Download Ch. 14: World War I and the Russian Revolution

Ch. 14 World War I and the Russian Revolution
Mr. Judd
Content Standards
13. Advances in technology, communication and transportation improved lives, but also had negative
consequences.
14. The causes of World War I included militarism, imperialism, nationalism and alliances.
15. The consequences of World War I and the worldwide depression set the stage for the Russian
Revolution, the rise of totalitarianism, aggressive Axis expansion and the policy of appeasement, which
in turn led to World War II.
Murder in Sarajevo
In an event that is widely acknowledged to have sparked the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is shot to death along
with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on this day in 1914.
The great Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck, the man most responsible for the unification of Germany in
1871, was quoted as saying at the end of his life that “One day the great European War will come out of some
damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” It went as he predicted.
The archduke traveled to Sarajevo in June 1914
to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, former Ottoman territories in
the turbulent Balkan region that were annexed
by Austria-Hungary in 1908 to the indignation of
Serbian nationalists, who believed they should
become part of the newly independent and
ambitious Serbian nation. The date scheduled for
his visit, June 28, coincided with the anniversary
of the First Battle of Kosovo in 1389, in which
medieval Serbia was defeated by the Turks.
Despite the fact that Serbia did not truly lose its
independence until the Second Battle of Kosovo
in 1448, June 28 was a day of great significance
to Serbian nationalists, and one on which they
could be expected to take exception to a
demonstration of Austrian imperial strength in
Bosnia.
June 28 was also Franz Ferdinand’s wedding anniversary. His beloved wife, Sophie, a former lady-in-waiting,
was denied royal status in Austria due to her birth as a poor Czech aristocrat, as were the couple’s children. In
Bosnia, however, due to its limbo status as an annexed territory, Sophie could appear beside him at official
proceedings. On June 28, 1914, then, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were touring Sarajevo in an open car, with
surprisingly little security, when Serbian nationalist and member of the Black Hand secret military society
Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at their car; it rolled off the back of the vehicle and wounded an officer and
2
some bystanders. Later that day, on the way to visit the
injured officer, the archduke’s procession took a wrong turn
at the junction of Appel quay and Franzjosefstrasse, where
one of Cabrinovic’s cohorts, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip,
happened to be loitering.
Seeing his opportunity, Princip fired into the car, shooting
Franz Ferdinand and Sophie at point-blank range. Princip
then turned the gun on himself, but was prevented from
shooting it by a bystander who threw himself upon the
young assassin. A mob of angry onlookers attacked Princip,
who fought back and was subsequently wrestled away by
the police. Meanwhile, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie lay
fatally wounded in their limousine as it rushed to seek help;
they both died within the hour.
The assassination of Franz-Ferdinand and Sophie set off a rapid chain of events: Austria-Hungary, like many in
countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as
justification for settling the question of Slav nationalism once and for all. As Russia supported Serbia, an
Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader
Kaiser Wilhelm that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention–which would
likely involve Russia’s ally, France, and possibly Britain as well. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on
Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed. Within a week, Russia, Belgium,
France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had
begun.
Discussion Questions:
1. What city were the Archduke and his wife visiting?
2. Why was the Archduke Franz Ferdinand so important to Austria-Hungary?
3. What was the name of the Serbian nationalist organization?
4. Why did the Serbians hate Austria-Hungary so much?
5. What chain of events did this assassination trigger?
Causes of World War I Document Based Question
3
Historical Context:
At the turn of the twentieth century, Europe seemed to enjoy a period of peace and progress. Yet below the surface,
several forces were at work that would lead Europe into the “Great War.” One of these forces was nationalism, and it
had an explosive effect in the Balkans. However, nationalism was only one of the many causes of World War I.
Historians and eyewitnesses have described 4 “M.A.I.N.” causes of World War I (M.A.I.N. = Militarism, Imperialism,
Nationalism, Alliances) and have tried to assess the responsibility for it.
Document A: Source: http://www.authentichistory.com/1914-1920/1-overview/1-origins/index.html
“By the 1890s, the great land armies of France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia had no equals on earth except one another.
Nicholas warned that ‘the accelerating arms race,’ which was producing larger armies, more powerful artillery, and bigger warships,
was ‘transforming the armed peace into a crushing burden that weighs on all nations and, if prolonged, will lead to the very
cataclysm it seeks to avert.’ Unfortunately, participation in the international court was voluntary. The next year, in an attempt to
compensate for its small empire, Germany enacted the Second Naval Law, intending to build a navy capable of challenging the British
Royal Navy in combat. The British responded. By 1906, keeping ahead of the Germans in modern battleships was a national priority.
