Paradox: Western Civilization has both great achievement and violence.
Gave us Shakespeare, Da Vinci, and Newton.
West is at the top:
Controls 2/3 of world’s surface
Why do they have a war that kills 10 million and begins the end of the reign of domination?
World War I ends the ‘Old World” in Europe
Countries still had ruling dynasties
Queen Victoria of England
Victoria’s grandchildren:
Maud-Queen of NorwaySophie-Queen of GreeceMarie-Queen of RomaniaAlexandra-Czarina of RussiaWilhelm-Kaiser of GermanyGeorge-King of England
Dynasties that end in WWI
Hohenzollern 1614 Prussia/GermanyRomanov 1613 RussiaHapsburg 1452 AustriaOttoman Empire 1453 officially
637 unofficially
External Pressures
1.Coloniespressure to gain and control
land
AfricaChina
2. Rivalries:
*Austria vs. Russia-control of Balkans
*France vs. Germany-Alsace-Lorraine
*England vs. Germany-Navy
3. Armaments
Countries spending 70-150 million per year on weapons
Dreadnought cost £4 or $22 m.Largest company in Europe:Krupp Steel
Internal Pressures
Class Struggle
Industrial Revolution causes great disparity of wealth
Average Yearly Wages in England
Agriculture worker $4320 (today’s $)
General Labor $3751Miner $7634Skilled ship builder $9381
German Domestic $37.50-50.00
Karl Marx
Class Warfare
Jean Jaures
Goal of Socialism is to
improve conditions for working class
Work within the system
Vladimir Lenin
Supports Marx’s ideas
Wants revolution in Russia
Nationalism: love of country or desire for own country
Old World Empires rule other ethnic groups
Austria-Hungary has many groups within borders
Serbs in southern A-H want to be part of the country of Serbia
Serbian separatist group the Black Hand
Austrian heir Franz Ferdinand
goes to Sarajevo
Assassinated by Black Hand
Garvilio Princip
Rifles
Lee-Enfield .30310 rounds
German Mauser 985 rounds
French Lebel Model 1886
8 rounds
Rifles have an effective range of 800-1000 yards
Accurate to 400 yards
Machine guns fired 400-600 rounds per minutes
= 70-100 riflemen
Artillery
Range: 300 yards to 9 miles
Shells from 15 pounds to 1 ton
French 75mm Field gun
Big Bertha1 ton shell 9 miles
Fokker Dr-1 TriplaneThe Red Baron
500 yards
1000 rifles 10 shots per minute – 5 minutes
50,000 bullets
20 machine guns 500 rounds per minutes
50,000 bullets
Plus artillery