Download The War to End All Wars (Until the Next One!) World War I 1914

The War to End All Wars (Until the Next One!)
World War I 1914-1918
Did the whole world fight in WWI? Not really, but it sure
seemed like it. Let’s look at the two sides of the conflict.
The main countries of the Triple Entente were Great
Britain, France, and Russia (and later the United States),
but that’s not all. All lands belonging to Britain and France
also fought like Canada, Australia, India, all British African
colonies, and all French African colonies. On the other
side there is the Triple Alliance which included Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire (modern-day
Turkey and the Middle East). However, Spain,
Switzerland, Mexico and all South American countries stayed out of the fighting.
What caused WWI? The causes of World War I are so complicated that we have an
acronym for them. It is MAIN. Militarism was a cause because countries that spent
billions building up their new, modern armies were less likely to compromise when bad
stuff happened. It’s kind of like acting a fool when you have a gun hidden in your shirt.
An alliance is when you have a deal with another country to back you in a fight. Some
gangstas are more likely to “throw down” when they have a few homies standing next to
them. France was ready to fight Germany partly because the British promised to protect
the French in case of a fight. Imperialism was an important cause of the war because
countries were partly fighting over African colonies. (Imperialism is
the act of taking over other countries around the world. Think of the
word “empire” as the root.). To see imperialism at work see the
picture at the right. Each shade on the African map represents a
European nation controlling their section of Africa. Nationalism is
basically like patriotism, but it’s something more. Germany was a
very new country, formed in 1848, and it was ready to strut its stuff
and win a major war.
How did the war start? Serbia, a small European country,
was trying to assert its nationalism by assassinating the
Austrian Archduke (Prince) Franz Ferdinand. It’s
complicated politics, but Austria was trying to assert control of
Serbia while a Serbian terrorist group shot back. Literally!
Gustav Princip shot the Austrian Archduke and his wife on a
public street. This didn’t have to be a big deal, but all of
Europe’s secret alliances kicked in. Austria-Hungary
threatened Serbia. Serbia asked Russia for help. Russia threatened Austria. Germany
said don’t mess with Austria. France said don’t mess with Russia. Etc. Etc. and so on.
Soon, there was war. It started in 1914.
What new technologies were used in WWI? WWI was the first
mechanized war, meaning it used machines. Cars, trucks,
planes, machine guns, tanks, huge cannons were all used in
this war. The car was only 20 years old and the plane was
ten. The tank was invented to get soldiers through the barbed
wire. The Germans introduced chemical weapons. Clouds of
chlorine gas would cause soldiers’ lungs to fill with fluid and
drown. Mustard gas would cause soldiers to become blind. Chemical weapons were so
painful and deadly that they are not used in warfare anymore.
How did America get involved? In the beginning, America was neutral. America actually
made money by selling arms to both sides of the conflict. Eventually, America only sold
weapons to the British and French. (note: Many tests will say that America was
isolationist, meaning America wanted to isolate themselves and stay out of the war.)
Germany did not like this. Germany did 2 things to anger the
Americans and lead us into World War I. First, the Germans used their
submarines to sink any ship they could headed toward Great Britain.
This is called unrestricted submarine warfare. The most famous
case of this was the German sinking of the
Lusitania. The Lusitania was a passenger ship like
the Titanic, but it had weapons headed for Great
Britain. So the Germans sunk it with 2 torpedoes in 1915. Many
American civilians were aboard the ship, thus President Woodrow
Wilson endured much pressure to declare war on Germany and
enter the war. Later in 1917, British intelligence agents claimed they
intercepted a telegram from Germany to Mexico. This Zimmerman
telegram told Mexico to declare war against the USA in the event the
Americans declared war against Germany. Although its authenticity is doubted today,
the Zimmerman telegram was the final push for America to enter World War I in 1917 on
the side of France and Britain.
What happened as a result of WWI? About 9.7 million military and 10 million civilian
deaths occurred as a result. Since America entered the war so late, we only lost
117,000 soldiers. These numbers do not include the wounded, those who were blinded
by mustard gas or crippled physically and psychologically. It does not include children
growing up fatherless. Another important result is the changing of political
boundaries after the war. For example, the Ottoman Empire became several countries
that we recognize today: Turkey, Iran, Syria and others. Germany lost their colonies.
Austria – Hungary became separate. Very importantly, the Treaty of Versallies, which
ended WWI, punished Germany for the whole war. This led to Germany seeking
revenge 20 years later in WW2.
Questions: 1. When was WWI? 2. Describe each word in MAIN. 3. Why is WWI
described as mechanized? 4. Why (2 reasons) did the USA enter WW!. 5. Who was
President during WWI? 6. How did the war change the map? 7. How did WWI cause
WW2?