World War I

1914 to 1918

Russian Revolution

Setting the Stage• *Aggressive Nationalism

– German, new industrial and military might– French, wants to be European leader again

• Upset over lose in Franco-Prussian war

– Russia, Pan-Slavism• Supports Serbia

• *Economic Rivalries– Britain threatened by Germany’s industrial

production– Germany upset, feels that they “get no respect”

Sec. 1

Setting the Stage• *Imperialism

– Germany and France fight over Morocco, almost went to war

– Resulting in France drawing closer to Britain• *Militarism “the glorification of the military”

– Social Darwinism – Romantic

*Arms RaceIn all areas

Especially fierce between Germany and Britain (naval)

It was Admiral, the First Sea Lord, was the driving-force behind the development of the Dreadnought that was built at Portsmouth Dockyar between October 1905 and December 1906. The Dreadnought was the most heavily-armed ship in history. She had ten 12-inch guns (305 mm), whereas the previous record was four 12-inch guns. The gun turrets were situated higher than user and so facilitated more accurate long-distance fire. In addition to her 12-inch guns, the Dreadnought also had twenty-four 3-inch guns (76 mm) and five torpedo tubes below water. In the waterline section of her hull, the Dreadnought was armoured by plates 28 cm thick. The Dreadnought was the first major warship driven solely by steam turbines, making her faster than any other warship. A total of 526 feet long (160.1 metres) the Dreadnought had a crew of over 800 men.

By 1914 the British Navy had nineteen Dreadnoughts (thirteen under construction), compared with Germany's thirteen (seven under construction). Other fleets with Dreadnoughts at sea by 1914 were: United States (8), France (8), Japan (4), Austria-Hungary (2) and Italy (1).

*AlliancesFear and distrust of each other caused countries form treaties for mutual

protection.

*Central Powers• 1881 Germany

Austria/Hungry and Russia• 1 year later Italy joins• Kaiser William dropped

Russia• Italy weak and later formed

a secret bargain with Britain• 1914 Ottoman Empire

joined.

*Allied Powers

• 1894 France and Russia

• 1904 “entente cordiale” between France and Britain

• 1907 Britain and Russia

Alliances made national leaders very nervous!!!

*The Spark

• June 28th 1914 Austrian heir Francis Ferdinand went to Sarajevo

• Princip and 6 others plan to kill him, members of “Unity or Death” know as “*Black Hand”

• Austria delivers and “Ultimatum” to Serbia

• July 28th 1914 Austria declares war on Serbia.

Sec. 2

The Fuse Is Lit

• Germany backed Austria• Serbia is mostly Slavs

– Asked Russia “the champion of Slavic nations” for help

• Nicholas II telegraphed Kaiser William II– Wanted Austria to soften it’s

stand toward Serbia– William said NO!!!

Nicholas II (Nikolai Alaexandrovich)

1868-1918Emperor of all Russia

1894-1917

Kaiser William II

1859-1941

The Boom

• Russia began to “mobilize” it’s armed forces

• Germany responded by declaring war on Russia.

• Russia asks for help from France.• Germany tells France to stay

neutral.• France says NO!!!• Germany declares war on France.

Help Us Win

*Schlieffen Plan

• Russia slow to mobilize• Attack France through Belgium and get to Paris before

the Russian’s could mobilize.• Britain and Belgium and Italy were neutral up to this

point.

General Alfred Schlieffen’s plan to

avoid a two front war.

Sec. 3

*The Fizzle• Germany attacks France through

Belgium.– Britain and Belgium have an

alliance.– Britain enters the war

• Russia mobilizes faster than Germany thought– Germany moves troops to Eastern

front.– Weakens the Western front.– British troops shore up French lines.– The assault stalls and both sides dig

in for the winter.• Four years later they are still in

the trenches. Trenching machine

Trench Warfare

Map of the Trenches

Faront line trenches

These were usually about seven feet deep and about six feet wide. The Allies were forced to dig their trenches in lower ground so they were often waterlogged. They had a zigzag pattern to prevent the enemy from shooting straight down the line. Sandbags were put on both sides of the top of the trench to absorb enemy bullets. Lines of barbed wire protected the frontline trench from any enemy attacks.

