Download ww1 ppt modified 12-09

“The Great War”
“A war to end all wars”
World War One: Basic Facts
• A monumental event of heavy artillery and trench
fighting
• 37.5 million casualties (15 million soldiers killed)
• Chemical weapons (poison gas) deployed
• Four empires destroyed
–
–
–
–
German
Austria-Hungarian
Russian
Ottoman
Nationalism
Imperialism
Alliances
Militarism
International Anarchy
The Great Powers
Great Britain
Germany
Austria
Russia
Italy
France
The Major Players: 1914-17
Allied Powers:
Central Powers:
Nicholas II
[Rus]
Wilhelm II [Ger]
George V [Br]
Victor Emmanuel
II [It]
Enver Pasha
[Turkey]
Pres. Poincare [Fr]
Franz Josef [A-H]
Background: German Unification
• War with Denmark (1864)
• War with Austria (1866)
• War with France (1870-1)
II. Aggressive Nationalism
Germany became a military and industrial power,
while the French were bitter about losing Alsace
and Lorraine
The French were especially bitter about their 1871 defeat in the FrancoPrussian War and the German occupation of the border provinces of Alsace
and Lorraine
Bismarck’s Revived Concert
(1870-1890)
II. Aggressive Nationalism
Russia sponsored Pan-Slavism and felt that it had a
duty to lead and defend all Slavs
II. Aggressive Nationalism
Austria-Hungary worried that nationalism might
lead to rebellion within its empire
II. Aggressive Nationalism
Ottoman Turkey felt
threatened by new
nations on its borders
Kaiser Wilhelm II:
Moroccan Crises
• Crisis One (1905-6)
– German opposition to
French claims
• Crisis Two (1911)
– Gunboat diplomacy
II. Aggressive Nationalism
By 1914, the Balkans were the "powder keg of
Europe"
Austria-Hungary’s Franz Josef:
The Bosnian Crisis (1908)
• Young Turks come to
power
• Bulgaria claims
independence
• Austria-Hungary
annexes BosniaHerzegovina
Balkan Crises
• First war (1912): Serbia, Bulgaria, and
Greece against Turkey
• Second war (1913) Serbia, Greece, and
Romania against Bulgaria
Bismarck’s Revived Concert
(1870-1890)
The Three Emperors’ League (1872)
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78
The Dual Alliance
The Triple Alliance
The Reinsurance Treaty (1887)
The Franco-Russian Alliance (1894)
Deterioration of Anglo-German
Relations
The Anglo-French Entente (1904)
The Anglo-Russian Entente (1907)
The Triple Entente
III. Rivalries Among European Powers
There was a rise in militarism and nations
expanded their armies and navies
Competing explanations
Realism: Balance of Power
• Classical Realists: State leaders locked
themselves into inflexible alliances
• Neo-Realists: Germany’s rise upset the
existing balance of power
Realism: Balance of Threat
• Stephen Walt: Perceptions (not merely
resources) matter
Liberalism: Domestic Politics
• Domestic conflict in Germany and UK
– Germany: class divisions lead “iron and rye
coalition” to launch “social imperialism”
– UK: divisions with Liberal Party led to waffling
Constructivism: Nationalism
• Pan-Slavism challenged two empires
• Anti-Slavic sentiment in Germany
• Stronger than family ties
Marxism-Leninism: Imperialism
• Monopoly capitalism
• Imperalism: Competing for overseas
territories
• Problems with this explanation
Sarajevo, Bosnia – June 28, 1914
COUNTRIES TAKE A SIDE
• Shocked Francis Joseph blames
Serbia, feels serb gov’t knew of
the plot
• Believed that Serbia wanted
south Slav empire
• Wanted to deal harshly with the
Serbs
• Needed German backing first
• Kaiser Wilhelm II told Austria
that Germany would support
any action they saw fit
• Essentially giving Austria a
blank check to do anything.
AUSTRIA ANSWERS SERBIA
• Austria sends Serbia a severe ultimatum or final set of
demands 7/23/14
• Serbia must end all anti-Austrian agitation and punish and
Serbian official involved in the murder.
• Dismiss all officials hostile to Austria-Hungary
• Allow Austrian officials into Serbia to investigate the
Archduke’s murder themselves
• Serbia agrees to all of the terms except the last, rejecting it
as an infringement on Serbian sovereignty.
• 7/28/14 Austria balk at Serbia and declare war on the Serbs
July 28, 1914 – Austria-Hungary
declared war on Serbia
July 30, 1914 – Russia prepared
to defend Serbia
August 1, 1914 – Germany
declares war on Russia
August 3, 1914 – Germany declared
war on France
August 3, 1914 – Germany invaded
neutral Belgium
August 4, 1914 – British declared
war on Germany
Ready Since 1905
Response to
possibility of a Two front
war
France on the West
Russia on the East
Paris in Six Weeks
March Against Russia
German Atrocities in Belgium
II. The Conflict Widens
Outraged by the invasion of Belgium, Britain
declared war on Germany
"The lamps are going out all over Europe. We
shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”
British politician Sir Edward Grey
German trench
FRENCH
STRONGHOLD
AT VERDUN.
- IDEA WAS TO
BLEED FRANCE
TO DEATH AND
BREAK THERE
SPIRIT
German first assault,
February 21, artillery
bombardment,
-five months of fighting
causes
-430,000 German dead
-540,000 French dead
-Germans bleed French
white but, not to death and
hurt there military in the
FRENCH
HOLD THE
LINE.
-FORCE
GERMAN
STALEMATE
-CREATE
PROBLEMS
FOR
GERMAN
HIGH
COMMAND
THEY
SHALL
NOT PASS
Somme, France
Tennenberg
German army quickly isolates and destroys the Russian forces, at the end
of August.
Galicia Austria, ends the war for Russia
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
SIDES WITH GERMNY.
CLOSE DARDANELLES
TO ALLIED SHIPPING
BRITAIN GOES TO OPEN
AREA AND WINDS UP
STAYING FOR A YEAR
AND LOSING 65,000
MEN
American Neutrality
• Wilson—neither threatened vital
American interest
• American against the war Pacifists,
Isolationists, Socialist
• Edward M. House and Robert
Lansing
– Wilson’s pro-British advisors
• William Jennings Bryan
– Against pro-British tilt
• Germany had no advocates in
government
• British blockade of Germany
– Violates American neutrality, Wilson
protests
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
U.S. Enters the War (1917)
British navy blocks German coast
and starves people
Germany counters with U-boats
British Big naval advantage
countered by hidden boats
RAF (British) aviators
Downed German Zeppelin
• Unterseeboot (U-boat)
• Lusitania (May 1915)
Submarine Warfare
– 1198 killed, 128 Americans
– Germans had warned the passenger was a target
• Bryan resigns when Wilson refuses to criticize both
British blockade and U-boats
• Sussex pledge (1916)
• 1916 preparedness measures
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
German Escalation
• Russia’s imminent collapse
• Germany concentrates on Britain and
France
– Renew U-boat war
• "Zimmerman telegram“
• American declaration of war: “make the
world safe for democracy”
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
American Intervention
• Russian revolution (1917)
– Vladimir Lenin and Bolshevik Party
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)
– Publication of secret Allied treaties
• German 1918 offensive
• American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
– John J. Pershing
• Allied 1918 offensive
• Armistice 11-11-1918
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved