Download PPT- WWI

The Great War
The War to End All Wars
Read Chapter 11 pp. 372-407
Section 1
Classic case of one thing
led to another
 Militarism
 Alliances
(Secret Military Defense)
 Nationalism
 Imperialism (Colonialism)
 Assassination
 Conflict in the Balkan Peninsula
 Series of diplomatic failures
resulting in war
 glorification
of war and the military
 Competition for military power and
strength
Arms race – competition to build up armed
forces and weapons
 Standing armies – soldiers trained and ready to
fight
 Conscription (Draft)– mandatory participation
of civilians in the military
 Increasing influence of military in the
government

 Defensive
agreement to go to war in the
event one country in the partnership is
attacked.
 Aim was to discourage other countries
from attacking members of the alliance
(1882)
 Extreme
love and devotion for one’s
country
 Freedom
 People
from foreign rule
of the same nationality wanted to
form their own nation-state
 One
country’s domination of the economic,
political and social life of another country
 Competition for colonies




countries that had some wanted more
countries that had none and wanted some (led to
increasing their militaries)
Economic growth – countries wanted to new
markets to sell products
Power and prestige of expanding global empires
 Powder
Europe

Keg of
Bosnia-Herzegovina
wanted to free
themselves from
the A-H Empire
 Serbian
nationals
wanted to unite
Bosnia with
Serbia
 Extremely
unstable area
 Archduke
Franz
Ferdinand
 Heir to the AustroHungarian empire
 Assassinated by
Serbian Nationalists
 Spark – immediate
cause setting WWI in
motion
 Ferdinand
and
Sophie visited
Sarajevo as a
birthday trip
 Secret
Serbian nationalists group with ties to
the Serbian government
 Ferdinand
and his wife Sophie were shot and
killed by Gavrilo Princip during their visit to
Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914
 Took
three weeks to
decide to retaliate for
Franz Ferdinand’s
assassination
 Franz Ferdinand
wasn’t particularly
well liked by the
emperor even though
he was his heir
 Domino
effect - chain or series of
diplomatic failures resulting in war
U. Ultimatum… Serbia concedes to A-H. A-H
declares war on Serbia anyway.
 R. Russia and France mobilize against Germany
 G. Germany declares war on France using the
Schlieffan plan, going through neutral Belgium
 E. England declares war on Germany for
attacking neutral Belgium

Triple Entente
Allied Powers
Central Powers




Austria-Hungary
Germany
Ottoman Empire (Turks)
Bulgaria





*Great Britain
*Russia
*France
Italy – although part of
Triple Alliance initially
remained neutral (felt A-H
and Germany had acted
aggressively, rather than
defensively… later
entered on the side of the
Allies)
US joins (April 2, 1917)
 last
czar of Russia
 Absolute Monarch
 In the scramble for
colonies Russia
invaded Manchuria
 1904, RussoJapanese War
 Significance-1st time
a people of colour
every beat a white
nation
 Emperor
William II
of Germany
 1890, he broke off
the ties with
Russia(Czar
Nicholas’s wife was
German)
 Germany had to
fight a two-front
war
 This blunder led
Germany to defeat
 Prime
Minister of
France during WWI
 Prime
minister of
England
 persuaded the
Royal Navy to
introduce the
convoy system
 unification of the
Allied military
command
 Prime
Minister
 Strong supporter of
Italy's entry in the
war
 secretly promised
significant
territorial gains
 28th
President of
the United States
 Tried to maintain
American
neutrality as long
as possible
 German
war plan created by Alfred von
Schlieffen
 Plan to reach Paris and defeat French in 6
weeks before Russia can mobilize, then
attack Russia
 If not Germany will have to fight a war on
two fronts (west with France/Great Britain
and east with Russia)
 Problems encountered




Heavily fortified areas in Belgium
Strong resistance from France
Russia mobilized quicker
Britain attacked from the north
 French
and German troops collide in
Marne (NE France) just outside of Paris
 French push German’s back 50 miles
 Results


