notes 4: world war i u.s. history - unit 1-6: imperialism and wwi january 26-28, 2010
TRANSCRIPT
Notes 4: World War I
U.S. History - Unit 1-6: Imperialism and WWI
January 26-28, 2010
Nationalism
• A devotion to the interests and culture of one’s nation
• This concept grew in the 1800’s
• Caused rivalries among countries
• Caused countries like Russia to feel a link to other countries with their Slavic culture like Serbia
Imperialism
• Dominating another country or culture, usually for economic or military gain
• Through the colony building practices of imperialism, the world was more connected as England was no longer a single country but the British Empire
• Caused rivalries among countries
• Caused many countries to increase the size of their navy
Militarism
• The development of armed forces and their use as a tool of diplomacy.
• Caused by the increase in imperialism and nationalism.
• By 1890, Germany had the strongest army in Europe and England had the strongest navy.
Alliances
• By 1907, there were two major defense systems in Europe:
• The Triple Entente (the Allied Powers)– France, Britain, and Russia
• The Triple Alliance (the Central Powers)– Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy– (Italy left this group in 1915 and the
Ottoman Turks joined in late 1914)
European Alliances Before the War
Unstable Europe
• All of these causes worked together to make Europe an unstable entity at the beginning of the 1900’s. Their instability alone did not cause a war though, there was a spark that started it all:
The Spark that Started the War
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, named Gavrilo Principe, in June 1914
Then the Dominoes FallThen:
• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia• Russia felt that is
should support its Slavic brother (Serbia)
• Germany supported Austria-Hungary by
declaring war on Russia and then France
• Germany invaded Belgium and Great
Britain declared war on Germany
World War I - Schlieffen Plan
• Germany began the war with the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called for a holding status on Russia and a quick invasion of France through Belgium. Germany figured that they could quickly capture Paris and then turn their attentions to Russia. The invasion of Belgium came on August 3, 1914.
World War I - Schlieffen Plan
World War I - Trenches
• By September 1914, both sides could not advance anymore and dug-in to maintain their ground through a series of deep trenches. In between the Allied and Central trenches was a barren “no man’s land” where those who charged enemy lines would be killed by machine gun fire from the enemy trenches.
World War I - Trenches
• This trench warfare led to a massive scale of slaughter in World War I. At the First Battle of the Somme, which began July 1, 1916 and lasted until mid-November, 60,000 British casualties were amassed the first day alone. By the end of the battle, final casualties reached 1.2 million with only 7 miles of ground changing hands.
Trenches
World War I - Trenches
• Not only were the trenches the cause of mass destruction on the battlefield, but they were also havens for disease. Rats and lice were infected with disease, which spread quickly to the men. Trench foot was a rotting disease that happened when the soldiers’ feet were wet for days on end from the mud in the bottom of the trenches.
World War I - Trenches
• This harsh warfare and the terrible living conditions that accompanied it led many soldiers to mutiny or mental illness. Commanding officers often held their troops at gunpoint and forced them to leave the trenches and attempt an attack on the enemy across no man’s land.
BBC Trench Panorama
• Frontline Trench Panorama
New Weapons of WWI - U-Boat
• The U-Boat (or unterseeboot in German) was the German submarine used in WWI.
• They were very effective at blockading England for a time and destroyed both English Navy and merchant vessels.
New Weapons of WWI - Fighter Planes and Zeppelins
• The new technology of the airplane saw its first use in battle during WWI.
• Originally used as fighters, by the end of the war they were also used as bombers and reconnaissance.
• The Zeppelin blimps were also used as spy ships and bombers during the war.
New Weapons of WWI - Fighter Planes
The Red Baron’s Fokker Tri Plane
New Weapons of WWI - The Zeppelin
The Zeppelin did not prove to be the “Flying Fortress” that the Germans hoped for, but
they still dropped many destructive bombs on England during the War.
•Dogfight Panorama
New Weapons of WWI - Tank
• The tank was invented to roll across no man’s land and over enemy trenches.
• The British Mark I was the first successful tank used on the battlefield.
• The Americans also developed a smaller, two man tank, the FT-17
New Weapons of WWI - Poison Gas
• Chlorine gas was first used by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres in April of 1915.
• Phosgene gas which was more deadly was also used after this.
• Mustard gas which caused blindness and often death from pneumonia was invented and used in the last years of the war.
New Weapons of WWI - Poison Gas
• British tear gas casualties
• British troops in gas masks at Ypres 1917
• German soldier and horse in gas masks
Poison Gas Casualties of WWI
Nation Gas casualties (estimated)
Fatal Non-fatal
Russia 50,000 400,000
Germany 10,000 190,000
France 8,000 182,000
Britain 8,000 181,000
Austria-Hungary 3,000 97,000
USA 1,500 71,500
Italy 4,500 55,000
Total 85,000 (3% of combat deaths)
1,176,500
USA and WWI
• Americans were torn about the war. Some recent immigrants sympathized with their homeland, and many Americans sympathized with England. Other Americans were reluctant to enter a war that they saw as Europe’s problem.
USA and WWI
• America as a country was very closely connected with the Allies economically – this increased once the war started and the Allies ordered more dynamite, cannon powder, armored cars, and other war supplies.
USA and WWI
• Once England blockaded the German ports to prevent Germany from receiving any outside supplies, Germany decided to blockade England. Germany patrolled the waters around England with their U-Boats and would sink any British or Allied boat found in that water. This struck close to home as American passengers began to die in these attacks.
