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World War I
1914 - 1919
Many believed the age of warfare was over:
• Laissez faire –non-interference in business practices or
in the politics of other nations
• Isolationism and neutrality in international affaires
• Modern, instant communication
Telegraph
• Modern means of travel
Airplanes
Faster ships
• International trade/Global economy
• Social Darwinism – only the fittest survive and advance
In one aspect, many believed mankind had
progressed (evolved) to a new level of morality.
Too Advanced for War
• Militarism
• Alliances (discussed later)
• Imperialism
• Nationalism
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPZQ0LAlR4
M.A.I.N. Causes of WWI
• The practice of building a strong military and being willing to use it.
• Germany military leaders practiced war scenarios and improved their
stores of weapons long before WWI began to be certain they would be
able to win in any situation.
• Often, a nation’s armed forces come to dominate the country’s
national policy, and military leaders or war itself are glorified.
• In the decade before the war began, German military spending
increased by 73%.
• German Kaiser Wilhelm II allowed his military leaders to function
almost as a branch of the government separate from the control of the
Reichstag, or parliament, giving them unprecedented government
influence.
*** The British responded to the perceived German threat by increasing
their own fleet and stores of weapons.
Militarism
• Imperialism is the act of creating an empire by
dominating other nations.
• European nations such as Great Britain,
Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman
Empire had established vast empires through
colonization.
• Much of central and eastern Europe was ruled
be empires that included different ethnic
groups with different languages, art,
literature, and ideas.
Imperialism
• Nationalism is a feeling of loyalty to one’s country and
honoring the country’s interests rather than those of other
nations.
• Strong Ethnic Identity in countries ruled by Austria-Hungary
Considered each nationality a different race with its
own unique language, ideas, art, literature, etc.
Serbian language, Serbian art, Serbian literature…
• Believed in the Divine Right of each nation to:
Bring their people back to the homeland
Drive out those who don’t belong
Social Darwinism – Stronger groups will over come
weaker ones (survival of the fittest)
• Ancient Ethnic Hatreds
• Slavic people had hated the German people for centuries
Nationalism
• In addition to Austria and Hungary, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire controlled Croatia,
Bulgaria, Slovenia, and had recently annexed
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Many Slavic people believed the AustroHungarian Empire prevented Serbia from
returning to its former glory and was wiping
out Slavic culture.
• Slavs wanted to start their own nation –
Yugoslavia, or South Slavia
Austro-Hungarian Empire
• A terrorist group
formed to bring an
end to AustoHungarian rule in
Slavic nations.
• Included military
officers
• The group plotted to
kill Archduke
Ferdinand
The Black Hand
• Heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire
• Wanted to restructure and revive the empire to
make it greater.
• Wanted to give each ethnic group autonomy:
Use their own language (schools, politics…)
Hold public office (courts, political
positions…)
Representation in the Austro-Hungarian
Parliament
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/archduke-franz-ferdinand-assassinated
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history/videos/world-war-i-alliances
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
• Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Countess
Von Chotek were scheduled to visit Sarajevo in the
Austrian province of Bosnia.
• Slavic nationalists plotted to kill him.
• The Austrian Secret Service discovered that Serbian
nationals carrying pistols and grenades had entered
Bosnia, heading for Sarajevo.
• Visit coincided with the anniversary of the Battle of
Kosovo Polje (Battle of the Blackbirds) in which the
Ottoman Turks destroyed the Serbian army.
• Many believed the Archduke was mocking them when
he chose to visit on that day.
June 28, 1914
• Archduke Ferdinand noticed that many of the people that
lined the parade route seemed angry.
• The Bosnian governor mentioned the unfortunate timing of
the visit, but seemed unconcerned.
• The Archduke asked about security measures, and the
governor admitted that the army hadn’t had dress uniforms,
so he hadn’t called them to provide security. There was only
a handful of security officers and no police to escort them.
• Someone in the crowd threw a grenade and injured people in
his procession. The Archduke ran to help the wounded.
When they were taken to the hospital, the governor led him
back to the car to finish the parade, saying it was an isolated
incident.
Deadly Mistakes
• The governor assured the archduke that he and his wife
were safe, and said it would look cowardly to turn back.
• When they arrived at the government offices, the archduke
insisted on going to the hospital to check on the wounded.
• The driver wasn’t familiar with the city and turned down
the wrong street. He tried to turn around, but the car
stalled.
