Download War and Depression WHAP/Napp “On June 28, 1914, Archduke

War and Depression
WHAP/Napp
“On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary,
was riding in an open carriage through Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a province
Austria had annexed six years earlier. When the carriage stopped momentarily, Gavrilo
Princip, member of a pro-Serbian conspiracy, fired his pistol twice, killing the archduke
and his wife. Those shots ignited a war that spread throughout Europe, then became global
as the Ottoman Empire fought against Britain in the Middle East and Japan attacked
German positions in China. France and Britain involved their empires in the war and
brought Africans, Indians, Australians, and Canadians to Europe to fight and labor on the
front lines. Finally, in 1917, the United States entered the fray. The assassination of Franz
Ferdinand triggered a chain of events over which military and political leaders lost control.
The escalation from assassination to global war had causes that went back many years.
One was nationalism, which bound citizens to their ethnic group and led them, when called
upon, to kill people they viewed as enemies. Nationalism could also be a dividing force. The
large but fragile multinational Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires
contained numerous ethnic and religious minorities. Having repressed them for centuries,
the governments could never count on their full support. The very existence of an
independent Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary by stirring up the hopes and resentments
of its Slavic populations. Another cause was the system of alliances and military plans that
the great powers had devised to protect themselves from their rivals. A third was
Germany’s yearning to dominate Europe.
What turned an incident in a small town in the Balkans into a conflict involving all the
great powers was the system of alliances that had grown up over the previous decades. At
the center of Europe stood Germany, the most heavily industrialized country in Europe. Its
army was the best trained and equipped. It challenged Great Britain’s naval supremacy by
building ‘dreadnoughts’ – heavily armed battleships. It joined Austria-Hungary and Italy
in the Triple Alliance in 1882, while France allied itself with Russia. In 1904 Britain joined
France in an Entente (“understanding”), and in 1907 Britain and Russia buried their
differences and formed an Entente. Europe was thus divided into two blocs of roughly
equal power. On July 28, emboldened by the backing of Germany, Austria-Hungary
declared war on Serbia. Diplomats, statesmen, and monarchs sent one another frantic
telegrams, but they had lost control of events, for the declaration of war triggered the
general mobilization plans of Russia, France, and Germany. On July 29 the Russian
government ordered general mobilization to force Austria to back down. On August 1
France honored its treaty obligation to Russia and ordered general mobilization. Minutes
later Germany did likewise. The German plan was to wheel around through neutral
Belgium and into northwestern France. The German General Staff expected France to
capitulate before the British could get involved. But on August 3, when German troops
entered Belgium, Britain demanded their withdrawal. When Germany refused, Britain
declared war on Germany.” ~ The Earth and Its Peoples
1. The purpose of alliances such as the
2. All of the following were causes of WWI
Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente was
except
(A) To create a mutually advantageous free (A) Nationalism
(B) Militarism
trade association.
(C) Alliance System (D) Imperialism
(B) To provide mutual defense and support
(E) Marxism
Key Words/ I. Conflict in Europe
Questions
A. Competing states – a long standing-feature of Europe
B. Rivalries sharpened as both Italy and Germany achieved unification
C. Defeat of Napoleon in 1815, a fragile balance of power maintained peace
D. By early 20th century, two rival alliances: Triple Alliance of Germany,
Austria, and Italy and Triple Entente of Russia, France, and Britain
E. Alliances transformed a minor incident in Balkans into a conflagration
F. June 28,1914: Serbian nationalist assassinated Franz Ferdinand
G. Behind Austria: its powerful ally, Germany; behind Serbia lay Russia
H. Alliances intended to keep the peace led to war by early August 1914
I. Causes of WWI: nationalism, imperialism, militarism, alliances (MAIN)
J. Submarines, tanks, airplanes, poison gas, machine guns, barbed wire
K. Italy had joined France and Britain and Russia, now known as Allied
Powers but Russia dropped out in 1917 after Bolshevik Revolution
L. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Ottomans were now Central Powers
M. U.S.A., after seeking to avoid involvement, joined war in 1917 when
German submarines threatened American shipping
N. 2 million Americans helped turn tide in favor of British and French
O. Ground on for more than four years/German defeat in November 1918
P. “Trench Warfare” due to stalemate on Western Front: rats, lice,
disease: “total war” required mobilization of each country’s population
Q. In factories, women replaced men who had left for battlefront
R. Led to widespread disillusionment; war seemed to mock Enlightenment
S. Collapse of German, Russian, and Austrian empires; a new map of
Central Europe with independent Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia
T. In Russia, strains of war triggered a vast revolutionary upheaval
U. Treaty of Versailles, concluded the war in 1919, proved to have
established conditions that generated a second world war
V. “War Guilt” Clause, Germany also lost colonies, had to pay reparations
II. Consequences
A. During war, Ottoman authorities suspected some Armenians of
collaborating with Russian enemy, massacred or deported 1 million
B. War also brought a final end to a declining Ottoman Empire
C. First World War brought U.S.A. to center stage as a global power
D. Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points: Idea for League of Nations,
international peacekeeping or “collective security” but U.S. did not join
E. Women increasingly gained the right to vote
III. Depression
A. American stock market initially crashed on October 24, 1929
B. Banks closed and many people lost life’s savings: high unemployment
C. Germany and Austria had to make huge reparation payments and were
able to do so only with extensive U.S. loans
D. Britain/France: indebted to U.S., needed reparations to repay loans
E. Economic linkages globalized Great Depression
F. Between 1919 and 1945, a new political ideology developed – Fascism
Reflections:
1. Which of the following answer choices
best explains why women won the right to
vote in many Western societies after World
War I?
