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Notes of World War I
Causes:
1. Militarism (glorification of war, arms race, industrialization)
2. Imperialism/Colonialism (competition for markets and materials and prestige)
3. Nationalism (competitive, intense pride among nations)
4. Alliance System (Triple Entente—GB, FR, RUS vs Triple Alliance—A-H, GER, (IT—withdrew to join
Allies)
5. Assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the A-H throne) (and wife) in July of 1914
6. Serbia’s refusal of Austrian-Hungarian humiliating ultimatum of occupation or war
7. Mobilization: SerbiaAustria-HungaryRussiaGermanyFranceGermany attacks France through
neutral Belgium (British allied) BritainItalyBulgariaOttoman EmpireGreeceRomania
Causes of American Intervention:
Cultural Links with Allies (although many with Germany and A-H)
More Economic Ties to Allies
Allied Propaganda (only information sent across Atlantic was censored by Britain)
German (Unrestricted) Submarine Warfare (sinking of merchant and passenger ships; Lusitania)
Zimmerman Telegram (message to Mr. Zimmerman, German minister in Mexico, which offered
support if Mexico attacked US)
Wilson’s crusading pledge to make the world “safe for democracy” and “war to end all wars”
Course:
Combatants:
Allies:
France
Russia n Empire
British Empire
Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Belgium
Kingdom of Serbia
United States
Greece
Kingdom of Romania
Central Powers:
German Empire
Austria-Hungarian Empire
Kingdom of Bulgaria
Ottoman Empire (Turkey and Middle East)
Widespread enthusiasm carries millions of men, from most European nation (and colonies), toward the
cause of the “German Kaiser and Fatherland,” “Czar and Mother Russia,” British “King and Country,”” Many
soldiers thought that they would be home, with a glorious victory, before Christmas of 1914. After the
assassination of its heir Archduke Francis Ferdinand, A-H demands acceptance of its ultimatum to Serbia that it
be permitted to occupy Serbia, investigate the murders, and try the criminals. Serbia refuses this humiliation.
Serbia mobilizes its small army, and calls on Czar Nicholas II of Russia for assistance. It, too, mobilizes. In
preparation to enforce its will, A-H mobilizes. A-H Emperor Francis Josef asks Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany
to do the same. Russia and Germany exchange formal telegrams (the Czar, Kaiser, and King of GB were
cousins) to prevent war through preventing mobilization of reserve troops, but each did so anyway. France
mobilizes to honor its alliance with Russia. The stage is set for the attack.
Germany puts its “Schlieffen Plan” into effect in an attempt to decisively and quickly win this war. The
plan is designed to quickly win a two-front war versus France and the Russia. It fails because Russia mobilizes
quicker than expected and compels the German leaders to send troops to the Eastern Front (vast plains of
Poland and Ukraine). Germany sends most of its army divisions on a right flank attack of France. Because
Germany’s Schlieffen Plan directs the attack across neutral Belgium (who resists valiantly) toward France,
Britain honors its alliance and joins Belgium, France, and Russia against Germany. In a series of huge, costly
battles that lasted days, weeks, and months in Northeastern France and Southern Belgium, a stalemate ensues.
Neither side effectively penetrated the other’s line of battle or outflanks the other’s line of battle. Each flanking
maneuver was checked by the other army. These series of attacks create the “Western Front” that stretches 500
miles from the English Channel to Switzerland. For over 4 years, millions of men, in countless offensive
attacks across “no man’s land” suffer, battle, and die, while retreating to and living in a complex yet primitive
system of trenches and bunkers. Notably brutal battles of the Western Front include the 1st and 2nd Somme
(River in Fr), 1st and 2nd Marne (River in Fr), Verdun (fort in Fr), 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Ypers (pronounced “wipers) in
Belgium.
Without a doubt, Germany is the driving planning, industrial, and fighting force of the Central Powers.
It is the leader. It fights in the Western Front and Eastern Front (notably, the Battle of Tannenberg) and directs
and assists A-H in the Eastern Front and Balkans. A-H is unstable and weaker than Germany. Bulgaria joins
with them and the Ottoman’s to regain lost territory in the Balkans. They mainly fight the Russians in the
Caucus Mountains of southern Poland, Ukraine, and Romania in the Carpathian Mountains. Bulgaria and the
Ottoman Empire, too, are rather weak and disorganized. The Italian Front is mainly an Alpine mountain and
trench conflict against Austria-Hungary. The most devastating for the Italians is at Caporetto were they suffer
nearly 1 million causalities.
