The Great War

“The War to End All Wars.”

4 Main Causes = NISM

Nationalism = Blind Patriotism combined with “God Complex”

Imperialism = Desire to dominate all of Europe

Secret Alliances = Smaller countries sought protection from larger powers

Militarism = Arms race in Europe; technology being applied to war

Nationalism

1. Do what’s in the best interest of your own country.

2. Defend your honor.3. Desire by many small, ethnic groups in southern

Europe to be free from influence by the Austria-Hungary Empire (Serbia is a good example of this)

4. Desire by Germany to prove themselves (formed in 1871 – Unification of 26 German speaking territories)

Imperialism

• Great desire by the major powers to expand their empires (much like Britain, France, & Spain had in the past)

• American Imperialism – Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, Panama, Alaska

• Germany wanted to be a great empire• Desire to prove themselves

Example of Imperialism

Secret Alliances

Militarism

• Just like the U.S., Europe had went through industrialization & modernization

• This technological boom also impacted weapons of war

• All nations in Europe were caught up in an arms race

• New weapons combined with arrogance make this war even more deadly

New Military Weapons (Advances in Technology Make War More Deadly)

Start of the War• Archduke Franz Ferdinand gets assassinated in 1914 • Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia• Soon all of Europe would be at War

Stalemate – War in the Trenches

U.S. Involvement • 1917 – Russia drops out of the War

(Communist Revolution)• American business interests are

really worried - $$$ was at stake• Political interests – Pres. Wilson

argues that we need to make the world “safe for democracy.”

• Sinking of the Lusitania• Zimmerman Note = Germany

encourages Mexico to invade the U.S.

• US Congress declares war – April, 1917

America is divided over the war

Economic Boom in U.S.

• War-time economy• Selective Service Act of 1917• Manufacturing of weapons and other

equipment for war• Opportunities for women & ethnic minorities• The Great Migration—roughly 400,000 African

Americans leave the South to take manufacturing jobs in northern cities

Propaganda to Build Support

End of the War• Germany surrenders on

Nov. 11, 1918• All sides agree to stop

fighting and negotiate a peace settlement

• Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Point Plan (fails to get implemented)

• Treaty of Versailles (June, 1919)

• Rejected by the U.S. Senate