The Road to WarWorld War I

The Russian RevolutionTreaty of Versailles

Chapter 24 Notes

MilitarismSize of European militaries double between 1890

& 1914Alliances

Austria, Germany, & Italy form the Triple Alliance in 1882

England, France, & Russia form the Triple Entente in 1907

ImperialismRace for remaining territory after 1880 created

tensionNationalism

Decline of Ottoman Empire led to BalkanizationSerbs (Slavs) desire an independent SerbiaRussia supports idea of Serbia; Austria-Hungary

rejects it

MAIN causes of World War I

Triple Alliance & Triple Entente

Triple Alliance in red; Triple Entente in gray

Serbia

Alliances – A Tangled Web

An Inevitable War?“The entire able-bodied population is preparing to massacre one another; though no one, it is true, wants to attack, and everybody protests his love of peace and determination to maintain it, yet the whole world feels that it only requires some unforeseen incident, some unpreventable accident, for the spark to fall in a flash…and blow Europe sky-high.”

Frederic Passy, 1895

“…some unforeseen incident…”

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 The assassin was a Serbian nationalist in a group called

Young Bosnia

The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was only 20 years old

Austria-Hungary issued a list of ten demands to Serbia called the July UltimatumSerbia accepted 9 of the 10 demands

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914Russia immediately mobilized its army

“The Guns of August”Germany declared war on Russia on August 1,

1914Germany declared war on France on August 3,

1914Great Britain declared war on Germany on

August 4, 1914

“…the spark to fall… and blow Europe sky high”

Europe at the start of World War I

The Plan: Germany Wins

The Schlieffen PlanThe Reality: A Stalemate

European Theater

Trench WarfareThe war quickly turned to stalemate as

neither the Germans nor the French dislodge the other from the trenches they had begun to dig for shelter.

Two lines of trenches soon extended from the English Channel to the frontiers of Switzerland.

The Western Front had been bogged down in a trench warfare that kept both sides immobilized in virtually the same position for four years.

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare

“No Man’s Land”

"No Man's Land is pocketmarked like the body of foulest disease and its odor is the breath of cancer...No Man's Land under snow is like the face of the moon, chaotic, crater-ridden, uninhabitable, awful, the abode of madness.

Wilfred Owen

The Result

Northern France by 1917

The Great War was a “global” war

Colonial Soldiers

Clockwise from top left: Sikh soldiers in India, Chinese troops in Greece, African soldiers in German East Africa, a Bermuda militia in London

Global Recruiting Posters

Ottoman Empire joins Central Powers Attempt to regain territory in

Balkan peninsulaArab Revolt of 1916

Arabs want independence from the Ottoman Empire

British promise military aid Revolt was unsuccessful due to

the lack of military supportArabs gain their

“independence” after World War I

The Middle East

T.E. Lawrence, leader of the Arab revolt

Armenian Genocide

China was divided into spheres of influence prior to World War I

Japan entered the war as an Allied PowerSeized German colonies in the Pacific & China

Japan issued the Twenty-One Demands to China in 1915Hoped to turn China into a protectorate of

JapanChinese government did not accept or reject

the demandsLed to collapse of China’s military government

East Asia

IndiaMost involved tropical dependencyGandhi and other leaders supported the

warHoped to achieve self-governmentBritish promised to move towards self-

government after the warProvided loans & materials to aid the British

war effort1.3 million Indians served as soldiers and

laborersOver 100,000 casualties

“The moment Britain gets into trouble elsewhere, India, in her present temper, would burst into a blaze of rebellion.” 

William Archer

New technology changes nature of warfareOver 8 million soldiers killed; over 19 million

woundedOver 8 million civilians were also killed

World War I was a high-tech war

World War I biplane

Machine gunners w/ gas masksBritish Tank

German U-boat

Definition of Total WarConflict in which the participating countries

devote all of their resources to the war effortAspects of Total War

Mandatory military conscription (a.k.a. the draft)

Control of the economy & nationalization of industry

Rationing of food and other essentialsThe Home Front

Women, children, ethnic minorities, etc. are considered a vital part of the war effort

Propaganda

World War I was a Total War

The Home FrontWomen in the Great War

Worked in jobs traditionally held only by men, who were at war (ex: Factory workers, nurses, farmers)

Strengthens suffrage movements

Discovered the benefits of financial freedom (some refused to return to domestic service after the war)

The Home FrontRationingFood ShortagesDiets Change

Left: German bread ration cardAbove: U.S. Food Administration propaganda posters

African-Americans in World War I

380,000 African-Americans served in the army200,000 were sent to Europe; only 42,000 saw

combat

War Propaganda

War Propaganda

Weird War Propaganda

U.S. Enters the Great WarGermans sink the British

passenger ship, the Lusitania, on May 7, 1915 – killing 100 Americans

Zimmerman Telegram in Feb 1917 A secret message sent

between German diplomats suggesting that Mexico might want to join forces with Germany and thereby regain the territory it had lost to the US in the Mexican-American War of 1846. It was intercepted by the U.S.

