1. 1914-1919 The World at War “The lights are going out all over Europe:
we shall not see them lit again
in our lifetime.”
Sir Edward Grey
English Foreign secretary
Monday, March 8, 1914
(4 months prior to outbreak of WWI)

2. Preparation for War Largest ever peacetime armies / reserves
German desire for “place in the sun”
Recognition of power – like Britain
French disagree: Alsace-Lorraine 1871
English disagree: industrial / colonial competition
Alliance systems: Designed by Bismarck as prevention of German shut-out
first Germany w/Russia / Austria – vs. France
Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II unable to maintain Bismarck’s complex relationships
So ,France allies with Russia (odd combo rad/conserv)
The one thing they have in common is Germany as the enemy
THEN GB and Russia enter alliance

3. Why War? Balkans: tensions increase –Austria/Russia Crises:
Crisis 1: 1908 Austria annexes Bosnia & Herzegovina (the Serbs wanted B-H and thought that the Turks were going to give it to them)
Crisis 2: 1st & 2nd Balkan Wars
1912 Balkan League (Se, Bu, Mo, Gr) vs. Ottomans
Ottoman’s lose most of its territory in Europe
1913: Gr, Se, Ro, OE vs. Bu over Macedonia & Albania = Serbia blocked; Albania independent; Bulgaria loses a lot of territory

4. The suspected assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is hustled into custody in Sarajevo in 1914.

5. Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, moments before they are killed by an assassin working with the Black Hand terrorist group

6. Why War?
Crisis 3: June 28, 1914 Serbian Gavrillo Princip of “Union of Death” / Black Hand kills Archduke Franz Ferdinand – heir to throne!
Ongoing feelings that drive reaction to the assassination:
Serbs are still mad at Austrians for taking B-H
Franz Ferdinand was head of group of Austrians plotting to deal with Serbia once and for all
Add insult to injury: Ferdinand was in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 (his anniversary and most sacred day to Serbs – an insult)

7. Alliances after 1871 Three Emperors’ League (Dreikaiserbund), 1873
Austro-German Alliance,
Alliance of 3 Emperors,
Triple Alliance,
Germany
Russo-French Alliance,
Aust.-Hung.
Russia
Reinsurance Treaty, 1887 (Germany & Russia, secret treaty)
1902 GB allied w/ Japan
1904 = entente cordial btw. GB & Fr.
Triple Entente,
France
Italy GB
End of GB’s “splendid isolation”

9. Technology and Warfare The Great Arms Race !!!!
Weapons were ahead of tactics
Machine guns
Barbed wire
Trench warfare
Hand Grenades
Heavy artillery
Tanks (Somme)
Gas Warfare – mustard and nerve gas
British munitions plant

10. Technology and Warfare

11. Trench Warfare

12. The War at Sea Heavy battleships – “Dreadnought” Submarines
Competition with these ships began in the 1890s
Each nation built heavier and larger ships
Submarines
Germans = unlimited use
sparks US conflict

13. Sinking of the Lusitania
Germany sinks Lusitania – May 7, civilians, including 128 U.S. citizens killed
Great Britain and USA force Germany to adopt limited use of submarines
Jan Germany returns to unrestricted use of subs – by April 1917 USA enters WWI!

14. The War in the Air
German Aircraft
US 94th

15. War Begins Austria: must subdue Serbian separatism
July 23, 1914: 10-pt. Ultimatum to Serbia
“blank check” from Germany
July 25: William II & Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg
War declared
Austria vs Serbia, July 28; vs. Russia, July 30
Russia & France mobilized – Germany declares war vs. Russia, Aug 1 / vs. Belgium, Aug 3
Von Schlieffen Plan:
Germany invades Belgium & violates Belgian Neutrality treaty of 1839 – France declares war, Aug 4
2-front: knock out France through Belgium, then on to Russia – trains troops for two fronts
Result
Great Britain declares war on Germany, Aug 4
Aug 23 Japan (GB ally) declares war on Germany

