WORLD WAR I IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

Affecting the Rest of the World

• Gallipoli Campaign •  Attack the Dardanelles

•  Gateway to OE •  Goals:

•  Take Istanbul •  Defeat the Turks •  Establish supply line to Russia

•  Organized by Winston Churchill

•  Campaign did not work •  Stalemate when both sides

dug in

Africa and Asia • Germany’s colonial possessions under attack •  Japanese overran German

colonies in Pacific •  English and French took German

African possessions

•  French and British recruited from their own colonies •  Troops fought to show their

loyalty to the so they could gain freedom after war

The United States Joins the War

•  1917 – unrestricted submarine warfare – German subs sink any ship without warning •  Threatened American shipping •  Goal: starve out British before

US mobilized

•  Zimmerman Telegram •  German diplomat in Mexico said

they would help Mexicans re-conquer land it had lost to US

•  2 April 1917 – US entered on Allied side

War Affects the Home Front

•  Total War – countries devote all resources to war effort and civilians could be attacked

• Rationing – people could buy small amounts of items needed for war

• Propaganda – one-sided information designed to persuade, keep up moral, and create support for war

Women and the War • Women were

needed to do work the men abandoned •  Women built tanks,

munitions, and ran hospitals

•  Most women leave workforce after war

•  In the War •  Women were also

near the front lines as nurses

The Allies “Win” the War • Russia Withdraws

•  March 1917, civil unrest in Russia forced Czar Nicholas II to step down

•  Provisional government established •  Continued to fight war •  Russian people refused to fight

•  Nov 1917 – Vladimir Lenin seized power •  Signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

with the Germans •  Gave huge amounts of Russian lands

to the Germans

Central Powers Collapse • Germans refocus on Western Front • Second Battle of the Marne

•  Germans launched one final attack to crush Allies •  Got as far as the Marne before Allies

mounted counter-attack •  Germans were tired and the Americans

finally arriving •  Allies broke German lines, advanced

toward Germany

Central Powers Collapse

• Austria-Hungarian people revolted

• German soldiers mutinied, people turn against Kaiser •  Wilhelm II steps down •  Germany declares itself

Weimar Republic •  Signed an armistice with

France in a railway car near Paris

• Nov 11th, World War I officially ended

The Legacy of the War

•  8.5 million soldiers died •  21 million civilians were wounded • Devastated the European economy

•  $338 billion price tag (that’s $3,000,000,000,000 today) •  Drained the treasuries of the European countries

•  Destroyed acres of farmland and villages

• Sense of disillusionment at the glory of war •  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWHbF5jGJY0