Week Two Slides

1. Things Fall Apart and then Turn to Mud
Men of 4th/Royal Fusiliers, 9th Brigade, resting before
the Battle of Mons, 22 August 1914

2. Tense atmosphere of militarism, racism, competition of
markets. War diversion to internal issues?
British Empire: Protect interests, including Mediterranean.
Internal issues of suffragettes, Irish, working-class.
Russia Empire: Pan-slavism, rapid industrialization, revolution.
Defeat in Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 sparked Revolution of 1905,
Nicholas II (r. 1894-1917) hostile to Duma creation.
Austro-Hungarian Empire: Ethnic unrest. Emperor Francis Joseph
(r. 1848-1916); Dual Monarchy (1867). 7 million Southern Slavs in Austria.
German Empire: Kaiser William II (r. 1888-1918) Imperialist policy,
Naval Race, especially with Britain.
All but British Empire will collapse; Britain lost colonial holdings.

3. The French: Anti-German sentiments and
domestic instability. Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de
Neuville (1887) Painting depicting French students
being taught about the lost provinces of Alsace-
Lorraine, taken by Germany in 1871.

4. The family tree of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
German 1st language, family German. Husband Albrecht von Sachsen-Coburg
und Gotha. King George V changed name during WWI to “House of Windsor.”
King George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Empress Alexandra all first cousins via
Queen Victoria.
George V (right) with first cousin Nicholas II,
Berlin, 1913.
Nicholas II (right) and Wilhelm II (1905). Nicholas in a
German Army uniform, Wilhelm in a Russian Army tunic

5. Photograph taken at the funeral of King Edward VII in 1910: seated, left to
right, kings Alfonso XIII of Spain, George V of the United Kingdom & Frederick
VIII of Denmark; standing, left to right: kings Haakon VII of Norway,
Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Manuel II of Portugal, George I of Greece and Albert I
of Belgium. Kaiser Wilhelm is seen at center, standing behind King George V.
Men in uniform!

6. The Unsinkable Titanic (1912)
Symbol of European and British over confidence.
Naval power, technology, and class distinctions.
Its sinking seen as passing of an era.
Departing Southampton
on April 10, 1912

7. The Balkans, 1908–1914
On eve of
The Great War
Balkans as hot spot.
Dismemberment of the
“sick man”
1875 Slavs revolt
against Turks in Bosnia;
1876 Bulgaria created;
Russo-Turkish War
of 1877-78.
Serbs want more.

8. The “Trigger Event”: June 28,1914:
Archduke Francis Ferdinand assassinated in
Sarajevo by Black Hand Serbian nationalist
Why did an incident in the Balkans lead to international war?
Should have been localized
Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife
Sophie on June 28 1914. They were assassinated five
minutes later.

9. Europe at the Outbreak of World War I
(August 1914)
Alliances:
Turn local war
into European war
Domino effect
of alliances from
July 24-25 through
August 4. Bring in
European powers.

10. Historiography and Origins of WWI
• Initially question of “responsibility” dominated discussion,
also question of how great a divide or gap between pre and
post war Europe--Change or Continuity!
• Adam R. Seipp cautions against presentism, also Heather
Jones does too! Beware of pitfalls of politicalization of
history.

11. Initially after WWI (1920s and 1930s)
Question of blame or responsibility addressed:
• German Empire: Article 231 of Versailles Treaty of June
1919: “Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and
her allies for causing all the loss and damage to the Allied
governments and their nationals imposed on them by the
aggression of Germany and her allies.”
• “War Guilt” assigned to Germany, strong sense of revenge,
Kaiser William II targeted as individual responsible for
war. In France, enormous 11 volume work, published
between 1922 to 1938 (Les Armees Francaises dans la
Grande Guerre) blamed Germany.
• Bitterness reflected in writings.
Demand for reparations for the destruction of French
villages, such as Avocourt (1918)

12. Who to Blame? (1920s and 1930s)
• “Old” diplomacy to blame? Secret war aims and
secret alliances? Wilson’s stress on LON 14
points: “Open covenants of peace openly arrived
at . . . diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and
in the public view.”
• Political elites to blame—internationalism
became big movement. Germany not solely to
blame, all shared degree of responsibility.
• Stress on political actors and political history
(Generals and Diplomats)
Semi-official flag of the League of Nations,1939 to1941

13. WWII and the roots of Nazism
• Rise of Nazism and WWII linked to Prussian
militarism and nationalism, connect WWI to
WWII.
• Post-WWII: Germans still blamed. Fritz
Fischer’s Griff nach der Weltmacht, translated
as Germany’s Aims in the First World War
(1961): “the Fischer thesis”
• But was Germany that different?
Kaiser Wilhelm II

14. Cold War: Generational Revolt
• Nuclear age and fear of global atomic devastation
• WWI as something out of control; contingency
stressed. Vietnam War raised issues of economic
interests, political elites, pressure groups
• Rise of social history challenged political history.
Soldiers and home front.

15. Paul Fussell (1924-2012), The Great War and
Modern Memory (1975)
Dedication:
“To the Memory of Technical Sergeant Edward Keith Hudson,
ASN36548772
Co. F, 410th Infantry
Killed beside me in France
March 15, 1945
Literary analysis and memory
Forerunner of cultural history

16. After September 11, 2001
“Ironically, this is a return to what may be the simplest
and most transparent of explanations: a terrorist attack
carried out by a small cohort of true believers, possibly
with the support of a state actor, followed by a series
of conscious decisions by small groups of elites to use
the opportunity to resolve existing geopolitical
tensions.” (Seipp,758).
Going to war a decision made. Who makes it and why is
key.

17. 5 Key Questions Posed
• Heather Jones, “As the Centenary Approaches: The
Regeneration of First World War Historiography” in The
Historical Journal, Vol 56 (2013)
• Why did war break out?
• Why did the allies win?
• Were the generals to blame for the high casualty
rates (especially Haig!)?
• How did men endure trench warfare?
• To what extent did civilian society accept and endorse
the war effort?
The rehabilitation of
Field Marshal Douglas Haig?
The “learning curve”
of the Battle of the Somme?

18. Why did war break out?
• Causes of World War I: James Joll in The Origins of
the First World War stated that the “immediate
origins of the war are better documented than
almost any other question in recent history.” (p1)
• Any yet, no consensus over why it broke out
• Recent historiography: Renewed emphasis on July
Crisis (short-term decision making) and “de-bunking”
of the inevitability of war
• Renewed emphasis on the political (collapse of USSR)
and more conservative views

19. What state most responsible? Why?
• Serbia? (corner 1)
• Germany? (corner 2)
• Austro-Hungary? (corner 3)
• Russia? (corner 4)
What do readings argue? Do you agree or
disagree and why?

20. Not a “who done it?”
• Christopher Clark, The sleepwalkers: how Europe went to war in 1914 (2012) (but
Balkan and Serbian focus)

21. Was war avoidable? Why or why not?
• Corner 1: Yes
• Corner 2: No
• What does Jones argue?

22. Why July 1914?
What makes summer of 1914 so special?
1. Political and military elites?
2. Imperialism?
3. Everybody's fault?
4. Something else? What?
Defend your position!

23. It’s the elites! It's the system!
• David Stevenson, Cataclysm. The First World War as Political
Tragedy (2004): “political and military elites seized upon a European
political crisis to pursue geopolitical aggrandizement, even if that
meant making or prolonging a war that those same decision-makers
were unable to prosecute to a successful conclusion.” (Seipp, 759)
• John Morrow, The Great War. An Imperial History (2004): “Fault for
the conflict . . . rests with the system of imperialism in which all of
the combatant states were immersed in the pre-war years.”(Seipp,
760) Morrow: “There were no innocents in power in Europe, only
civilian and military leaders culpable and complicitous in causing
the war. Prior to August 1914, Europeans had presumed to control
the world; they were now to learn that they could not control
themselves.” (Seipp, 760).

24. Why war in August 1914?
• Role of contingency in history (ifs abound) and also
significance of personalities. Context of MAIN made
war likely but not inevitable, decisions to go to war
made by political and military leaders who deemed it
acceptable, even desirable. “Culture of war”made
going to war look viable. Political leaders set terms and
made decision to mobilize.
• In July 1914, Williamson & Van Wyk: “ Individuals, not
monolithic governments and impersonal forces . . .
contributed to the rapidly escalating crisis.” (vii)

25. Karl Marx on this . . .
“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they
please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances,
but under circumstances existing already, given and
transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead
generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the
living. And just as they seem to be occupied with
revolutionizing themselves and things, creating something
that did not exist before, precisely in such epochs of
revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the
past to their service, borrowing from them names, battle
slogans, and costumes in order to present this new scene in
world history in time-honored disguise and borrowed
language.” The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Karl Marx 1852

26. Self-Mobilization of Public?
• Traditional view: Domestic consensus; public mobilized
and enthusiastic.
• Seipp: “The events of 1914-1918, across the global
stage, were not a series of errors and mishaps. They
were the outcomes, however unintended, of deliberate
policies followed by military and civilian planners and
generally backed by strong grassroots enthusiasm
among combatant populations.” (Seipp,
765). Populations felt betrayed, conned after the war
by the elites but behind war when it was going on.
• Jones on this?

27. The Beginning of War: The “spirit of 1914”
• Creation of idealized, patriotic soldier and public
managed for political, national purposes?
• Anti-war demonstrations and actions in
east. Countryside and imperial dominions less
enthusiastic.
• Who was cheering and who was crying and why?
• Russia and mobilization?
Berlin students off to enlist
Trafalgar Square rejoice at Britain’s
declaration of war

28. Public enthusiasm for war more myth than reality?
New York City’s anti-war protest organized by
women, on August 29, 1914.

29. War as Opportunity to Create New Man?
Mosse: “Manliness meant patriotism, physical prowess, courage, and energy
as in most youth movements, but in England fair play and chivalry were
emphasized as well. The playing fields were supposed to inculcate masculine
virtues.” (p. 60) Mosse: “Wars were youth movements, not behind the front,
at headquarters, but at the front . . .” (pp 63-4)
"Pal's Battalions:"
The 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers,
the 'Stockbrokers' Battalion'

30. War as Sport