1. Ms. Sheets AP World History
Chapter 28 World War I
Ms. Sheets AP World History

2. M.A.I.N. Causes of WWI ( )
Militarism: New industrial technologies; after Germany began building a navy, all nations began creating more weapons.
Alliances
Triple Alliance (aka Central Powers): Germany + Austria-Hungary + Italy [initially] + Ottoman Empire + Bulgaria.
Triple Entente (aka Allied Powers): Russia + France + Britain + Italy [in 1915] +Japan +US [later].
Imperialism: Tensions are high between alliance systems who are in the midst of imperialist rivalries over the few lands still not yet colonized
Colonists acted as resource-providers and combatants; hoped to achieve independence after the war and were often promised this
Nationalism (new Germany; Balkan independence)

3. World War I in Europe and Middle East

4. Outbreak of War
Ethnic divisions and rivalries in the Balkans added tension to Europe.
July 1914: Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
July Crisis of 1914: Austria-Hungary demands political and territorial concessions from Serbia; Serbia refuses; Austria-Hungary invades Serbia
Russia supported Serbia via Pan-Slavic Movement
Movement aimed at unification of Slavic peoples who had long been ruled by others
Germany supported Austria-Hungary
Alliances fall into place  no more possibility of regional war.

5. War in Europe: Western Front
Germany’s concern: fight war on both fronts
Auxiliary Service Law of 1916: German law required all males between 17 and 60 to only work at jobs critical to the war effort
Schlieffen Plan: plan to attack France first via Belgium before turning east to fight Russia
Britain protected its ally, Belgium.
Japan supports Britain (naval allies since 1902)
Europeans thought war would be quick.
Germany did not have a quick victory in France  Western Front: Germans halted by the French on the Marne River.
Trench warfare ensued along Western Front for three years
War where new types of technology had been used: airplanes; tanks; poison gas; radio technology; machine guns; barbed wire

6. War Outside Europe Only South America did not participate in WWI
Troops were recruited from colonies; mostly fighting for the Triple Entente.
Troops gathered when Europeans realized war would not be decisive or quick.
Promised independence in return for war support
Germany’s main support was the Ottoman Empire, who entered WWI in 1915.
Gallipoli Campaign,
British and French try to capture Istanbul; attempt fails; seen as huge success for Ottomans
Effective British naval blockades ensured Germany could not receive raw materials from its colonies; German trade ships were destroyed.
British Dominions (Canada, Australia and New Zealand) contributed resources to Great Britain.
China declared war on Germany in 1917.

7. War in the East and in Italy
Russia focused on Austria-Hungary and eastern Germany, but was easily defeated by Germany troops.
Aristocratic generals commanded millions of illiterate and poorly trained peasant soldiers
1917: Russia (led by Lenin) withdrew from WWI early; signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (ceded Russian territory to Germans).
1915: Austria-Hungary crushed Serbia, but struggled against Russia.
Inept generals; multiethnic armies with soldiers whose loyalties to Austrian emperor was inconstant
1915: Italy switched from the Triple Alliance to the Triple Entente.
Britain promised territory gains at Austria-Hungary’s expense if Italy switched.
Most Entente-Italian assaults against Austria-Hungary ended in disaster; huge # of deserters
Italy frustrated it did not receive additional territory at end of war.

8. Quick Review Question
What problem does the Schlieffen Plan try to solve?
How were non-Western regions involved in the war effort? Cite an example.
What was the outcome of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

9. American Involvement in 1917
Americans sold food and weapons, and gave loans to the Entente.
1915: German submarine sank British luxury liner, Lusitania; 100+ Americans died.
Germans claimed Lusitania carried secret shipments; Britain denied it; later proven true
In 1916, Germany attacked U.S. merchant ships en route to Britain.
Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare
1917 Zimmermann Telegram
Britain intercepted a telegram where Germany promised Mexico the territory it had lost in Mexican-American War in exchange for joining Germany
1917: United States entered WWI; policy previously was isolationism.
By 1918, millions of American men in training; made Germany believe they needed to end war quickly
Will be the turn of the tide: US troops are freshly ready and newly armed with supplies

10. The Home Fronts 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
Resulted in death of 5% of world’s population
Few newspapers publish anything, seen as bad for morale
Governments developed propaganda to promote patriotism and citizen support for the war.
Soldiers felt unsupported, and that citizens lacked commitment for or understanding of war.
British/Americans bombarded with stories of German atrocities.
Women participated greatly on the home front.

