. This practice was called
unrestricted submarine warfare.
III. Entry of the United States (pages 434–435)
C. In 1915, the Germans sank the British ship
Lusitania, killing 1,100 civilians and causing
strong protests from the American
government. The Germans stopped
unrestricted submarine warfare for some time
until German naval officers such as Admiral
Holtzendorff convinced the emperor to
resume the practice.
III. Entry of the United States (pages 434–435)
D. The Germans did not think that the United
States would enter the war before the British
were starved. However, in April 1917, the
United States responded to unrestricted
submarine warfare by declaring war on
Germany. Though large numbers of American
troops did not arrive until 1918, the Allies
were given a powerful psychological boost as
well as money and supplies.
IV. The Homefront: The Impact of Total War
(pages 435–437)
A. World War I became a total war
that required a complete mobilization of
people and resources. It demanded the total
commitment of the countries involved,
soldiers and civilians alike. The war had an
enormous impact on everyone’s life.
In December 1915, these
Italian troops posed for a
camera as they rested in
camp.
IV. The Homefront: The Impact of Total War
(pages 435–437)
B. As the war dragged on, governments
had to increase their powers in order to obtain
the manpower and supplies they needed.
Millions of men were drafted into the military.
Governments set up planned economies,
which included economic controls, food and
material rationing, regulated transportation,
and controls on imports and exports.
IV. The Homefront: The Impact of Total War
(pages 435–437)
C. Governments and leaders such as
U.S. president Woodrow Wilson saw all
citizens as part of the war effort.
D. As the casualties mounted in the war, public
support for the war waned. Authoritarian
governments used force to keep people
working. Other governments passed new
laws to severely restrict dissent, exercised
increased control of news sources, and tried
to keep morale up with new propaganda
techniques.
IV. The Homefront: The Impact of Total War
(pages 435–437)
E. Women assumed new roles during
World War I, taking over jobs previously held
only by men, including factory and trucking
jobs. These changes were generally seen as
temporary, lasting only while men were away
fighting the war. One positive result of
women’s role in the war was that in Germany,
Austria, and the United States they were
given the right to vote not
long after the war ended.
Women in Britain were
given the right to vote
in 1918 before the end
of the war.
British women in a munitions factory
Vladimir Ilyich Ulianov (V.I. Lenin) was born in
1870 to a middle-class family. He was
educated and became a lawyer. In 1887, his
older brother was executed by the czarist
police for planning to assassinate the czar. This
event turned Lenin into a revolutionary, and he
dedicated his life to overthrowing the czar.
I. Background to Revolution (pages 441–443)
A. Due to a lack of experienced military leaders
and technology, Russia was unprepared for
World War I. The Russian army was poorly
trained and equipped and suffered terrible
losses.
B. By 1917, the Russian will to continue
fighting in the war had disappeared.
I. Background to Revolution (pages 441–443)
C. Czar Nicholas II relied on his army and
government to keep him in power. His wife
Alexandra cut him off from events. She was
strongly influenced by Grigori Rasputin, who
claimed to be a holy man. Though he had no
military experience, Czar Nicholas II insisted
on commanding the army in the field and was
away from the capital. In his absence,
Alexandra made important decisions with the
help of Rasputin.
I. Background to Revolution (pages 441–443)
D. The Russian people became increasingly
upset with the czar and his wife due to military
and economic disasters. Conservatives
wanted to save the deteriorating situation and
assassinated Rasputin late in 1916. However,
this did not save the monarchy.
E. In March 1917, working-class women led a
series of strikes in the capital city of
Petrograd. They were upset about bread
shortages and rationing. They called a general
strike that shut down all the factories.
I. Background to Revolution (pages 441–443)
F. Alexandra reported the situation to Nicholas,
describing the demonstrators as hooligans.
Nicholas responded by ordering troops to
break up the crowds with force. However,
many soldiers refused to shoot and joined the
demonstrators. On March 12, the Duma, or
legislature, met and established a provisional
government. The government then urged the
czar to step down, which he did.
I. Background to Revolution (pages 441–443)
G. The provisional government was headed by
Alexander Kerensky and decided to
continue fighting the war. This was a grave
mistake, as it upset workers and peasants
who wanted to end the years of fighting.
H. The government was also challenged by the
soviets—councils representing workers and
soldiers—who came to play an important role
in Russian politics. Soviets sprang up around
the country, and were mostly made up of
socialists.
II. The Rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks
(pages 443–444)
A. The Bolsheviks were a small faction
of a Marxist party. They were led by
V.I. Lenin, and were dedicated to a violent
revolution to overthrow the capitalist system.
