Causes

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World War I

• Causes
• Course
• Effects

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MAIN Causes

• Militarism
• Alliance System
• Imperialism of Western Powers
• Nationalism of Eastern peoples

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Militarism

• Britain- largest navy in world
• Germany- spent more on army navy than all other
  countries in Europe
• End up with 2nd largest navy 2nd largest army
• British navy creates Dreadnoughts (considered
  direct threat by Germans
• Who respond w/unterseebooten (u-boats)
• Germany also creates Schlieffen Plan in case of 2
  Front War

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Alliances

• Dual Alliance- Bismarck engineers alliance b/t
  Germany Austria
• France Russia enter into Entente Cordiale
• Germany worries
• Britain resolves differences w/ France Russia
  enter into another entente with France creating
  Triple Entente
• Germany now hedged in. Convinces Italy to join
  Dual Alliance (with A-H) making it Triple
  Alliance

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Imperialism in Africa

• Germany begins claiming empire in Africa results
  in arguments w/ Great Britain, the Dutch,
  France
• Moroccan Crisis I (1905) provokes tension when
  Kaiser Wilhelm visits Algeria tells residents
  they should be independent- France cries foul.
  Conference is called rest of world (all white)
  agree w/ France -Germany backs down
• Moroccan Crisis II (1911) Germ sends a gunboat
  to Algeria to protest French occupation. Sees it
  will get no support from rest of world,
  compromised- Algeria is Fr. Protect. Germ gets
  parts of Fr. Congo.

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Imperialism in Eastern Europe

• Austria-Hungary begins increasing its empire into
  Eastern Europe
• Balkans Crisis I(1908) A-H annexes Bosnia-Herz .
  Serbia cries foul Russia supports them. Germ
  sides w/ A-H. Serbia backs down.
• Balkan Crisis II (1912-13) Serbia, Montenegro,
  Bulgaria, Greece all seize land from O.E.
  Austria intervenes forces creation of Albania.
  Russia Serbia draw closer together

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Nationalism

• All the different ethnic groups in
  Austria-Hungary wanted their own country- when
  Hungary achieved limited autonomy they were angry
  and resentful
• Serbians desire for a greater Empire led to
  increased diplomatic forays w/ Bosnia
• The spark Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip
  assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand in
  Sarajevo. Serbia is blamed.

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Arrest of Gavrilo Princip
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Chain of Events

• Dont copy this stuff down! Well summarize it
  all in one sentence for your class notes
• A-H sends ultimatum to Serbia asking for list of
  demands which impinge on sovereignty.
• Serbia looks to Russia for help. She agrees.
• A-H calls on Germany for assistance in case of
  war. Wilhelm not aware of provocative tone of
  telegraph agrees.
• Russia turns to France for support. She agrees.
• 7/28 A-H declares war on Serbia. 7/30-Russia
  mobilizes.
• 8/1-Germany declares war on Russia. 8/3- then
  France.
• When Belgium refuses German request to cross
  territory, she invades, which causes Britain to
  enter the war- 8/4
• 8/6- A-H declares war on Russia
• Its on!

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Course

• WWI divides Europe into 2 camps
• Central Powers
• A-H
• Germ
• O.E.
• (Bulgaria joins in 1915 to get revenge against
  Serbia)
• Allies
• France
• GB
• Russia
• Serbia
• Belgium
• 25 other nations

• Japan joined in 1914 to acquire land in Pacific
• Italy remained neutral on the grounds that
  Germany had provoked war violating the defensive
  nature of the Triple Alliance
• US joined in 1917

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German Strategy the Western Front

• Schlieffen Plan to protect against 2 front
  attack.
• Sweep through n. France Belgium in the West,
  defeat it in 6 wks- then turn to Russia.
• Transport troops from West to East for a much
  longer, harder battle.
• W/in 3 wks Germs 30 m from Paris, but defense of
  Belgians, rapid mobilization of Russians forced
  Germ to send troops back east sooner than
  planned.

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Western Front

• _at_ Battle of Marne (9/5-10/1914), the French
  fought back (using Parisian taxies to move
  troops) Germs forced to retreat. Paris was saved
• Hope for quick war dashed as both sides settled
  into trenches
• _at_ Battle of Somme (7/1/16-11/18) a mill men were
  lost (the Brits lost 60K in one day)
• _at_ Verdun, over 700K were lost
• _at_ Passchendaele Brits lost 250K for 5.0 square
  miles of Belgian Flanders

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Eastern Front

• This front not as trench-ridden as West- so more
  mobile.
• In beginning, Russians pushed into Germ, but
  under Gens. Paul von Hindenburg (later president
  of Weimar Repub) Eric Ludendorff the Germs
  defeated Russians _at_ Tannenburg (30,000 Russians
  lost 225,000 were lost in the fall of 1914)
• By 1915 over 2.5 million Russian soldiers were
  either killed, wounded, or taken prisoner

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Eastern Front

• B/c of losses, poor leadership of govt lack of
  food among pop soldiers, a coup against the
  tsar was hatched in 3/17.
• By 11/17, a Communist govt was installed
• Comms withdrew from war by signing Treaty of
  Brest-Litovsk, giving away chunks of their land
  to Germany

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Southern Front

• In southeastern Europe, the Brits attacked the
  O.E.
• Under Winston Churchill (1st Lord of the
  Admiralty) the Gallipoli Campaign was organized-
  designed to strike at Germany A-H through the
  Dardanelles Balkans.
• Complete failure ANZAC (Australian New Zealand
  Army Corps) troops were killed, Gallipoli was
  never taken Churchill resigned.

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New Ways O Killin
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The First Technological War

• Machine Gun
• Lewis Guns- 500 shells/minute
• Large artillery- Big Bertha Cannons (Krupp)
• 15 miles away (by 18, shelling Paris from 70
  miles away)
• Tanks
• 1st used at Battle of Somme by Brits
• U-Boats
• After Dreadnoughts, Germans focused on these to
  break Brit blockade
• Poison Gas
• 1st used by Germans at Ypres, eventually both
  sides used it
• Airplanes
• Manfred von Richthofen- most famous ace
• Zeppelins
• Dirigible bombers could level building in
  seconds susceptible to ground fire
• Radios
• 1st used to communicate battlefield messages

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The Tide Turns

• 1917 Brits intercept Germ telegram to Mexico
  offering support if Mex enters war on Germ side
  (Zimmerman Note)
• US, already angry over Lusitanias sinking in
  15, now fighting mad
• Germ resumes unrestricted submarine warfare US
  enters war in 4/6/17- bring 2 million to France
• US troops stem tide in Argonne Forest in Sep-Nov
  of 18

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Conclusion of Hostilities

• By fall of 18, OE Bulgaria had sued for peace
  A-Hs govt has collapsed as its subject
  nationalities finally revolted against Aus-Hun
  hegemony
• In Nov, generals convinced the Kaiser to abdicate
  he fled to Holland. A provisional govt (Weimar
  Repub) was created which sued for peace, based on
  WWs 14 Points.
• The leaders met in Paris to discuss the post war
  world.

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The Big Four

• All men came to the table with competing goals
• Woodrow Wilson- a just peace (peace without
  victory) model world through League of Nations
• Lloyd George- preserve GBs empire maintain
  Britains naval industrial superiority
• Vittorio Orlando- regain Italian territories from
  Austria claim colonies in Africa M.E.
• Clemenceau- revenge for loss of Alsace Lorraine
  protection against future invasions
• Russia Japan were excluded 1st b/c she had
  dropped out signed a treaty w/ the enemy the
  2nd b/c she was not European.
• Italy ended up walking out of the Conference in
  disgust when her demands were not met.
• GB France thought the US was unrealistic-they
  wanted security ( indemnity!)

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Provisions of T of V

• War-Guilt Clause- Germany accepts full blame for
  WWI
• Germany pays all costs of the war in Allied
  countries (including civilian damages, pensions
  for widows, etc.) estimated to be 33 billion over
  30 yrs.
• Germany loses her colonies Alsace Lorraine to
  France Schleswig to Denmark, E. Prussia to
  Poland
• German army navy reduced to 100K prohibited
  manufacturing armored cars, tanks, submarines,
  airplanes, and poison gas

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• The Rhineland was a demilitarized zone was
  occupied by the Allies
• Austria required to recognize independence of
  Czechoslovakia, Austria Hungary now 2 separate
  nations
• Poland independent nation (from Russia, Germany,
  Austria)
• Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland
• Yugoslavia created in Balkans dominated by the
  Serbs

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Other Treaties (italicized not important)

• Trianon Hungary loses 1/3 of territory to
  Romania, Yugo, Czech (anything not Magyar)
• Neuilly Bulgaria lost land to Yugo Greece
• Sevres The OE is liquidated.
• Iraq, Palestine ( Jordan) became British
  mandates
• The British promised a Jewish homeland in
  Palestine with the Balfour Declaration, when
  Arabs protested they issued various White
  Papers which attempted to ameliorate the mess by
  limiting Jewish migration creating the kingdom
  of Transjordan out of Palestine
• Syria ( Lebanon) became French mandates
• Turkey became independent nation

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The Forgotten (First) Genocide of the 20th C.
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Impact of the WWI

• Versailles had the opposite of Wilsons desired
  effect.
• Germany felt betrayed used it as excuse as a
  rallying cry for renewed militarism under the
  Nazis
• Russia felt betrayed at being excluded
• Italy felt betrayed at not getting all the
  colonies it had been promised
• France felt isolated when GB backed out of a
  defensive alliance w/ her.
• Wilson felt betrayed by the Europeans who had
  subverted his dream
• In the colonies, people from Africa throughout
  the M.E felt their European leaders had betrayed
  them for their own self-interests

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Impact of the WWI

• 10 million soldiers were dead 20 million were
  wounded
• The O.E. was destroyed.
• The Hohenzollern Dynasty of Germany, the Habsburg
  Dynasty of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the
  Romanov Dynasty of Russia had all collapsed
• Russia was no more the USSR had replaced it
• The economies of Europe were ruined America was
  now a world banker
• The world retreated into an isolationist pose for
  a generation.