1 / 32

Unit 12: The road to WW I

Unit 12: The road to WW I. Causes The Outbreak The Eastern and Western Fronts. Causes. Nationalism Alsace and Lorraine : The French were still very bitter about losing this border region in the Franco-Prussian War Pan-Slavism

fausto
Download Presentation

Unit 12: The road to WW I

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Unit 12: The road to WW I Causes The Outbreak The Eastern and Western Fronts

  2. Causes • Nationalism • Alsace and Lorraine: The French were still very bitter about losing this border region in the Franco-Prussian War • Pan-Slavism • Russians believed that they had to defend their “little Slavic brothers” (EX: Serbia) • Imperial Rivalry (Defn.) • Great Britain was threatened by German industrial growth • Crisis in Africa: Britain and France drawn closer together by their common mission of keeping Germany out of Northern Africa

  3. More Causes • Militarism: Glorification of the military, Warfare, and armed forces. Preparedness for war. War as a romantic undertaking • Social Darwinism • War as a biological necessity • Arms Race: The Kaiser (Wilhelm II) built a navy to rival that of Great Britain

  4. Entangling Alliances • Bismarck’s goal after 1871: To be in a “majority of three” • 1873: The Three Emperors League (Germany. A-H, and Russia) an alliance against radical movements • Bismarck angered Russian nationalists and is eventually forced into a defensive alliance with the Austrians (the Dual alliance) • Result: • The Triple Entente (GB, Russia, ,France) • The Triple Alliance (Germ. Aus-Hung, Italy)

  5. Crisis in the Balkans • Beginning in 1875 rebellions against the Ottoman Empire (the “sick man” of Europe) resulted in tensions among the great powers and Russian intervention • 1878: Serbia gained independence but the Austrians won the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina (large Serbian populations) • 1908 Austria formally annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina • 1912 Ottoman Empire in Europe destroyed

  6. Kaiser Wilhelm II • 1890 Kaiser Wilhelm II becomes emperor of Germany • Biography • Fired Bismarck for being overly friendly towards Russia • France began to court Russian friendship • 1894 they reach a “friendly understanding “(Entente) • Britain is the only uncommitted major power

  7. Sarajevo June 28th 1914 • GavrilloPrincep a Serbian nationalist (Black Hand) shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie • The Austrians responded by asking Germany for their support • Germany gives them a “blank check” and Austria issues an ultimatum to Serbia (48 hrs) • Serbia must end all anti-Austrian activity and allow Austria to run the investigation into the matter

  8. The 3rd Balkan War? • Serbia responded evasively and Austria chose war • Although the Germans knew Russia would fight they thought the British would remain neutral • July 28th Austrian forces bombed Belgrade • July 29th Russian forces mobilized against Germany and Austria

  9. King George V (right) with his first cousin Tsar Nicholas II, Berlin, 1913

  10. The German plan • For years the Germans had planned for a war on fronts • Von Schlieffen plan: Called for Germany to knock out France quickly by invading through neutral Belgium • August 2nd Germany demands to be allowed to enter Belgium but they refuse • Germany attacked anyway and on August 3rd Great Britain declared war on Germany (had pledged to protect Belgian neutrality)

  11. The teams • The Central Powers • Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottomans, Bulgaria (Italy had left the triple alliance in 1914 to become neutral) • The Allies • Britain, France, Russia (until 1917), Italy in 1915, US in 1917

  12. The First Battle of the Marne • After invading through Belgium the German Army moves to within 30 miles of Paris • Paris prepared for a siege and the government left the city • September 6th: French commander Joseph Joffre ordered a counter-attack into a gap in the German line near the Marne River (aided by 100,000 Brits) • The French were saved by 6,000 reserve infantry troops ferried to the front in taxi cabs • The Germans began a retreat and Paris was saved

