World War I Theme: Causes and Results of Global War

1. World War ITheme: Causes and Results of Global War Lsn 18

2. Agenda • Causes • Schlieffen Plan • Trench Warfare • Attempts to break the stalemate • Gas • Peripheral Operations: Gallipoli • Frontal Assaults at Verdun and the Somme • Hutier tactics • Tanks • American Involvement • Technological Developments • Surrender and Settlement

3. Causes of World War I • Colonial disputes • Nationalism • Alliances • Militarism

4. Colonialism • Virtually all the major powers were engaged in a scramble for empire to bolster their economies • The fiercest competition was between Britain and Germany and between France and Germany

5. Nationalism • The French Revolution had spread nationalism throughout most of Europe • The idea that people with the same ethnic origins, language, and political ideals had the right to form sovereign states through the process of self-determination • Nationalist aspirations of subject minorities threatened to tear apart the multinational empires of the Ottomans, Hapsburgs, and Russians • Such a development would affect the regional balance of power

6. Nationalism: Austria-Hungary • Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes all had nationalist aspirations, especially the Serbs • The Serbs were strongly supported by the Russians as part of the pan-Slavic movement • The Austria-Hungarians were strongly supported by the Germans

7. Nationalism: Assassination of Ferdinand • Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary went on a visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina which Austria-Hungary had annexed in 1908 • Sarajevo was a hotbed of pan-Serbian nationalism • As he drove through Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, seven assassins from the terrorist group Black Hand waited for him • The Black Hand advocated for a greater Serbia Archduke Ferdinand and his family

8. Nationalism: Assassination of Ferdinand • Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Ferdinand • Austria issued an ultimatum to Serbia demanding that Austrian officials take part in any investigation of people found on Serbian territory connected to the assassination • Serbia refused this demand as a violation of its sovereignty • On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia • A tangled alliance system then began to realize itself

9. Triple Alliance • Germany and Austria-Hungary signed the Dual Alliance in 1879, committing the two states to mutual assistance in the event of attack by France or Russia. • The Dual Alliance was expanded into the Triple Alliance in 1882 when Italy joined. • Italy proved to be an equivocal partner, declaring itself neutral when the war began and ultimately siding with the Allies

10. Triple Entente • The Triple Alliance was counter-balanced by the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain. • As a result, by 1907 Europe was divided into two armed and tense camps.

11. Tangled Alliances • So… • When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, the next day Russia began mobilizing to defend its Serbian ally • Then, in consideration of mobilization timetables, Russia also mobilized against Germany • In response, Germany declared war on Russia on Aug 1

12. Tangled Alliances • It continues… • France starts to mobilize on behalf of its ally Russia • On Aug 3, Germany declares war on France and also begins to attack through neutral Belgium to France in accordance with its war plan • Belgium protests to the signatories of the 1839 treaty guaranteeing its neutrality • When Germany refused Britain’s (one of the treaty signatories) ultimatum on Aug 4, Britain declared war on Germany

13. Militarism • The reason all this happened so fast was the advanced state of militarism • World War I was the first war in which the opponents went to war with detailed and precise plans that had been written years before the outbreak of hostilities • “Mobilization means war” (German ambassador to the Russians) • War Plans • Austria: Attack Russia, Italy, or the Balkans (Variants R, I, and B) • Russia: Attack Austria-Hungary (Plan A) or defend against Germany (Plan G) • Germany: Attack France before Russia could mobilize (Schlieffen Plan) • France: Attack Germany (Plan XVII) • Great Britain: Deploy BEF

14. The Plans • French Plan XVII disregarded Belgian frontier (thought Germans wouldn’t violate Belgian neutrality) • Schlieffen Plan had its main effort through Belgium

15. Schlieffen Plan • The Schlieffen plan sent a powerful right wing through western Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern France in a gigantic wheeling movement • The idea was to destroy France before Russia could mount an effective offensive against the weak German forces in the east and thus avoid fighting a two-front war Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1913), chief of the German general staff

16. 2 1 NO!