11. The End of War
After Russia withdrew in 1917, a confident Germany transferred more soldiers to the Western Front; victory seemed near.
But, newly-arrived American soldiers stalled German advance in northern France.
Germany (mounting casualties, sheer fatigue) vs America (new, enthusiastic)
Austro-Hungarian empire surrendered.
German commanders agreed to an armistice (end of fighting) on November 11, 1918.
WWI claimed 15 million and wounded 20 million.
Young generation of European men nearly wiped out.
Bombs and troops had destroyed cities, towns, and farms.

12. Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points (1918)
Statement declaring that WWI was a just moral affair; proposal for European peace
List of fourteen post-war goals:
Free trade
Diplomatic end to the war
International disarmament to lowest point “consistent with domestic safety”
Withdrawal of Central Powers from occupied territories
Creation of Poland
Territorial restructuring along ethnic lines (nationalism)
League of Nations
Return Alsace-Lorraine to France
Self-determination: right of people in region to determine whether to be independent or not
Became the basis for terms of German surrender
Wilson awarded 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in WWI

13. Paris Peace Conference of 1919
Meeting of Entente leaders to determine peace terms for Europe and how to deal with defeated
Outcome was Treaty of Versailles
Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved into Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
Ottoman Empire reduced to present-day Turkey; Great Britain controlled Iraq and Pakistan; France controlled Syria and Lebanon.
Russia lost territory to Poland and Romania.
Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania receive independence from Russia.
Wartime promises of independence to colonial leaders in return for their war support for Entente were forgotten.

14. Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Germany was given no part in drafting the Treaty of Versailles.
Goal: cripple Germany economically so it could never again rise to power and threaten to invade other European states.
Disagreements about how to deal with Germany.
Outcome for Germany:
Article 231: Clause placed total blame for war upon Germany as aggressor
Limit German army to 100,000 soldiers.
Alsace and Lorraine (won by Germany in Franco- Prussian War) returned to France
Pay $33 billion in reparations to Entente members.
Lost all colonies (Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon, Samoa)
League of Nations established (idea of US President Woodrow Wilson)

15. League of Nations Proposed by Woodrow Wilson
Goal: to establish and preserve peace and humanitarian goals.
Many nations refused to join it
England and France hesitant
Germany and Russia not allowed
U.S. declines
League of Nations was a pre-cursor to the United Nations.
Effective at functions such as providing famine relief and dealing with refugee issues, but was otherwise weak.

16. Cultural Ramifications
Pointlessness of war and cynicism grew.
Traditional ideas of war’s nobility and heroism collapsed  war is only destructive
Optimism of La Belle Époque had ended.
Art, cinema, poems, literature respond.
Writers’ War: soldiers wrote letters to loved ones; wrote poems in trenches
Spread of liberal reforms (education) meant most soldiers (and public) were literate by 20th c.
Soldiers’ experiences preserved
Lost Generation
Term popularized by Ernest Hemingway
Described a generation whose stability and cultural ideas had been wiped away
Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises captures the variety of losses in war (masculinity)
Artists transfer from Romanticism to Modernism.

17. Lost Generation
“A generation of innocent young men, their heads full of high abstractions like Honor, Glory and England, went off to war to make the world safe for democracy. They were slaughtered in stupid battles planned by stupid generals. Those who survived were shocked, disillusioned and embittered by their war experiences, and saw that their real enemies were not the Germans, but the old men at home who had lied to them. They rejected the values of the society that had sent them to war, and in doing so separated their own generation from the past and from their cultural inheritance”
- Samuel Hynes, historian

18. Quick Review Question
Describe the relationship between these three terms: Paris Peace Conference; Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points; Treaty of Versailles
What were some of the outcomes of the Treaty of Versailles?
What does the term “Lost Generation” indicate about a post- WWI West?

