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Lecture 2

Lecture 2. Hist 355 Modern World History Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer Upper Iowa University. World War I Origins of World War I. War started: June 28, 1914 Long-term cause: Europe’s great power rivalries Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Russia

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Lecture 2

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  1. Lecture 2 Hist 355 Modern World History Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer Upper Iowa University

  2. World War IOrigins of World War I • War started: June 28, 1914 • Long-term cause: Europe’s great power rivalries • Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Russia • Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire • Immediate Cause: murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo • Murder led to a chain of declarations of war • Once mobilizations began they were nearly impossible to stop, nor was there any strong desire to do so

  3. World War I Western Front: 1914-1918 • Began as a war of mobility • Schlieffen Plan (Germany) • Plan XVII (France) • Battle of the Marne and the “Race to the Sea” • Causes of Trench Warfare • Machine Guns • Rapid-Fire Artillery • Trying to Break the Stalemate • Mass Frontal Assault • Mass Artillery Barrage • Poison Gas • Tanks • Infiltration Tactics • No offensive tactic could overcome effective counter-attacks or countermeasures

  4. World War I Anatomy of a Trench

  5. World War ITrench Warfare: Offensive Problems

  6. World War I The Eastern Front • Unlike the West, the fighting on the Eastern Front remained much more mobile, as trenches less practical • The front was much longer than in the West, therefore the density of troops was less • Featured Russia against the Germany and Austro-Hungary • Russia was winning in 1914, seizing the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia • The Russian advance ultimately stemmed by the Germans, who launched their own eastern offensive in 1915 • Pushed the Russians out of Galicia and Russian Poland • Russians responded with a new offensive in 1916, which was initially successful but then bogged down • The Russian army then essentially stopped fighting as the country fell into Revolution

  7. World War I The Other Fronts • Southern Front • Italy opportunistically in 1915 turned against its one-time allies Austro-Hungary and Germany • Italy’s aims frustrated by rough terrain in Alps and ineptitude • Elsewhere • Balkans: Serbia overrun by Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria • Ottomans fended off British invasion at Gallipoli, but faced defeat throughout the rest of their empire • British had to deal with revolt conspiracies in India encouraged by the Central Powers • Africa: French attacked German Togoland, Germans attacked South Africa • Allies seized German colonies in the Pacific; a great boon to Japan

  8. World War I The Road to U.S. Entry Arthur Zimmerman German Foreign Minister • The U.S. tried to stay neutral, but found it hard to do so • Developed an economic interest in Allied victory thru sales and loans • Many Americans alienated by Germany’s invasion of Belgium and ruthless submarine warfare • Sinking of the Lusitania (May 1915) • Election of 1916 • Wilson’s “peace offensive” • Germans restarted unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 • Zimmerman Telegram • Offered an alliance between Germany and Mexico • Intercepted and decoded by British, who passed it to Wilson • British and French admit to U.S. their war effort on edge of collapse • Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany on April 2, 1917 World War I vintage German “Unterseeboot” or U-boat

  9. World War IImpact of U.S. Involvement • Decisive: although American entry was late, it essentially decided the war’s outcome • $500 million in emergency loans from U.S. prevented Allied collapse • U.S. insistence on Atlantic convoys cut shipping losses • U.S. entry also a major psychological boost for Allied troops—gave them a reason to fight back the last massive German offensive launched in March 1918 • German Spring 1918 Offensive • Launched with resources saved from Russian collapse in 1917 • Utilized innovative tactics • German sued for peace in November 1918 • No hope for victory after arrival of substantial numbers of U.S. troops

  10. World War IAftermath • Treaty of Versailles (1919 • Harsh peace imposed on Germany by the Allies • Germany forced to accept blame for the war and pay the Allies crushing reparations • Their army limited to 100,000 men, no air force, limited navy • Stripped of its colonies • Ultimately, the Versailles Treaty did little but to stir up German resentment and sew the seeds for World War II • Other results: • The Habsburg Empire split up into numerous smaller national states • U.S. emerges as the strongest great power, but proved reluctant to embrace that role

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