World War I

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World War I
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Inevitability of war

• June 28, 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand of
  Austria assassinated
• July 5, 1914 Germany issues A-H blank check
• pledging military assistance if A-H goes to war
  against Russia
• July 23, 1914 Austria issues Serbia an ultimatum

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The inevitability of war

• July 28, 1914 A-H declares war on Serbia
• July 29, 1914 Russia orders full mobilization of
  its troops
• August 1,1914 Germany declares war on Russia
• August 2, 1914 Germany demands Belgium declare
  access to German troops

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Belgium is a country, not a road

• King Albert I of Belgium denied permission
• August 2, 1914 Germany declared war on France
• Why???
• The Schlieffen Plan!
• August 4, 1914 Great Britain declared war on
  Germany for violating Belgian neutrality

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1914 1915 Illusions and Stalemate

• Many Europeans were excited about war
• Defend yourself against the aggressors
• Domestic differences were put aside
• Parties and celebrations were held at the start.

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1914 1915 Illusions and Stalemate

• War would be over in a few weeks
• Ignored the length and brutality of the American
  Civil War
• (prototype to World War I)

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1914 1915 Illusions and Stalemate

• Belief that Modern industrial war could not be
  conducted for more than a few months
• Home by Christmas

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1914 1915 Illusions and Stalemate

• Fatal attraction of war
• Exhilarating release from every day life
• A glorious adventure
• War would rid the nations of selfishness
• Spark a national re-birth based on heroism

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The Schlieffen Plans Destructive Nature
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The Schlieffen Plan

• Invade western front 1st quickly defeat French
• After defeating France concentrate on the Eastern
  front
• Avoid fighting a 2 front war

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The Schlieffen Plans Destructive Nature

• Germany made vast encircling movement through
  Belgium to enter Paris
• Underestimated speed of the British mobilization
• Quickly sent troops to France

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The Schlieffen Plans Destructive Nature

• Sept 6-10, 1914
• Battle of Marne
• Stopped the Germans but French troops were
  exhausted
• Both sides dug trenches for shelter
• STALEMATE
• War of Attrition Waiting out enemy until they
  give up stop supplies!

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The Trenches

• Trenches dug from English Channel to Switzerland
• 6,250 miles
• 6 to 8 feet deep
• Immobilized both sides for 4 years

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The Trenches
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Life in the Trenches

• Elaborate systems of defense
• barbed wire
• Concrete machine gun nests
• Mortar batteries
• Troops lived in holes underground

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Life in the Trenches

• Boredom
• Soldiers read to pass the time
• Sarah Bernhardt came out to the front to read
  poetry to the soldiers

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Death is everywhere

• We all had on us the stench of dead bodies.
  Death numbed the soldiers minds.
• Shell shock
• Psychological devastation

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Death is everywhere

• Mustard gas
• Carried by the wind
• Burned out soldiers lungs
• Deadly in the trenches where it would sit at
  the bottom

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Life in the Trenches

• Trench warfare baffled military leaders
• Attempt a breakthrough
• Then return to a war of movement
• Millions of young men sacrificed attempting the
  breakthrough

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Battle of Verdun

• Germany wanted to inflict heavy losses and
  capture Verdun
• 10 months
• 700,000 men killed
• Extremely costly and deadly. Almost 1 million
  injured.

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Battle of Verdun

• 10 months
• 700,000 men killed
• French lost some ground but not very much.
• Germany lost 336K
• France lost 362K

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The changes of war

• New weapons crippled the frozen front
• Poison gas (mustard gas)
• Hand grenades
• Flame throwers
• Tanks
• Airplanes
• Subs

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The changes of war

• Airplanes
• Dog fights in the air
• Bombing inaccurate
• Romanticized the battlefields
• Paris and London bombed
• Pilots fired pistols and threw hand grenades

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The Eastern Front

• Russian army moved into Eastern Germany on August
  30, 1914
• Defeated
• The Austrians kicked out of Serbia
• Italians attacked Austria in 1915
• G. came to Austrian aid and pushed Russians back
  300 miles into own territory

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The Eastern Front

• Much more mobile more than the West
• But loss of life still very high
• 1915 2.5 million Russians killed, captured, or
  wounded

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The Eastern Front

• Germany and Austria Hungary joined by Bulgaria in
  Sept. 1915
• Attacked and eliminated Serbia from war

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The Home Front

• Women took war factory jobs
• Support by females back home vital to the war
  effort (supplies, medicine, ammo)
• Received lower wages than males
• Food shortages made running a household difficult

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The Home Front

• Censorship
• Not told about high death toll
• Romanticized the battlefields
• soldiers have died a beautiful death, in noble
  battle, we shall rediscover poetryepic and
  chivalrous

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The Home Front

• Censorship
• Newspapers described troops as itching to go
  over the top.
• Government reported to the press that life in
  the trenches promoted good health and clear air

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The Home Front

• On Leave
• Troops would stay together so they could
  sympathize with each other

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The Home Front

• Impossible to hide death
• Women in mourning
• Badly wounded soldiers returned home
• Opposition began to emerge

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The war winds down

• U.S. joins the war on the Allied side
• 1915 - Sinking of Lusitania
• 1915 - Unrestrained sub-warfare by Germany
• 1917 Zimmerman Note (next last slide)
• U.S. wouldnt get paid back if France/Britain
  lose
• 1917 Russia surrenders (a separate peace)
• Russia was experiencing the Russian Revolution
  (Bolshevik Revolution)
• Ultimately leads to a civil war (1918-1923)
  between Bolsheviks (Red Army) and those
  opposing the revolution (White Army mostly
  Monarchists).
• In 1922, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
  is formed (USSR) Also called The Soviet Union

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• We intend to begin on the first of February
  unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor
  in spite of this to keep the United States of
  America neutral. In the event of this not
  succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of alliance
  on the following basis make war together, make
  peace together, generous financial support and an
  understanding on our part that Mexico is to
  reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New
  Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is
  left to you. You will inform the President of the
  above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of
  war with the United States of America is certain
  and add the suggestion that he should, on his own
  initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence
  and at the same time mediate between Japan and
  ourselves. Please call the President's attention
  to the fact that the ruthless employment of our
  submarines now offers the prospect of compelling
  England in a few months to make peace."
• Signed, ZIMMERMANN

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The war ends

• 1917 Russia surrenders (a separate peace)
• U.S. joins the war on the Allied side
• Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice Day!!!
• Treaty of Versailles Treaty that ended WWI

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Death Toll of WarThe most accepted figure for
deaths caused by the war 20,000,000 (20 million)
Allied Powers Central Powers
42 million served 23 million served
22 million casualties (includes injured, civilian military) 15 million casualties (includes injured, civilian military)
Around 55 die/hour for 50 months 20,000 Dead at
Battle of Somme in 1 day
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Social Impact

• Men lost limbs and were mutilated
• Birthrate fell markedly
• Injured unable to work
• Ethnic hostility
• Influenza epidemic (killed around 50million)
• Dropped the U.S. life expectancy by 12 years (in
  1 year)
• Effected young adults (usually great immune
  system)
• Poverty and massive rebuilding needed throughout
  Europe (helps the States!)

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Psychological impact

• Never such innocence again
• Bitterness towards aristocratic officers whose
  lives were never in danger
• Existentialist movement
• Extraordinary melancholy throughout much of
  Europe (France, Russia, Armenia)

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Internationalism We can solve our disputes
through international groups, not war.

• Woodrow Wilson attempts to start the League of
  Nations (international body to prevent war)
• Anti-colonialism Colonizing foreign lands and
  stripping natives of autonomy is a mistake
• Treaty of Versailles Treaty that vastly favors
  Allied powers and places extraordinary debt on
  Germany some claim this is what leads to
  Hitlers rise to power.