B. Lenin lived in Switzerland
between 1900 and 1917.
When the provisional
government was formed, he
went to Russia hoping that
the Bolsheviks could seize
power. German military
leaders helped him travel to
Russia in an attempt to
create disorder.
II. The Rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks
(pages 443–444)
C. Lenin believed that the Bolsheviks
should try to gain control of the soviets. He
saw the soviets as groups already in place
that could help overthrow the provisional
government.
D. The Bolsheviks promised to end the war,
redistribute land to the peasants, transfer
control of factories and industries from
capitalists to the workers, and transfer
government power to the soviets.
II. The Rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks
(pages 443–444)
E. Three slogans summed up the
Bolshevik program: “Peace, Land, Bread,”
“Worker Control of Production,” and “All
Power to the Soviets.”
F. By the end of October, 1917, the Bolsheviks
had 240,000 members and held majorities in
the Petrograd and Moscow soviets. On
November 6, the Bolsheviks seized the
Winter Palace and the provisional
government collapsed.
II. The Rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks
(pages 443–444)
G. Lenin turned over power to the
Congress of Soviets, which represented
soviets throughout Russia; but held on to the
real power in a Council of People’s
Commissars, which he ran.
H. The Bolsheviks renamed themselves the
Communists. In March of 1918, Lenin ended
the war with Germany, giving up a lot of
territory including eastern Poland, Ukraine,
Finland, and the Baltic provinces. He believed
that these territories would eventually return
to Russia as the socialist revolution spread
through Europe.
III. Civil War in Russia (page 444)
A. Soon after the Communists took power, civil
war broke out in Russia. Many people were
opposed to the Communists, including groups
loyal to the czar, liberals, and anti-Leninist
socialists. They were aided by the Allies, who
gave them troops and supplies, hoping
Russia would rejoin the war.
B. The Communist (Red) Army fought in many
places between 1918 and 1921. The
opposing, or White, forces first attacked from
Siberia in the east. Other attacks came from
the Ukraine and the Baltic regions.
III. Civil War in Russia (page 444)
C. By 1920, the Red Army had defeated most of
the White forces. The Communists then
gained control over Georgia, Russian
Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
D. The royal family was captured by the
Communists and moved to a mining town in
the Urals, where they were eventually killed.
IV. Triumph of the Communists (pages 445–446)
A. The Communists won the civil war in part
because they had an excellent army. As
commissar of war, Leon Trotsky had
brilliantly organized the army and instituted
rigid discipline.
B. The opposition to the Communists was not
unified and was torn by political differences
and mistrust. They lacked a common goal.
Some wanted to restore the czar. Others
wanted a more democratic government.
IV. Triumph of the Communists (pages 445–446)
C. The Communists had a strong sense of
purpose and conviction. They were also able
to put their ideals to work in practical ways, for
example by controlling banks, farms, and
industries to serve the Communist war effort,
a policy known as war communism.
D. The Communists also used revolutionary
terror to further their goals. The Cheka, or
secret police, sought out anyone who opposed
the Communists and created an atmosphere
of fear among the people.
IV. Triumph of the Communists (pages 445–446)
E. When the Allies sent troops to oppose the
Communists, the Communists used this act to
appeal to Russian patriotism. They asked
Russians to join with them in fighting foreign
attempts to control the nation.
F. By 1921, the Communists had complete
control of Russia. The country had become a
centralized state dominated by a single party.
Because of the role of the Allies in the civil
war, the Communists mistrusted them and
remained hostile.
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles demanded that
Germany pay $5 billion in reparations for
damages caused by the war. In 1921, Germany
had paid nearly half the amount. However, the
reparations committee met and decided that
Germany should pay a total of $32.5 billion by
1963, an amount that many experts agreed
could cause the German people to starve.
I. The Last Year of the War (pages 448–449)
A. During 1917, the Allies had been defeated in
their offensives on the Western Front, and the
Russians had withdrawn from the war. The
Central Powers appeared to have the
advantage.
B. The German military official Erich von
Ludendorff decided to take a military gamble.
In March 1918, the Germans launched a large
offensive on the Western Front and came to
within 50 miles of Paris. The Germans were
stopped at the Second Battle of the Marne by
French, Moroccan, and American troops and
hundreds of tanks.
I. The Last Year of the War (pages 448–449)
C. In 1918, the addition of more than 2 million
American troops helped the Allies begin to
advance toward Germany. By the end of
September, General Ludendorff told German
leaders that the war was lost.