17. Moltke’s Modifications to the Schlieffen Plan • Helmuth von Moltke replaced Schlieffen as chief of the general staff in 1906 and modified Schlieffen’s original plan • Weakened the right wing and strengthened the left • Moved four and a half corps from the west to the east to protect East Prussia • Modified sweep of right wing so that Germans would not violate the Netherlands’ neutrality • Added a counterattack mission to the left wing • Violated Schlieffen’s dying words to “Keep the right wing strong”

18. Problems with the German Plan • Became inflexible “war by timetable” • Required enormous logistical effort to move men and equipment from Aachen to around Paris in a little more than five weeks • Committed Germany to a two front war • Necessitated attacking before Russia or France could seize the initiative (even if Germany wasn’t ready)

19. Result Schlieffen Plan worked initially but stalled due to logistical demands; static warfare began

20. Trench Warfare

22. Attempts to Break the Stalemate: Gas • Various efforts were made to break the stalemate • The Germans first used gas against the Russians on Jan 13, 1915 with little effect • They were more successful at Ypres on Aug 15 Even German dogs were outfitted with gas masks

23. Dulce et Decorum Est(“Sweet and Fitting it is to Die for One’s Country”) Gas! GAS! Quick boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time: But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And floundering like a man in fire or lime. – Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light As under a green sea, I saw him drowning -- Wilfred Owen “Gassed” by John Singer Sargent

24. Attempts to Break the Stalemate: Peripheral Operations • Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers on Oct 31, 1914 (Remember from Lesson 14) • Seen, especially with the British, as a new theater that offered an alternative to the deadlock on the Western Front • End result was a series of operations on the periphery of Europe

25. Peripheral Operations: Gallipoli • On April 25, 1915, the Allies launched the Gallipoli campaign. • Mustafa Kemal told the Turkish defenders, “I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. In the time it takes us to die, other forces and commanders can come and take our place.” • Remember Kemal from Lsn 14 • On January 16, 1916, the Allies admitted defeat and withdrew. ANZAC Forces on Gallipoli

26. Attempts to Break the Stalemate: Frontal Attacks • On Feb 21, 1916, the Germans launched a massive attack on Verdun which was preceded by a 12-hour bombardment • Fighting continued until December 19 and caused over an estimated 700,000 dead, wounded and missing • The battlefield was smaller than ten square kilometers

27. Attempts to Break the Stalemate: Frontal Assaults • On July 1, the British launched an offensive along the Somme River to try to divert German troops from Verdun • On the first day, 60,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. • When the attack halted in November, the Allies and the Germans had each suffered more than 600,000 casualties. German casualties at the Battle of the Somme

28. Attempts to Break the Stalemate: Hutier Tactics • Short, violent artillery prep as storm troops advance to assault positions • Storm troops infiltrate through main defenses to objectives in the rear • Artillery shifts to fix enemy • Follow on forces reduce bypassed pockets of resistance

29. Attempts to Break the Stalemate: Tanks • The British began developing tanks in 1914 and used them in small numbers at the Somme on Sept 15, 1916 • Achieved little in this initial employment • The Battle of Cambrai on Nov 20, 1917 marked the first large scale use of tanks with 474 British Mark I tank of the type used during the Battle of the Somme

30. Attempts to Break the Stalemate: Tanks • At Cambrai, the British gained initial surprise and advanced three miles by the end of the first day • Deepest penetration into German lines on the Western Front since the beginning of trench warfare • On the second day, the British continued to advance but the Germans brought up four more divisions • On the third day, the British began losing what ground they had gained

31. Breaking the Stalemate: American Entry • In 1914, the American public was firmly opposed to intervening in the war • The mood began to change in 1915, when the Germans sunk the British passenger liner Lusitania, killing 1,198, including 128 US citizens • Still in 1916, Woodrow Wilson was reelected President with the slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War” Between Feb 14 and Sept 18, 1915, the Germans practiced “unrestricted submarine warfare.” Any Allied ship in the seas around the British Isles would be sunk without warning.