• A Serbian conspirator, Gavrilo Princip, 19, was eating at
Schiller’s Deli and saw the archduke. He strolled up to the
car and shot Franz Ferdinand. Sophie tried to shield him
with her body and was shot too.
• His last words were, “Sophie, my love. Don’t die! Live for
our children,” and, “It’s nothing. It’s nothing.”
Deadly Mistakes
War Begins
• Alliances – agreements between nations to support one
another in the event of an attack on their sovereignty
• Triple Alliance:
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Italy
• Entente Cordiale: (Cordial Understanding)
France
Great Britain
• France also had an alliance with Russia
• Russia also had an alliance with Serbia
• Great Britain had alliances with France and Belgium
Alliances among Nations
Alliances and Treaties
• One month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary
declared war on Serbia.
• Russia had to side with Serbia.
• The German Kaiser contacted his cousin, the Russian Czar,
but the Czar couldn’t break his alliance with Serbia.
• August 1, 1914 - Germany declared war on Russia
• August 3, 1914 – Germany declared war of France
• The German army crossed Belgium to reach France.
• Great Britain declared war on Germany.
• The United States under Woodrow Wilson wanted to
remain neutral.
World War I Begins
Central Powers:
•
•
•
•
Austria-Hungary
Germany
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
Allies:
•
•
•
•
•
Russia
Serbia
France
Great Britain
Italy (after 1915)
The United States
(after 1917)
Combatants
• Since France and Russia were allies, Germany wanted to avoid fighting on
both its western and eastern borders at the same time.
• Germany instituted the Schlieffen Plan.
• They believed that it would take at least 6 weeks for Russian to mobilize its
army.
• They wanted to quickly eliminate the French threat and capture Paris then
load their troops on trains and send them to fight on their Russian border.
• Germany asked Belgian leaders for permission send its troops through
Belgium to reach France.
• Belgium refused and fought the German invaders.
• Belgians also closed their railroad lines to prevent Germany from sending
supplies to their troops in France.
• These actions slowed the German advance on Paris and allowed the French to
push the Germans back to the border where they dug trenches.
• Trench warfare continued for the next four years.
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHeMPV5VDR4
The Schlieffen Plan
• The British planted mines in the
North Sea to prevent supplies from
reaching Germany.
• They forced neutral ships into ports
for inspection and took contraband
items---even food.
• The US couldn’t trade with the
Central Powers, but trade with the
Allies quadrupled. Before entering
the war, the US government lent the
Allies $2 billion to resupply troops.
Blockades
• Germany used submarines
to set up blockades of
British ports in order to
starve the British into
submission.
• Sunk unarmed ships –
known as unrestricted
submarine warfare
• Germans took out ads in
American newspapers
warning travelers to avoid
ships belonging to Britain
of the other Allies.
U-Boats
1915 – A U-boat sunk the British passenger liner Lusitania.
Close to 1200 passengers died (120 Americans)
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
– The Lusitania
• March 1916 – A U-boat torpedoed the French
ferryboat, the Sussex. (50 American passengers were wounded.)
• In an ultimatum dated April 18, 1916, Wilson
condemned Germany’s policy of unrestricted
submarine warfare, warning that the U.S. would not
tolerate the continuation of such a policy. Alarmed by
the prospect of the U.S. joining the war and
contributing large numbers of U.S. soldiers and large
amounts of U.S. dollars to the Allies’ war effort, the
German government issued the Sussex Pledge to
appease Wilson and the American public.
The Sussex
1) Germany promised
not to sink anymore
civilian ships without
warning.
2) Agreed to monetary
compensation to
American passengers
injured on the Sussex.
• Allowed the U.S. to remain
neutral a little longer.
• In 1916, President Woodrow
Wilson is re-elected with the
slogan, “He kept us out of
war!”
The Sussex Pledge
• Soon, Germany began sinking ships on sight again.
(Thought the war would be over before the US had
time to send troops.)
• January 31, 1917 – Germany announced that all
vessels near Great Britain, France, and Italy would be
sunk.
• February 3, 1917 – Wilson broke diplomatic ties with
Germany. Congress wouldn’t agree to arm American
merchant ships.
U-Boats and New Threats
• Wilson understood that Americans could not remain
neutral much longer.
• He believed that it was better to help the Allies fight
Germany now than to attempt to fight Germany alone
after the Allies had been defeated.
• He used a law on the books sine 1797 to bypass
Congress, arm American ships, and provide the Allied
ships with escorts.
