Download Lsn 15: WWI, Russian Revolution, and Communism

World War I, Russian Revolution,
and Communism
Lsn 15
Part 1: World War I
Theme: Causes and Results of Global
War
Lsn 15
Agenda
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Causes
Schlieffen Plan
Trench Warfare
Attempts to break the stalemate
– Gas
– Peripheral Operations: Gallipoli
– Frontal Assaults at Verdun and the Somme
– Hutier tactics
– Tanks
– American Involvement
• Technological Developments
• Surrender and Settlement
Causes of World War I
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Colonial disputes
Nationalism
Alliances
Militarism
Colonialism
• Virtually all the major powers were engaged in a
scramble for empire to bolster their economies
• The fiercest competition was between Britain and
Germany and between France and Germany
Nationalism
• The French Revolution had spread nationalism
throughout most of Europe
– The idea that people with the same ethnic origins,
language, and political ideals had the right to form
sovereign states through the process of selfdetermination
• Nationalist aspirations of subject minorities
threatened to tear apart the multinational
empires of the Ottomans, Hapsburgs, and
Russians
– Such a development would affect the regional
balance of power
Nationalism: Austria-Hungary
• Poles, Czechs,
Slovaks, Serbs, Croats,
and Slovenes all had
nationalist aspirations,
especially the Serbs
• The Serbs were
strongly supported by
the Russians as part of
the pan-Slavic
movement
• The Austria-Hungarians
were strongly
supported by the
Germans
Nationalism: Assassination of
Ferdinand
• Archduke Francis Ferdinand of
Austria-Hungary went on a visit to
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
which Austria-Hungary had
annexed in 1908
• Sarajevo was a hotbed of panSerbian nationalism
• As he drove through Sarajevo on
June 28, 1914, seven assassins
from the terrorist group Black
Hand waited for him
– The Black Hand advocated for a
greater Serbia
Archduke
Ferdinand
and his family
Nationalism: Assassination of
Ferdinand
• Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Ferdinand
• Austria issued an ultimatum to Serbia
demanding that Austrian officials take part in any
investigation of people found on Serbian territory
connected to the assassination
• Serbia refused this demand as a violation of its
sovereignty
• On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on
Serbia
– A tangled alliance system then began to realize itself
Triple Alliance
• Germany and Austria-Hungary signed the
Dual Alliance in 1879, committing the two
states to mutual assistance in the event of
attack by France or Russia.
• The Dual Alliance was expanded into the
Triple Alliance in 1882 when Italy joined.
– Italy proved to be an equivocal partner,
declaring itself neutral when the war began
and ultimately siding with the Allies
Triple Entente
• The Triple Alliance was counter-balanced by the
Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain.
• As a result, by 1907 Europe was divided into two
armed and rather fearful camps.
Tangled Alliances
• So…
– When Austria-Hungary declared war on
Serbia on July 28, on July 29 Russia began
mobilizing to defend its Serbian ally
– Then, in consideration of mobilization
timetables, Russia also mobilized against
Germany
– In response, Germany declared war on
Russia on Aug 1
Tangled Alliances
• It continues…
– France started to mobilize on behalf of its ally Russia
– On Aug 3, Germany declared war on France and also
began to attack through neutral Belgium to France in
accordance with its war plan
– Belgium protested to the signatories of the 1839
treaty guaranteeing its neutrality
– When Germany refused Britain’s (one of the treaty
signatories) ultimatum on Aug 4, Britain declared war
on Germany
Militarism
• The reason all this
happened so fast was
the advanced state of
militarism
– World War I was the
first war in which the
opponents went to war
with detailed and
precise plans that had
been written years
before the outbreak of
hostilities
• “Mobilization means
war” (German
ambassador to the
Russians)
• War Plans
– Austria: Attack Russia, Italy, or
the Balkans (Variants R, I, and
B)
– Russia: Attack Austria-Hungary
(Plan A) or defend against
Germany (Plan G)
– Germany: Attack France before
Russia could mobilize
(Schlieffen Plan)
– France: Attack Germany (Plan
XVII)
– Great Britain: Deploy BEF
The Plans
• French Plan XVII
disregarded Belgian
frontier (thought
Germans wouldn’t
violate Belgian
neutrality)
• Schlieffen Plan had
main effort through
Belgium
Schlieffen Plan
• The Schlieffen plan sent a
powerful right wing through
western Belgium, the
Netherlands, and northern
France in a gigantic wheeling
