The Great War, 1914-1918 Otto Dix,

1
The Great War, 1914-1918Otto Dix, Flanders
(painted 1934-36)
2
Why is the Great War seminal?

• Eventually involved most of the world
• 65 million troops fought
• Germany and France mobilized 80 percent of males
  (aged 15-49)
• 21 million perished (soldiers and civilians)
• 21 million wounded
• Sparked communist revolution in Russia (and
  elsewhere)
• Helped Hitler rise to power
• Began de-colonization
• Improved many womens situation

3
Causes of the Great War

• 1. Alliance system
• Triple Alliance
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Italy
• Triple Entente
• Britain
• France
• Russia

4
(No Transcript)
5
Alliance system (cont.)

• KEY 1871 German unification upset balance
• 1879-1918 Austro-German Alliance
• 1881-1887 Alliance of Three Emperors
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Russia
• Triple Alliance, 1882-1915
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Italy
• 1887-1890 Russian-German Reinsurance Treaty

6
William (Wilhelm) II(b. 1859 r. 1888-1918)

• Grandson of William I
• Wanted to be a Warrior King
• Lame
• 1890 Forced resignation of (irreplaceable)
  Bismarck
• Lost Russia 1890

7
France courts Russia

• 1891 Republican France and Autocratic Russia
  sign alliance (to 1917)
• Marseillaise, the hymn of the revolution

8
Britain

• Splendid Isolation
• 1900 Germany starts building large navy
• Boer War, 1899-1902
• 1904 Anglo-French Entente (Entente Cordiale)
• Britain got Egypt
• France got Morocco
• 1907 Anglo-Russian Agreement

9
(No Transcript)
10
2. Imperialism

• 1905-6 First Moroccan Crisis
• 1911 Second Moroccan Crisis
• German Panther at Agadir on July 1, 1911
• British called Germanys bluff
• Resolved peacefully

11
3. Nationalism

• Serbian
• Austrian
• Russian
• France vs. Germany
• 1871 and Alsace-Lorraine
• Germany vs. Britain
• Naval Race

12
(No Transcript)
13
4. Short memory

• No major wars since 1815
• War as adventure
• Schoolbooks

14
5. Military Plans

• Germanys Schlieffen Plan
• Russia to mobilize against Germany and
  Austria-Hungary
• Planning made it more inevitable

15
Immediate catalysts

• 1908 Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and
  Herzegovina
• 1912 First Balkan War, the Balkan League
  (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria) took
  Macedonia from Ottoman Empire
• 1913 Second Balkan war, Bulgaria attacked
  Serbia, leading A-H to intervene

16
Immediate catalysts (cont.)

• 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand is
  assassinated
• Black Hand
• Gavrilo Princip

17
Immediate catalysts (cont.)

• A-H decides to teach Serbia a lesson
• Franz Joseph asks Germany for support
• William II sends Blank Check (Unconditional
  Support)
• 23 July 1914 A-H presents ultimatum to Serbia

18
Immediate catalysts (cont.)

• 28 July 1914 A-H declares war on Serbia
• Tsar Nicholas II orders partial mobilization
  against A-H
• 29 July 1914 Russia orders full mobilization
  against A-H and Germany
• 2 August 1914 German General von Moltke demands
  that Belgium permit German armies to march
  through it
• 4 August 1914 Britain and France declared war on
  Germany