Germans forced to retreat signifying end to
Schlieffen plan
Establishes the western front
 Prominent


in Civil War and WWI
Accuracy of firearms increased casualties
(machine gun)
Made Napoleon tactics of playing chicken
(massed ranks of people firing at each other on
the battlefield) obsolete
 Practiced
until modern technology made it
obsolete

Tanks and air planes changed that
 Both
sides constructed elaborate trench and
dugout systems opposing each other
 protected from assault by barbed wire
 The area between opposing trench lines
(known as "no man's land" was fully exposed
to artillery fire from both sides
 Attacks, even if successful sustained severe
casualties
"grinding down" your opponent
 each side tries to wear the other side down
by constant attacks
 won by the side with greater resources
 losses in personnel and material

a state of deadlock where neither side gains an
advantage
 Fought
in Russia
 More mobile than Western Front (ground too
hard to dig trenches)
 Front much longer, covered more territory
 Battle lines moved often
 1st
Battle on the Eastern Front
 Russia attacks Germany quickly and forces
Germany to divert troops away from France
to fight on the Eastern front (End to
Schlieffen Plan)
 Russian advantage: 15:1 ratio of Russian to
German Soldiers (1 in 10 soldiers return from
war)
 Russian weakness: least industrialized - lack
of supplies, weapons, food
 Russians defeated– 30K KIA, 92K POWs
 Machine
guns – allowed one man to kill
hundreds of men in seconds
 Poisonous gas – German army was first
ever to use


Chlorine gas – caused blindness, choking,
vomiting, torn lungs, and death
Mustard gas – most deadly, caused skin blisters,
sore eyes, vomiting, internal and external
bleeding, a long slow death
 Tanks
– allowed for movement across
rugged terrain, eventually designed to
cross trenches
 Airplanes
– first used for reconnaissance
work (spying), later in war to deliver
bombs and fight enemy aircraft in they air
 Submarines
– German u-boats destroyed
warships, supply ships, and commercial
and passenger ships
Area east of Paris contained twenty major forts
and forty smaller ones that had historically
protected the eastern border of France
 German surprise attack
 French under the command of Henri-Phillippe
Petain
 German General Chief of Staff von Falkenhayn
believed that the French simply could not allow
these forts to fall as the national humiliation
would have be too much
 The battle would change the course of the war
because the French would fight to the last man

 No
clear winner
 One of the bloodiest battles of the War
 Lasted from February to December
 Both sides suffer casualties of more than
500K
"You eat beside the dead; you drink beside the
dead, you relieve yourself beside the dead and
you sleep beside the dead."
~ French Soldier
 July-November,
1916
 British and French surprise attack against
Germany north of Verdun
 Goal was to draw German troops from
Verdun to relieve French
 No clear winner
 British estimated KIA 425,000
 French estimated KIA 195,000
 German estimated KIA 650,000
 overall casualty epitomized the futility of
trench warfare



Goal: To open a
supply route to Russia
British navy (under
command of Winston
Churchill) attacks
Dardanelles strait
controlled by Turkey
to gain control of the
only way to get
supplies to Russia
Lack of planning and
reinforcements causes
Allies to withdraw
 Manfred
von Richthofen
 German fighter pilot
 officially credited with 80 kills
 Ace
 American
Ace credited with 26 kills
British blockade of all ports under German
control to stop supplies from reaching Germany
 Germany could only get goods through neutral
countries
 Britain stopped ships carrying contraband
(prohibited goods such as weapons and ammo)
 Germany employed U-boats to sink ships from
America on their way to Britain
 Stop supplies from reaching allies
 Convoy system- heavy guard of destroyers to
protect merchant ships from attack