movement
• The idea was to destroy
France before Russia could
mount an effective offensive
against the weak German
forces in the east and thus
avoid fighting a two-front war
Alfred von Schlieffen
(1833-1913), chief of the
German general staff
Moltke’s Modifications to the
Schlieffen Plan
• Helmuth von Moltke replaced Schlieffen as chief
of the general staff in 1906 and modified
Schlieffen’s original plan
– Weakened the right wing and strengthened the left
• Moved four and a half corps from the west to the
east to protect East Prussia
• Modified sweep of right wing so that Germans would
not violate the Netherlands’ neutrality
• Added a counterattack mission to the left wing
– Violated Schlieffen’s dying words to “Keep the right
wing strong”
Problems with the German Plan
• Became inflexible “war by timetable”
– Required enormous logistical effort to move
men and equipment from Aachen to around
Paris in a little more than five weeks
– Committed Germany to a two front war
• Necessitated attacking before Russia or France
could seize the initiative (even if Germany wasn’t
ready)
Result
Schlieffen Plan worked initially but stalled due to logistical
demands; static warfare began
Trench Warfare
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Gas
• Various efforts were
made to break the
stalemate
• The Germans first
used gas against
the Russians on Jan
13, 1915 with little
effect
• They were more
successful at Ypres
on Aug 15
Even German dogs were
outfitted with gas masks
Dulce et Decorum Est
(“Sweet and Fitting it is to Die for One’s
Country”)
Gas! GAS! Quick boys! – An
ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just
in time:
But someone still was yelling
out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in
fire or lime. –
Dim, through the misty panes
and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw
him drowning
-- Wilfred Owen
“Gassed” by John
Singer Sargent
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Peripheral Operations
• Ottoman Empire entered war
on the side of the Central
Powers on Oct 31, 1914
• Seen, especially with the
British, as a new theater that
offered an alternative to the
deadlock on the Western
Front
• End result was a series of
operations on the periphery
of Europe, including the
disastrous Gallipoli
campaign
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Frontal Attacks
• On Feb 21, 1916, the
Germans launched a
massive attack on
Verdun which was
preceded by a 12-hour
bombardment
• Fighting continued until
December 19 and
caused over an
estimated 700,000 dead,
wounded and missing
• The battlefield was
smaller than ten square
kilometers
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Frontal Assaults
• On July 1, the British
launched an offensive
along the Somme River
to try to divert German
troops from Verdun
• On the first day, 60,000
British soldiers were
killed, wounded, or
captured.
• When the attack halted
in November, the Allies
and the Germans had
each suffered more
than 600,000
casualties.
German casualties at the
Battle of the Somme
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Hutier Tactics
• Short, violent artillery prep
as storm troops advanced
to assault positions
• Storm troops infiltrated
through main defenses to
objectives in the rear
• Artillery shifted to fix
enemy
• Follow on forces reduced
bypassed pockets of
resistance
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Tanks
• The British began
developing tanks in
1914 and used them
in small numbers at
the Somme on Sept
15, 1916
– Achieved little in
this initial
employment
• The Battle of Cambrai
on Nov 20, 1917
marked the first large
scale use of tanks
with 474
British Mark I tank of the
type used during the
Battle of the Somme
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Tanks
• At Cambrai, the British
gained initial surprise and
advanced three miles by
the end of the first day
– Deepest penetration into
German lines on the
Western Front since the
beginning of trench warfare
• On the second day, the
British continued to
advance but the Germans
brought up four more
divisions
• On the third day, the
British began losing what
ground they had gained
Breaking the Stalemate:
American Entry
• In 1914, the American
public was firmly opposed
to intervening in the war
• The mood began to
change in 1915, when the
Germans sunk the British
passenger liner Lusitania,
killing 1,198, including 128
US citizens
• Still in 1916, Woodrow
Wilson was reelected
President with the slogan,
“He Kept Us Out of War”
Between Feb 14 and Sept 18,
1915, the Germans practiced
“unrestricted submarine
warfare.” Any Allied ship in the
seas around the British Isles
would be sunk without warning.
