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Review for WWI Test
Make sure you have definitions for
the following Vocabulary:
Pacifism
Militarism
Entente
Ultimatum
Mobilize
Neutrality
Stalemate
No Man's Land
Zeppelin
U-Boat
Convoy
Total War
Conscription
Propaganda
Atrocity
Self-Determination
Armistice
Pandemic
Reparations
Mandate
Essay Question
Theme: Conflict
Historical Context: World War I is one of the most
significant and complex conflicts of the Twentieth
Century. The outbreak of the war has been attributed
to many factors that lead many historians to argue that
the fighting was unavoidable.
Task:
1. Identify at least four causes of World War I
2. Explain how these factors lead to the general conflict.
3. Discuss your opinion on whether the war could have
been prevented
Causes of World War I - MAIN
•
•
•
•
M – Militarism
A – Alliances
I – Imperialism
N – Nationalism
• Nationalism:
▫ Nationalist feelings were strong in both Germany
and France.
▫ In Eastern Europe, Pan-Slavism held that all
Slavic peoples shared a common nationality.
Russia felt that it had a duty to lead and defend all
Slavs.
• Alliances:
▫ Distrust led the great powers to sign treaties
pledging to defend one another.
▫ These alliances were intended to create powerful
combinations that no one would dare attack.
▫ The growth of rival alliance systems increased
international tensions.
Opposing Sides
• Triple Alliance / Central Powers: Germany,
Austrian Hungary (+ Ottoman Empire)
• Triple Entente / Allied Powers: Britain, France,
Russia (+ Italy and USA)
• Imperialism
▫ In 1906 and again in 1911, competition for
colonies brought France and Germany to the brink
of war.
▫ Each country needed the raw maerials and
markets
• Militarism
▫ glorification of the military.
▫ The great powers expanded their armies and
navies, creating an arms race that further
increased suspicions and made war more likely.
Assassination
• 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
announced he would visit Bosnia.
• Bosnia under the rule of Austria-Hungary; home of
many Serbs and other Slavs.
•Royal visit angered many Serbian nationalists.
▫ viewed Austrians as foreign oppressors.
▫ date chosen for the archduke’s visit was date Serbia
had been conquered by the Ottoman empire.
• Serbian terrorist group assassinated the Archduke and
his wife.
Ultimatum and War
• Austria sent Serbia an final set of demands
(ultimatum).
• Austria declared war on Serbia.
• Germany offered full support to Austria-Hungary.
• Serbia sought help from Russia; Russia began to
mobilize.
• Germany responds by declaring war on Russia.
• Russia appealed to ally France.
• France offered full support to Russia, prompting
Germany to declare war on France.
The Beginning . . .
• German forces swept through Belgium toward Paris.
• Russia mobilized more quickly than expected.
• Germany shifted some troops to the east to confront
Russia, weakening German forces in the west.
• British and French troops defeat Germany; destroyed
Germany’s hopes for a quick victory on the Western
Front.
• The result was a long, deadly stalemate, a deadlock in
which neither side is able to defeat the other. Battle lines
in France remained almost unchanged for four years.
New Technology
• Poison Gas - Chemical shells; killed and injured
millions
• U-Boats – German submarines threatened
British/French Shipping
• Tanks – Basic armored vehicles to cross
battlefield
• Airplanes / Zeppelins: expanded warfare into
the sky
Other Fronts
• Eastern Europe:
▫ Russian armies pushed into eastern Germany.
▫ After Russia was defeated armies in the east fought on Russian soil.
• Southern Europe:
▫ Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and helped crush Serbia
▫ Italy turns against Austria-Hungary (promised territory by the Allies)
• Outside Europe:
▫ Japan, allied with Britain, tried to impose a protectorate on China.
▫ The Ottoman empire joined the Central Powers in 1914.
▫ Arab nationalists revolted against Ottoman rule.
• Colonies:
▫ The Allies overran German colonies in Africa and Asia.
▫ The great powers turned to their own colonies for troops, laborers, and
supplies.
Total War
• The channeling of a nation’s entire resources
into a war effort.
▫ Both sides set up systems to recruit, arm,
transport and supply huge fighting forces.
▫ All nations except Britain imposed universal
military conscription, or “the draft.”
▫ Governments raised taxes, borrowed money, and
rationed food and other products
Total War (con’t)
• Propaganda:
▫ Both sides waged a propaganda war. Propaganda is the
spreading of ideas to promote a cause or to damage an
opposing cause.
• Women played a critical role:
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
took over men’s jobs and kept national companies going.
worked in war industries, manufacturing weapons and supplies.
grew food when shortages threatened.
Some women joined branches of the armed forces.
worked as nurses close to the front lines.
Major Events:
• Russian Revolution
▫ Riots turn into Revolution / czars brought down
▫ V.I. Lenin comes to power and takes Russia out of the war
▫ Russian withdrawal means Germany can shift forces to the
Western Front (possible victory)
• USA declares war on Germany:
▫ Unrestricted Submarine warfare (Lusitania)
▫ USA has closer cultural ties to Allies
▫ Zimmerman Note/Telegram: Germany offers support to
Mexico for war against USA
▫ America brings fresh troops; changes the balance of WWI
Costs of the War
• More than 8.5 million people died. Twice that
number had been wounded.
• Famine threatened many regions.
• Across the European continent, homes, farms,
factories, roads, and churches had been shelled to
rubble.
• People everywhere were shaken and disillusioned.
• Governments had collapsed in Russia, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman empire.
Paris Peace Conference
• The Big Three:
▫ Wilson (USA): Fourteen Points (League of Nations
& Self-Determination for colonies)
▫ George (Britain): Punish Germany
▫ Clemenceau (France): Weaken Germany
permanently
• Others
▫ Orlando (Italy): Demand promised lands
▫ Nations within Russia, Austria-Hugary and
Ottoman Empire want
The Treaty of Versailles
 Forced Germany to assume full blame for causing the
war.
 Imposed huge reparations upon Germany.
 weakened Germany by:




limiting the size of the German military,
returning Alsace and Lorraine to France,
removing hundreds of miles of territory from Germany,
stripping Germany of its overseas colonies.
 The Germans signed the treaty because they had no
choice.
 But German resentment of the Treaty of Versailles would
poison the international climate for 20 years and lead to
an even deadlier world war.
Widespread Dissatisfaction
• Eastern Europe remained a center of conflict.
• Colonized peoples (Africa, Middle East, Asia) angry
that self-determination was not applied to them.
• Italy was angry because it did not get all the lands
promised in a secret treaty with the Allies.
• Japan was angry that western nations refused to honor
its claims in China.
• Russia resented the reestablishment of a Polish nation
and three Baltic states on lands that had been part of
the Russian empire.