The Great War 1914-1918

1. The Great War1914-1918

2. War Consumes Europe • July 28th Austria declared war • That same day, Serbia’s ally, Russia, mobilized and began moving toward the Austrian border • By 1914, there were two forces in Europe: The Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, and Russia) • Both sides mobilized against each other.

3. War Consumes Europe • The Schlieffen Planwas named after its designer, General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen. • The Germans would attack France and then Russia. • Russia would have difficulty mobilizing due to it’s lack of railroads • They would race west, defeat France and then race east to defeat Russia. • Germany decided to go through France’s northern border with Belgium.

4. European Nations Take Sides • Outraged over theviolation of Belgian neutrality, Britain declared war on Germany on August 4th. • Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire joined Triple Alliance in hopes of regaining lost territories. • Italy switched teams • Japan joined (triple entente) • Germany’s battles in France were long and bloody. • The northern region of France became known as the Western Front

5. Battle on the Western Front • The Schlieffen Plan failed, and Russians were in Germany. • Trench warfare, by early 1915, opposing armies on the Western Front dug parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire.Life in the trenches was horrible. • The space between trenches was nicknamed “no man’s land” • New tools of war included: mustard gas, machine guns, armored tanks, submarines, and airplanes

6. Battle on the Eastern Front • Battle on the Eastern Front-along the German-Russian border • By 1916, Russia’s war efforts were weakened. • They were not an industrialized nation and often fell short of supplies. • Their only asset was their numbers. • Nearly 2 million Russian soldiers were killed in 1915 alone. • Fighting began to spread to Africa and Asia; it was now a world war.

7. War Affects The World • Fighting began to spread to Africa and Asia; it was now a world war. • Lawrence of Arabia took control of Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Damascus for the Allies • Germany’s colonial outposts came under assault; the Japanese ran them out of China and Pacific island colonies • By 1917, Germany intensified its submarine warfare in the Atlantic Ocean. Theycreated a naval blockade against Britain. • Unrestricted Submarine Warfare: January 1917, Germans announced that they would sink any ship in the waters around Britain.

8. United States Enters the War • World War I was now a total war. Wartime governments took control of the economy telling factories what and how much to produce. • Unemployment almost disappeared. • Rationing set in. Governments used propaganda- one sided information to persuade and keep up support for the war. • Thousands of women replaced men in the factories, • after the war, the world’s view of women’s capabilities changed

9. War Affects the World • Revolution in Russia forced Czar Nicolas II to abdicate his throne • A second revolution, 8 months later, Communist leader Vladimir Lenin seized power. • March 1918 he signed a treaty with Germany to end the war between them. • One by one, the central powers surrendered • November 9, 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to step down. • Germany signed an armistice, agreement to stop fighting, and World War I came to an end.

10. A Flawed Peace • January 18, 1919 the peace conference was held at the Palace of Versailles. There were delegates from 32 countries. • The big four included: Woodrow Wilson (U.S.), Georges Clemenceau (France), David Lloyd George (Great Britain), and Vittorio Orlando (Italy). • Woodrow Wilson had outlined a plan for peace, the Fourteen Points • The 14th point was a general association of nations to protect great and small states. • Britain and France did not support Wilson’s peace. • France wanted to punish Germany

11. Treaty of Versailles • Adopting Wilson’s 14th point, the League of Nations was formed • Germany was excluded as well as Russia • Germany suffered territorial and military losses. • But theharshest punishment was that they accepted full responsibility for the war. • New countries were created: Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia werenow independent nations. • The Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its territory • United States was now the dominant world power and wanted nothing to do with European Powers and their new “peace”

12. A Flawed Peace • After the treaty, Germans were angry and bitter toward the Allies; especially because of the “Guilt Clause” • Japan and Italy were upset over result of land after war. • The Legacy of the War was one of technology, global scale, and major destruction and death. • 8.5-10 million soldiers died, 21 million were wounded • Had economically wounded all of Europe; $388 billion • In less than 2 decades, this flawed peace would turn into another world war.