The End of WWI

1. The End of WWI

2. Revolution in Russia • February Revolution of 1917: uprising against shortages, mounting deaths in the war • Facing mutinies, Nicholas II abdicated throne • Provisional government established

3. Struggle for power between provisional government and Petrograd soviet • New government passed many liberal reforms • Did not undertake land reform, did not withdraw from the war

4. V. I. Lenin (1870-1924) stepped into unstable situation • A revolutionary Marxist, exiled in Switzerland • Saw importance of a well-organized, disciplined party for revolution • German authorities delivered Lenin to Russia, 1917, to take Russia out of war • Headed radical Bolshevik Party: demanded power to soviets, withdrawal from war

5. The October Revolution • Minority Bolsheviks gained control of Petrograd soviet • Bolsheviks' slogan "Peace, Land, and Bread" appealed to workers and peasants • Armed force seized power from provisional government in name of all soviets • Russia withdrew from war, made a separate peace with Germany, lost one-third of Ukraine

6. American Intervention • U.S. intervention and collapse of the Central Powers 1914-1916, United States under President Woodrow Wilson officially neutral • American public opposed participation in a European war • U.S. companies sold supplies, gave loans to Allies • By 1917, Allied ability to repay loans depended on Allied victory

7. U-Boats • The submarine warfare helped sway American public opinion • German blockade sank merchant ships, intended to strangle Britain • 1915, Germans sank Lusitania, a British passenger liner, killing 1,198 passengers

8. Over There • United States declared war on Germany, 6 April 1917

9. Collapsing Fronts After Years of Bloodletting • April 1916, Irish nationalists attempted to overthrow British rule • Central Powers: shortages, food riots, mutinies • 1917, mutiny of fifty thousand French soldiers • Spring 1918, massive Germany offensive on western front failed • With fresh American troops, Allies broke the front and pushed the Germans back • Central Powers collapsed, one after another; accepted armistices November 1918

10. by John McCrae, May 1915 In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. Inspiration for “In Flanders Fields” • Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery. (1) • During the early days of the Second Battle of Ypres a young Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed on 2nd May, 1915 in the gun positions near Ypres. An exploding German artillery shell landed near him. He was serving in the same Canadian artillery unit as a friend of his, the Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John McCrae. • As the brigade doctor, John McCrae was asked to conduct the burial service for Alexis because the chaplain had been called away somewhere else on duty that evening. It is believed that later that evening, after the burial, John began the draft for his now famous poem “In Flanders Fields”. “In Flander’s Field”

11. The Paris Peace Conference, 1919 • In the end, the Great War killed fifteen million people, wounded twenty million • The Paris settlement was dominated by heads of Britain, France, and United States • Twenty-seven nations with conflicting aims participated • Leaders of Central Powers and Soviet Union not included

12. Fourteen Points • Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points: proposal for a just and lasting peace • Included free trade, arms treaties, rights for colonials, an association of nations • Most of the program rejected by Allies; Central Powers felt betrayed

13. The Peace Treaties, 1919 French insisted on destroying German military • Central Powers forced to accept war guilt and pay reparations for cost of war • Austria and Hungary were separated and reduced; the new states were added to eastern Europe • Overall, the peace settlement was a failure; left a bitter legacy A Plan for Peace?

14. Ataturk: Mustafa Kemal, father of modern Turkey • 1923, drove out occupying Allied forces, proclaimed Republic of Turkey • Implemented reforms: emancipation of women, western dress, European law • Secular rule replaced Muslim authorities • Constitutional democracy, although Ataturk ruled as virtual dictator until 1938

15. League of Nations • created to maintain world peace Forty-two members, twenty-six of them outside Europe • The league had no power to enforce its decisions • Collective security depended on all major powers, but United States never joined

16. Self-determination for ethnic nationalities: urged by Wilson at Paris Conference • Basis for redrawing map of eastern Europe: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia • Difficult to draw lines: German minorities left in Poland and Czechoslovakia • Yugoslavia: land of southern Slaves, uneasy mix of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes

17. The Mandate System • United States opposed direct colonization; Allies proposed system of trusteeships • Colonies of Central Powers divided into three classes of mandates • Allies divided up Germany's African colonies, Ottoman territories in southwest Asia • Arabs outraged at betrayal by their British allies

18. Challenges to European Preeminence • Great War weakened Europe, set the stage for decolonization after World War II • Economic crises: inflation, debt, loss of overseas investments, foreign markets • Economic relationship between Europe and United States reversed; United States now creditor • Loss of prestige overseas weakened European grip on colonies

19. Revolutionary Ideas • The war helped spread concept of self-determination • Nationalist movements also sought inspiration from the Soviet Union