 President
Woodrow Wilson declared US policy
of absolute neutrality
 Not really US sold to both sides at the
beginning of the war
 Sold more to the Allies- Great Britain
 Lasted until 1917 when Germany used
unrestricted sub warfare
 The British passenger liner the Lusitania was
sunk off the coast of England
 Policy
of neutrality –not choosing sides
 U.S.
late entry – believed war was a European
conflict and had nothing to do with the US
 Economic
sides
Reasons – keep trade open with both
 Un-restricted
submarine warfare –
German U-boats continue to sink
American merchant ships
 Wilson
demanded Germany abandon
unrestricted warfare against passenger ships

Lusitania – British passenger ship torpedoed by
German U-boats; 1,200 die including 128
Americans
 Lusitania
was transporting armaments for
Britain
http://www.history.com/topics/world-wari/lusitania
 Germany



pledged
Passenger ships would not be targeted
Merchant ships would not be sunk until the
presence of weapons had been established by a
search of the ship
Merchant ships would not be sunk without
provision for the safety of passengers and crew
Germany continued sinking both passenger
liners and merchant ships without warning
 Former
President Roosevelt accused
President Wilson of “cowardice and
weakness”
 In actuality US was not neutral


US banks loaned huge amounts of money to
Britain and France
US arms sales reached $500 million by 1916
 January
1917, British naval intelligence
intercepted and decrypted a telegram
from Arthur Zimmerman (German Foreign
Minister) to his ambassador in Mexico
 Approach Mexican President

Germany wanted alliance with Mexico



Germany would help Mexico regain New Mexico, Texas
and Arizona if Mexico would start a war to keep US
“occupied” and out of the war in Europe
Mexico was promised money
Suggested Mexico get Japan involved in 2 front war
against US
 The
U.S. had warships, but a shortage of
transport vessels
 President Woodrow Wilson approved, in April
of 1917, the greatest shipbuilding program in
history: an order for 1,000 300-ft long
steamships to be built in only 18 months
 It was also one of the most expensive in
history; each ship would cost the taxpayer
almost one million dollars
 shipbuilders were pressed to reach deadlines
 To
save time and money the builders used
wood rather than the more expensive steel
at the time reserved for vessels that would
see combat
 October
of 1918 revealed only 134 ships had
been completed
 United
States had no use for the ships; they
were left to rot
 Poorly
constructed
 Corners cut to speed up the building process



Ships leaked ( poorly caulked)
too small to be efficient long-distance shippers
invention of the diesel engine made the coalburning vessels obsolete
 With
steel becoming cheaper and more
available
the end
Thereadily
Ghost Fleet
of Mallows
Bayhad come for the
wooden steamships
December, 1920
 290 unused leaking ships were being temporarily
stored and cared for in the James River at a cost
of nearly $50,000 per month
 Western Marine & Salvage Company (WMSC)
purchased 233 of the ships in the fleet for
$750,000
 Ships brought to Mallows Bay, Chesapeake River
to be scrapped
 1925, workers for the Western Marine & Salvage
Company torched the ships in the bay

Need for scrap metal
 US government paid Bethlehem Steel to scrap
the vessels
 Cost of the salvage was far more than the value
of the recovered materials
 Found by researchers







12 barges were discovered
a Revolutionary War-era longboat
several 18th century schooners
miscellaneous workboats
car ferries like the S.S. Accomac
Vessels would continue to be abandoned in
Mallows Bay as recent as the 1980s
 Huge
amounts of money poured into army
and navy
 US declares war on Germany in April, 1917
All of country’s resources go toward war
effort
 President
Wilson called for “peace without
victory”
 Germany refused
 Increased U-boat campaign
 Hoped to drive Britain and France to
surrender before US got involved
Government
influences production
of goods and services
toward needs of the
war
 Unemployment drops
– workers need to
produce war goods
 Food Rationing –
meatless Monday,
wheat-less Wednesday
leaves more food for
troops

Price controls on food
and wages
 Propaganda –
intended to persuade
people to support the
war, make sacrifices,
keep moral high
 Women – join the
workforce and special
branches of the
military; aided in
getting women the
right to vote in 1920

 Draft
 1917
 Originally
21-35
 Increased age 18-45
 Supporters argued that it would create a
more democratic US for men of different
backgrounds to serve together
 WRONG
 Segregated units- African Americans, Mexican
Americans, foreign born Americans







