The Great WarNationalism

Imperialism

Militarism

Alliance SystemMaterialism

Stages of Alliances 1815-1914

1. Stop Revolutionaries (Concert System)

2. Serving national interests (Bismarckian System)

3. Balance of Power: Prevent War… sort-of (Post-Bismarckian System)

Effect of Alliances: 1815-1914

• Suspicion

• Friction

• Suspension of War while building more tension

• Aids in serving self-interests

• Militaries grow larger

Rivals• Germany felt deprived of their ‘place

in the sun’• France angry at loss of Alsace-

Lorraine (Franco-Prussian War)• Britain saw need to ‘protect’

colonies• Russia wanted to reverse

humiliations of the 19th century

• Italy desired equal status on the world stage

• Austria-Hungary were trying to preserve her culturally fragmented empire

• Ottoman Empire (Turkey) was falling apart and was in ‘survival’ mode

• Smaller states sought national independence or preservation of recently won independence (Serbia & Bulgaria)

• Japan sought Eastern domination as it continued to modernize

• USA tried to remain isolated and economically benefited by selling supplies to both sides

Hatreds & RivalriesAustria-Hungary

Germany

Serbia (Russia’s Little Brother)

Russia

France

Britain

The Game of High Politics

Diplomacy of Threat

Questions:1. Could the War have been avoided?

How? If not, why not?2. Is nationalism harmful or not?

Who/what does it harm (if at all)?3. Is it okay for a government to foster

a sense of nationalism in its people and encourage materialism in order to keep its people loyal and dutiful?

4. How does faith in science and a belief in scientific objectivity affect Mankind’s outlook and actions?

5. Is today’s society doomed to repeat mistakes made by Europe 100+ years ago? Will we have another war in the early decades of the new Millennium? Justify your response.

1914: Basic Facts:• 1914 saw the largest standing

armies in the history of all Mankind

• Everywhere saw at least 1-3 years compulsory service to the military for all males

• No-one knew war was coming… sort of…

1914: The Two Sides

Central Powers

Germany

A-H

Turkey

Allied Powers

Serbia

Russia

France

Belgium

Britain

Canada

Europe at the beginning of the Europe at the beginning of the war.war.

War Begins…• June 28, 1914: Assassination of

Archduke Francis Ferdinand

• June 1914: A-H Receives a ‘blank check’ from Germany

• June 1914: A-H Sent ultimatum to Serbia

• July 28, 1914: A-H declared war on Serbia

• July 29, 1914: Russia mobilized military

• August 1, 1914: Germany declared war on Russia

• August 3, 1914: Germany declared war on France

• August 4, 1914: Germany marched into Belgium enacting the Schlieffen Plan

• August 4, 1914: Britain declared war on Germany

Germany is fighting a two-front war!!!The only plan for this is...

The Schlieffen Plan

The Belgium army held up the Germans until help from France & Great Britain arrived.

• August 10-23: Russian advance on Austria and German on the Eastern Front

• August 26-30, 1914: Russia soundly defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg (Russia never fully recovers)

• September 4-10, 1914: the First Battle of the Marne: German advance in Western Front halted

• September 1914: Trench Warfare on the Western Front began

• October 14, 1914: Canadian forces arrive to re-enforce Allied troops

• Oct 18 - Nov 12, 1914: First Battle of Ypres

• Nov 2, 1914: Russia declared war on Turkey

• Nov 5, 1914: Turkey joined Central Powers

• Dec 25, 1914: Truce in the Western Trenches

The corrupted Schlieffen plan had failed, leaving the belligerents in a race to outflank

each other; by Christmas the stagnated Western Front comprised over 400 miles of trench, barbed wire and fortifications. There were already 3.5 million casualties. The East was more fluid and home to actual battlefield successes, but nothing decisive and Russia's massive manpower advantage remained. All thoughts of a quick victory had gone: the war

was not over by Christmas.

1915

Germany now plotted a change of tactic, fighting defensively in the West and trying to defeat Russia quickly by

attacking, while the Allies aimed to break through on their respective fronts. Meanwhile, Serbia comes

under increased pressure and Britain plans to attack Turkey.

1915• Jan 8, 1915: Germans form

Southern army to help failing A-H

• January 1915: 1st use of: Zeppelins & Poison Gas (both by Germans)

• Feb 4, 1915: Germany began unrestricted sub warfare

• April 22- May 25: 2nd Battle of Ypres

• April 22, 1915: Poison gas 1st used on Western Front

• April 25-Dec 10, 1915: Gallipoli Campaign April 26, 1915: Italy joined Allies (Treaty of London)

• May 7, 1915: Lusitania sunk

• July 13-15, 1915: German 3 prong offensive against Russia (Russian Campaign)

• September 1, 1915: American outrage made Germans stop sinking civilian ships

• September 5, 1915: Czar Nicholas II made himself ‘Commander-in-Chief’

• Sept 12, 1915: Germany took over Austrian army

Despite attacking on the Western Front, Britain and France make few gains; they also incur hundreds of thousands more casualties than their enemy. The Gallopoli landings also fail, causing the resignation of a certain Winston

Churchill from British government. Meanwhile, the Central Powers achieve what looks like success in the East, pushing the Russians

back into Belorussia...but this had happened before - against Napoleon - and would happen again, against Hitler. Russia's

manpower, manufacturing and army remained strong, but casualties had been huge.

