Chapter 26: World War I

Part 1: The Causes of the War

There were 4 M.A.I.N. causes of the war

Militarism
The Alliance system
Imperialism
Nationalism
The alliance system

▪ 2 major pre-war alliances

▪ Triple alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy*
▪ Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, Russia
▪ Created to counter each other and maintain the balance of power in
Europe.
– Wanted to prevent war

▪ For the first time you had two alliances of roughly equal strength
*Italy eventually switched sides
Militarism
▪ Militarism: a strong military spirit or policy
– the principle or policy of maintaining a large military establishment

▪ By 1914 most of the major European nations (except Britain) had

adopted military conscription to grow the size of their standing
armies and reserve forces
▪ Small professional armies were replaced by mass armies numbering
in the millions
 Standing Armies Mobilised
Countries in First
& Reserves in Forces in
World War
August 1914 1914-18

Russia 5,971,000 12,000,000

France 4,017,000 8,410,000
Great Britain 975,000 8,905,000
Italy 1,251,000 5,615,000
United States 200,000 4,355,000
Japan 800,000 800,000
Serbia 200,000 707,000
Belgium 117,000 267,000 Blue – Allies
Germany 4,500,000 11,000,000 Red – Central Powers
White – Joined later
Austria-Hungary 3,000,000 7,800,000
Turkey 210,000 2,850,000
The Schlieffen Plan

▪ Conceived by general Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905 in preparation for

a war with the Entente
▪ Attack France through Belgium (neutral) and then knock out Russia
Other War plans

▪ France: Plan 17
– Attack Germany and take back Alsace-Lorraine

▪ Austria-Hungary: Plans B and R

– Invade the Balkans (Serbia) and defend against Russia

▪ Russia: Plans G, A and 19

– Defend against and/or attack Germany

▪ Even though these countries wanted peace they were preparing for
war
Nationalism & Imperialism

▪ Nationalism: pride in one’s nation/country.

– You view your nation as being superior to all others
– You want your nation to be independent of any other nation’s rule

▪ Imperialism: one nation dominating another part of the world

economically, politically, culturally and/or militarily
▪ By 1914 many European countries were looking to expand their
empires in Europe
Nationalism & Imperialism cont.

▪ Germany was trying to compete with Great Britain as the worlds

greatest naval (sea) power
▪ France wanted to regain territory they had lost to Germany during
the Franco-Prussian War (Alsace-Lorraine)
▪ Serbia wanted to unite all the southern Slavic peoples (Pan-Slavism)
– Austria-Hungary opposed this
– Russia had promised to defend Serbia
 Nationalism & Imperialism cont.

▪ The Black Hand: Serbian nationalist group (aka Unification or

Death)
▪ Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, in Sarajevo, June 1914
▪ This led directly to the start of WWI
Part II: The War to End
All Wars
 Failure of the Schlieffen Plan

▪ The German offensive through Belgium was slowed down by

strong Belgian and allied resistance and poor transportation.
▪ The German offensive was eventually stopped during the battle of
the Marne, near Paris.
▪ Soon after German troops had to be sent East to fight the now fully
mobilized Russian army.
▪ The war in the west turned into a stalemate, with neither side
having a clear advantage.
▪ Beginning of trench warfare.
Total War

Total War: a war in which every available weapon is used and the
nation's full financial resources are devoted
▪ A war which is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, the
territory or combatants involved, or the objectives pursued,
especially one in which the accepted rules of war are disregarded.
New Weapons
Some new technological developments before the war were:
▪ Heavily armored and armed Dreadnoughts (Britain had the most)
▪ Submarines – Built mainly by Germany (aka U-boats), cheaper than
dreadnoughts and could submerge to avoid detection
▪ Airplanes – Used originally for scouting and then for combat
– Manfred von Richthofen – Top WWI ace pilot (AKA “the red baron”)

▪ Zeppelins – Used by Germany to bomb England

New Weapons cont.

▪ Machine guns and long-range repeating rifles made attacking very

difficult
Trench Warfare

▪ Both sides dug defensive positions known as trenches

▪ Stretched from neutral Switzerland to the English channel – known
as the Western Front
▪ Armies would often live and fight in the same place for months or
years.
▪ Ground gained was measured in yards.
▪ Trench warfare favored the defender.
▪ WWI became a war of attrition
 New Weapons cont.
New weapons were pioneered during the war to try to end the
stalemate
▪ Poison gas – first used by the Germans in 1915
▪ Flamethrowers – used to clear out trenches and bunkers
▪ Tanks – first used by the British in 1916
– Used to cross trenches and protect attacking infantry
 1st Battle of the Marne
6–12 September 1914

▪ British and French forces finally halt the initial German offensive at
the Marne river (40 miles from Paris)
▪ Last major battle on the Western Front that was fought in the open
(no trenches)
▪ Allied victory, led to the Race to the Sea and trench warfare along the
Western Front
Battle of Tannenberg
26–30 August 1914

▪ The Russian army mobilized sooner than expected and advanced into
East Prussia.
▪ German army was able to use trains to bring their limited forces
together before the battle
▪ Astounding German victory, Russian 2nd Army destroyed (170,000
killed, wounded or captured)
▪ Marked the beginning of the end for the Russian Empire
 Gallipoli Campaign
17 February 1915 – 9 January 1916

▪ The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in late 1914

▪ British Imperial forces (many from Australia and New Zealand
AKA ANZAC) landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in order to
capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople.
▪ Allied forces met strong Turkish resistance and the battle
turned into trench warfare (like on the western front)
▪ After almost a year long stalemate the allied forces evacuated
▪ Turkish victory
An Australian
“drip-rifle”
Battle of the Somme
1 July – 18 November 1916