16. Western Front

17. Western Front: focus on France
Battle of the Marne: September 6-10, 1914 – Trench Warfare: GB & Fr halt German advance on Paris
First Battle of Ypres: Oct. 14, 1914 / Second Battle of Ypres: April 22, 1915
Battle of the Somme, 1916: Allied offensive
8 miles gained ½ men die per inch; “I am staring at a sunlit picture of hell” Siegfried Sassoon
Battle of Verdun, 1916: German offensive
Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele): July stalemate continues – in water!
Second Battle of the Marne: March-August, 1918 – last decisive round of battles (w/ involvement of USA)

18. Third Battle of Ypres: Passchendaele

19. Eastern Front Eastern Front & Beyond:
Battle of Tannenburg – Aug. 30, 1914 (Gens. Hindenburg & Ludendorff)
Battle of Masurian Lakes – Sept. 9, 1914
Italy 1915 – abandons Germany & joins Allies by declaring war on Austria-Hungary
Gallipoli – British & Australians vs. Turks – April 1915
Ottoman Empire: Lawrence of Arabia—in 1917 British Col. T.E. Lawrence encourages Arabic revolts against Ottomans

20. The United States Weighs In
Jan. 1917: Wilson pushes for “peace without victors”
America not involved directly until April 6, 1917
Major incident:
Zimmerman Tele. 2/17: Germans use US telegraph lines to relay to their embassies in US and Mexico that unrestricted use of submarines will resume

21. The War on Land 1917…little hope… BUT…
1917…Russian Bolshevik Revolution begins
March 3, 1918…Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Germany can move West
BUT….
1918…US enters the war! – 2nd Battle of the Marne
Aug 8, 1918 German General Lundendorff admits defeat

22. Germany defeated… Germany’s defeat…Sept. 1918
October 6, 1918 German gov’t. requests armistice talks
Arguments over armistice --- soldiers revolt and est. revolutionary councils (“soviets”)
Nov. 9, 1918 Wilhelm II abdicates – flees to Holland
Nov. 11, 1918: Friedrich Ebert declares the first German Republic in Weimar (Weimar Republic) and official armistice
Kaiser Wilhelm II

23. Difficulty in Making Peace
Victors
Great Britain
France
United States
Italy
Belgium
Portugal
Directly Defeated
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
Indirectly Defeated
Russia

24. Major Personalities Vittorio Orlando: Italy
Georges Clemenceau: France “The Tiger”
Vittorio Orlando: Italy
David Lloyd George: Great Britain
“squeeze the orange until the pips squeak”
Woodrow Wilson: USA

25. The Treaty of Versailles: a difficult peace
January 1919 – Paris
US, France, Great Britain, (Italy) +23 others
No Germany or Russia
The fight begins:
France: desire to punish Germany
Demilitarize
Rhineland as buffer state
Woodrow Wilson: desire for “Peace without Victors”
League of Nations (Jan 25, 1919); “open covenants of peace”, reduction of armaments; self-determination
GB: prevent France’s “buffer state”; make Germans pay $$
In the End
5 sep. treaties w/ G, Au, Hu, Bu & OE

26. Results of Treaty of Versailles (& others)
Results: Germany is blamed for the war (Article 231 War Guilt Clause)
Army can be no bigger than 100,000
Reparations: for causing war - 32 billion dollars
Navy to be no larger than 24 ships – no subs
No new developments in air force
Demilitarize the Rhine area (but not a buffer state)
Lost 27,500 square miles of land League of Nations (Alsace Lorraine, part of Prussia)
New nations—imperialism continues
Austria/Hungary:
Austria / Hungary / Czechoslovakia / Romania / Poland / Yugoslavia
“Polish Corridor” to Baltic
France: Lebanon / Syria = mandates
GB: Iraq / Palestine (w/Jewish Nat'l. home) = mandates
Japan: Germany’s holdings in China

28. Results The beginning of the end of 19th century imperialism…
Total number dead - over 9 million
France 1,500,000 Britain 1,000,000
Italy 500,000 US 116,708
Russia 1,700,000 Germany 2,000,000
Austria 1,250,000
A peace…made in quicksand