USA and WWI - The Lusitania
• On May 7, 1915, a German U-Boat sunk the British liner Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland. 128 of the over 1,000 lost were American. This attack turned American opinion against the Germans. U-Boat attacks against ships increased, as did American deaths.
USA and WWI
• President Wilson tried to make peace with Germany instead of joining the war. This did not work as Germany declared in January of 1917 that ALL ships in the waters around England would be sunk (meaning that they would now target American merchant ships).
USA and WWI - Zimmerman Telegram
• Wilson still tried to keep the U.S. out of the war until the British intercepted a telegram sent to the German ambassador in Mexico. It was to be presented to the Mexican government by the Germans in an attempt to get Mexico to join the war on the side of the Central Powers.
USA and WWI - Zimmerman Telegram
• This telegram, named the Zimmerman telegram, promised that if Mexico allied with Germany and they won the war, Germany would support Mexico in recovering “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.”
USA and WWI - The Final Straw
• After news of the telegram reached Washington, four unarmed U.S. merchant ships were sunk with a loss of 36 lives. The last straw was that in the middle of the war, a revolution happened in Russia that overthrew the monarchy and, at the time, replaced it with a representative government (later in 1917, Russia would drop out of WWI entirely as it was in the middle of its own civil war). Now America could assert that this was a fight for democracy. On April 2, 1917 President Wilson called for war.
America Prepares for War
• America was not prepared for the war with only 200,000 troops in active service. To deal with this problem, a Selective Service Act was passed to begin a draft.
America Prepares for War
• African-Americans were allowed to enlist and fight in segregated units.
America Prepares for War
• Women were not allowed to enlist, but did fill non-combat positions such as nurses, secretaries, and telephone operators.
America Prepares for War
• The U.S. also began to mass-produce ships and exempted shipyard workers from the draft. Propaganda campaigns either convinced men to join the army or work in factories to produce ships or war material. The government also turned private and commercial boats into war boats.
Propaganda Posters• America has always
used propaganda in wartime, but it was widespread during WWI.
• Posters were used to get people to enlist, save food, volunteer, and buy war bonds.
• This now famous Uncle Sam poster was used in WWI for the first time
Propaganda Posters
Germany’s Last Stand
• The Germans knew that they would have a problem if fresh American troops came to relieve the exhausted Allied troops on the Western front. The Germans tried to make a last push against the Allied line before too many American troops could arrive. This last attempt was not enough.
The Central Powers Fall
• On November 3, 1918, Austria-Hungary surrendered. On November 9, 1918, socialist leaders took over the German capital and established a German republic; the Kaiser gave up the throne. Finally, Germany agreed to sign an armistice (truce). On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month of 1918, World War I was over.
BBC Animated Map of WWI Battles
•Map of the Western Front
The First World War
• World War I was the first war to bring so many different countries into a conflict – hence the name of “World War”. Imperialism and the colony system caused countries like Canada, Australia, and India to join the war to support their mother country of England.
The First World War
• Other countries that wanted to demonstrate their new role in the world, such as Japan, also joined on the side of the allies. By the end of the war, over 30 countries joined the Allied cause with at least a dozen of them contributing troops or personnel.
WORLD War One
Allies: Green Central Powers: Gold Neutral: Grey
The War to End All Wars
• World War I was the bloodiest war in history to that time. 22 million were dead – more than half of them civilians. 20 million people were wounded and 10 million became refugees. The U.S.A. lost 48,000 men in battle with another 62,000 dying of disease. More than 200,000 Americans were wounded.
Major Players of WWI
Primary Allied Powers• Great Britain• France• Italy (after 1915)• Russia (until 1917)• United States (after
1917)
Primary Central Powers• Germany• Austria Hungary• Ottoman Turks• Bulgaria
The Aftermath of WWI• After Germany signed an armistice in 1918,
negotiations began:
• The peace treaty was dictated by the leaders of the four remaining Allied Powers – Great Britain, France, Italy, and America. Russia was not allowed to enter into the treaty because they had dropped out of the war (and because they were communist). This was one of the first major occasions where only the victors sat at the negotiation table.
Wilson’s 14 Points
• President Wilson of the United States came up with a set of ideas known as the 14 points.
1.No secret treaties between nations2.Freedom of the seas for all3.Lower or abolish tariffs between nations for
free trade4.Reduce arms stockpiles5.Colonial policies should take the interest of
the colonial people into consideration as well as the imperialist powers
Wilson’s 14 Points cont.
Points 6-13 dealt with establishing boundaries in Europe along ethnic identities when larger nations were broken up.
14. Establish a League of Nations to provide a forum for nations to discuss and settle their grievances before turning to war
Problem!
All the European leaders rejected Wilson’s 14 points. They wanted to make Germany pay and Wilson was left fighting for only
the League of Nations.
Treaty of Versailles
• The final treaty established new nations out of the boundaries of old nations, especially Austria-Hungary.
• Germany could not maintain an army.
• Germany also had to return land to France.
• Germany had to pay $33 billion to the Allies in war reparations
Treaty of Versailles
• Germany had to follow the war-guilt clause in which Germany had to take full responsibility for the war.
• Germany was stripped of colonial possessions.
• A League of Nations was formed.
Results of the Treaty of Versailles
• The U.S. never joined the League of Nations and the League could not deliver the peace that Wilson hoped for. The demands placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles were too great. They were humiliated and forced to pay more money than they could possibly come up with. The economic and moral disasters in Germany caused by the Treaty of Versailles would set the country up for a dictator who would lead them into WWII.