WWI 1914-1919

As European countries formed alliances and increased the size of their armed forces, they set the stage for a global war. All they needed was a good reason to mobilize troops. Another crisis in the Balkans of 1914 led directly to the conflict. When a Serbian terrorist assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife.

FIVE MAIN CAUSES OF WWI:ALLIANCES: Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy [joined the entente for WWI] )/ Triple Entente (France, Great Britain, Russia)

MILITARISM - aggressive build-up of armed forces to intimidate and threaten other nations.

Arms Race-Who can build the bigger navy?

NATIONALISM- Intense pride in one’s homeland.

Self Determination-People with the same ethnic origins, language, and political ideals had the right to form sovereign states.

IMPERIALISM- a country can increase its power and wealth by controlling other people.

Roots began in 1860s: the kingdom of Prussia launched the 1st series of wars to unite the various German states into one nation.

By 1871, Prussia had united Germany & the German Empire began (most powerful nation in the world)

In 1870, Prussia attacked and defeated France.Forced France to give up territory along the

German border. (ENEMIES)TRIPLE ALLIANCE (CENTRAL POWERS):

Germany signed alliances w/ Italy & Austria-Hungary

Feared that Germany intended to expand eastward into Russia

Russia vs. Austria-Hungary : competing for influence in southeastern Europe.

Austria-Hungary against Nationalistic aspirations of Slavic peoples-Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes.

Russia supports succession from A-HBoth, Russia and France wanted to oppose

Germany and Austria-HungaryFRANCO-RUSSIAN ALLIANCE (1894)-

promising to support each other against the Triple Alliance.

In July 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne), visited Bosnian capital of Sarajevo

As he and his wife rode through the city, Gavrilo Princip (Bosnian-Serb revolutionary) rushed their open car and shot the couple to death.

Black HandTerrorist Group

On July 28,1917- Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia w/ the supp. of Germany, blamed Serbia for the attack.

Serbia counted on czar Nicholas II from Russia to back them up, & the Russians counted on France.

August 1, Germany declared war on Russia.Two days later, it declared war on France…

WORLD WAR I HAD BEGUN (1914)

Germany launched a massive invasion of France required the German forces to

advance though neutral Belgium in order to encircle the French troops.

When they crossed into Belgium Britain declared war on Germany.

German troops swept through Belgium & headed into France

Russian troops invaded Germany, therefore, Germany was forced to pull some of their troops from France and send them to Russia

Austria-Hungary declares war on SerbiaRussia mobilizes against A-H and

Germany Germany declares war on RussiaGermany declares war on FranceGermany breaks treaty of Belgium

neutrality and invades Belgium….Great Britain declares war on Germany

The war that many thought would be over in a few weeks lasted far longer, resulting in many causalities for both sides. The war widened, and the United States entered the fray in 1917. As WWI escalated, government took control of their economies, rationing food and supplies and calling on civilians to work and make sacrifices for war effort.

Propaganda: ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause.

The war that many thought would be over in a few weeks lasted far longer, resulting in many causalities for both sides.

Schlieffen Plan calls for Germany to move through Belgium and encircle the French Troops before France knew what hit them.

The French respond by sending troops to the front line.

Trench warfare played out and halted both sides in a stalemate for 4 years.

At the beginning of the war the Russian army moved to eastern Germany but were constantly defeated, after this they were no longer a threat to Germany.

Austria- Hungary, Germany’s ally, fared less well at first .

The Austrians had been defeated by the Russians.Also, Italians betrayed Germany and Austria allies in

the Triple Alliance by attacking Austria in May 1915.Italy joined, France, Great Britain and Russia

became known as TRIPLE ENETENTE (ALLIED POWERS)

Germany comes to aid of Austria and together they force Russians back into their own territory.

Result: 2.5 million Russians killed, captured, wounded

Trenches became the main system of the warGerman and French had hundreds of miles of

trenches, protected by barbed wire entanglements up to 5 feet

In just ten months at Verdum, France 700,000 men lost their lives over a few miles of land in 1916.