France, meanwhile, strove to match the German standing army of sixty million men, no small feat for a nation of forty million
people.”
Questions:
1. According to Nicholas, what was the arms race leading to?
2. How did Britain and France react to Germany’s military buildup?
Document B: Source: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/dualalli.asp
The Dual Alliance between Austria-Hungary and Germany - October 7, 1879
ARTICLE 1. Should, contrary to their hope, and against the loyal desire of the two High Contracting Parties, one of the two Empires
be attacked by Russia, the High Contracting Parties are bound to come to the assistance one of the other with the whole war strength
of their Empires, and accordingly only to conclude peace together and upon mutual agreement.
ARTICLE 2. Should one of the High Contracting Parties be attacked by another Power, the other High Contracting Party binds itself
hereby, not only not to support the aggressor against its high Ally, but to observe at least a benevolent neutral attitude towards its
fellow Contracting Party.
Questions:
1. What country are Germany and Austria-Hungary most worried about?
2.
What are Germany and Austria-Hungary “bound” to do for one another?
Document C: Source: http://www.authentichistory.com/1914-1920/1-overview/1-origins/index.html
“One of the main causes of the First World War was imperialism: an unequal relationship, often in the form of an empire, forced on
other countries and peoples, resulting in domination and subordination of economics, culture, and territory. Historians disagree on
whether the primary impetus for imperialism was cultural or economic, but whatever the reason, Europeans in the late 19 th century
increasingly chose to safeguard their access to markets, raw materials, and returns on their investments by seizing outright political
and military control of the undeveloped world. Between the 1850s and 1911, all of Africa was colonized except for Liberia and
Ethiopia. The British, who had imposed direct rule on India in 1858, occupied Egypt in 1882, probably a strategic necessity to protect
their Indian interests. The French, who had begun missionary work in Indochina in the 17 th century, finished their conquests of the
region in 1887, and in 1893 they added to it neighboring Laos and a small sliver of China.”
Questions:
1. According to the passage, why did Britain occupy Egypt?
2. What areas are referred to as “the underdeveloped world” in the passage?
Document D: Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Chain_of_Friendship_cartoon.gif
4
Questions:
1.
Which “M.A.I.N.” cause(s) of WWI are illustrated in the picture above? How?
2.
Why is Serbia the first in the chain? Why is it smallest?
Document E: Source: http://www.authentichistory.com/1914-1920/1-overview/1-origins/index.html
The Balkan Powder Keg
Serbia was the only Balkan nation to threaten a Great Power directly. Following a change of dynasties in 1903, the aggressive
Serbian leader Nicholas Pashich adopted an openly anti-Austrian policy. At the same time, he promoted Pan-Slav nationalism--a
vision that the Slavic peoples would one day be united under one nation. Additionally, the Serbians could or would do little to stop the
activities of the anti-Austrian secret society, the Black Hand. To the Austrians, the rise of Pan-Slavic nationalism, and particularly
Serbian aggression, was a direct threat to the future of the Austrian Empire. Serbia had become “a jackal snapping at the AustroHungarian Achilles heel.”
Questions:
1. What does it mean that Serbia was “a jackal snapping at the Austro-Hungarian Achilles heel?
2.
According to the passage, why was Serbia important?
5
Cause
M ilitarism
Definition and Example(s) of Each
Define:
Examples from documents:
A
Define:
lliance System
Examples from documents:
I
Define:
mperialism
Examples from documents:
N ationalism
Define:
Examples from documents:
Alliance
Central Powers
(Triple Alliance)
Allied Powers
(Triple Entente)
Countries in the Alliance
Map Skills: World War I in Europe 1914-1918
Directions: Transfer the map from Pg. 275 on to this map.
Key
6
Life in the Trenches
7
Early offensives in 1914 demonstrated that warfare had changed. Powerful artillery guns were placed several miles
behind the front lines. From there, they hurled huge explosive shells onto the battlefield. More people were killed by
artillery fire than by any other weapon in World War I. Artillery fire produced horrific scenes of death and destruction,
as one American noted in his diary:
Mary dead Germans along the road. One heap on a manure pile…Devastation everywhere. Our barrage has rooted up
the entire territory like a ploughed field. Dead horses galore, many of them have a hind quarter cut off—the Huns
[Germans] need food. Dead men here and there.”
