1. What is history?
When we attempt to answer the question ‘What is history?’ our answer, consciously or unconsciously, reflects our own position in time, and forms part of the answer to the broader question of what view we take of the society in which we live.
E. H. Carr, 1961
The Historian and ‘His’ Facts/The Historian as Poet
‘I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention.’
Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, 1817
Must history be invention, at least a great deal of it?
For it was said, “that the tragic poet must be a maker of his plots rather than [merely a maker] of verse….and indeed even if it turns out that he is making [his work] out of actual events, he is none the less a poet – a maker.”
Aristotle, Poetics, 335 BCE
There is no ‘objective’ historical truth
Historical facts do not exist until the historian makes them
Historical knowledge is no more and no less than carefully and critically constructed collective memory

2. Memory is not something fixed or permanent
Why study history?
How did things get to be this way?
You should study history if you wish to learn how and why the world and its peoples came to be as they are today.
Memory is not something fixed or permanent
As the British writer L. P. Hartley once famously remarked, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.“
Historians are always at work reinterpreting the past, asking new questions, searching new sources and finding new meanings in old documents in order to bring the perspective of new knowledge and experience to bear on the task of understanding the past.
. . . the changing perspectives of historical understanding are the very best introduction we can have to the practical problems of real life…. ... ignorance of history--that is, absent or defective collective memory--does deprive us of the best available guide for public action .. .

3. Causes of the First World WarM A N I
Militarism: European boundaries (frontiers) were determined before the war most often through conquest. Governments and aristocracies in Europe were dominated by military elites.
Arms Race: Specifically, Germany’s envy of Britain’s superior navy, which resulted in the construction of Dreadnought class ships.
Nationalism: Everyone of Europe’s Great Powers developed a firm but
excessive belief in its own cultural, economic and military
supremacy. This over-confidence gave birth to a fatal
misconception: that in the event of war in Europe, one’s
own country would be victorious within a few months.
Imperialism: By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. The amount
of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the rivalry
with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire
colonies late and only had small areas of Africa. 
Alliance System: As well as seeking protection in the size of their armies,
the countries of Europe sought protection by forming
alliances. Triple Alliance? Triple Entente?

4. Europe, 1914 The Alliance System
Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria – Hungary, Italy

5. “The sun never sets on the British Empire” (pink territory)
Imperialism
defined as the takeover of a country by a more powerful country, usually spurred on by the following factors with the intent of building an empire
“The sun never sets on the British Empire” (pink territory)

6. Causes of Imperialism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJe1W_HIWmA
the desire to exploit (take advantage of) natural resources
competition for territory between European nations
ethnocentricity (the belief that one’s culture or ethnicity is superior to other cultures or ethnicities)
“White Man’s Burden” (the duty of whites to uplift other cultures/races – to civilizes the “savages”)
the need for foreign markets for European goods
imperialism dominated the world stage during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Imperialism in Africa

7. Militarism & Arms Race
There was a huge arms race in Europe in the early 1900’s
Britain and Germany were going head to head to see who could create the larger navy
Dreadnoughts
British Navy’s Two Power Standard
All European countries expanded their armies and empires to try and maintain a balance of power
Militarism: A political situation in which military interests dominate government policy
Militarism

8. Nationalism Two Types:
State Nationalism: Strong feelings of patriotism and pride for one’s county or desire of a people to preserve its own language, religion and traditions
Ex. “For God, Queen and Country”
Ethnic Nationalism: Exits within an ethnic group that does not have its own country
Ex. Led to break up of Austria Hungary

9. Trouble in the Balkans Region

10. Countdown to WWI: The Balkan Powder keg
Archduke Frans Ferdinand and Princess Sophie
1. Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated by the Black Hand while visiting Bosnia.
2. Blank Cheque:
Germany tells Austria-Hungary to deal with the situation using whatever means are necessary.
Germany assumes Britain will remain neutral
3.Austria-Hungary prepares for war
4. Ultimatum: Austria tells Serbia to hand over its terrorists (i.e. Black Hand)
5. Serbia’s Reply: Accepts most conditions. Seeks clarification.
Austria sees this reply as a rejection
Austria uses this “rejection” as an excuse to declare war on Serbia
Gavrilo Princip of the Black Hand – Ferdinand’s assassin, is arrested

11. WORLD WAR I (“The Great War”) Begins.
Countdown Continued…
6. Russia tells Serbia to fight back using what ever means are necessary
Russia thinks that Austria-Hungary is attempting to take over the Balkans
Russia also mobilizes to strike at Germany
7. Germany declares War on Russia
This draws France into the battle.
Germany declares War on France!
Schlieffen Plan - Germany’s plan to:
prevent a two front War
attack France through Belgium. Defeat the French and then move east to attack the Russians who would be slow (6 weeks) to respond to the attack on France.
Belgium’s neutrality was protected by Britain.
10. Plan backfired - Britain declares War on Germany because they entered neutral Belgium
WORLD WAR I (“The Great War”) Begins.
A Failure of Diplomacy

12. Stalemate on the Western Front, 1914
Schlieffen Plan – Failure
Battle of Marne
(Germany vs. France) slowed Germany down and allowed Russia to mobilize – creating the 2 front war that Germany hoped to avoid.
British and French could not push Germany out of France. Germany could not advance. Both sides dug trenches and prepared for a long battle.

13. Trench Warfare
Trench warfare – static and deadly – became the norm for World War One.
Battle of Attrition - battles lacked decisive victories – producing massive casualty lists.
Total War – the complete mobilization of a nation’s resources and population

14. Eastern Front, 1914-1917 War of Movement
Russia surprised Germany by mobilizing faster then was anticipated, drawing German troops away from Western Front
This tactic succeed, but German forces in the east were sufficient to annihilate Russian armies
Russian Revolutions, 1917, see Germany dominate eastern Europe
V. Lenin (Bolshevik) comes to power in October, 1917
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918

15. Final Days of the War April, 1917 – US enters war
Why did the enter the war?
US Pres. Woodrow Wilson declares war on Germany ‘to make the world safe for democracy’
With a steady stream of US troops, Germany saw that it could not win war
November 11, 1918
Germany formally surrendered with the signing of an armistice (an agreement amongst warring countries to stop fighting and move to a peace conference).
Soldiers make their way on catwalks over flooded trenches and mass devastation

16. Military Deaths of WWI Russia 3 600 000 Germany 2 000 000
France
British Empire
Austria-Hungary
Italy
Turkey
USA

17. Prelude to Paris No allied armies had entered Germany
Germany’s industrial capacities were intact
Political structure of Europe was in ruins
Economic upheaval across Europe
Spreading outward from malnourished Europe, an influenza attacked every continent with the return of troops from the war just ended. By 1919, it had killed an estimated 27 million people – more than the had fallen during the fighting. Because the King of Spain was one of the first to succumb, it was known as the “Spanish Flu.”
New world order for post-war security needed
The Big Three:
US President Woodrow Wilson
British PM David Lloyd George
French PM Georges Clemenceau