3. WWI: THE GREAT WAR
• Engulfed the entire globe
• Harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles
• Unbalanced global economy
• Led to Great Depression
• Became a rallying point for NAZI brand of German nationalism
• Destroyed 3 Empires: Russia, Austro-Hungarian,
Ottoman
• 70 million men mobilized
4. Sorted by number Mobilized
Germany
Austria-Hungary 7,800,000 1,200,000 3,620,000 2,200,000
Turkey 2,850,000 325,000 400,000 250,000
Bulgaria 1,200,000 87,500 152,390 27,029
These figures from Everett, Susan, The Two World Wars, Vol I - World War I (1980
Bison Books)
7. COMPLEX CAUSES
• Combustible rivalry between Great Britain and Germany
• The King of England, the German Kaiser, the Russian Czarina were
cousins—the Grandchildren of Queen Victoria
• Rivalry over who controlled the seas, who controlled colonies
in Africa and the Middle East, whose industrial output was
greatest
• Rivalries
• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire (Central Powers) vs.
• Britain, France, Russia (Triple Entente) Italy (Allied Powers)
• Secret Alliances: agreed to go to war to defend satellite nations and
each other
8. THE JULY CRISIS
• Alliances
• Triple Entente (Allied Powers): Britain, France, and Russia
• Triple Alliance (Central Powers): Germany, Austria-Hungary, and
Italy
• Threats to peace
• Economic, military, and political advantage
• Scramble for colonies
• The arms race
10. THE JULY CRISIS
• The Balkans
• The Austro-Hungarians and the Ottomans: unsteady empires
• Nationalist movements and pan-Slavism
• Great powers tried to avoid direct intervention
• The First Balkan War (1912)
• Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro against the Ottomans
11. THE JULY CRISIS
• The Balkans
• The Second Balkan War (1913)
• Fought over the spoils of the 1912 war
• The Austro-Hungarian empire—the “dual monarchy”
• Ethnic conflict
• Austrians annexed Bosnia in 1878
• Bosnian Serbs hoped to secede and join the independent
kingdom of Serbia
12. THE JULY CRISIS
• Summer 1914
• June 28, 1914: Franz Ferdinand and his wife assassinated at
Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip
• July: Austria issued an ultimatum
• A punitive campaign to restore order in Bosnia and crush Serbia
• The demands were deliberately unreasonable
16. THE BLANQUE CHECK
July 5, 1915, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany pledges unconditional support for
Whatever action Austria-Hungary chooses to take against Serbia in the
Conflict between them over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
17. THE JULY CRISIS
• Summer 1914
• July: Austria issued an ultimatum
• A punitive campaign to restore order in Bosnia and crush Serbia
• The demands were deliberately unreasonable
18. THE JULY CRISIS
• Summer 1914
• The Serbs mobilized their army
• July 28, 1914: Austria declared war
• Austria saw the conflict as a chance to reassert its authority
• Russia saw the conflict as a way to regain the tsar’s authority
• July 30, 1914: Russia mobilized its troops to fight Austria and
Germany
19. THE JULY CRISIS
• Miscalculations
• Germany
• Detailed war plans Schlieffen Plan
• Designed to allow Germany to wage a successful 2 front war.
• Swift invasion of France and then invade Russia
• Kaiser Wilhelm II sent an ultimatum to Russia
• Germany demanded to know French intentions
• August 1, 1914: Germany declared war on Russia
• Schlieffen plan based on Germany attacking France first.