Wilson’s View of Neutrality
• Allied naval ships were escorted by numerous patrol
vessels that watched for U-boats.
• Before we entered the war, the US provided:
79 Destroyers
100 small “sub-chasers”
Any boat that could carry weapons and depth
charges (former yachts, tugs, and fishing boats)
American Ships Join Convoys
Large numbers of ships
traveled together for
safety:
• More eyes looking for
sub periscopes
• More targets so that
ships carrying food,
ammunition, troops,
etc. could get through.
Zig-zag pattern to avoid
torpedoes.
Naval Convoys
• The British intercepted a cable from German foreign
minister Zimmermann to the German ambassador to
Mexico to arrange an alliance with Germany. In
return, after the war, Mexico would regain Texas,
Arizona, and New Mexico.
Zimmermann Telegram
Zimmerman Cable
• April 2, 1917 – Wilson asked Congress
to declare war on Germany.
• He insisted that the US would fight the
“military masters” of Germany, but had
no quarrel with the German people.
• He also said that we had “no selfish
ends to serve,” and that we would be
making the world “safe for democracy”
and promote “peace and safety to all
nations.”
President Wilson
America Enters the War
• The US was unprepared for war:
American troops = 200,000
Machine guns = 1500
Airplanes = 55 (all obsolete)
Heavy artillery = none
• Britain and France had to furnish our first wave of
troops with weapons and uniforms.
• We did have 300 battleships thanks, largely, to Teddy
Roosevelt and his Great White Fleet.
Unprepared for War
Teddy Roosevelt
• Read Capt. Alfred Mahan’s The Influence of
Sea Power upon History
• Believed the United States needed a larger
navy to be a world power.
• Commissioned several battleships:
• painted white (a symbol of peacetime)
with red, white, and blue banners and
gold scrollwork
• In 1907, sent the fleet around the world
• goodwill gesture
• to show off the new might of the U.S.
Navy
• to participate in naval pageants in
various countries
Great White Fleet - 1907
The Wright Brothers’ first
flight had taken place in 1903,
just 11 years before the British
and Germans began using
airplanes for reconnaissance
and bombing raids in WWI.
The Wright Brothers - 1903
• At that time, the Allies were in danger of defeat:
Few merchant ships left in Europe
Britain had only a 2 month supply of food left
Defeat Seemed Imminent
• Congress passed the Selective Service Act:
All men 18 to 30 (later 18 – 45) years old had to
register for the draft.
Nearly 10 million men signed up in the first month.
• 12 weeks later, the first American troops arrived in France
• July 4 – Colonel Charles E. Stanton stood at the tomb of
France’s war hero, the Marquis de Lafayette (who
commanded French troops that aided Americans in the
Revolutionary war) and said, “Lafayette, we are here.”
• The Allies had been on the verge of defeat, but the infusion
of American troops turned the tide of the war.
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcKpWZOalo
Mobilization for War
• Airplanes (reconnaissance, bombing raids, and aerial
attacks)
• Automatic weapons (machine guns and naval guns on rail
cars)
• Poison gas (chlorine and mustard gas)
• Tanks (British invention – machine guns or light cannon)
• Trench warfare (going “over the top,” “no man’s land,”
blowing up trenches, and mustard gas in shells)
• Battleships
• Submarines (torpedoes and depth charges)
New Weapons
Trench Warfare
Trench Warfare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8nNJF1V1Pw
British Tanks
Howitzers
Artillery pieces with short barrels and high
trajectories with a steep angle of descent.
These weapons are suited for short-range,
vertical situations, such as trench warfare.
Aviation Make Great Advances
Battleships and U-boats
The War Industries Board organized the purchase and manufacture
of war supplies and converted factories to weapons production.
• More coal and oil were produced.
• Citizens were asked to plant Victory Gardens at home so that
food produced on large farms could be sent to the troops.
• The Food Administration, under Herbert Hoover, instituted
voluntary food conservation known as “Hooverizing.”
Meatless Mondays
Wheatless Wednesdays
• In 1918 – the government bought the entire wheat crop
• Citizens were encouraged to plant Victory Gardens.
• Women joined the workforce, taking the jobs soldiers left behind.
The Homefront
• To raise money for the war effort, the U.S.
government raised taxes and encouraged citizens to
buy Liberty Bonds.
• In all, the war cost the US $33 billion.