  13. Stalemate on the Western Front • By November 1914 an unbroken line of trenches from Belgium to the Swiss frontier (100 miles) • 1st 5 months 1 million dead • Battle of Verdun: February-July 1916 • Germans besieged the city and its ring of forts • 550,000 allied casualties. 434,000 German casualties • No advantage gained • The Battle of the Somme: lasted from July 1st to November 18th 1916 • 60,000 British troops killed or wounded in one day

  14. Deaths & Sentences Within Trenches

  15. New Weapons • Tactics had fallen behind weapons development (reason for high casualty rates) • Machine guns • Long range shells (Big Bertha) • Poison gas • Tanks • Air force • submarines

  16. German observation balloon. Once aloft, an observer connected via a telephone wire to the ground could see 60 miles under good conditions and correct the aim of artillery. Big Bertha

  17. The Eastern Front • Early Russian victories are offset by The German victory at the Battle of Tanenburg • German General Paul Von Hindenburg defeated the Russian General Samsanov who had divided his two armies • By the Spring of 1915 the Russians are retreating • Summer of 1915 Tsar Nicholas goes to the front to assume control of the army (mistake: left Rasputinin the capital with his wife)

  18. The Russian Revolution • By late 1916 the Russian war effort was done • Supplies were gone and 2 million soldiers had been killed or wounded in 1915 alone • Food shortages and misery over the war caused uprisings against the Tsar • March of 1917: soldiers ordered to fire on female textile workers shot their officers instead • 1 week later the Tsar abdicated

  19. The Provisional Government • In March of 1917 Alexander Kerensky and the Provisional government took over • Mistakes • Stayed in the war and failed to provide solutions for worsening problems (land reform, self-determination, food shortages, the end of the war) • At this point Lenin is reinserted into the country by the Germans

  20. The Bolshevik Revolution • November 6, 1917 Lenin and Leon Trotsky seized government buildings in Petrograd • December 1917 end hostilities with Germany • March 1918: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (humiliating) lost Finland, Poland, Baltic States, Ukraine

  21. Other Fronts • Asia and the Pacific: Japan took over German possessions in Pacific and China • Ottoman Empire: The Turks defended the Bosporus strait • Battle of Galipoli 1915: Allied attempt to take the Dardenells by land (failed) • Arab nationalists revolt aided by Col. T.E. Lawrence • Lawrence of Arabia

  22. The Role of the United States • American neutrality was hard to maintain • Why? (propaganda, neutral shipping, loans, • May 1915 the Lusitania (128 Americans) • American entry: President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war in April of 1917 after the Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted • American forces commanded by General John G. Pershing (2 million troops)

  23. The end of the war • In June of 1918 the Germans were stopped at Chateau Thierry during the second Battle of the Marne River (41day battle) • Allied forces counter-attack and the Germans begin to retreat • German Generals urge the Kaiser for an armistice • October Ottomans out, November Austrians out • November 11th 1918 the Kaiser was ousted and the armistice signed

  24. Central Powers : Military deaths / Military wounded European Allies: Military deaths / Military wounded

  25. The Paris Peace Conference • January 1919 • “The Big Four” • Italy: Vittorio Orlando • GB: David Lloyd George • France: Georges Clemenceau • US: Woodrow Wilson • Wilson’s 14 points • A basis for a “peace without victors” a moral crusade to fix the problems that he felt caused WW I

  26. The 14 points • “Wilsonianism” • Free Seas, low tariffs, de-colonization of Empires, self-determination for ethnic groups in Europe, open diplomacy, The League of Nations • The League of Nations • The only of the 14 points to survive into the treaty • U.S never joins (why?)

  27. The Versailles Treaty • Germany lost 13% of its territory (Alsace and Lorraine) 10% of population and all of its colonies • They also had to accept all responsibility for the war (war guilt clause) • 33 billion in reparations • The Rhineland was de-militarized and German armed forces were restricted • 100,000 man army, small navy, no subs tanks or artillery

  28. The New Map of Europe • New countries • Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia • Did they create future problems by not following the principle of self-determination?

More Related