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World War I
1914-1918
Known as the ‘The Great War’
4 MAIN causes of WWI
M – militarism
A - alliances
I – imperialism
N – nationalism
These are the 4 MAIN causes of WWI, we
will discuss each in detail.
Militarism
This is the glorification of the military.
European nations began expanding their
armies and navies to become more
powerful.
Social Darwinism – survival of the fittest,
the country with the strongest military will
not be threatened or taken over.
Used militaries as a tool to negotiate with
other countries.
Militarism
Germany and Great Britain had a naval
rivalry.
Both nations had colonies in Africa and
other overseas ventures, both needed a
strong navy to secure these colonies.
Defence Spending, 1870-1914
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
£m
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1914
94
130
154
268
289
398
Alliances
Distrust grew among the nations of
Europe.
Began to form alliances and agreements
pledging to defend one another.
Eventually 2 major alliances grew and
were pitted against each other.
Alliances
Allies
Central Powers
France
Great Britain
Russia
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
These countries formed an
alliance known as the
Triple Entente.
An entente was an
agreement, less formal
than a treaty.
These countries formed the
Triple Alliance.
Allied
Powers
VS.
Central
powers
Russia
Russia was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II.
Russia was STILL a feudal society.
Russia was not as industrialized as the
west because their economy was still
largely based on agriculture.
Entering WWI will be a major problem for
Russia.
Germany
Otto Von Bismarck, the chancellor of Prussia and right
hand man to Kaiser Wilhelm I, unified the German
states in 1871.
Prussia, the western half of the Austrian Empire, and
smaller German speaking states were united. After
defeating the French in the Franco-Prussian War,
Alsace and Lorraine were added to Germany.
Because German unification came so late, Germany
was behind in colonial race.
Germany became a leading industrial power by 1900
because it was rich in raw materials domestically.
Imperialism
Countries tried to increase their power and
influence around the world by securing
colonies.
Britain and France already had colonies in
Africa when Germany wanted a part, this
caused some conflict and tension.
Britain and France developed closer ties
with wanting to protect their colonies
against Germany.
Causes of Late 19th Century
European Imperialism
With the rise of factories because of the
Industrial Revolution, capitalism takes a
hold of Europe.
European countries push for more
colonies for additional resources and
manufacturing.
Bastille Day in Vietnam
Which European empire has Vietnam as a
colony?
Nationalism
Nations in Europe began to feel extremely proud
of their countries.
Nationalism places importance on cultural
background and heritage.
Patriotism places value on a country’s belief and
value system.
Patriotism and Nationalism both express a love
of one’s country but for different reasons.
Nationalism is also more aggressive.
Nationalists view their country as superior to
others. Patriots just love their country.
4 MAIN causes
Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and
Nationalism are all causes of WWI,
however they are long term causes.
An immediate cause of WWI was an
assassination.
“The entire able-bodied population is preparing
to massacre one another; though no one, it is
true, wants to attack, and everybody protests his
love of peace and determination to maintain it,
yet the whole world feels that it only requires
some unforeseen incident, some unpreventable
accident, for the spark to fall in a flash…and
blow Europe sky-high.”
Frederic Passy, 1895
Assassination – the beginning of
the Great War
28 June 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand
was assassinated.
He was the Archduke of Austria-Hungary
and he was assassinated while visiting
Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Bosnia was the home of many Serbian
nationalists, identifying with being Slavs,
like Russia.
Resented Ferdinand visiting.
Archduke’s bloody blouse
Assassin. Gavrilo Princep.
Archduke and his wife, Sophia, laid to rest.
Assassination leads to war
The assassination could have been
resolved between Serbia and Austria.
However, the alliances that were already
formed pushed this situation to war.
Kaiser Wilhem II of Germany told Austria
to take a firm stand against Serbia.
Germany gave Austria a “blank check”
instead of encouraging restraint.
Leading to war
Serbia appealed to Russia for help, who in
turn appealed to France because they
were allies.
Russia began to mobilize, prepare its
military troops for war.
Italy remained neutral at the beginning of
the war.
July 28 1914, war was declared.
Schlieffen Plan
This was a military strategy that was designed to
avoid a two-front war.
Germany was essentially between France and
Russia. The Schlieffen Plan predicted that
Russia would be slow to mobilize so Germany
should attack France first.
The German army should march through
Belgium to get to France swiftly.
Britain was outraged at this plan because
Belgium was supposed to be neutral. Britain
joined the war and supported Russia and
France.
The Battle of the Marne
Marne River, east of Paris.
Prevented the fall of Paris
The French used 600 taxis to transport
6,000 reinforcements 40 miles from Paris
to the front.
Stopped Germany’s rapid advance.
Set the stage for Trench Warfare.
Trench Warfare
A stalemate set in, a deadlock in which neither
side is able to defeat the other. Battle lines
would be drawn and troops would wait for the
other side to make a mistake or show weakness.
During this stalemate, the troops dug trenches
and would wait and avoid enemy fire.
Soldiers essentially lived in the trenches.
Conditions were horrible. Diseases, rat
infestations, lack of supplies.
Trench Foot
No Man’s Land
Between the trenches, above ground, was
known as ‘no man’s land’ because the
soldiers were exposed.
They had to deal with barbed wire, enemy
fire with machine guns, and poison gas.
Modern Warfare
Modern weapons added to the
destructiveness of the war.
Machine guns, poison gas, artillery.
Artillery allowed troops to shell enemy
lines and cities from 10 miles away.
Britain introduced the armored tank, and
mounted them with machine guns.