(A) Female combat veterans returned home
demanding political equality.
(B) Female nurses who cared for injured
troops in the trenches won broad-based
sympathy.
(C) Crucial contributions in wartime factory
production lent legitimacy to ongoing calls
for political and social equality.
(D) Feminist movements got their start
during the First World War.
(E) Immediate granting of the right to vote
to women in Soviet Russia was an
embarrassment on the world stage for maledominated liberal democracies where the
movement for women's suffrage was
decades old.
4. “Without the Great War, Britain and
Europe would have remained dominant in
finance, but during it they had to borrow.
So the United States, especially in those war
years when it was neutral, became a
financier of the war effort. One cause of the
approaching world Depression was the new
financial power of the United States in the
1920s. Relatively inexperienced as global
leader, tolerant of the cycle of boom and
setback, and happy to watch the stock
exchange in Wall Street acting as a trumpet
major, it led an unstable world towards
chronic instability.”
According to the passage, how did World
War I contribute to the start of the Great
Depression?
(A) Trench warfare created a legacy of
bitterness and an unwillingness of
countries to lend money to one
2. Which belligerent power of the First
another after the war.
World War carried out an early exit from
(B) While countries’ economies boomed
the hostilities and negotiated a separate
during the war due to war
peace treaty?
production; after the war, the loss of
(A) France
war production led to an economic
(B) The United States
downturn that created conditions for
(C) Russia
the Great Depression.
(D) Austria-Hungary
(C) The United States emerged as a
(E) Germany
leader of finance and although its
policies were sound, other countries
3. What treaty required Germany to accept
ignored its rules.
blame for the war, pay reparations, and
(D) As a result of the need for European
forfeit its colonies?
countries to borrow money during
(A) The Treaty of Paris
the war, the United States emerged
(B) The Treaty of Nanjing
as the leading lender but was
(C) The Treaty of Versailles
inexperienced and as a result, did not
(D) The Paris Peace Accords
create conditions for a stable
economic system.
Thesis Practice: Continuity and Change over Time
Analyze changes and continuities in Western Europeans political and economic goals and
objectives from 1815 to 1920.
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Critical Thinking Questions:
1- Evaluate the following statement: World War I was the first great turning point of
the 20th century.
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2- Describe the causes of World War I.
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3- The event that triggered the outbreak of World War I was the
(A) Invasion of Poland by the Germans.
(B) Assassination of the Austrian archduke by a Serbian nationalist.
(C) Murder of the Russian tsar by a Bolshevik.
(D) Death of the German Kaiser.
(E) Sinking of the Lusitania.
4- During World War I, Japan
(A) Seized German colonies in Asia.
(B) Entered the war on the side of the Central Powers.
(C) Remained neutral.
(D) Lost power in devastating battles.
(E) Allied with the United States to dominate the Pacific.
5- Which of these nations did NOT join the League of Nations?
(A) Japan
(B) Germany
(C) France
(D) United States
(E) Italy
Identify whether the following statements are true or false:
 In 1914, a Turkish nationalist shot the heir to the Russian throne, Archduke
Ferdinand.
 At the beginning of World War I, most combatants expected a long, drawn-out war.
 Soon after hostilities began, Italy switched sides to join the Allies.
 British, French, and German colonies were fortunate to be able to stay uninvolved
in the fighting during the war.
 On the Western Front, military tactics of sweeping offensives over great distances
quickly stalemated into a war of attrition fought over very little territory.
 After the war, in most Western nations, women gained the right to vote.