German Miscalculation
• Germany resumed unrestricted
submarine warfare in early 1917
– Notified US of decision Jan 31
– Sunk several US ships in Feb
and Mar
• US declared war on April 6, 1917
– At the same time Russia was
withdrawing from the war (we’ll
talk more about this in Part 2),
the US was entering
• Germany failed to end war before
the US entered it
Surrender
• Eventually, the Allies overwhelmed the
Germans with men and equipment
– “Americans and tanks”
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Bulgaria surrendered Sept 30, 1918
The Ottomans Oct 30
Austria-Hungary Nov 4
Germany Nov 11
– “Armistice Day” was replaced by “Veterans’ Day”
by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954
Technological Advances from
World War I
• The industrialization of
society we studied in
Lesson 6 would generate
many military applications
of new technology
• In 1915 British Admiral
Jacky Fisher wrote, “The
war is going to be won by
inventions.”
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Machine gun
Rapid fire artillery
Airplanes
Internal combustion
engine
Tanks
Zeppelins
Gas
Flamethrowers
Paris Peace Conference
• The victorious powers
met in Paris in 1919 to
determine the postwar
settlement
• Representatives from the
Central Powers were not
invited to attend
• The Russians were not
invited to attend
• The French, British, and
Americans dominated the
conference
Georges Clemenceau (France),
Lloyd George (Britain), and
Woodrow Wilson (US) at
Versailles
Fourteen Points
• Wilson had announced his “Fourteen Points” as a
proposed basis for the armistice a year before the
Paris Peace Conference opened. He envisioned:
– Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at,
– Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas in peace
and in war,
– The removal of all economic barriers and the
establishment of an equality of trade conditions among
all nations,
– Adequate guarantees for a reduction in national
armaments,
– Adjustments of colonial disputes to give equal weight
to the interests of the controlling government and the
colonial population, and
– A call for “a general association of nations”
Fourteen Points
• Many perceived Wilson’s Fourteen Points as
excessively idealistic
• For the Allies, they conflicted with the secret
wartime agreements they had made to
distribute among themselves territories and
possessions of the defeated nations
• For the defeated powers, the harsh treaties
that would be later imposed upon them
certainly seemed to violate the spirit of the
Fourteen Points
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
• In contrast to Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the
French especially wanted harsh terms imposed
on the Germans
– Wanted to destroy or permanently weaken Germany as
a threat
• The Treaty of Versailles denied the Germans a
navy and air force and limited the size of their
army to 100,000 troops
• Prevented Germany and Austria from entering
any sort of political union
• Required the payment of war reparations
League of Nations
• Wilson’s call for “a general association of nations”
resulted in the Covenant of the League of Nations with
42 original members
• This new world organization would be rendered
ineffective by two flaws:
– Though designed to solve international disputes
through arbitration, it had no power to enforce its
decisions
– Its basic premise of collective security never
materialized because at any given time one or more
of the great powers did not belong to the League
League of Nations
• The US never
joined the League
because the
Senate rejected it
• By 1940 the
League had
dismantled
• Nonetheless it
established the
pattern for and
served as a model
for the United
Nations
1919 British cartoon criticizing
the failure of the United States
to join the League of Nations
Europe Before and After World War I
Africa Before and After World War I
Part 2: Russian Revolution and
Communism
Theme: Alternatives to democracy and
capitalism, and the role of terror and
oppression to seize and maintain
governmental power
Lsn 15
German Miscalculation (Review)
• Germany resumed unrestricted
submarine warfare in early 1917
– Notified US of decision Jan 31
– Sunk several US ships in Feb
and Mar
• US declares war on April 6, 1917
– At the same time Russia was
withdrawing from the war
(we’ll talk more about this in
Part 2), the US was entering
• Germany failed to end war before
the US entered it
Nicholas II
• The Romanov dynasty began
its rule of Russia in 1613
• The last member of the
Romanov dynasty was
Nicholas II who ruled from
1894-1917 using oppression
and police control
• Under Nicholas II, Russia
suffered military defeats in the
Russo-Japanese War (19041905) which brought to a head
simmering political and social
discontent
Nicholas II
• In Jan 1905, soldiers killed 130 workers who
were marching in protest to Nicholas’ rule
– Sparked countrywide protests and forced some
concessions
• Nicholas was further weakened by Russian
setbacks in World War I in 1916 and 1917
– Disintegrating armies, mutinies, and food shortages
provoked a series of demonstrations and strikes in
Petrograd
– Eventually troops mutinied
– In 1917, Nicholas abdicated the throne, ending the
Romanov dynasty
Russian Revolution: the Soviets
• “Soviets,” elected councils
that had first originated as
strike committees in 1905,
surfaced all over Russia
and wielded considerable
power through control of
factories and segments of
the military
• The Petrograd soviet
demanded Russia pursue
an immediate peace in
World War I
• To reinforce this movement,
the Germans transported
Vladimir Lenin and other
revolutionaries back to
Russia
1921 poster declares,
“Long live the
Communist Councils!”