1916

1916 began with all sides planning assaults: Germany wanted to grind French

manpower down through a war of attrition, forcing them to defend the symbolic

Fortress of Verdun at horrific cost, while the Entente aimed to breakthrough on the Somme. In the East, the Germans planned to hold firm while different Russian armies

planned attacks. Meanwhile, Romania enters the war as an Entente power.

1916• Feb 21, 1916: Battle of Verdun

• May 4, 1916: Sussex Pledge

• July 1-Nov 19, 1916: Battle of Somme began (about 60,000 Allied casualties in the 1st hour)

• Aug 27, 1916: Romania joined the Allies

• Sept 1916: First use of tanks by the British

• Dec 18-26, 1916: US Pres Wilson attempts peace talks with Germany

• Dec 30, 1916: Allies refuse peace talks without German agreement to pay reparations

Although Verdun and the Somme cost around a million casualties each, there are no notable gains by the end. Meanwhile,

collapse has begun in the East, where the Brusilov offensive destroyed the armies of

both Austria and Russia, leaving the former a German auxiliary and causing the

latter a million further casualties. In addition, Romania - an Entente knife in Germany's back - is swamped by the

Central Powers who gain valuable oil and grain.

1917Britain and France begin 1917 under the

aegis of Neville, a man determined to launch an ambitious plan of attack, while

German High Command is similarly influenced, accepting predictions that a full submarine campaign against all shipping

would break Britain before the US responded. Meanwhile, the Russian

government has been fatally damaged...

1917• Feb 1, 1917: Germany resumed unrestricted

sub warfare (breaking the Sussex Pledge)

• Feb 3, 1917: USA broke diplomatic ties with Germany

• Feb 24, 1917: Britain sent USA copy of Zimmerman Note

• March-July 1917: February Revolution in Russia

• March 15, 1917: Czar Nicholas II abdicated

• April 6, 1917: USA declared war on Germany

• May 26, 1917: First US troops arrived in France

• July 1-18, 1917: Kerensky Offensive (successful at 1st, then failed)

• July31-Nov 18: Third Battle of Ypres

• November 7, 1917: Lenin’s coup d’etat (2nd Russian Revolution)

• Dec 1, 1917: British capture Jerusalem (ended 673 years of Turkish/Ottoman rule)

• Dec 15, 1917: Treaty of Best-Litovsk proposed

Neville's failure forced the French to become defensive and await their allies, while Haig drove Britain forward alone in

a campaign that seemingly produced little; however, the Allies formed a

Supreme War Council to co-ordinate and millions of fresh soldiers are forthcoming from America. In contrast, Russia's new

Soviet leaders have all but officially surrendered: Germany has won the

Eastern Front.

1918The Austro-German leadership believes the

Western Front must be stormed and a surrender forced before US troops arrive in strength; however, the Central Powers have gained so much land from Russia that the

Eastern Front troops remain tied up. In contrast, the Allies have survived a year of discontent to find millions of reinforcements

arriving, ready for their new assaults.

1918• Jan 18, 1918: Pres Wilson presents his “14

Points”

• March 3, 1917: Treaty of Best-Litovsk signed

• May 28, 1918: First major US assault

• July 15, 1918: Second Battle of the Marne

• Aug 8, 1918: “Black Day of the German Army”: Canadian and Australian troops, plus 600 tanks, shatter German forces

• Sept 26, 1918: Massive allied attack

• October 6, 1918: Yugoslavia declares independence from Austria-Hungary

• October 7, 1918: Poland declares independence

• October 28, 1918: Czechoslovakia declares independence from Austria-Hungary

• October 30: Turkey agrees an armistice with the allies

• November 1: Hungary declares independence from Austria

• November 3: Austria and Hungary agree an armistice with the allies

• November 9: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates

• November 11: Armistice Day. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Germany signs an armistice with the Allies. The war is officially over

As the fighting slowly stops, the haggling over peace treaties begins. Swathes of Europe have been churned and ruined,

four empires have fallen, over 8.5 million have been killed and over twice as many

wounded from across the globe. New technology has been created, America has

risen to prominence as an economic power and new countries are forming in Europe and the Middle East. The world

has been irrecoverably changed.