The Great War: The World in Upheaval

1. The Great War: The World in Upheaval

2. EUROPE IN 1914 • Described by Barbara Tuchman as the “Proud Tower”, with weak foundations • Despite democratic reforms, aristocrats and wealthy capitalists in control • No major European war since 1815 • Militarily, European nations were vulnerable only to each other • Socialism calls for international solidarity of workers • But this ideal conflicts with nationalistic, patriotic feelings

3. Causesof theWar

4. 1. The Alliance System Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

5. The Alliance System • The major nations of Europe form alliances designed to provide mutual defense and support if one of the allies is attacked by another nation (defensive alliance). • The Dual Alliance (1879) between Germany and Austria Hungary was designed to protect them against attacks by Russia. Italy joins in 1882, making it the Triple Alliance. • The Triple Entente, a series of agreements between 1904 and 1914 by France, Russia and Great Britain, was meant to provide security against German attack. The French were still angry over their humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.

6. Two Armed Camps! Allied Powers: Central Powers:

7. 2. Militarism & Arms Race Total Defense Expenditures for the Great Powers [Ger., A-H, It., Fr., Br., Rus.] in millions of £s.

8. 3. Economic & Imperial Rivalries

9. 4. Aggressive Nationalism

10. Nationalist Aspirations • Idea of self determination: Every group with the same language and ethnicity had the right to have its own nation. • Nationalist movements lead to the creation of Belgium (1830), Italy (1861), Germany (1871). • Nationalist movements in the Ottoman empire result in independence of Greece, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

11. 5.Pan-Slavism: The Balkans The“Powder Keg”of Europe

12. Pan Slavism in the Balkans • Austria-Hungary faces nationalist movements among its Slavic peoples: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats and Slovenes. • Serbia pushes for a unification of all Balkan Slavic peoples under Serbian leadership. Sponsors terrorist organization—the Black Hand • Russia supports Slavic cultural unity, seeing its role as “the mother of all Slavs” • Germany supports its ally Austria-Hungary in its efforts to suppress Slavic nationalism.

13. The“Spark”

14. Archduke Franz Ferdinand & His Family

15. The Assassination: Sarajevo: June 28, 1914

16. The Assassin: GavriloPrincip

17. Inevitability of war • June 28, 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria assassinated • July 5, 1914 Germany issues A-H “blank check” • pledging military assistance if A-H goes to war against Russia • July 23, 1914 Austria issues Serbia an ultimatum

18. The inevitability of war • July 28, 1914 A-H declares war on Serbia • July 29, 1914 Russia orders full mobilization of its troops • August 1,1914 Germany declares war on Russia • August 2, 1914 Germany demands Belgium declare access to German troops

19. The Schlieffen Plan • Invade France first and force surrender in a matter of weeks • After defeating France concentrate on the Eastern front against Russia • Avoid fighting a two front war

20. “Belgium is a country, not a road” • King Albert I of Belgium denied permission • August 2, 1914 Germany declared war on France • Why??? • The Schlieffen Plan! German troops invade Belgium • August 4, 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating Belgian neutrality

21. The Schlieffen Plan

22. The Schlieffen Plan’s Destructive Nature • Germany made vast encircling movement through Belgium to enter Paris • Underestimated speed of the British mobilization • Quickly sent troops to France

23. The Schlieffen Plan fails • Sept 6-10, 1914 • Battle of Marne • Stopped the Germans but French troops were exhausted • Both sides dug trenches for shelter • Becomes a war of defense STALEMATE!

24. 1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate • Many Europeans were excited about war • “Defend yourself against the aggressors” • Domestic differences were put aside • Enthusiastic soldiers in all the nations march of to war.

25. 1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate • War would be over in a few weeks • Ignored the length and brutality of the American Civil War (a bloody prototype to World War I)

26. 1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate • “Fatal attraction of war” • Exhilarating release from every day life • A glorious adventure • War would rid the nations of selfishness • Spark a national re-birth based on heroism

27. 1914 – 1915 Illusions and Stalemate • Belief that Modern industrial war could not be conducted for more than a few months • “Home by Christmas”

29. The Western Front: A “War of Attrition”

30. The Western Front

31. The Trenches

32. The Trenches • Trenches dug from English Channel to Switzerland (over 400 miles) • 6 to 8 feet deep • Both sides immobilized for nearly four years

34. Life in the Trenches • Elaborate systems of defense • barbed wire • Concrete machine gun nests • Mortar batteries • Troops lived in holes underground • Artillery barrages precede attacks on the enemy trenches

35. “Death is everywhere” • “We all had on us the stench of dead bodies.” Death numbed the soldier’s minds. • Shell shock • Psychological devastation

36. “Death is everywhere” • A New Weapon is introduced to achieve a breakthrough in trench warfare: Mustard gas • Carried by the wind • Burned out soldier’s lungs • Deadly in the trenches where it would sit at the bottom

37. Life in the Trenches • Trench warfare baffled military leaders • Attempt a breakthrough • Then return to a war of movement • Millions of young men sacrificed attempting the breakthrough

38. Verdun – February, 1916 • German offensive. • Each side had 500,000 casualties.

39. War Is HELL !!

40. The Somme – July, 1916 • British offensive • 60,000 British soldiers killed in one day. • Over 1,000,000 killed in 5 months.

41. Siegfried Sassoon, “Attack” • At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun In the wild purple of the glow'ring sun, Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one, Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire. The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear, Men jostle and climb to, meet the bristling fire. Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear, They leave their trenches, going over the top, While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists, And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists, Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop!

42. The Eastern Front • Much more mobile more than the West Germans advance deeply into Russia • But loss of life still very high • 1915: 2.5 million Russians killed, captured, or wounded

43. The Eastern Front • Russian army moved into Eastern Germany on August 30, 1914 • Defeated at Battle of Tannenberg and driven back into Russia • The Austrians defeated in Serbia • Italians attacked Austria in 1915

44. The Eastern Front • Germany and Austria Hungary joined by Bulgaria in Sept. 1915 • Attacked and eliminated Serbia from war

45. Impact of the Russian Revolution • February Revolution in 1917 forces Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate the throne. • Power struggle between the Provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. • Vladimir Lenin returns from exile and leads ther October Revolution in which the Bolsheviks seize power. • In the Treaty of Brest Litovsk with Germany in March, 1918, the Bolsheviks accept harsh terms and take Russia out of World War I.

46. AmericaJoinstheAllies

47. The Zimmerman Telegram

48. The Sinking of the Lusitania

49. The YanksAre Coming!

50. The war ends • 1917 – Russia surrenders (a separate peace) • U.S. joins the war on the Allied side • Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice