lesson 2 first world war

REVIEW

• Take a look at the contents page of your textbook.

• Which is the most important event in the textbook? Why is this so?

!!

THE IMPACT OF THE THE IMPACT OF THE FIRST WORLD WARFIRST WORLD WAR

WHY IS THE

STUDY OF WW1

IMPORTANT?

• Many of the major historical events from 1918 to 1991 have their roots in the First World War.

• What was the world like before WW1?• What caused WW1?• What happened in WW1?• What was the world like after WW1?

ACTIVITY

• Work this out!– Take the total number of students in your class:

• What is 16% of the total number of students in your class?• What is 51% of the total number of students in your class?• What is 6% of the total number of students in your class?

ACTIVITY

• 16% – Killed in Action• 51% – Wounded in Action• 6% – Missing, Prisoners of War.• What do you think would be the effect if this were

the casualty rate in:– Class– Victoria School– Singapore

ACTIVITY

• 76% of all French soldiers that were mobilised for the First World War became casualties.

• The Allied powers suffered approximately 22 million casualties.

• The Central powers suffered approximately 15 million casualties– http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWdea

ths.htmWHY DID THIS

WHY DID THIS

HAPPEN?

HAPPEN?

SOURCE WORK

• What do you think Sir Edward Grey means by ‘the lights are going out all over Europe”?

• What does this say about Europe prior to the First World War?

“The lights are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime” - British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey on 4 Aug 1914 prior to the outbreak of the First World War

CAUSES OF WW1:

Europe Before

WW1

• A time of prosperity:– European empires controlled much of the world.– US economy was rapidly expanding.– Raw materials from colonies fed the industries.– Massive population growth all over Europe.

• Common culture:– Europe was ‘bound’ by Christian culture.– Many educated Europeans also shared a common culture –

literature, and music.– Ease of travel within Europe.

CAUSES OF WW1:

Europe Before

WW1

• Communication:– Ease of communication – The world became a far

smaller place.

• Societal Unease:– Class-based monarchial systems.– Reform movements.– ‘Euro-centric’ view of the world.– Changing role of women.

CAUSES OF WW1:

Europe Before

WW1

• A time of suspicion :– All the major countries, Britain, France, Germany,

Russia, Austria-Hungary all felt threatened in some way or other.

• External Threats:– Competition for colonies.– Mutual suspicion about other countries.

• Internal Threats:– Nationalistic ambitions of peoples.

» E.g. The Balkans – part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

CAUSES OF WW1:

Europe Before

WW1

• Alliances– European countries made alliances against each other.– Aggression by one country against another would trigger the

alliance.• Militarism and the Arms Race

– Each country wanted to have a stronger military than the other.– Every man a solider.

• War plans– Every country made plans on what it would do in the event of war

with the other.• Obsession with the war plans and following the time-tables of the plans.

CAUSES OF WW1:

INSTIGATIVE

FACTORS

• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by the ‘Black Hand’, a Serbian Nationalist movement.

• Set off a complex series of events that eventually led to war. Refer to page 12 of your textbook for details.

• Serbia was not involved in any fighting till 1915.

THE FIRST WORLD

WAR

• Refer to page 15 of your text book for more details about the actual events of the First World War.

EFFECTS OF THE

FIRST WORLD WAR

• The end of the old order and the rise of the new order.– Political– Social– Economic

EFFECTS OF THE

FIRST WORLD WAR

• The end of monarchies– Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia ceased to be

monarchies.– Some of their territories were taken away from them.

• Increasing weakness of empires– Britain and France unable to recover their former power.

• The Russian Revolution.– The war had made many of Russia’s problems worse.– Led to the revolution and the overthrow of the Tsar.

EFFECTS OF THE

FIRST WORLD WAR

• Treaty of Versailles – Post war peace negotiations:– Defeated parties not involved in the negotiations.– Re-distribution of lands that belonged to Germany and Austria-

Hungary.– Creation of new countries and re-drawing of existing

boundaries.– Re-distribution of German colonies.

• US Isolationism:– American anger at war involvement.– Led to America closing itself off to the world.

EFFECTS OF THE

FIRST WORLD WAR

• Economic problems– Massive casualties affected economic production.– Economic difficulties caused by the war:

• Debt• Destruction;• Food shortages• Low levels of trade• Need to produce non-war goods• High unemployment.

• Social changes– The ‘lost generation’ - male-Female imbalance.– Breakdown of traditional barriers – push for greater equality.

EFFECTS OF THE

FIRST WORLD WAR

• Why do we start with the study of World War One?