The British and French send troops to the Middle East (then the Ottoman Empire, Arabia, and Persia) to
fight the Ottomans. Although the Ottomans (Turks) and Arabs are Muslims, the British and French succeed in
inspiring Arab tribes to resist the Ottomans rule and demand independence. The British (Australian, Indian,
New Zealanders, and Canadians) and French mounted a costly and failing campaign to capture the Ottoman
controlled peninsula called Gallipoli near Greece. This was like storming the beaches of Normandy but without
proper training, equipment, and leadership. Hundreds of thousands valiantly tried to take the beach.
Each side uses hundreds of thousands of colonial troops to refresh its dwindling manpower reserves.
They serve in Europe and the Middle East. Britain receives troops from Australia, New Zeeland, Canada, and
India. France got troops from North Africa. The colonies supplied men, food, medicine, raw materials, etc.
Despite the “February” Russian Revolution in 1917 against the imperial (inefficient, outdated, and
corrupt) rule of Czar Nicholas II, the provisional (temporary) government is democratically-minded and tried to
honor its alliance with the Allies and continue the war against Germany. This was a mistake. America is
pleased to see the possibility of democracy, or at least some democratic reforms, in Czarist Russia. In the
“October” Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks (radical, revolutionary Communist Party led by
Vladimir Lenin) seize power and convince many Russians to support them. They promise “peace, land, and
bread” to the starving, frustrated masses. This change in leadership causes a Russian peace treaty with
Germany called Brest-Litovsk after the town in which it is signed. Now the Allies are without Russia to keep
the Germans, A-H, and Ottomans busy on the Eastern Front. The Central Powers send most of their troops to
the Western Front for one more series of offensive attacks. It almost succeeds, but eventually fails in November
1918.
The British Royal Navy (BRN or Grand Fleet) blockades the German coast line to prevent the
importation of food and materials, as well as discourage the German High Seas Fleet (GHSF) from escaping
into the Atlantic Ocean. German submarines are very effective in sinking Allied shipping and scaring the BRN.
The largest naval battle in history to that date and the only major surface battle of the war (and last one in
history without airplanes) occurs off the coast of Denmark in 1916. It is called the Battle of Jutland. It is a
huge and dramatic engagement of the BRN and GHSF, but both sides claim a victory, even with major losses of
various ships on each side.
As in any war, technology increases and diversifies the methods of creating enemy casualties. New
inventions and innovations occur throughout the war. With industrialization, factories produce an abundance of
existing weapons that spelled disaster for the millions of infantrymen of both sides. The Allies and the Central
Powers used: trenches, barbed wire, grenades, mines, “Dreadnought” type battleships (all big guns), airplanes
(reconnaissance, photograph, some bombing, and dog fighting), machine guns, chemical gasses, heavy artillery
capable of firing shells miles away, railroads to transport men and material, telegraphic radios, tanks,
submarines, and depth charges. Air planes soon replace cavalry as the main source of intelligence gathering. It
is safer, faster, and more reliable.
The basic strategies of WWI are either to use overwhelming numbers of troops to break the enemies
lines and penetrate deep thereafter. Another basic strategy is to (“outflank the enemy”) send your forces around
the end (flank) of the other army and get to his rear to kill him and cut him off from reinforcements.
The Central Powers (Germany was the last major force) agree with the Allies offer of a cease-fire
agreement to begin formal peace talks. The Germans sign the armistice on November 11th 1918 that leads to
the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that produces the Versailles Peace Treaty. That treaty is mainly based on
President Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” philosophy to make and keep peace. Many of the British, French, and
Italian political leaders want to blame the war on Germany alone and punish it. Wilson does not want this, but
gives into their demands. What Wilson does want and get is his “League of Nations.” This is an international
organization that is created to discuss, debate, and resolve conflicts to prevent future wars. Although Wilson is
honored in Europe, he is despised in parts of America (especially in the Republican controlled Senate that
refuses to ratify “his” treaty, despite his attempts to persuade them of its value. He suffers a stroke and weakly
presides in America until 1920.)
Course of American Intervention:
At the outbreak of WWI, the United States has an army of only 100,000 and 130,000 reserve troops.
This is a very small army, but the navy is modern and one of the largest in the world. In April of 1917,
President Wilson gets a declaration of war from Congress on Germany and the Central Powers. General John J.