▪ Allied offensive meant to hasten the end of the war

▪ Largest battle on the Western Front, More than 3 million combatants
and over 1 million casualties
▪ Bloodiest day in British military history, 60,000 casualties in the first
day. 420,000 total British casualties.
▪ 1st time tanks were used in combat
▪ Allies only gained 6 miles of ground
▪ Battle result: inconclusive
The War at Sea

▪ The German fleet was greatly outnumbered by the British and allied
fleets
▪ German ports were blockaded by Britain in an attempt to hurt the
German economy and war industry
– Resulted in the deaths of 750,000 German civilians

▪ Germany used U Boats to get around the blockade and attack allied
shipping
 The War at Sea cont.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare USW

▪ Germany eventually abandoned the use of “prize rules”
▪ USW zone established around UK
– U Boats would sink any ships in this zone without warning

Why?
▪ Allied use of the convoy system to protect ships from U Boats
▪ British use of Q Ships, non military vessels with hidden deck
guns
The War at Sea cont.

Battle of Jutland – May 31-June 1 1916

▪ 1st and last major naval battle of the war
▪ German navy tried to draw the Royal navy into battle and destroy it
– This would tip the balance of the war in Germany’s favor

▪ Battle ended in a draw

▪ German surface fleet never left port again
▪ Resulted in increased German usage of U Boats
Part III: the end of
the war
The Russian Revolution

▪ By 1917 the war was not going well for the Russian Empire
▪ The Russian army had suffered several humiliating defeats and
suffered millions of casualties
▪ Tsar Nicholas II Took personal command of the Russian army
▪ Many blamed these defeats as well as unsolved social problems on
the Tsar
▪ March 1917 – Tsar Nicholas abdicated
 The Russian Revolution cont.

Rise of communism
▪ Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia after being exiled
and founded the Bolshevik party
▪ Practiced a form of Marxism, believed that an elite
group should lead the revolution and create a
“dictatorship of the Proletariat”
– Proletariat – urban & industrial workers

▪ November 1917 – provisional government

overthrown by the Bolsheviks and Russian Civil War
begins
The Russian Revolution cont.

Russian Civil War 1917 – 1920

▪ Red Russians (Bolsheviks) VS. White Russians (anti-Bolshevik)
▪ Allies tried to intervene and fight the “reds”
▪ March 1918 – Communist (Bolshevik) government signs the treaty of
Brest-Litovsk with Germany, withdrawing from the war
▪ July 1918 – Tsar and family murdered by the Bolsheviks
 The end of the war
US entry into the war
▪ Us originally wanted to stay out of what they saw as a European
conflict
▪ 2 major reasons for US joining the allies in 1917
1. German use of USW and the sinking of the Lusitania
– Torpedoed by a U boat on may 7 1915, 1,198 of the 1,959 passengers killed,
including many Americans
– Sparked outrage in the US, used in allied propaganda
– Germans claimed the Lusitania was carrying war contraband
▪ The ship was actually carrying millions of rounds of ammunition and other war supplies
 US entry into the war

2. The Zimmerman telegram

▪ Sent from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann
to the Mexican government
▪ Stated that if Mexico joined the Central Powers against the
US they would get back the lands they lost during the
Mexican-American war
▪ Intercepted by the British and sent to the US
▪ Caused national outrage and pushed the US into the war
on the side of the Allies in April 1917
 Spring 1918 Offensive

▪ Germany’s last-ditch effort to win the war

▪ With 1 million troops freed up from the eastern front Germany
planned to launch a final decisive offensive and win the war before
the US could send troops
▪ Germans penetrated almost 40 miles west but were eventually
stopped by the allies
▪ Final German offensive of the war, now only on the defensive
 Armistice

▪ Armistice – when both sides agree to a temporary ceasefire

▪ By autumn 1918 the German army is steadily being pushed back
eastward, into Germany
▪ Armistice signed on November 11th 1918 (11-11-1918 at 11:00 AM)
▪ WWI officially over
Part IV: Versailles
The treaty of Versailles

▪ All of the victorious allied nations met at Versailles to decide the

terms of the official peace treaty – the Treaty of Versailles
▪ Main goals:
– Compensation for the victors
– Punishing the losers
– Self-determination for all nations
– Keeping the peace
 Territory

▪ Gained territory from Germany & the Ottoman Empire

– France: Alsace & Lorraine (G)+ parts of the Middle East (O)
– UK: colonies in Africa (G)+ parts of the Middle East (O)

▪ German, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires broken up

– New nations created
– Self Determination - the process by which a country determines its own
statehood and forms its own allegiances and government.

▪ However the Allies still kept their empires

▪ Germany had to pay $33 million in reparations (war debts) to Britain
and France
Keeping the Peace

▪ Germany disarmed
▪ Army reduced to 100,000
▪ Could not own planes, tanks, battleships, submarines, poison gas or
other heavy weapons
▪ Rhineland made a demilitarized zone
▪ League of Nations created to keep the peace (precursor to the UN)
Placing the Blame

▪ The treaty included a “war guilt clause” which placed the blame for
the war on the Central Powers, specifically Germany
– Named Germany as the primary aggressor

▪ Seen as a national humiliation by the German people

 Who was left out

▪ The Central Powers had no voice in the Versailles conference

– They had no choice but to accept the terms they were given

▪ Allied nations like Japan also had very little input on the treaty
– Greatly angered because they were treated like a 2nd rate nation

▪ Left a lasting legacy of bitterness amongst these nations