19. Weak European Imperialism
To win support of colonies in WWI, Europeans made many promises regarding the postwar period.
Primarily, colonies were promised independence
Created a great deal of strain when this did not happen
War cast doubt on white racial supremacy
War gave support to anti-colonial movements in colonies.
Led by charismatic, Western-educated elites who supported nationalism.
Leaders rallied peasants and urban masses.
Leaders often relied on nonviolent forms of protest.

20. India’s National Congress Party
The National Congress Party led India to independence and ultimately governed India through its postcolonial era.
Formed by Indians in 1885 as an educated political club of Western-educated men
Was initially supported by many British officials; seen as an outlet for frustration
The NCP gave Indians a sense of identity.
NCP became concerned over British Raj racism and budget, where most money went to the British army and administrators.

21. Indian Nationalism
India contributed significantly to World War I as a colony of Great Britain (textiles, soldiers, grain)
Wartime inflation affected India.
British leaders promised Indians self-government once WWI was over; some steps were taken:
Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909: provided Indians opportunities to vote for and serve on all-Indian legislative councils.
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919: gave Indian legislators increased control over those councils
Yet, the Rowlatt Act of 1919 restricted Indian civil rights (freedom of the press, root out conspirators)
This fueled local protest and caused Indians to doubt British intentions.
1919: Protests led to Amritsar Massacre

22. Emergence of Gandhi (1919)
Mahatma (born Mohandas) Gandhi emerged as an Indian leader around 1919.
Studied law in London
Preached non-violent but aggressive protest against British colonization.
Peaceful protests; boycotts; strikes; noncooperation; demonstrations
Built up a strong following with the middle- class and Indian peasants.
Combined Western-educated ideas about law with Hindu values and asceticism.
With Gandhi as leader, nationalist protest surged in 1920s and 1930s.

23. Egyptian Demands for Independence
The British had occupied Egypt as a protectorate since Orabi’s revolt
Egyptian dissent began in the early 1900s; nationalist parties formed, frustrated by British monopolies and corruption.
1906: Dinshaway Incident
Revealed British arrogance in an already tense relationship.
Led to heightened Egyptian nationalism.
By 1913, British gave in and granted Egypt representation in British Parliament.
1914: WWI begins; British distracted.

24. Egyptian Revolution of 1919
During WWI, the British used the Suez Canal and critical resources (cotton) from Egypt.
1919: Egypt demanded representatives at Paris Peace Conference; denied.
Egyptian Revolution of 1919: revolt against British occupation of Egypt and Sudan
1922: Britain recognized Egyptian independence and British withdrawal began.
Led by Wafd Party (nationalist liberal party)
1923: New constitution changed Egypt from dynastic rule of khedives to a parliamentary monarchy that is nationally- elected.
British presence continues until British withdrawal of the Suez Canal zone in 1936.
Even though Egypt now had independence, Egyptian politicians were more concerned with power and wealth than with poverty aide, education, health, or labor.

25. Nationalism in the Middle East
After WWI, the Ottoman Empire collapsed (1923) and an independent Turkish Republic was established.
In League of Nations, Britain and France divided Arab portions of Ottoman Empire, despite European promises of Arab independence after WWI.
France: Syria; Lebanon
Britain: Iraq; Palestine and Lebanon
Nationalism grows in these locations
Palestine and a Jewish Holy Land?
1894: Dreyfus Affair spurred Jewish Zionists (movement for a Jewish Middle Eastern holy land).
1917: Balfour Declaration aggravated relationships between Palestinian Arabs and Englishmen.

26. Quick Review Question Who is Gandhi and what was his political goal?
What did the Dinshaway Incident reveal about British- Egyptian relations?
Describe the Dreyfus Affair; what did it promote?