32. German Miscalculation • Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 • Notified US of decision Jan 31 • Sunk several US ships in Feb and Mar • US declared war on April 6, 1917 • At the same time Russia was withdrawing from the war (Remember from Lesson 11), the US was entering • Germany failed to end war before the US entered it

33. American Involvement: Command Issues • British and French wanted the Americans attached to armies of other nations (Amalgamation) • Committing the Americans to combat in small units rather than waiting for them to organize and train as divisions and corps would get them into the fight more quickly • Pershing resisted, arguing that national pride and a separate American contribution to victory overshadowed the logistical and preparation problems John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force

34. The industrialization of society we studied in Lesson 6 would generate many military applications of new technology In 1915 British Admiral Jacky Fisher wrote, “The war is going to be won by inventions.” Machine gun Rapid fire artillery Airplanes Internal combustion engine Tanks Zeppelins Gas Flamethrowers Technological Advances from World War I

35. World War I Airplanes 148th American Aero Squadron Petite Sythe, France. (August 6, 1918) Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, was credited with 80 confirmed kills

36. World War I Vehicles T. E. Lawrence used a fleet of nine Rolls-Royce armored cars and tenders specially adapted for desert warfare.

37. World War I Zeppelin

38. World War I Flamethrower

39. Surrender • Eventually, the Allies overwhelmed the Germans with men and equipment • “Americans and tanks” • Bulgaria surrendered Sept 30, 1918 • The Ottomans Oct 30 • Austria-Hungary Nov 4 • Germany Nov 11 • “Armistice Day” was replaced by “Veterans’ Day” by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954

40. Paris Peace Conference • The victorious powers met in Paris in 1919 to determine the postwar settlement • Representatives from the Central Powers were not invited to attend • The Russians were not invited to attend • The French, British, and Americans dominated the conference Georges Clemenceau (France), Lloyd George (Britain), and Woodrow Wilson (US) at Versailles

41. Fourteen Points • Wilson had announced his “Fourteen Points” as a proposed basis for the armistice a year before the Paris Peace Conference opened. He envisioned: • Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, • Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas in peace and in war, • The removal of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all nations, • Adequate guarantees for a reduction in national armaments, • Adjustments of colonial disputes to give equal weight to the interests of the controlling government and the colonial population, and • A call for “a general association of nations”

42. Fourteen Points • Many perceived Wilson’s Fourteen Points as excessively idealistic • For the Allies, they conflicted with the secret wartime agreements they had made to distribute among themselves territories and possessions of the defeated nations • For the defeated powers, the harsh treaties that would be latter imposed upon them certainly seemed to violate the spirit of the Fourteen Points

43. Treaty of Versailles (1919) • In contrast to Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the French especially wanted harsh terms imposed on the Germans • Wanted to destroy or permanently weaken Germany as a threat • The Treaty of Versailles denied the Germans a navy and air force and limited the size of their army to 100,000 troops • Prevented Germany and Austria from entering any sort of political union • Required the payment of war reparations • Harsh terms of the treaty would eventually facilitate Hitler’s rise to power

44. League of Nations • Wilson’s call for “a general association of nations” resulted in the Covenant of the League of Nations with 42 original members • This new world organization would be rendered ineffective by two flaws: • Though designed to solve international disputes through arbitration, it had no power to enforce its decisions • Its basic premise of collective security never materialized because at any given time one or more of the great powers did not belong to the League

45. League of Nations • The US never joined the League because the Senate rejected it • By 1940 the League had dismantled • Nonetheless it established the pattern for and served as a model for the United Nations 1919 British cartoon criticizing the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations

46. Europe Before and After World War I

47. Africa Before and After World War I

48. Next • World War II