D. The Allies were not willing to negotiate with
the German government under Emperor
William II. The German people were angry
and exhausted by the war. In spite of
attempted government reforms, German
workers and soldiers in towns such as Kiel
revolted and set up their own councils. On
November 9, William II left the country.
I. The Last Year of the War (pages 448–449)
E. The German Social Democratic party, led by
Friedrich Ebert, declared that Germany
would become a democratic republic. On
November 11, the new German government
signed an armistice with the Allies that ended
the war.
F. In December 1918, a group of radical
socialists formed the German Communist
Party and then tried to seize power. They
were defeated by the new government,
which was backed by the army. The
revolutionary leaders were killed.
I. The Last Year of the War (pages 448–449)
G. The attempt by the Communists to take over
the government left many middle-class
Germans deeply afraid of communism.
H. At the end of the war, ethnic groups in
Austria-Hungary sought independence. The
Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated into
the independent republics of Austria,
Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and the
monarchial state of Yugoslavia. National
rivalries in the region would weaken eastern
Europe for years to come.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
A. In January 1919, representatives of the Allied
nations met in Paris to make a final settlement
of the war.
B. President Woodrow Wilson outlined his
“Fourteen Points,” with which he intended to
create a lasting peace. The points included
proposals for open treaty negotiations,
reducing military strength, and ensuring selfdetermination, or the right of each people to
have its own nation. Wilson proposed a new
world order based on democracy and
cooperation among nations. He suggested
creating an association of nations to
guarantee political independence for all
countries.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
C. The Paris Peace Conference was
complicated by many factors. Secret treaties
had been made before the war that promised
territories to certain nations. National interests
created problems as well. For example, the
British under Prime Minister David Lloyd
George wanted to make the Germans pay for
the war.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
D. Led by Georges Clemenceau, the French
wanted to insure national security. They
sought to do this by stripping Germany of all
weapons, having them make huge payments,
called reparations, and creating a buffer
state between Germany and France in the
German Rhineland.
E. The United States, Britain, and France, known
as the Big Three, made most of the important
decisions at the Paris Peace Conference.
Germany was not included. Russia was in a
civil war and could not attend, and Italy was
not given a large role.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
F. The Big Three argued about many points.
Wilson wanted to create a League of Nations
to be an international peacekeeping
organization. The conference accepted his
proposal. In return he agreed to territorial
settlements that were not consistent with his
idea of self-determination. The French gave
up their wish for a Rhineland buffer state and
accepted a defensive alliance with Britain and
the United States to guarantee future security
against Germany.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
G. The Treaty of Versailles was the final peace
settlement of World War I. It was actually five
separate treaties with the defeated nations:
Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and
Turkey. The treaty declared that the Germans
were guilty of starting the war. It ordered
Germany to pay reparations for all damages
suffered by the Allies.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
H. The treaty required Germany to greatly
reduce its military forces and return the
territories of Alsace and Lorraine to France.
Sections of eastern Germany became part of
a new Polish state. German land on both
sides of the Rhine was turned into a
demilitarized zone to prevent future
aggression toward France.
I. The German government accepted the peace
terms because it had no choice. To refuse
would mean to go back to war. However the
treaty outraged and angered the German
people, who felt the Treaty of Versailles was a
harsh and unfair peace.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
J. Eastern Europe was greatly changed as a
result of the war and the peace treaties. The
Russians and Germans lost much territory.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was gone. New
nation-states emerged, including Finland,
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary. Lands
in the Balkans changed hands as Romania
received territory from Russia, Hungary, and
Bulgaria. Yugoslavia was formed, which
included Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
K. Though the Paris Peace Conference was
supposedly guided by the principle of
self-determination, the mix of peoples in
eastern Europe made this very difficult and
many compromises were made. As a result,
almost every eastern European state included
ethnic minorities. For example, there were
Germans in Poland and Hungarians in
Romania. These ethnic mixes would lead to
conflicts in later years.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
L. The peace treaty also broke up the Ottoman
Empire. In return for Arab support, the Allies
had promised Arab states within the Ottoman
Empire that they would be independent after
the war. France and Britain changed their
minds and took over control of Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq, and Palestine. Because Wilson
opposed new colonial acquisitions, these
acquisitions were called mandates. Under the
mandate system, a country controlled another
as a mandate on behalf of the League of
Nations, but did not officially own the territory.
II. The Peace Settlements (pages 449–453)
M. World War I undermined the previously held
idea of human progress. Entire populations
had slaughtered each other in unprecedented
ways. The devastation of the war also opened
the door to revolutions and further instability.
Chapter Summary
The outline below shows four themes of the chapter.
The Battle of the Somme