1. The Great War

2. DRIFT TOWARDS WAR ● Nationalism  Spread by French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars ● Each ethnic group wanted a sovereign state (self-determination) ● Anglo-German Rivalry  The naval race between Germany and Britain increased tensions  German industrialization threatened British economic predominance ● Colonial disputes of the late nineteenth century  Germany sought colonies at others expense  German resentment, antagonism toward both France, Britain  France, Great Britain, Russia came together to oppose Germany ● Public opinion supported national rivalries  Attitudes of aggressive patriotism among European citizens  Leaders under pressure to be aggressive, to take risks

3. ALLIANCES ● Rival systems of alliance  Obligated allies to come to one another's defense ● The Central Powers  Germany and Austria-Hungary formed a Dual Alliance 1879  In fear of France, Italy joined Dual Alliance, thus, Triple Alliance ● The Allies  Britain, France, and Russia formed the Triple Entente, or the Allies ● War plans: each power poised and prepared for war  Military leaders devised inflexible military plans and timetables  France's Plan focused on offensive maneuvers and attacks  Germany's plan: swift attack on France, defensive against Russia ● Neutrals were not to be respected ● Wars were to be swift and over by Christmas

5. WORLD WAR I BEGINS ● Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand ● The guns of August - June 1914: Countries race towards war ● The western front  Stalemate caused by new weapons  Bloodletting: long, costly battles  New technologies favored defensive tactics over offensive tactics ● Submarines  Used especially by Germans against Allied shipping  Unrestricted warfare against all vessels to isolate Great Britain ● On the eastern front  Battle lines more fluid  Russians gradually overrun by Germans, Austria ● New rules of engagement  Civilians became targets of enemy military operations ● Total war: the home front  On the home front: the economy mobilized to the war effort  Women served the war by entering the workforce  Propaganda campaigns to maintain national support for the war

8. WORLD WAR I OUTSIDE OF EUROPE Expansion of the war beyond Europe European animosities extended to the colonies British and French forces recruited colonials into their armies French African troops, British Indian troops saved their empires Asia-Pacific Japan entered war with Allies to get German holdings in Asia, Pacific New Zealand, Australia seized German-held lands in the Pacific The Twenty-One Demands 21 Demands were designed to reduce China to Japanese protectorate Britain intervened, prevented total capitulation of China to Japan The war in sub-Saharan Africa Allies targeted the four German colonies in Africa Togoland fell quickly, but not the others: long, protracted warfare Battle of Gallipoli, 1915, in Ottoman Turkey British decided to strike at the weakest Central Power, the Ottomans Battle of Gallipoli a disaster, with 250,000 casualties on each side The Ottoman empire lost ground after Gallipoli Lost Caucasus to Russians Armenian Holocaust: Turks killed more than 1 million, relocated many Successful Arab revolt aided by British Allies had secretly agreed to partition Ottoman

9. END OF THE WAR ● Russia  Revolution in Russia ● February Revolution of 1917: uprising against shortages, mounting deaths in the war ● Facing mutinies, Nicholas II abdicated throne; Provisional government established  Struggle for power between provisional government and Petrograd soviet ● New government passed many liberal reforms ● Did not undertake land reform, did not withdraw from the war  V. I. Lenin (1870-1924) stepped into unstable situation ● A revolutionary Marxist, exiled in Switzerland ● Saw importance of a well-organized, disciplined party for revolution  The October Revolution ● Minority Bolsheviks gained control of Petrograd soviet ● Bolsheviks' slogan "Peace, Land, and Bread" appealed to workers and peasants ● Russia withdrew from war, made a separate peace with Germany ● U.S. intervention  1914-1916 ● United States under President Woodrow Wilson officially neutral ● American public opposed participation in a European war ● U.S. companies sold supplies, gave loans to Allies  The submarine warfare helped sway American public opinion ● German blockade sank merchant ships, intended to strangle Britain ● 1915, Germans sank Lusitania, a British passenger liner, killing 1,198 passengers  United States declared war on Germany, 6 April 1917 ● Collapse of the Central Powers  US produces food, engines, aircraft for all allies  US troops bolster Western front, stop German offensive  Germany was the last of Central Powers to seek armistice

11. PARIS PEACE COFERENCE, 1919 ● Wilson's 14 Points: proposal for a just and lasting peace  Free trade, arms treaties, rights for colonials, self-determination, association of nations ● Results of War  Great War killed fifteen million people, wounded twenty million  Set stage for decolonization after World War II  Economic crises: inflation, debt, loss of investments, foreign markets  Economic relationship between Europe, US; United States now creditor  Loss of prestige overseas weakened European grip on colonies ● Paris settlement was dominated by Britain, France, United States  Twenty-seven nations with conflicting aims participated  Peace largely dictated ● The Peace Treaties, 1919  French insisted on destroying German military  Central Powers forced to accept war guilt and pay reparations for cost of war  Austria, Hungary separated, reduced; new states added to eastern Europe  Overall, the peace settlement was a failure; left a bitter legacy ● Self-determination for ethnic nationalities  Basis for redrawing map of Eastern Europe  Difficult to draw lines: minorities left in too many nations  Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Rumania were all multi-national  Self-determination not granted for colonies ● Revolutionary Ideas: Arabs, Asians, Africans Outraged  The war helped spread concept of self-determination  Felt betrayed, ignored by their allies  Wanted independence from Ottomans, end of foreign concessions

12. LEAGUE OF NATIONS ● The League of Nations created to maintain world peace  Forty-two members, twenty-six of them outside Europe  Dominated by UK, France and used as force against Germany  The league had no power to enforce its decisions  League could only ● Make suggestions ● Impose sanctions ● Blockades  Powers Left Out ● United States never joined ● USSR ignored ● Germany not invited for some time ● The mandate system  United States opposed direct colonization  Allies proposed system of trusteeships  France, United Kingdom benefited most  Created from German colonies, Ottoman territories in S.W. Asia ● Idealistic Attempts  Attempt to outlaw war led to Kellogg-Briand treaty  Many nations reduced their militaries to minimal levels

13. LEAGUE OF NATIONS