The Great War

1. The Great War

2. Nationalism • Ottoman retreat from Balkans creates Slavic nationalism. • Serbs desire a unified independent Serbia. • Russian support for Pan-Slavism creates tension with Austria-Hungary. • Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908.

3. Imperialism • Race for additional territory creates tension between European nations. • Britain and Germany clash over territory in Africa and Middle East. • Moroccan Crisis of 1905 • France and Germany clash over control of Morocco. • Balkan Wars 1912-1913 • Increases tension between Russia and Austria-Hungary.

4. Militarism • Size of European militaries doubled between 1890 and 1914. • Russian army = 1,000,000 men • France and Germany = 900,000 men • An inevitable war

5. Alliances on the Eve of World War I

6. The Guns of August • Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. • Germany declares war on Russia on August 1, 1914. • Germany declares war on France on August 3, 1914. • Great Britain declares war on Germany on August 4, 1914.

7. The Western Front • Schlieffen Plan • Devised by Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905. • Germany’s plan to avoid fighting a war on two fronts. • Called for rapid attack on France through Belgium. • Rapid attack fails. • Result is a stalemate on Western front.

11. Points of Emphasis • The Great War was a “global war.” • High-tech War • New technology changes nature of warfare (and not for the better) • Total War • The Home Front • End of the War • Additional Implications

12. Global War • Ottoman Empire joins Central Powers. • Attempt to regain territory in Balkan peninsula and control of Suez Canal. • Japanese enter war on side of allies. • Seize German colonies in the Pacific. • European countries • ANZAC’s Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. • Australia – 53,993 deaths, 137,013 wounded. • New Zealand – 18,166 deaths, 58,526 wounded.

18. Machine Guns

19. Artillery

20. Tanks

21. Planes

22. Submarines or U Boats

25. Total War • Definition of Total War • Conflict in which the participating countries devote all of their resources to the war effort. • Aspects of Total War • Mandatory military conscription • 40% of all French males served in the Great War • Nationalization of industry • The Home Front • Propaganda

26. The Home Front • Women in the Great War • Factory workers, nurses and farmers • Facilitates suffrage movement in U.S.

27. The Home Front • Rationing • Food Shortages • Diets Change

28. U.S. Enters the Great War • Germans sink the Lusitania in May 17, 1915. • Unrestricted submarine warfare follows. • Zimmerman note in February 1917. • U. S. declares war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

29. War Time Propaganda Considered by many to be the most powerful of all war recruiting posters, "Enlist" probably didn't appear until after April 1917, when America entered the war. But according to some sources, Massachusetts artist Fred Spears created the artwork in 1915, after reading a newspaper article about the Lusitania sinking. Whatever the origination date, the poster was published by the Boston Public Safety Committee and no doubt inspired many Americans to enlist when it was time to go "Over There."

30. War Time Propaganda

31. War Time Propaganda

32. War Time Propaganda

33. War Time Propaganda

34. End of the Great War • Russia withdraws in February 1918. • Russian Revolution. • War of Attrition. • Almost no fighting occurs in Germany • Germany surrenders at 11:00 on November 11, 1918. • Treaty of Versailles conference January 1919. • Denied Germans a navy and air force. • Limited size of German army to 100,000 troops. • Prohibited alliance of Germany and Austria.

36. Arab Revolt of 1916 • Arabs want independence from the Ottoman Empire. • Arabs revolt with promises of British aid. • Revolt was unsuccessful due to lack of weaponry and officer support. • T. E. Lawrence “Lawrence of Arabia” was sent by British to revolt. • Arabs gain independence after the war with a price.

37. Balfour Declaration 1917 • British foreign minister Arthur Balfour pledges British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. • Supported by Allied Powers at the end of the war. • Jewish population in Palestine reaches 30% by 1939. • Israel will not be created until 1948.

38. 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic • One of the most devastating outbreaks of disease in modern times. • Spanish flu kills 30 million people worldwide • Kills 550,000 in the United States • Kills 12.5 million in India and China. • Spread to the trenches of the Great War.

40. The Trauma of World War I • Thirty-two nations participated in the war, mobilizing 65 million men. • Ten million men were killed; 20 million were wounded. • After the war, winners and losers alike faced inflation, high unemployment, and the Great Depression. • Germany abandoned their democratic Weimar Republic for Hitler’s Nazi dictatorship in 1933. • The Arabs, who had fought against Germany’s ally, the Turks, in hopes of achieving nationhood were bitter when Great Britain and France denied their independence. • The United States, disillusioned with the war, withdrew into diplomatic isolation. • Britain and France expanded their colonial empires in Africa and the Middle East. France got Syria; Britain got Iraq; Palestine became a British mandate. • The Vietnamese who had helped the French and Indians who had helped the British were “slapped down by their colonial masters.”