Told to tear off one corner of their registration cards so they
could easily be identified and inducted separately
Most were limited to labor battalions
Combat troops were completely segregated
Integrated with White French Troops (171 were awarded the
French Legion of Honor)
Could not serve in the Marines
Limited and menial positions in the Navy and the Coast
Guard
Not uncommon for southern postal workers to deliberately
withhold the registration cards of eligible black men and
have them arrested for being draft dodgers
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/worldwar-i-history/videos/the-harlem-hellfighters

Large scale movement of African Americans
north
 Work in war time industries (drop In immigration)
 Escape Jim Crow Laws
 First
US troops arrive in Europe in June
1917 under General John Pershing
 Fought primarily in France
 First American army ever sent to Europe
 Nicknamed Doughboys, Yankees, or Yanks
 Men
who refused conscripted combat
 Pacifists who were against war in general
 Political objectors who did not consider the
government of Germany to be their enemy
 Religious objectors who believed that war
and fighting was against their religion.
Groups in this section were the Amish,
Quakers, and Jehovah Witnesses
 Incarcerated at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas or
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California
ideas or rumors used to harm an opposing
cause
 Recruitment
of Soldiers
 Financing the war effort
 Unify the country behind the war
 Conserve resources needed for war (steel,
oil, food)
 Encourage participation in organizations that
support the war








Demonization – portraying the enemy as evil,
murderous, aggressive
Emotional Appeal – play on people’s fear about war
Name Calling – using labels to encourage hatred of
the enemy (Huns, Commie’s)
Patriotic Appeals – using patriotic symbols to appeal
to national pride (Statue of Liberty, flags)
Half-truth’s and lies – deception and twisting the
truth
Catchy Slogans - memorable phrases to create
support (Remember the Maine)
Evocative Visual Symbols – visual images that appeal
to peoples emotions (i.e. Women, children, etc)
Humor – using the enemy as the butt of jokes
 Any
person could be
sentenced for up to
20 years in prison


interfering with the war
effort in any way
saying anything disloyal,
profane, or abusive
towards the government
 Targeted
Socialists
and labor leaders
Eugene V. Debs (10
years) speaking
against the draft
 “Big Bill” Haywood
and other leaders of
the IWW
(International Workers
of the World) or
Wobblies (vague
“long term”) for
urging strikes for
better pay and
working conditions

 First
Amendment Right to Free Speech
 Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,
 defendants who distributed leaflets to draftage men, urging resistance to induction,
could be convicted of an attempt to obstruct
the draft
 criminal offense
 “… expressions which in the circumstances
were intended to result in a crime, and
posed a "clear and present danger" of
succeeding, could be punished.”
 Russia


pulled out if the war, March 1918
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Russia lost 25% of its land, 1/3rd of the population
 Germany
shifted their armies to the western
front
 Germans were within 50 miles of Paris when
the US arrived
 Stopped the German advance
 Major battles at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau
Wood, 2nd Battle of the Marne, Sainte-Mihiel,
and Meuse-Argonne
 Austria
Hungary surrendered on 11/3/1918
 German sailors mutinied the same day
 Soldiers and sailors all over Germany
rebelled
 11/9/1918 Germany Republic established
 Finally, Kaiser Wilhelm gave up his throne
and was forced to leave the country
At the Eleventh hour, on the Eleventh day of
the Eleventh month of 1918
An armistice or cease fire was signed.
WWI was over.









Pandemic of 1918-1919
Between 20 and 40 million people died (only 16
million from the actual war)
Half of US Soldiers fell to the influenza virus and not
to the enemy
Est. 675,000 Americans died of influenza
10x as many as in the world war
Cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded
world history
More people died of the Spanish flu in a single year
than in four-years of the Black Death (Bubonic
Plague-1347 to 1351)
Death toll worldwide surpassed combat fatalities
from all wars of the 20th century
H1N1 virus (Swine flu epidemic 2009)
David Lloyd
George
(Britain)
Vittorio
Orlando
(Italy)
Georges
Clemenceau
(France)
Woodrow
Wilson
(US)
Although there were delegates from 39 nations at the conference, the important
decisions were made by the leaders of the three strongest Allied powers: the US,
Britain, and France.

Wilson wanted “peace
without victory,” and
wanted defeated nations to
be treated well to avoid a
war of revenge in the future

Wilson introduced America’s
goals his Fourteen Points,
which were admired by the
Germans, but not the other
Allies

Wilson wanted to eliminate
the basic causes of war, such
as conflicts over nationalism
and imperialism
Wilson also called for an end to alliances, a
reduction of military arms, and selfdetermination.
Self-determination – the idea that the
peoples of Eastern Europe would chose their
own form of government.
Wilson also argued for freedom of the seas,
and the formation of the League of Nations.
League of Nations – a group of countries with
the goal of settling disputes through
negotiation, rather than war.
 Felt
that Wilson was
too soft on Germany
 “Wilson has
Fourteen
Points…God
Almighty has only
ten!”
 Clemenceau wanted
to crush the
Germans so that
they could never
again invade France
 middle
ground
between Wilson and
Clemenceau
 Lloyd George knew
that destroying
Germany would not
be good for Europe
 worked out many of
the compromises in
the treaty
Germany’s punishment in the Treaty can be remembered as:
BRAT
Germany
1. Germany had to accept the Blame for starting
the war in the form of a “war guilt” clause
“The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany
accepts, the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing
all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated
Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a
consequence of the war imposed on them by the aggression of
Germany and her allies.”
Treaty of Versailles, Article 231
2. Germany had to pay over $33 billion in Reparations,
or fines.
The reparations covered the destruction caused by the
war, pensions for millions of Allied soldiers, widows and families.
3. Germany was forbidden to have an Army over
100,000 men, no submarines, and no air force
4. Germany lost Territory and colonies to Britain and France.
Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France, land was lost to
Poland, and the Rhineland was to be occupied by Allied troops.
 German
troops were banned from ALL
territory west of the Rhine (French side) and
within 30 miles east of the Rhine (German
side)
 Demilitarized Zone- DMZ
 To be occupied by French troops for 15 years
 Buffer zone
 key industrial region of Germany, producing
coal, steel and iron resources.
Germany lost Alsace,
Lorraine
 France
lost the area
to Germany in
(1870–71).
 Suffered
economically from
the loss valuable
iron ore deposits,
iron- and
steelmaking plants,
and other industries
located there
 returned
to France
in 1919 after World
War I
AustriaHungary
The break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire led to the
independence of four new nations: Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia.
Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina,
and Montenegro made up
Yugoslavia. Austria, deprived
of its entire empire, became a
small nation.
Ally Romania gained land,
while Central Power Bulgaria
lost land.
Ottoman
Empire
Ottoman Empire (Turkey) was also broken up.
Some of the
territories were given
independence, while
others such as
Palestine, Iraq, and
Syria were given to
Britain and France
Communist Since Russia’s new communist government left the
war early, they were not invited to Versailles
Russia
The Allies wanted to weaken
Russia to keep communism
from spreading westward
Four new nations gained
independence from Russia:
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania. Russia also lost land
to Poland and Romania
Land Russia lost
President Wilson succeeded in forming the League
of Nations
 The countries that joined promised to take
cooperative economic and military actions against
any aggressive country
 But had to have a unanimous vote to do so
 United States Congress rejected the League
because Americans feared it would pull them into
future European wars
 Severely weakened the League

 Germany
•
•
•
was horrified by their
reparations, reduced military, and
territorial losses
Americans also felt the Treaty was
too harsh on Germany, and the US
Congress refused to approve it
Italy was not given Trieste and
Trentino as promised
Japan was angry because the Allies
did not recognize all of its claims
in China
Repercussions from the Treaty of Versailles will
cause World War II to break out in 20 years