20. THE JULY CRISIS
• Diplomatic maneuvers
• August 3, 1914: Germany declared war on France
• August 4, 1914: Germany invaded Belgium
• The British response
• Secret pacts with France
• August 4: Britain reluctantly entered the war against Germany
21. THE JULY CRISIS
• August Miscalculations
• August 7, 1914: Montenegrins joined the Serbs against Austria
• July: the Japanese declared war on Germany
• August: Turkey allied itself with Germany
• A “tragedy of miscalculation”
• Little diplomatic communication
• Austrian mismanagement
• The lure of the first strike
22. THE MARNE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
• General observations
• War put centuries of progress at risk
• Bankers and financiers were most opposed to war—financial
chaos would result
• For the young there was the excitement of enlistment
• “Over by Christmas”
• A short, limited, and decisive war
23. THE MARNE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
• German war plans
• Designed to suit Germany’s efficient but small army
• Schlieffen Plan—Attack France first, neutralize the Western Front,
then attack Russia
24. THE MARNE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
• German war plans
• Problems
• The plan overestimated physical and logistical capabilities
• The speed of movement was too much for the troops
• The resistance of the Belgian army
• Frequent changes made to the plan
25. THE MARNE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
• The Battle of the Marne
• British and French counteroffensives
• German retreat
• The race to the sea
26. THE MARNE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
• The Battle of the Marne
• The Western Front
• The Great Powers dug in
• Trench warfare
• The importance of the Marne
• Changed Europe’s expectation of war
• The war would now be long, costly, and deadly
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32. STALEMATE, 1915
• The search for new partners
• Ottomans joined Germany and Austria in 1914
• Italy joined the Allies in May 1915
• Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in 1915
• Expanded the war geographically
33. STALEMATE, 1915
• Gallipoli and naval warfare
• Turkish intervention
• Threatened Russia’s supply lines
• Endangered British control of the Suez Canal
• Churchill argued for a naval offensive in the Dardanelles
34. STALEMATE, 1915
• Gallipoli and naval warfare
• Gallipoli landing (April 25, 1915)
• Incompetent naval leadership
• Fought for seven months and then the British withdrew
• Major Allied defeat
35.
36.
37.
38. STALEMATE, 1915
• A war of attrition
• The nature of modern war
• The total mobilization of resources
• The Allies imposed a naval blockade on Germany
• Germany responded with submarine warfare
• Germans sank the Lusitania (May 7, 1915)
• Almost twelve hundred killed
• Provoked the animosity of the United States
40. STALEMATE, 1915
• Trench warfare
• Life in the trenches—the “lousy scratch holes”
• Twenty-five thousand miles of trenches along the Western Front
• Attack, support, and reserve trenches
41. STALEMATE, 1915
• Trench warfare
• New weapons
• Artillery, machine guns, and barbed wire
• Exploding bullets and liquid fire
• Poison gas
• Physically devastating and psychologically disturbing
42. SLAUGHTER IN THE TRENCHES:
THE GREAT BATTLES, 1916–1917
• General observations
• Bloodiest battles occurred during 1916–1917
• Hundreds of thousands of casualties with little territorial gain
• Military planners refused to alter traditional offensive strategies
• Little protection against new weapons
• Firepower outpaced mobility
43. SLAUGHTER IN THE TRENCHES:
THE GREAT BATTLES, 1916–1917
• Verdun (February 1916)
• Little strategic importance
• Verdun as symbol of French strength
• Germany’s goal was to break French morale
• By June, four hundred thousand French and German soldiers
were killed
• The advantage fell to the French, but there was no clear victor
45. SLAUGHTER IN THE TRENCHES:
THE GREAT BATTLES, 1916–1917
• The Somme (June–November 1916)
• Britain on the offensive
• The idea was to destroy the German trenches
• German trenches withstood the attack
• Brutal fighting
• Hand-to-hand combat
• Neither side won—“the war had won”
46. SLAUGHTER IN THE TRENCHES:
THE GREAT BATTLES, 1916–1917
• Other battles
• Nivelle Offensive (April–May 1917)
• Third Battle of Ypres (July–October 1917)
• Five hundred thousand casualties
• Introduction of tanks had little effect
• Airplanes used for reconnaissance only
• Further stalemate on the Eastern Front
• The war at sea was indecisive
47. WAR OF EMPIRES
• Europe’s colonies provided soldiers and material support
• Britain and France
• One-and-a-half million Indian troops served as British forces
(Western Front and Middle East)