--quoted in The American Spirit
Directions: Use Pgs. 276-77 in text to fill in the following passage.
On the ___________ Front, the trenches dug in 1914 had by 1916 become elaborate systems of defense. The
____________ and ____________ each had ___________ of miles of trenches, which were protected by ___________
entanglements up to ___ feet high and ___ yards wide. Concrete ________________ nests and other gun batteries,
supported further back by heavy _____________, protected the trenches. Troops lived in holes in the ground, separated
from each other by a strip of territory known as ____________________.
Trench warfare baffled military leaders who had been trained to fight wars of ________________ and ______________.
At times, the high command on either side would order an offensive that would begin with an _________________
barrage to flatten the enemy’s _________ __________ and leave them in a state of shock. After “_____________
_____” the enemy in this fashion, a mass of soldiers would climb out of their trenches with fixed ______________ and
hope to work their way toward the enemy trenches.
The attacks __________ worked because men advancing unprotected across open fields could be fired at by the
enemy’s _____________ ____________. In 1916 and 1917, ____________ of young men died in the search for the
elusive breakthrough. In just ____ months at ____________, France, _____________ men lost their lives over a few
miles of land. World War I had turned into a _______ ___ ______________, a war based on wearing down the other
side with constant attacks and heavy losses.
By the end of 1915, _____________ appeared on the battlefront for the first time in history. Planes were first used to
________ the enemy’s position. Soon, planes also began to attack ground ________, especially enemy ______________.
Fights for control of the air space occurred, and then increased over time. At first, pilots fired at each other with
handheld _________. Later, _____________ __________ were mounted on the noses of the planes, which made the
skies considerably more dangerous.
The ______________ also used their giant airships- the _________________- to bomb _______________ and eastern
England. This caused little damage but frightened many people. Germany’s enemies, however, soon found the
zeppelins, which were filled with _______________ gas, quickly became raging infernos when hit by antiaircraft guns.
The Difficulty of American Neutrality II
8
Directions: Carefully read the following document and answer the questions that follow the source.
Excerpts from official American over the sinking of the Lusitania:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bryan2.htm
. . . In view of recent acts of the German authorities in violation of American
rights on the high seas which culminated in the torpedoing and sinking of the
British steamship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, by which over 100 American
citizens lost their lives, it is clearly wise and desirable that the government of
the United States and the Imperial German government should come to a clear
and full understanding as to the grave situation which has resulted . . .
[The United States] assumes . . . that the Imperial government accept, as of course, the rule that the lives of
noncombatants, whether they be of neutral citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at war, cannot lawfully or
rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an unarmed merchantman, and recognize also, as all other
nations do, the obligation to take the usual precaution of visit and search to ascertain whether a suspected
merchantman is in fact of belligerent nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of war under a neutral flag.
The government of the United States, therefore, desires to call the attention of the Imperial German government, with
the utmost earnestness, to the fact that the objection to their present method of attack against the trade of their
enemies lies in the practical impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce without disregarding
those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and humanity which all modern opinion regards as imperative. It is practically
impossible for the officers of a submarine to visit a merchantman at sea and examine her papers and cargo. It is
practically impossible for them to make a prize of her; and, if they cannot put a prize crew on board of her, they cannot
sink her without leaving her crew and all on board of her to the mercy of the sea in her small boats.
Question
What happened to the
Lusitania on May 7, 1915?
Pg. 277 in text will help.
Explain why the United
States wants Germany to
stop using submarines to
destroy the merchant ships
of its enemies.
Explain how this primary
source shows the difficulty
of the United States
remaining neutral.
Answer
The Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution
9
Tsarist Russia
Until 1917, Russia was ruled by a Tsar. Nicholas II had become Tsar in 1894. He
was a ruler who has absolute control over the country - an autocrat. People who
spoke out against the government were sent to prison. Rioters were attacked by
the Cossacks (Russian soldiers). In 1905 there had been a revolution against the
rule of the Tsar. In order to keep his position, Nicholas had been forced to accept a
Duma (parliament) but nothing really changed, Nicholas kept power and if
members of the Duma disagreed with him they were sent away. In 1914 Germany
declared war on Russia and in 1915, Nicholas took control of the army. The
Russians faced a series of defeats and Nicholas was blamed. While Nicholas was at
the front fighting the war, his wife Alexandra was left in charge of the country. She
Nicholas II
was very influenced by the holy man Rasputin. People resented the influence of
Rasputin and he was murdered. The Romanovs were very unpopular. By 1917 there were food and fuel
shortages. High unemployment meant that huge numbers of people were living in poverty. People were dying.
Communism
Karl Marx (1818-1883) had said that industrialization had made the middle classes rich and powerful but had
made the workers slaves. He said that the workers should rebel and take power away from the rich. He
believed that nothing should be privately owned and that everything should be commonly owned. This theory
is called communism. A group of people called the Bolsheviks believed that the royal family should be
overthrown and communism introduced. The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin but he had been
forced to leave Russia to avoid being imprisoned. Lenin continued to be leader of the Bolsheviks while in exile
– publishing communist leaflets and raising money for their cause. He also spoke against the war.
The February Revolution
In February 1917, people rioted on the streets in Russia. They were joined by soldiers and members of the
Duma. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and a new provisional government took over. Many Bolsheviks,
including Joseph Stalin believed that the Russian people would not accept a Socialist government and
supported the provisional government led by Alexander Kerensky, who was named President of Russia. The
workers, soldiers and peasants elected their own councils called Soviets. The Soviets were as powerful as the
government.
The October Revolution
Kerensky had not ended the war as the people had hoped but had planned a new
offensive against the Germans. Soldiers began deserting and returning to their homes.
Many of them used their weapons to take land from the rich. In April 1917, Vladimir
Lenin returned from exile. He was angry that Russia was still fighting in the war and
that many Bolsheviks supported the provisional government. Joseph Stalin had to
decide whether to oppose Lenin or whether to abandon his support for the provisional
government. He chose to support Lenin and on 24th October the Bolsheviks seized the
Winter Palace, the headquarters of the provisional government. In December 1917
Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which took Russia out of the war. In 1918, the
Russian royal family was murdered by the Bolsheviks.
Vladimir Lenin
Civil War
Many Russians did not support the Bolshevik government and tried to oppose the
Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were known as “Reds” while those that opposed them were the “Whites”. There
was civil war between the reds and whites. Armies from Britain, France and America supported the whites but
the Bolsheviks were more powerful and by 1922 the Bolsheviks were in charge the country that would be
renamed the Soviet Union.
© Students of History – http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Students-Of-History
Russian Revolution cont.
10
Complete the following directions and answer the questions:
1. Underline the following important vocabulary terms in the reading: Autocrat, Cossack, Duma, communism,
Bolsheviks. Then define the terms here:
a. Autocrat –
b. Duma –
c. Communism –
d. Bolshevik –
e. Soviet –
2. Make a timeline of 6 events that led to the Bolsheviks taking charge of Russia in 1922. (1905, 1914, 1915,
2/1917, 10/1917, 1918)
3. How did Tsar Nicholas fall out of favor with the Russian people?
4. What beef did Karl Marx have with capitalists (factory owners) and what did he encourage the workers to
do?
5. Who was Vladimir Lenin and why was he unhappy with the results of the February Revolution?
6. What was the result of the “Reds” victory over the “Whites” in the Russian Civil War?
Treaty of Versailles
11
1. The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to accept what four terms? Hint: Use the acronym “BRAT”
2. What four empires came to an end?
3. Which of President Wilson’s 14 Points was the most important to him? What did it call for?
4. Why did the U.S. Senate reject the Treaty of Versailles?
5. What 9 new countries were created after World War I?
Influenza of 1918
12
While searching through the sites on the Spanish Flu, make a list of what factors you think might have
contributed to the spread of disease in 1918. Jot down all the specific activities that contributed to the rapid
spread of the disease. Also, note efforts by local or national officials to slow the spread of the illness and when
these occurred.
Contributing Factors
Efforts to Slow Illness
1. Where do scientists think that the 1918 virus originated? What evidence supports this?
2. What do you think the impact of it was on those who lived through it?
3. What world event in November 1918 overshadowed the experience of the epidemic?
4. What can we learn from studying the Spanish Flu?
5. How did WW I contribute to the spreading of this flu?
6. In mid- October, 1918, New York City experienced the greatest number of deaths from the flu in one day.
How many deaths were recorded on this day?
7. What age groups suffered the most at the hands of the Spanish Flu?
8. What is the current explanation of why this flu attacked mostly the young and healthy?
9. How many people were estimated to die in Ohio?
10. What do scientists know now that they didn't know in 1918?
11. The recently released "National Standards for United States History" published by the National Center for
History in the Schools does not include any mention of the 1918 flu epidemic. Why do students think
Americans have not retained this incident in their collective memory?