WWI turned into war of attrition, a war based on wearing the other side down by constant attacks and heavy losses.

By the end of 1915, airplanes had appeared on the battlefront for the 1st time in history

First they were used to spot the enemy position, after they were used to attack ground targets

First, pilots fired at each other with handheld pistols.

Later, machine guns were mounted on the noses of planes.

Germans used the zeppelins- to bomb London and eastern England.

This caused little damage but frightened many people.

Zeppelins were filled with hydrogen gas (

United States Entered the war…A series of events eroded American neutrality

and drew the nation into war:Submarines:British declared a blockage of German ports

and began intercepting neutral merchant ships sailing from Europe.

Forced ships to land at British ports & be inspected for contraband, or goods prohibited from shipment to Germany and its allies. (including American ships)

Britain and France needed food, equipment, and supplies from US.

US Enters….In response: Germany set up a blockade against

Britain; deployed submarines (U-boats- underwater boats) and announced that they would sink w/o warning any ship they found in the waters around Britain.

Lusitania:May 7, 1915, a British passenger ship entered war

zone.1,200 passengers (128 Americans) attacked by

Germany. Americans saw the sinking as terrorist attacks.

Sussex Pledge- tried to keep Americans out of war for a little longer.

Zimmermann Telegram:In January 1917, German official

Zimmermann sent a telegram to the German ambassador of Mexico asking him to make an offer to the Mexican gov’t.

If Mexico agreed to ally with them, Germany promised Mexico to help them regain its lost territory in the US.

British intercepted the telegram/ American concluded war with Germany was necessary.

B/w Feb. 3- March 21, German U-boats sank 6 Americans ships.

April 2, 1917 Pres. Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany and after a debate….

AMERICA WAS AT WAR

WWI created new roles for womenCivilian occupations, truck drivers, farm

labors, factory workers1914-1918 in England # of women in public

transportation rose 14 times

Sec. 3 Beginnings of UpheavalNicholas II relied on the army and

bureaucracy to hold up his throne.He was further cut off from events when a

man names Griogory Rasputin began to influence the czar’s wife, Alexandra.

People didn’t support him He was assassinated in December 1916. They

shot Rasputin and tied him up and threw him into the Neva River. He tried to untie the knots underwater but drowned.

The March RevolutionIn March 1917, the working class women led

by a series of strikes in the capital of Petrograd

A few weeks earlier, the government increased bread prices, people protested

People stood in line for hours and factories workers worked for 12 hours

March 8, about 100,00 women marched through the city of Petrogad demanding “Bread and Peace” and “Down with Autocracy”

The Druma “legislative body”, which czar tried to dissolved met anyways

On March 12, the Druma established a provisional government, consisted of middle-class representatives.

They made the czar step down and he did since he didn’t have the support of the people/ government

Provisional GovernmentHeaded by Aleksandr Kerensky, he decided to carry

on the war to preserve Russia’s honorThe gov’t faced with a challenging to its authority- the

soviets.They were council composed of representatives from

the workers and soldiers The Soviets of Petrogad had been formed in March

1917.At the same time, soviets sprang up in army units,

factory towns…They were made up of socialists, represented the

more radical interests of the lowest classOne group was the BOLSHEVIKS.

BOLSHEVIKS- they began as a part of the Marxist party called Russian Social Democrats

Their leader was Vladimir Ulyanov (known as Vladimir Lenin)

He believed that only violent revolution could destroy the capitalist system.

Lenin and Bolsheviks When the provisional gov’t was formed in

March 1917, he saw an opportunity for the Bolsheviks to seize power.

Lenin believed that working class , peasants were the most important class

He believed that his party can gained control of the gov’t by supporting this class

He also promised to end the war and to redistribute all land to the peasants, to transfer factories from capitalists to workers and to transfer power of provisional gov’t to soviets

The Bolsheviks Seize PowerThe members of the party increased from

50,000 to 240,000.They took power and provisional gov’t

collapsedThey changed the name to COMMUNISTS He proclaimed peace but never happenedOn March 3, 1918 Lenin signed the Treaty of

Brest-Litobsk with Germany and gave up eastern Poland, Ukraine and Finland.

