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Unit 12: The road to WW I

Unit 12: The road to WW I. Causes The Outbreak The Eastern and Western Fronts. Causes. Nationalism Alsace and Lorraine : The French were still very bitter about losing this border region in the Franco-Prussian War Pan-Slavism

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Unit 12: The road to WW I

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  1. Unit 12: The road to WW I Causes The Outbreak The Eastern and Western Fronts

  2. Causes • Nationalism • Alsace and Lorraine: The French were still very bitter about losing this border region in the Franco-Prussian War • Pan-Slavism • Russians believed that they had to defend their “little Slavic brothers” (EX: Serbia) • Imperial Rivalry (Defn.) • Great Britain was threatened by German industrial growth • Crisis in Africa: Britain and France drawn closer together by their common mission of keeping Germany out of Northern Africa

  3. More Causes • Militarism: Glorification of the military, Warfare, and armed forces. Preparedness for war. War as a romantic undertaking • Social Darwinism • War as a biological necessity • Arms Race: The Kaiser (Wilhelm II) built a navy to rival that of Great Britain

  4. Kaiser Wilhelm II • 1890 Kaiser Wilhelm II becomes emperor of Germany • Biography • Fired Bismarck for being overly friendly towards Russia • France began to court Russian friendship • 1894 they reach a “friendly understanding “(Entente) • Britain is the only uncommitted major power

  5. Entangling Alliances • Bismarck’s goal after 1871: To be in a “majority of three” • However Bismarck is fired in 1890 and the Relationship with Russia is lost • Result: • The Triple Entente (GB, Russia, ,France) • The Triple Alliance (Germ. Aus-Hung, Italy)

  6. Crisis in the Balkans • 1875 The Ottoman Empire begins to lose it’s grip on the Balkans • This destabilization creates tensions amongst the Great Powers • Ottomans = “sick man” of Europe • 1878: Serbia gained independence • Austrians occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina (large Serbian populations) • By 1912 The Ottoman Empire in Europe destroyed

  7. Sarajevo June 28th 1914 • GavrilloPrincep a Serbian nationalist (Black Hand) shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie • The Austrians responded by asking Germany for their support • Germany gives them a “blank check” and Austria issues an ultimatum to Serbia (48 hrs) • Serbia must end all anti-Austrian activity and allow Austria to run the investigation into the matter

  8. The 3rd Balkan War? • Serbia responded evasively and Austria chose war • Although the Germans knew Russia would fight they thought the British would remain neutral • July 28th Austrian forces bombed Belgrade • July 29th Russian forces mobilized against Germany and Austria

  9. The German plan • For years the Germans had planned for a war on fronts • Schlieffen plan: Called for Germany to knock out France quickly by invading through neutral Belgium • August 2nd Germany demands to be allowed to enter Belgium but they refuse • Germany attacked anyway and on August 3rd Great Britain declared war on Germany (had pledged to protect Belgian neutrality)

  10. The teams • The Central Powers • Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottomans, Bulgaria (Italy had left the triple alliance in 1914 to become neutral) • The Allies • Britain, France, Russia (until 1917), Italy in 1915, US in 1917

  11. The First Battle of the Marne • The German Army had gotten to within 30 miles of Paris • Paris prepared for a siege and the government left the city • September 6th: French commander Joseph Joffre ordered a counter-attack into a gap in the German line near the Marne River (aided by 100,000 Brits) • The French were saved by 6,000 reserve infantry troops ferried to the front in taxi cabs • The Germans began a retreat and Paris was saved

  12. Stalemate on the Western Front • By November 1914 an unbroken line of trenches from Belgium to the Swiss frontier (100 miles) • 1st 5 months 1 million dead • Battle of Verdun: February-July 1916 • Germans besieged the city and its ring of forts • 550,000 allied casualties. 434,000 German casualties • No advantage gained • The Battle of the Somme: lasted from July 1st to November 18th 1916 • 60,000 British troops killed or wounded in one day

  13. New Weapons • Tactics had fallen behind weapons development (reason for high casualty rates) • Machine guns • Long range shells (Big Bertha) • Poison gas • Tanks • Air force • submarines

  14. The Eastern Front • Early Russian victories are offset by The German victory at the Battle of Tanenburg • German General Paul Von Hindenburg defeated the Russian General Samsanov who had divided his two armies • By the Spring of 1915 the Russians are retreating • Summer of 1915 Tsar Nicholas goes to the front to assume control of the army (mistake: left Rasputinin the capital with his wife)

  15. The Russian Revolution • Late 1916 the war effort was done • Supplies were gone, 2 million killed or wounded in 1915 alone • Food shortages plus misery over the war caused uprisings against the Tsar • March of 1917: soldiers revolt • 1 week later the Tsar abdicated • November of 1917 Bolshevik Revolution (Russians sue for peace) • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Russia out of war

  16. Other Fronts • Asia and the Pacific: Japan took over German possessions in Pacific and China • Ottoman Empire: The Turks defended the Bosporus strait • Battle of Galipoli 1915: Allied attempt to take the Dardenells by land (failed) • Arab nationalists revolt aided by Col. T.E. Lawrence • Lawrence of Arabia

  17. The Role of the United States • American neutrality was hard to maintain • Why? (propaganda, neutral shipping, loans, • May 1915 the Lusitania (128 Americans) • American entry: President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war in April of 1917 after the Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted • American forces commanded by General John G. Pershing (2 million troops)

  18. The end of the war • In June of 1918 the Germans were stopped at Chateau Thierry during the second Battle of the Marne River (41day battle) • Allied forces counter-attack and the Germans begin to retreat • German Generals urge the Kaiser for an armistice • October Ottomans out, November Austrians out • November 11th 1918 the Kaiser was ousted and the armistice signed

  19. The Paris Peace Conference • January 1919 • “The Big Four” • Italy: Vittorio Orlando • GB: David Lloyd George • France: Georges Clemenceau • US: Woodrow Wilson • Wilson’s 14 points • A basis for a “peace without victors” a moral crusade to fix the problems that he felt caused WW I

  20. The 14 points • “Wilsonianism” • Free Seas, low tariffs, de-colonization of Empires, self-determination for ethnic groups in Europe, open diplomacy, The League of Nations • The League of Nations • The only of the 14 points to survive into the treaty • U.S never joins (why?)

  21. The Versailles Treaty • Germany lost 13% of its territory (Alsace and Lorraine) 10% of population and all of its colonies • They also had to accept all responsibility for the war (war guilt clause) • 33 billion in reparations • The Rhineland was de-militarized and German armed forces were restricted • 100,000 man army, small navy, no subs tanks or artillery

  22. The New Map of Europe • New countries • Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia • Did they create future problems by not following the principle of self-determination?

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