President Wilson and the U.S. declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917

One of the most devastating outbreaks of disease in modern times

Mass movement during World War I spread the flu around the worldSpread to the trenches of the Great War

“Spanish” flu kills 30 million people worldwideKills 550,000 in the United StatesKills 12.5 million in India and China

1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic

End of the Great WarRussia withdraws in Feb.

1918Russian RevolutionTreaty of Brest-Litvosk

War of AttritionAlmost no fighting occurs

in GermanyGermany surrenders at

11:00 on November 11, 1918

Treaty of Versailles conference starts January 1919

Military Casualties in World War IGermany 1,935,000

Russia 1,700,000

France 1,368,000

Austria-Hungary 1,200,000

British Empire 942,135

Ottoman Empire 725,000

Italy 680,000

Romania 300,000

United States 116,516

Bulgaria 87,495

Belgium 45,550

Serbia 45,000

Greece 23,098

Portugal 8,145

Montenegro 3,000

Japan 1,344

Causes of the RevolutionIndustrialization of Russia

Used foreign investment to build factoriesPoor working conditions led to urban unrest

Russo-Japanese WarRussia was embarrassed by loss to Japan

Revolution of 1905—”Bloody Sunday”Russian soldiers fire on unarmed protesters

500-1000 people were killedLed to creation of the Duma

Resistance MovementsWorkers begin to

support the revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx

Believed industrial workers would overthrow the czar

Bolshevik party formed in 1903Led by Vladimir

Lenin (right)

Causes of the RevolutionWorld War I

Russia was consistently defeated by Germany4 million casualties in the first year

Demonstrates weakness of czarist ruleCzar’s wife Alexandria runs the government

while husband leads the war effortRasputin undermines her authority

Defeats destroyed the moral of Russia troopsSoldiers mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders

February RevolutionWomen in St. Petersburg led citywide strike

March 1917200,000 workers joined the strikeSoldiers sent to stop the strike joined the

strikersLed to general uprising in Russia

Czar was forced to abdicate his throneProvisional government established

Led by Alexander Kerensky

Bolshevik RevolutionLenin and the Bolsheviks seize power in

October 1917Motto was “Peace, Land, Bread”

Immediate ReformsOrdered all farmland be distributed to peasantsControl of factories given to workersWithdrew from World War I

Treaty of Brest-LitovskRussian Civil War

Reforms of Vladimir LeninNew Economic

PolicyCreates limited

capitalists reforms in order to promote agricultural and industrial development

Dies in 1924Battle for

succession between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin

Reforms of Joseph StalinGoal was to create

communist state envisioned by Bolsheviks

CollectivizationEliminate private farms in

favor of collective farmsKills millions of peasantsSecures Soviet control of

countryside

Five-Year PlansFirst Five-Year Plan (1928) focuses on iron,

steel, machine tools, and electricityCalled for 1115% increase in coal production,

200% increase in iron, and 335% in electric power

Posted worker production in factoriesWorkers who failed to meet production quotas

were shot or imprisoned in the Gulag

Great Purge (1936-1939)Attempt by Stalin to eliminate political

oppositionLeading members of the Bolshevik party were

executed or sent to labor campsStalin purged prominent military officials

50% of a military officers were purgedHistorians estimate 10 to 20 million people

died during the Great Purge

Difficult Peace Process Wilson’s Fourteen Points.

Reduction of weapons.People’s right to choose their own government.Organization of world nations to protect against

aggression. Allied Goals.

The four major countries all had different ideas for a peace treaty.

France and Great Britain wanted to punish Germany. However, Great Britain did not want to weaken Germany.

Italian leaders hoped to gain land.Disappointed that they were mostly ignored by the

other leaders.

Versailles Peace ConferenceCouncil of Four

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau

Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando

American President Woodrow Wilson

Not in AttendanceRussia and GermanyLeft to Right: David Lloyd

George, Georges Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson

Major Provisions of the TreatyItaly and Britain

wanted territoryFrance wanted to

punish GermanyItaly and United

States left, leaving peace settlement to France and Britain

France and Britain created a severe treaty that punished Germany

Germany had to:Return land to

FranceKeep area near

France, called Rhineland, demilitarized (no military)

Pay 32 billion dollars

Agree to they were guilty for the war

Europe after World War I New Countries

PolandFinlandEstoniaLatviaLithuaniaCzechoslovakiaAustriaHungaryTurkeyYugoslavia

The Aftermath

League of Nations.Organization of world governments proposed by Wilson.Established by the Treaty of Versailles.Main goal was to encourage cooperation and keep peace.Germany was excluded.United States did not join.

Ultimately weakened the League of Nations. Changes in Europe.

Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire lands were broken up.

Independent nations were created. Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Turkey.

Other treaties signed with the defeated Central Powers.

Unrest in the Colonies Many colonists who fought in the war heard

the words of the Allies leaders about the importance of freedom and democracy.

After fighting for colonial rulers they expected rights for themselves.

Wartime sacrifices did not win new freedoms. European powers split up lands controlled by

Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Ottomans.Redistributed them to other colonial powers.