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World War I and the Inter-War Years

World War I and the Inter-War Years. Stearns, Chapters 28 and 29. Causes. Nationalism You’re the best around: nothin’s gonna ever bring you down! Competition over trade, territory, and prestige. All sides eager to show how awesome they are. Industrialism

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World War I and the Inter-War Years

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  1. World War I and the Inter-War Years Stearns, Chapters 28 and 29

  2. Causes • Nationalism • You’re the best around: nothin’sgonna ever bring you down! • Competition over trade, territory, and prestige. • All sides eager to show how awesome they are. • Industrialism • European countries are richer and stronger than ever before. Arms races ensue, and no one has any idea that—given the new technologies--war will be mutually destructive. • Encourages expansion for access to cheap raw materials. • Imperialism • Didn’t I just mention competition over trade and territory? • Leads to conflict not just between imperial powers but between conquerors and the conquered. Think Balkans. • Jingoism (Militarism) • All of the above create an aggressive mindset. • Encourages webs of alliance that will, once fighting starts between Austria and Serbia, lead to a general European/World War.

  3. Balkan Powder Keg Goes Boom;Insane Web of Alliances Kicks In • Serbian nationalist assassinates Franz Ferdinand. • Austria-Hungary mobilizes for war against Serbia. Germany offers a carte blanche. • Russia (remember Pan-Slavism) mobilizes for war against Austria. • Germany mobilizes for war against Russia, which means it invades France by going through Belgium. • British mobilize for war against Germany.

  4. Two Alliances • Triple Entente/The Allies • England • France • Russia • (And each country’s colonies) • Britain and France will promise Italy territory from Austria-Hungary if it jumps in. • Triple Alliance/Central Powers • Germany • Austria-Hungary • Ottoman Empire • (And each country’s colonies)

  5. New Stuff • Repeating rifles • Machine guns • Mustard gas • Heavy artillery • Tanks • Airplanes • Uboats • Extreme casualties

  6. Bolt Action Rifle • The main weapon used by British soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle. • A trained soldier could fire 15 rounds per minute, with an effective range of 1400 meters. • Try to imagine what this means for combat…

  7. Machine Guns • Machine guns needed a crew of 4-6 men to work them and had to be on a flat surface. • Fire-power of 100 guns. • The real game changer and led to trench warfare. • Notice what they’re wearing?

  8. Heavy Artillery • The largest field guns needed up to 12 men to work them. • Longest range: German Paris gun—75 miles!

  9. What the Guns Did

  10. Gas • Germans use chlorine gas at the battle of Ypres, 1915. • causes a burning sensation in the throat and chest pains. • Death by suffocation (very painful) • Use limited by weather. • Mustard gas was deadlier. • Fired into the trenches in shells. • Colourless; takes 12 hours to take effect. • Causes blistering skin, vomiting, sore eyes, internal and external bleeding. • Death can take up to 5 weeks.

  11. Exposure to Gas

  12. Tanks a lot • Answer to machine guns and trenches • First tank had a three man crew and maximum speed of 3mph. • Later tanks could carry 10 men, had a revolving turret and could go 4mph.

  13. Aeroplanes • First for bombs and reconnaissance • Later fighter aircraft armed with machine guns, bombs and sometimes canons. • Fights between two planes in the sky became known as ‘dogfights’

  14. U-boats and Torpedos • Used widely by Germans • Attempted to cut of trade to Britain • Sank the Lusitania in 1915

  15. The War in Europe • Western Front • Germans against French and British (U.S. too by 1917) • German advance stopped at the Marne River, France, and trench warfare sets in. • War of attrition—mass production of modern weapons leads to unprecedented casualties on both sides. • Automatic rifles, machine guns, landmines, long-range artillery, mustard gas, submarines, aircraft, tanks. • 50% of all 20 million combatants were killed or injured. • Eastern Front • Germany and Austria-Hungary against Russia. • More mobile than the war in the West; Russians not able to stop German war machine. Only advantage in numbers keeps them going. • Russian failures on the battlefield will fuel political crisis in St. Petersburg. Kerensky and the Duma will force the Tsar’s abdication, but Lenin’s Bolsheviks will overthrow their provisional government.

  16. The War Elsewhere (It was a World War, after all) • British dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand) supply troops to the bulk Ottoman front in the Middle East (Gallipoli and defense of Suez Canal). • British and French non-settler colonies provide soldiers (especially India) • British naval blockade prevents trade with Germany. • Germans establish U-boat blockade of Britain. • Japan joins the Allies; attacks German colonies.

  17. Home Fronts • Those not in the trenches kept the war going. • More hateful of the enemy supportive of the war effort. • No real understanding of what was happening. • State control of key industries. • Executive branches gain power at the expense of legislative bodies. • Dissent suppressed (Bertrand Russell in Britain, socialists in Germany) • Media censorship; propaganda departments. • Labor unrest (especially Russia) • Women take on new roles in the workforce • Rationing in Britain and France; downright famine in Russia. • Armenian genocide.