Civil War in RussiaMany people opposed to the new gov’t

communist gov’t The Allies set thousand of troops to diff. parts

of Russia in hope of bringing them back to war

The Allied forces rarely fought on Russia soil, but they gave material aid to anti-communist forces

b/w 1918-1921 the Communist, or Reds, Army fought on many fronts against these opponents

The 1st threat to the Communist came from Siberia. An anti-communist force (white forces).

Attacks also came from Ukrania and from the Baltic regions

In mid 1919, white forces swept through Ukraine and advanced to Moscow before being pushed back

By 1920 major forces defeated and Ukraine retaken.

The next year, the communists regime regained control over the independent nationalist gov’t in different countries.

Triumph of the Communists 1. One reason was that the Read Army was a

well- disciplined fighting force2 Also, disunity on the anti- Communists forces

weakened their efforts. Political differences created distrust among Whites

3. Communist revolutionary terror, a secret police known as Cheka, destroying those opposed to communism

4. Foreign armies on Russia soil enabled the Communists to appeal to the powerful force of Russian patriotisms

Sec. 4 End of WWIAfter the Russian Revolution, Russia

withdraw from the war… this affected the allies

End of the war…Erich Ludendorff, who guided the Germany

militia decided to make an attack on March 1918.

By April, German troops were within about 50 miles of Paris but they were stopped at the Battle of Marne, by the Americans, French and Moroccan.

Millions of troops were put in France, and the Allies began to advance toward Germany.

On Sep. 29, 1918, Ludendorff told Germans that the war was lost and asked for peace.

Collapse and ArmisticeGermans realized that the Allies were not willing to

make peace negotiations November 3, sailors in the northern town of Kiel

stopped fighting. Days later, council of workers and soldiers took over

civilian and military offices. Emperor William II left the country on November 9After his departure Friedrich Ebert announced the

creation of a Democratic Republic.Two days later, at 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th

month of the year 1918 …. WWI CAME TO AN END. Germany singed an armistice ( an agreement to end the

war)

Revolutionary Forces in GermanyAlthough WWI came to an end, a group of

radical socialists in Germany were not happy with the new gov’t

Formed the Germany Communist Party in Dec. 1918, a month later tried to seize power in Berlin and later in the city of Munich.

The Social Democratic gov’t tried to control the event

Revolutionary Forces in Austria-HungaryThey experienced similar revolution.Ethnic groups believed to achieve

independence and power, by the end of WWI this empire came to an end

It was replaced by independent republic of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. (created during the Treaty of Versailles)

Peace TreatyIn January 1919, 27 countries gather together

to negotiate a treaty.Russia was not invited, at the time of the

peace Russia was raging a civil war b/w communist & non-communists.

President Wilson was the key to resolve the problem.

Treaty of Versailles (3 main points)

1. They negotiated the Treaty of Saint-Germain -ending the war with Austria-Hungary

- 4 new nations were recognized: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Yugoslavia

-Austria may not unite w/ Germany; its army was reduced to 30,000 men.

Germany:With the support of other Allies Germany signed the

treaty on June 28, 1919Included many terms designed to punish and weaken

Germany- Troops will return all captured territory to Belgium,

Russia, and France- Will be divided in 2; some German territory will be

given to Czechoslovakia and Belgium - Assumed responsibility for the war and Allies demanded

Germany to pay for reparations ($33 billion)Arm forces were greatly reduced to 100,000 men and

Germany was not allowed to put troops outside Germany’s borders

3. League of Nations- Members would help prevent peace by

pledging to respect and protect each other’s territory and political independence

- Members agree to reduce armaments - Parts of the Ottoman Empire will be

supervised under the League of Nations. ( Turks empire that lasted from 1299 to Nov. 1, 1922, they supported Germany)

- Central Powers will be supervised by League.