Photos from the Trenches

Gas Warfare

The gases used during WW1 may be classified as:

1. Lacrimators: (eye irritants and "tear gases") such as Benzylbromide.

2. Sternutators: (nasal irritants, "sneeze gases," "vomiting gases“ ), such as Diphenylchlorarsine. Sternutator gases were mixed with the other, more lethal, gases in order to interfere with the men

wearing their protective gas masks..

3. Lung irritants: (suffocants, respiratory irritants) Chlorine, Phosgene, carbon oxychloride, chlormethylchlorformate, bromacetone, chloropicrin.

4. Vesicants (skin irritants, escharotics) Dichlorethylsulphide, or Mustard Gas, chlorarsines and bromoarsines.

New Weapons

Daily Rations• 20 oz. Fresh or frozen meat, or 16

oz. preserved or salt meat • 20 oz. bread, or 16 oz. biscuit or

flour • 4 oz. Bacon, 3 oz. Cheese, 5/8 oz.

Tea, 4 oz. Jam, 3oz. Sugar, 1/2 oz. Salt, 1/36 oz. Pepper, 1/20 oz. mustard

• 8 oz. fresh or 2 oz. dried vegetables, 1/10 gal. lime juice (for scurvy)

• 1/2 gal rum (at discretion of commanding general)

• 20 oz. tobacco per week

• 26 1/2 oz. bread or 17 1/2 oz. field biscuit, or 14 oz. egg biscuit

• 13 oz. fresh or frozen meat, or 7 oz. preserved meat

• 53 oz. potatoes, or 4 1/2 oz. Vegetables

• 9/10 oz. coffee, or 1/10 oz. Tea• 7/10 oz. Sugar, 9/10 oz. salt • 2 cigars and 2 cigarettes, or 1 oz.

pipe tobacco, or 9/10 oz. plug tobacco, or 1/5 oz. Snuff

• .17 pint spirits or .44 pint wine or .88 pint beer

British German

Stalemate =*Total War

• Economic effects: – Raised taxes, borrowed money, rationed food and other

products, set prices and forbid strikes

• Propaganda– Controlling public opinion

• Women – “Home Front” took over the jobs vacated by the men on

the front.

Propaganda Posters from the United States

After 3 years, Morale Begins Collapsing….*Why?

• By 1917 troops are still in the same trenches as in 1914.

• The warring nations are on the verge of bankruptcy.

• Troops mutinied

• Food is scarce

• The generals have failed to

achieve the promised victories.

Sect. 4

Revolution in Russia

• 1918 Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• *Germany could concentrate on the Western Front.

• 1st revolution overthrew the Czar, on February 23 to 27, 1917

• 2nd revolution called the Bolshevik, or October, Revolution.Vladimir Ilyich

LENIN

*United States enters the war

• Cultural ties

• Unrestricted submarine attacks, costs US lives.

• Zimmerman note

On 7th May 1915 the Lusitania is hit by U-20

8 minutes later 1201 people sink with her

The Zimmerman Note"On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare

unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United States of America.

If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and it is understood that Mexico is to re-conquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement.

You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan.

Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months.

Zimmerman" (Sent January 19, 1917)

April 1917 The United States Declares War

• “To make the world safe for democracy”

• “The war to end all wars”

• Early in 1918

• 2,000,000 US troops shore up British and French lines.

In 1917 Wilson proclaimed American entrance into World War I, “a crusade to make the world safe for democracy."