Pershing is charged with planning and leading our American Expeditionary Force (AEF) army in Europe. By
the end of the war, 4.8 million men serve, with 2.8 million as draftees. These troops are fresh and enthusiastic,
if yet unscarred by the cruelties of battle. The AEF and American supplies, food, equipment, and money are
enough to hold the Allies together until the German army and people starve and give up the fight.
To gear up for the war, the American government centralized control of several businesses and
industries. President Wilson and his Council of National Defense oversaw the strategy of the war, as well as the
production, distribution, and pricing of food, public utilities, housing, and labor unions relations. Millions of
women and African-Americans worked in wartime factories. The 16th Amendment provides for an income tax
that will fund much of the war effort.
President Wilson views the war as a crusade to save the world from the tyrannical monarchies of the
Central Powers—the Kaiser, Emperor, King, and Sultan. He truly believes and constantly speaks of his trust
and faith in the Allies cause of creating a world “safe for democracy.” Patriotism in American is boundless,
while many things named by or for Germans (or German-Americans) are changed. German books are banned or
burned.
This is a difficult time to be an immigrant. Congress passes the Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act
of 1918 to punish those who spoke ill of the war effort or the leadership. Nearly 1,500 pacifists, socialists, and
union leaders were jailed. Many immigrants are suspected of being spies and saboteurs. In the Schenck v. US
Supreme Court Case of 1919, a decision is made justifying a limitation of free speech in wartime. Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that the government has the right to restrict words that would cause “a clear and
present danger” to the public. (Example: You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater.)
Yet another issue for America to manage during and after WWI is the Red Scare of 1918-1919. The
February Russian Revolution creates a democracy, as America hoped it would under the Provisional
Government. Unfortunately, the Bolsheviks’ October Revolution creates another tyrannical government in
Russia. It is the first communist government in the world. We did not know how bad it would be; nonetheless,
many average Americans fear that radical communists (against capitalism, private ownership of property, and
democracy) had infiltrated American businesses, colleges, military, and the government. Very few Americans
and/or immigrants are indeed communists, but many were suspected, accused, harassed, and tried.
Consequences:
The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 produces many treaties, but the most important one is the Versailles
Peace Treaty with Germany of 1919. The Big Four (Wilson, David Lloyd George—P.M. of G.B, Georges
Clemenceau—P.M. of FR, and Vittorio Orlando—P.M. of IT) led the way, but many lesser powers are invited
to participate and make treaties. This is certainly a different approach in European diplomacy. The “little
people” matter. In short, Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” philosophy of how to reorganize European nations and
negotiate differences was the basis of the Conference. The main effects of this treaty include Germany’s:
1) acceptance of causing the war (war guilt clause)
2) reparation payments to the Allies
3) reduction in military size and weapons
4) concession of land for new or reborn European nations like Poland
5) loss of colonies
Wilson accepted many of these demoralizing demands of Germany because he believes in the prospective value
of the peace keeping organization called the League of Nations. He pushes for “self-determination” of ethnic
and religious minorities to form their own new nations out of the land once held as imperial in Germany, A-H,
Russia, and the Ottoman Empire. He believes, idealistically, that this will prevent future conflict. (Indeed, it
does the opposite.) His Fourteen Points are adopted as the basis of the Versailles Peace Treaty. The creation of
the League of Nations is his finest point. Sadly, the US Senate rejects the treaty and participation in the League
of Nations—to spite Wilson for not including them in the diplomatic team.
The First World War caused the disintegration of four empires: Austria-Hungary, Germany, Ottoman,
and the Russian. Germany lost its colonial (land in Africa and islands in the Pacific) empire. Czechoslovakia,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania gained and Poland regained independence, while the Kingdome of Yugoslavia came
into existence as a successor to the Kingdom of Serbia. The cost of waging the war set the stage for the breakup
of the British and French Empires, as well as left France and Belgium devastated for more than a generation.
The US emerged as a major economic/banking/lending, industrial, and political power. It soon retreated to an
isolationist foreign policy of nonintervention. This is partly responsible for the rise of the fascist, militarists
groups, movements, and governments in Germany and Italy prior to WWII.
The Allies causalities include 5.5 million dead soldiers, 13 million wounded, and 4 million missing
soldiers. The Central Powers causalities include 4.5 million dead, 8.5 million wounded, and 3.5 million missing
soldiers. The war terrorized, starved, disillusioned, and made homeless tens of millions of civilians: women,
children, elderly, and the sick. The gloom, despair, and hopelessness of the present and future created tensions,
suspicions, and fears that fermented in the European society for two decades. The Second World War was
already on the heels of the first.