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
• Lenin’s older brother
had been arrested
and hanged for
plotting to
assassinate the tsar
• Lenin was in exile in
Switzerland were he
studied Marxism and
wrote political
pamphlets
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
• In contrast to Marx, Lenin viewed the industrial
working class as incapable of developing the
proper revolutionary consciousness that would
lead to effective political action
• The industrial proletariat would require the
leadership of a well-organized and highly
disciplined party to serve as the catalyst for
revolution and the realization of a socialist
society
• Lenin advocated transfer of legal authority to the
soviets and uncompromising opposition to the
war
Bolsheviks
• Lenin headed the Bolsheviks,
the radical wing of the
Russian Social Democratic
Party
• The Bolsheviks capitalized on
the government’s insistence
on continuing the war, its
inability to feed the
population, and its refusal to
undertake land reform
• Eventually the Bolsheviks
gained control of the
Petrograd soviet
1922 poster declaring
“Starvation is strangling
Russia”
Bolsheviks
• On Oct 24-25, 1917,
the Bolsheviks
stormed the Winter
Palace and seized
control in a virtually
bloodless insurrection
• The Bolsheviks
ended Russia’s
involvement in World
War I by signing the
treaty of Brest-Litorsk
with Germany on
March 3, 1918
Picture purportedly original,
but actually a reenactment,
of the Bolshevik
storming of the Winter Palace
Civil War
• The Bolsheviks and their
opponents fought a civil war
from 1918 to 1920
• Lenin established Moscow as
his capital and initiated the
“Red Terror” against the
“Whites”
– Secret police killed 200,000 of
Lenin’s opponents
– In July 1918, the Bolsheviks
executed Nicholas II and his
family to prevent them from being
manipulated by the Whites
The Romanov
Family
Civil War
• Britain, France,
Japan, and the US all
sent troops and
supplies to aid the
Whites but the Whites
were defeated in
1920
– 10 million are
estimated to have died
in Russia’s civil war
1919 Bolshevik poster showing
the three White generals as
vicious dogs under the control of
the US, France and Britain.
War Communism
• During the civil war, the Bolsheviks
adopted a hasty and unplanned course of
nationalization called “war communism”
– The Bolshevik government assumed control
or ownership of banks, industry, and privately
held commercial property
– Landed estates and the property of
monasteries and churches became national
property
– Private trade was abolished
War Communism
• By 1920, industrial
production had
fallen to 1/10 its
prewar level and
agricultural output
was down 50%
– Workers went on
strike, demobilized
soldiers flooded the
workforce, peasants
rebelled
– Lenin had to do
something
1920 Bolshevik poster entitled “The
Last Battle” shows a Red Army
soldier knocking a capitalist
businessman off the world.
New Economic Policy
• Lenin realized he needed to
win back the workers so he
radically reversed war
communism, implementing
the “New Economic Policy”
in 1921
• Temporarily restored the
market economy and some
private enterprise
– However, Lenin died in 1924
before the plan could get a
decent chance to work
• A struggle for power ensued
and Joseph Stalin emerged
in control in 1928
Lenin’s body on
display in Moscow
Five Year Plan
• Stalin replaced Lenin’s New Economic Plan with his first
Five-Year Plan in 1929
– Designed to transform the Soviet Union from a predominantly
agricultural country to a leading industrial power
– Set targets for increased productivity in all spheres of the
economy, especially heavy industry, at the expense of consumer
goods
– Expropriated privately owned land to create collective or
cooperate farm units whose profits were shared by farmers
• Even though consumer goods were almost non-existent,
full employment in the midst of Global Depression made
a centrally planned economy appear a viable alternative
The Great Purge
• Stalin consolidated power
by inciting a civil war
within his own party to
remove opposition
• Between 1935 and 1938
he removed all people
suspected of opposition
from their positions of
authority
– By 1939, 8 million Soviet
citizens were in labor
camps and 3 million were
dead
Joseph Stalin
(1879-1953)
Soviet Labor Camp in Siberia
Next
• Mid term