World War 1 The Great War

1. World War 1 The Great War Mr. Giesler Global Studies

2. Causes of World War 1 • War Guilt Question • Rise in Nationalism • Imperialism and International Rivalry • Internal Stability • Complex Alliance System • Assassination of Franz Ferdinand • German Blank Check and Quick Mobilization

3. War Guilt Question • Few issues in modern history have received as much attention as assigning responsibility for the outbreak of the World War in 1914. • Leaders reacted to events instead of proactively managing the crisis • Austrians, Hungarians and Serbs made important decisions early in the crisis, they consistently avoided compromise and risked war • There was plenty of time for calculation, caution and decision. • Who chose to risk war, and why? • Let the dominos fall

4. Rise in Nationalism TTYN: Describe nationalism • How nationalism was a long-term cause of WWI • Germany was extremely proud of the military power that they had become after the Franco-Prussian War. • As a new unified nation after January of 1871, the Germans felt nearly unstoppable as a world power. • The French on the other hand had been embarrassed by the Germans and found it necessary to regain their pride.

5. Rise in Nationalism • How nationalism was a long-term cause of WWI • Feelings of resentment led to the massive militarism between Germany and France • Growth of Pan-Slavism and the unification of all Slavic peoples • Protected by Russia, the areas around Serbia became very unstable. • The Serbians were prepared to create their own independent Slavic state supported by the Russians. • This will lead to what we call the “Balkan Powder Keg” or an area in the Balkans that would only take a minor issue to explode into full on war

6. Assassination of Franz Ferdinand The Trigger: Serbian Nationalism The Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914 by young Bosnian terrorist GabrilloPrincip.

7. Rise in Nationalism • Why the “European or Balkan Powder Keg” exploded • Principal Players: Austria-Hungary and Serbia • The Black Hand - an anti-Austrian secret society…A nationalist Serbia group • Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Hapsburgheir to the Austro-Hungarian throne • The decline of the Ottoman Empire and rise of nationalism in the Balkans threatened the stability of Austria-Hungary, which did not want to be the next “Sick Man of Europe”

8. Rise in Nationalism • Why the “European or Balkan Powder Keg” exploded • Large Slavic population with Russia acting as their mother • Austria-Hungary issued Serbia with various ultimatums • No more anti-monarchist propaganda • Purge the Serbian military • Quick sentencing for the guilty • Germany promises to support Austria’s decisions • July 28, 1914, Austria declares war on Serbia

9. Rise in Nationalism • Why the “European or Balkan Powder Keg” exploded • TTYN: • What was the purpose of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo • Who was responsible for the killing, besides the assassins themselves?

10. Complex Alliance System • Two major alliances that developed prior to WWI • Triple Entente (Allies) • Triple Alliance (Central Powers). • The Triple Entente consisted of Great Britain, France and Russia. • Created in an effort to counter the Triple Alliance • Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. • Italy finds that it is in their best interest to wait and see what unfolds during the war; thus, allowing them to further their growth as a nation. • TTYN: What is an alliance?

11. Complex Alliance System • The Central Powers will eventually consist of Austro-Hungary (1914), the German Empire (1914), the Ottoman Empire (1914), and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (1915). • The Triple Entente would become known as the Allied Powers and grow considerably, consisting of the Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of Serbia, the French Third Republic, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Empire of Japan, the United States, the Portuguese Republic, the Kingdom of Romania, the Kingdom of Greece and many others who lent military and financial aid. • TTYN: What event can we conclude was the start of WWI • July 28, 1914, Austria declares war on Serbia

13. Small Group Activity Refer to Notes Packet Identify country and allegiance (Alliance or Entente) Identify other countries missing from map and their respective allegiance

16. Complex Alliance System • Why can we consider Austria declaring war on Serbia as the start of WWI? • Chain Reaction • Russia Mobilized Along Austria-Hungarian Border • Germany Declared War on Russia and France….Why France? •  UK and France Declared War on Germany and Austria-Hungary • TTYN: • Was a war inevitable after the murder, or did policy-makers let the crisis escape their control? • Why did a Balkan crisis lead to a world war in 1914, when other crises had not?

17. Imperialism and International Rivalry TTYN: Describe Imperialism • Nations from around the globe were competing for control of colonies in order to gain….to gain what? • Germany attempts to control lands in Africa, a place that Britain and France were already established. • In 1905 and 1911 Germany was attempting to keep France from imposing a protectorate on Morocco. • Resulting in Britain and France became closer allies in the conflict against Germany. • Britain and France believed that keeping Germany out of Africa, the Germans would not be able to build themselves into a threatening power. Land, Resources, and Influence

18. International Rivalry The race to imperialize came with consequences The race to militarize. TTYN: What does it mean to militarize? The glorification of one’s military. Also the belief of a nation or its people to build and maintain a strong military, with the intention to use it whenever it is felt necessary. • Remember Bismarck? Bismarck made it his goal to keep the unified German State prepared to defend itself against France. • He felt that it was necessary to keep France isolated and weak at all cost. • France---Understanding that Germany was building a large military, saw it as a necessity to in turn build a large military to protect themselves against the Germans. • In other words, two nations doing their very best to prepare to annihilate the other.