Modern Warfare
Germany used zeppelins in 1915. They
were large gas-filled balloons that they
could throw bombs out of.
Modern Warfare
German submarines called u-boats did
tremendous damage to the Allied side,
sinking merchant ships that carried needed
supplies.
•Germany had an
unrestricted
policy of
submarine
warfare and
would attack any
and all ships or
convoys of ships.
Scorched Earth
Tactics implemented by the Russians,
borrowed by the Germans
Retreating armies would burn buildings,
ravage crops, cut down trees, and force
inhabitants to flee.
Goal was to leave nothing of value behind
that opposing forces could use.
Espionage
Spies would try to gain enemy codes and
valuable information.
Two famous spies of WWI, that were executed,
happen to be women.
British nurse Edith Cavell who was working in
Brussels helped 200 Allied soldiers escape. The
Germans executed her.
Mata Hari – real name Margaretha Zelle – was a
former exotic dancer who became the mistress
of many key French officials. She passed along
secrets and information to the Germans. The
French executed her.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution had a huge
impact on WWI.
Factories and assembly lines were able to
produce all supplies and weapons at a fast
rate and interchangeable parts allowed for
tanks and cars to be repaired easily.
The Industrial Revolution with advances in
steel, mechanics, and medicine allowed
for this war to be as destructive as it was.
Clockwise from top left: Sikh soldiers in India, Chinese troops in Greece, African
soldiers in German East Africa, a Bermuda militia in London
Total War
WWI was a total war, channeling of a nation’s
entire resources into a war effort.
Conscription = The draft, needed soldiers to fight
in the war and conscription made it mandatory
for men to fight.
Total war meant controlling public opinion.
Propaganda, spreading ideas to promote or
cause damage to an opposing cause.
Media was a great source, either fueling hate for
the enemy or giving false illusion of victory.
German
Propaganda.
Depicting England
as this evil empire
taking over.
U.S.
propaganda
poster
U.S. Enters the War
For years President Woodrow Wilson wanted to
maintain a neutral position in the war.
Two main events strained America’s neutral position
and tensions mounted.
*Germany’s unrestricted submarine
warfare
*The Zimmerman
Telegram
German submarine attacks on
merchant and passenger ships
carrying American citizens angered
the U.S.
German foreign
minister, Arthur
Zimmerman wrote to
Mexico asking for
support, in exchange,
Germany would help
Mexico re-conquer lost
territory in New Mexico,
Texas, and Arizona.
1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed
and 128 American passengers were
killed.
Woodrow Wilson
April 1917, a couple of months after the
Zimmermann note, Wilson asked Congress
to declare war on Germany.
After a year of
mobilization, 2 million
U.S. troops joined the
Allies in the fight against
the Central Powers in
1918.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Fourteen Points was a speech delivered by
Wilson in January of 1918.
It was a list of terms for resolving WWI and
future wars.
Called for freedom of the seas, free trade, large
scale reduction of arms, and an end to secret
treaties and alliances.
Wilson favored self-determination, right of the
people to choose their own form of government.
Urged the creation of an association of nations
to keep the peace in the future. This would be
called the League of Nations.
End of the War
Germany sought an armistice, an agreement to
end the fighting. Nov. 11 1918 the Great War
came to an end.
8.5 million people were dead.
Cities, towns, farms were destroyed, countries
were in debt. The Allies wanted the Germans to
make reparations, or payments for war damage.
This stunned the Central Powers, they looked at
the armistice as a cease-fire and not a
surrender.
Paris Peace Conference
Wilson was part of the Big Three that met
in Paris to discuss what do to do after the
War.
Prime Minister David Lloyd George from
Britain and the French leader Georges
Clemenceau were the other two.
Wilson wanted his 14 points to be the
basis of the peace conference.
Paris Peace Conference
Wilson created the League of Nations
which would be based on the idea of
collective security, large group of nations
act as one to ensure peace of all.
Treaty of Versailles
June 1919. Germans were ordered to sign the
treaty drawn up by the Allies.
Forced Germany to assume the blame for
starting WWI.
Imposed reparations, Germany would have to
pay for the damage of the war and support the
widows and families of soldiers. This was a huge
burden to Germany who was already in
economic distress from the war.
Total cost of reparations: $30 billion
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty weakened Germany, limited the
size of the army and navy.
Stripped Germany of overseas colonies.
The treaty was meant to weaken Germany
so it would never again be a threat.
All it did was cause resentment and further
hatred and fueled the fires for WWII.
Outcomes
New nations emerged in Eastern Europe,
Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were
created.
Three new republics, Czechoslovakia,
Austria, and Hungary, and Yugoslavia.
U.S. never joined the League of Nations
because the Senate refused to ratify the
treaty.
Italy was upset, did not get the lands it was
promised.
One of the most devastating outbreaks of
disease in modern times
Mass movement during World War I
spread the flu around the world
– Spread to the trenches of the Great War
“Spanish” flu kills 30 million people
worldwide
– Kills 550,000 in the United States
– Kills 12.5 million in India and China
The Armenian Genocide 19151923
Armenian Christians had lived in the Ottoman Empire
for years.
Some Armenians sought an independent state.
Fearing that the Armenians might gain power and ally
with Christian Russia, the Ottoman government began
to disarm the Armenians.
The Armenian people were subjected to deportation,
expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and
starvation. The great bulk of the Armenian population
was forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to
Syria, where the vast majority was sent into the desert
to die of thirst and hunger. It is considered the first
recognized genocide.
Over 1 million Armenians were killed by the Ottomans.