• French empire (North and West Africa) sent 607,000 to fight with
the Allies
48. WAR OF EMPIRES
• Britain and France
• Colonies as theaters for armed engagement
• Allies pushed the Turks out of Egypt in 1916
• Lawrence of Arabia
• British encourage Arab nationalism
• Balfour Declaration and European Zionism
• War drew Europe into the Middle East
49. THE HOME FRONT
• The costs of war: money and manpower
• Mobilizing the home front
• Single goal of military victory
• Civilians were essential to the war economy
• Produced munitions
• Purchased war bonds
• Tax hikes, inflation, and material privation (rationing)
50. THE HOME FRONT
• Shift from industrial to munitions production
• Increased state control of production and distribution
• Germany and the Hindenburg Plan
51. THE HOME FRONT
• Women in the war
• Women as symbols of change
• Massive numbers entered the munitions industry
• Women entered clerical and service sectors
• New opportunities
• Breaking down restrictions
• The “new woman”
• Symbol of freedom and a disconcerting cultural transformation
53. THE HOME FRONT
• Women in the war
• Long-term changes
• Women sent home after the war
• Governments pass “natalist” policies
• Encouraging women to marry and raise children
• Birth control
• Universal suffrage: Britain (1918), United States (1919), France (1945)
54. THE HOME FRONT
• Mobilizing resources
• Mobilizing men and money
• Conscription
• Before 1914, military service seen as a duty, not an option
• France called up 8 million men (two-thirds of the population of men
age eighteen to forty)
• British introduced conscription in 1916
55.
56. THE HOME FRONT
• Mobilizing resources
• Propaganda
• Important in recruitment
• Films, posters, postcards, newspapers
• The absolute necessity of total victory
• Financing the war
• Military spending rose to half a nation’s budget
• Allies borrowed from Britain, who borrowed from the United States
• Germany printed its own money
57.
58. THE HOME FRONT
• The strains of war, 1917
• Declining morale of the troops
• Troops saw their commanders’ strategies as futile
• Rise in number of mutinies
• On the home front
• Shortages of basic supplies (clothing, food, and fuel)
• Price of bread and potatoes soared
59. THE HOME FRONT
• The strains of war, 1917
• From restraint to direct control
• Governments issued ration cards
• Government regulation of working hours and wages
• Political dissent, violence, and large-scale riots
• Governments pushed to their limits
Editor's Notes
The July Crisis
It can be argued that the twentieth century began with the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. The ostensible cause of the Great War was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo on June 28. However, there were other, more subtle, reasons behind the outbreak of the war. The Bismarckian system of secret alliances had broken down. The Second Industrial Revolution created the chemical and electrical industries; it also introduced changes in management that dramatically increased the speed of production. The end of the nineteenth century was also the period of new imperialism in which the great powers of Europe and the United States made a desperate bid to colonize new territories in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. An arms race developed as well. On the cultural front, the grand system of values referred to as Victorianism had finally succumbed under its own weight. Something had to give; in some sense, Europeans welcomed the war when it finally broke out in August 1914. It was to be a glorious war and over by Christmas. However, it was not.
War of Empires
When the Great War broke out, the foremost nations of Europe were perhaps at the height of their power. At the center of the world economy and managing vast overseas interests and colonies, the great powers of Europe believed they were the harbinger of peace, prosperity, and the progress of human civilization. But progress proved difficult to defend in the wake of a war that killed more than 9 million people, decimated the French countryside, shackled Germany with war guilt, and sewed the seeds for the authoritarian regimes in the period between the First and Second World Wars. The Great War was a different kind of war. It was an “industrial war,” waged by generals, businessmen, and men in black suits who stood in their nation’s capitals, comfortable with the knowledge that they were “directing” the war. The reality of the war—hundreds of miles of mud-filled trenches, poor food, weapons that would not fire, machine guns, and poison gas—was quite different. And while the foot soldier in Verdun, Ypres, or the Marne carried sixty pounds on his back and huddled in his trench, the big guns continued to pound Europe.