19. International Rivalry • The Germans were also threatening the British by building a large Navy, making the British feel insecure about their place amongst the world’s elite navies for the first time in nearly a hundred years. • British reaction - building a larger navy. • Not in a vacuum - Prior to the outbreak of WWI. It does not take long for these countries to find a reason to use their militaries against each other in an attempt to prove who is superior.

21. Recapping the Causes of World War 1 • War Guilt Question • Rise in Nationalism • Imperialism and International Rivalry • Internal Stability • Complex Alliance System • Assassination of Franz Ferdinand • German Blank Check and Quick Mobilization Each of the above underlying causes can be neatly packed into the following acronym: M.A.I.N. • TTYN:Thinking about what we have learned so far about WW1 and the potential causes: breakdown the acronym M.A.I.N. What does each letter represent and how does each reflect a potential cause of WW1? Militarism – Alliances – Imperialism - Nationalism

22. Total War • Schlieffen Plan • Trench Warfare • Battle of Verdun • Turning Points • Technology

23. Total War TTYN: What is Total War? • The First World War was truly ‘the Great War’ • A Global Conflict. • Thirty-two nations would eventually be involved • 28 nations constituted the Allied Powers • Geography – meant that the scale of the conflict meant that it was not one war but many • Geography - made it very difficult for political and military leaders to control events.

24. Total War • Criticism - Europe's political and military leaders believed that the ‘war would be over by Christmas'. Why??? • This belief was not based on complacency. The war was expected it to be brutal and costly, in both blood and treasure. Many believed that no state could be expected to sustain such a war for very long without disastrous consequences. • Nations mobilize • People uprooted • Human Targets – factories, nobody was immune • All resources were mobilized • All available resources used in order to destroy another nation's ability to engage in war.

25. Schlieffen Plan • Germany feared a war on two fronts • Diplomatic solutions not viewed as options by the German government. • A military solution was sought instead. • The German high command decided that the best form of defense was attack. • The Plan – Germany would avoid a war on two fronts by knocking out one of their enemies before the other could take the field. The enemy with the slowest military mobilization was Russia. The French army would be in the field first. France was therefore chosen to receive the first blow. Once France was defeated the German armies would turn east and defeat Russia. • Two Assumptions: that it would take the Russians six weeks to put an army into the field; and that six weeks was long enough to defeat France. • Wake-up Call - Russia put an army into the field in fifteen days.

28. Trench Warfare • Failure of the Schlieffen Plan • Brits and French uncertain about how to stop the German advance decided to ‘dig in’ and ordered the construction of Trenches to act as a barrier against the attack.

31. Trench Warfare • Offensive attacks into No Mans Land • Shell fire • Going over the top • Retreat • The enemy goes forth • Rats • Lice • Latrine marks the spot – Germans often shelled the latrines • Trench Foot • Gas

32. Battle of Verdun • “The Greatest Battle Ever” • The Battle of Verdun was the longest and most costly battle of the war. • It would dominate much of the fighting of 1916, forcing France’s allies to fight battles that might otherwise not have been fought, or to alter the timing of their offensives to provide indirect aid to the French. • By the end of the battle the French and Germans between them had lost close to one million men. • By the winter of 1915-16, German General Erich von Falkenhayn was convinced that the war could only be won in the west

33. Battle of Verdun • “The Greatest Battle Ever” • The Germans massed artillery to the north and east of Verdun to pre-empt the infantry advance with intensive artillery bombardment. • Although French intelligence had warned of his plans, these warnings were ignored by the French Command. • Consequently, Verdun was utterly unprepared for the initial bombardment on the morning of 21 February 1916. • German infantry attacks followed that afternoon and met little resistance for the first four days.

34. Battle of Verdun • “The Greatest Battle Ever” • French reinforcements managed to slow the German advancement • By July, the Germans could no longer afford to commit new troops to Verdun and, at a cost of some 400,000 French casualties and a similar number of Germans • Germany had failed to bleed France to death and from October to the end of the year • French offensives regained the forts and territory they had lost earlier. • French losses were 61,000 dead, 101,000 missing and 216,000 wounded, a total of 378,000 while German losses were 142,000 killed or missing and 187,000 wounded, for a total of 329,000. Other sources give higher figures – French losses of 543,000 and German losses of 434,000. • Battle lasted almost an entire year

38. Turning Points • Two crucial events which made 1917 a turning point in world history were the US entry into the war and the Russian withdrawal from the war • Ludendorff's Spring Offensive and the Allied Response

39. Technology World War I is significant because it marked the debut of many new types of weapons and was the first major war to “benefit” from technological advances in radio, electrical power, and other technologies

44. Women of War • Women in factories • Police Forces • Nurses • Suffrage in 1919-1920

48. Poets of the Lost Generation • Siegfried Sassoon • Wilfred Owen • Robert Graves

49. Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) "Dulce et Decorum Est " Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had lost their bootsBut limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hootsOf tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling,Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under I green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in,And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.

50. Dreamers BY SIEGFRIED SASSOON Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land, Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.    In the great hour of destiny they stand, Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.    Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win    Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives. Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives. I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats, And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,    Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats, And mocked by hopeless longing to regain    Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats, And going to the office in the train.