Woodrow Wilson

“Over There”

Over There, Over ThereSend the word, Send the

word, Over ThereThat the Yanks are comingThe Yanks are comingThe drums rum-tuming

everywhere.So prepare, Say a prayerSend the word, Send the

word, To beware.We will be overWe're coming overAnd we won't come backTill it's overOver There Repeat

Johnnie get your gunGet your gun, get your gunTake it on the runOn the run, On the runHear them calling you and meEvery son of libertyHurry right awayDon't delay go todayMake your daddy gladTo have had such a ladTell your sweetheart not to pineTo be proud their boy's in line.

Johnnie, get your gun,Get your gun, get your

gun,Johnnie show the HunYour a son of a gun.Hoist the flag and let her

fly, Yankee Doodle do or die.

Pack your little kit, Show your grit, do your bit.

Yankee to the ranks, From the towns and the tanks.

Make your mother proud ofyou, And the old Red,

White and Blue.

Over There, Over ThereSend the word, Send the

word, Over ThereThat the Yanks are comingThe Yanks are comingThe drums rum-tuming

everywhere.So prepare, Say a prayerSend the word, Send the

word, To beware.We will be overWe're coming overAnd we won't come backTill it's overOver There Repeat

War Ends 1918•March Germany attacks

•July Allies counter attack driving Germans back across Belgium

•September German generals tell the Kaiser that the war can not be won.

•October German people revolt and form a new government.

•October The people of Austria-Hungary revolt, collapsing the empire.

• Armistice signed 11/11/18

Sec. 5

*Paris Peace Conference

Lloyd George of Britain, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France, and Woodrow Wilson of the U.S.

•U.S. Wanted self determination, League of Nations

•Britain, the people wanted harsh treatment for Germany

•French, wanted to weaken Germany so that it could not attack France again.

•Italy upset

*The Treaty of Versailles June 1919

• Reduce army to 100,000• Reduce navy to 6 warships and no subs.• Destroy all of it’s air force.• Give land to Belgium, France, Denmark and Poland• Hand over all it’s colonies.• Pay Reparations amounting to 6,600,000,000

Pounds.• Put no soldiers within 30 miles of the East bank of

the Rhine River.• Accept all the blame for the war.

Other countries were formed

• Serbia and Bosnia became Yugoslavia. • Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland

were formed from land lost by Russia. • Czechoslovakia and Hungary were formed out

of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

*Effects of WWI• Governmental Changes

– Socialistic ideas spread – Revolution, was in the air

• A harsh Peace – Humiliating treaty created feeling of revenge

• Economic Change – Devastated Europe financially and physically– Inflation knew no bounds– Boosted U.S. (The Roaring 20’s)

• Psychologically – Distrust of political leaders – The war killed 10 to 13 million people, 1/3 civilians – Grim acceptance of reality replaced the optimistic

dreams of the past

Two Revolutions in Russia

• 1st revolution overthrew the Czar, on February 23 to 27, 1917

– Brought on by food shortages, battlefield losses and social problems

• 2nd revolution called the Bolshevik, or October, Revolution.

– Radical Socialist group headed by Lenin

– True believer in Marx

– Set up a dictatorship of the proletariat

After the Bolshevik Revolution

Civil war raged in Russia for three years• Between the Communist Red Army and

the Whites, loyal to the czar• *Communist unleashed a reign of terror

– The Czar and family were shot– Secret police formed (Cheka)– War Communism = took over everything– Red Army became an effective force

From Lenin to Stalin

• Joseph Stalin set out to make the Soviet Union into a modern industrial state, bringing all economic and agricultural activity under government control.

• In 1934 Stalin launched a reign of terror (Great Purge), at least 4 million people were purged and almost 800,000 were executed.

• Lenin used the army and secret police to enforce his will.

• * Lenin’s government mixed capitalist and socialist ideas.

Life in a Totalitarian State• *Stalin established a totalitarian state

– Used secret police– Propaganda– Censorship– Terror

• *Powerful new elite– Communist party members– Industrial managers– Military leaders– Scientists– Some artists and writers.