  18. How It Ended • The Russians surrender to the Germans; Germany able to throw hundreds of thousands of soldiers at the British and French in an attempt to break the trench stalemate. • The United States entry into the war probably prevented German success. • Final German assault fails, Germany agrees to an armistice.

  19. Treaty of Versailles • Germany forced to accept harsh terms. • War guilt clause • Demilitarization • Reparations • Loss of territory • Colonies • Poland • Alsace and Lorraine • League of Nations formed • New Countries formed; Old Empires gone • Auf Wiedersehn, KaisertumÖsterreich! • Ottoman Empire collapses • Russia not a part of the peace process (they’d surrendered to Germany, after all) • Japan and Italy gain nothing. (How do you think they felt?) • Promises to non-white colonials broken.

  20. Effects of the War • European Imperialism on the ropes • Nationalist movements (where?) • Britain and France wax eloquently about self-determination but have no intention of backing off. • European war demonstrates the fallacy of Europeans as a great civilizing race. • German humiliation will simmer and then boil over. • The U.S. plays in the big leagues now. Industry booming; European governments owe $.

  21. British India • Indian nationalism will establish pattern for resistance amongst European colonials in Asia and Africa. • National Congress party • Western-educated leadership • Urban centered: Bombay, Poona, Calcutta, Madras • British obtuseness and racism unifies Indians, creates a proto-national identity • B.G. Tilek more militant than Mohandas Gandhi. • Hindu communalists advocate violence; terrorist-style • Gandhi appeals to moderate, educated people; emphasis on non-violent protest. • Gandhi and his followers make it expensive and morally challenging for the British to maintain control over India.

  22. Nonviolent and Constitutionalist Decolonization Efforts • Starts even before WWI • National Congress Party leads the way. • Initially loyal to British and exclusive to Indian elite. • Starts off simply wanting more opportunities for educated Indians. • Morley-Minto reforms (1909) expand political rights for educated Indians • Montagu-Chelmsford reforms (1919) increase powers of all-Indian legislatures. • Rowlatt Act (1919) restricts Indian civil rights (e.g. freedom of press)

  23. Gandhi • Gained protest experience resisting racist laws in South Africa. It’s here he begins developing his method. • Satyagraha gives Gandhi the moral high ground, forces British to be beasts or grant concessions. • Helps unite diverse Indians under the umbrella of colonial resistance. • Offended some by insisting too much unity (if that makes any sense). Tells Sikhs they are Hindus (whether they like it or not) • Unable to resolve the divisions between Hindu and Muslims.

  24. Egypt • Egypt had a tradition of nationalism • Mohammad Ali against the Ottomans • Resistance to British control. • Constitution in 1913, expel British in 1919 • Led by the effendi (middle/business class) and journalists • Dinshawai incident (1906) “exemplified the racial arrogance displayed by most of the European colonizers.” • Pigeon meat important to peasants, but a sport for British • Accidental shooting, mob reacts, fire into mob, four hangings • By 1913, resistance forced the British to grant a constitution and representative parliament. • Wafd party and 1919 revolt;1922 process of independence begins • Egypt remains impoverished with elites in control, leading to Nassar’s coup and social revolution (1952)

  25. Middle East • Kamal Ataturk establishes a Western Turkish republic. • Britain and France retain control over the rest of the former Ottoman territories, calling them “Mandates” • Breaks wartime promises • Incites Arab nationalism • Rise of Zionism calls for formation of a Jewish state in Palestine. • This also angers Arabs • Balfour Declaration • Dreyfus Affair • Herzl and the World Zionist Organization • Initially opposed by German Jews who enjoyed citizenship!

  26. Africa • Men had enlisted as soldiers, hoping the mother-country would grant independence. • When the British and French deny nationhood, protests ensue. • W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey • The American “Back to Africa” movement, inspired by civil rights issues in the USA. • Pan-African movement sparks anti-colonial sentiments.

  27. Changes for Women • Education and Western reforms enabled several females to lead nationalist movements. • In the West, women had been essential workers on the homefront. Their competent work will eliminate objections to suffrage in the U.S., Britain, and France.

  28. World War I as a Turning Point • Decline of Europe; Rise of U.S. and Japan • Formation of the Soviet Union • Women enter politics and the workplace • League of Nations • Credence to self-determination and the rise of nationalistic movements. Europe may still be the “Daddy” continent, but the young’uns were growing up fast.

  29. Who Was? • the last Tsar? • the Bolshevik leader? • the Duma’s leader? • the last Kaiser? • the U.S. president? • the French premier? • the British prime minister? • the Indian nationalist who’s nationalism hinged on Hinduism’s ancient traditions and threatened violent rebellion? • the Indian nationalist who mastered non-violent protest against British overlords? • the founder of the World Zionist Organization?

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