Liberty Bonds
Americans were
asked to grow
their own food
and stop buying
or using meat and
wheat products
one day a week.
Meatless Mondays
Wheatless Wednesdays
Hooverizing: Voluntary
conservation of food by U.S.
citizens so that we could send
more to the allied troops and
to starving European
civilians.
Victory Gardens
Women joined the labor force, taking over the jobs of
men who had been drafted for war.
Women in the Workforce
• The war effort depended on voluntary citizen
cooperation, so the government established the
Committee on Public Information to use
propaganda to “sell” the war to the American people
as a moral crusade.
• pamphlets
• posters
• actors called “four-minute men”
• Loyalty Leagues encouraged Americans to spy on
their neighbors and report on “disloyal” people.
Committee on Public Information
• The Four Minute Men were a group of volunteers
authorized by the US President Woodrow Wilson, to
give four-minute speeches on topics given to them by
The Committee on Public Information. The topics
dealt with the American war effort in the First World
War and were presented during the four minutes
between reels changing in movie theaters across the
country.
Four Minute Men
Propaganda
British Propaganda Posters
The Espionage Act of 1917
• intended to prohibit attempts to interfere with military operations,
to support U.S. enemies during wartime, to promote
insubordination in the military, or to interfere with military
recruitment
Sedition Act of 1918
• amendments to the Espionage Act which prohibited "any disloyal, profane,
scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United
States...or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy”
• Thousands were imprisoned for expressing negative opinions about the war --even in private.
Schenck v. United States - 1919
• Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes established the idea that saying or doing
anything that put soldiers at risk is not covered under Free Speech.
• But he also refused to uphold sentencing where no “clear and present danger”
of harming the US or the troops existed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y59wErqg4Xg
The Espionage and Sedition Acts
Espionage
and Sedition
Acts
Bolshevik Revolution - 1917
The Winter Palace
• The Russian army was
unprepared for war.
• Most soldiers weren’t
supplied with
uniforms, warm coats,
or even weapons.
• There wasn’t enough
food to feed the army.
• 3.3 million Russian
soldiers were killed or
died of starvation or
disease.
• Many soldiers
deserted.
World War I: The Russian Army
•
•
•
•
Lenin, an exiled Russian
Marxist who had been
arrested in Germany, was
sent back to Russia by
members of the German
military.
The Germans hoped he
would incite riots among the
Russian people.
If a civil war began, Russia
wouldn’t be able to fight on
Germany’s eastern front.
That would allow Germany
to concentrate all it’s
remaining forces on the
Allied armies on the western
front.
Vladimir Lenin
• Czar Nicholas was the
last emperor of
Russia.
• The long-distance
Russo-Japanese war
had left the country
almost bankrupt and
unable to provision
the army.
• In Moscow, there were
riots in the streets due
to food shortages and
anti-war sentiment.
• Nicholas was forced to
abdicate.
Nicholas Abdicates
•
•
•
Czar Nicholas wanted
to escape to England
with his family, but the
British government
would not allow them
to enter the country.
He and his family were
imprisoned in a small
house.
At around 2:00 a.m.
on July 17, 1918, the
family was awakened
and taken to the
basement where there
were all shot.
Assassination
• The Czar had not named a successor, so for a time,
there was no clear ruler of Russia.
• As Lenin worked to gain power, he had his enemies
rounded up and executed.
• Immediately after the October Revolution that
secured Lenin’s place as head of the Bolshevik
government, he immediately began to negotiate an
end to Russia’s involvement in the war.
• Though the war would last another year, Russia
ceased fighting on December 17, 1917.
Political Unrest
• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was peace treaty
that the Soviet government signed with
Germany on March 3, 1918 marking Russia's
official exit from WWI.
• The treaty renounced all territorial claims on
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine,
and Lithuania.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• On May 21, 1918, the German U-Boat 151 laid mines
in Chesapeake Bay off the Delaware Capes and, later,
cut telegraph lines between New York and Nova
Scotia.
• May 25, 1918 – U-151 stopped 3 American vessels,
removed the crew, and sank them.
• June 2, 1918 – “Black Sunday” – U-151 sank 6 ships
off the coast of New Jersey.
• 94 Day Mission: April 14, 1918 – June 20, 1918
• Sank 23 ships and laid mines that
would sink 4 more
U-151
• July 15, 1918 – With no Russians to fight on the eastern
front, the Germans could concentrate on the western front
in France.
• They struck at the American Expeditionary Force
commanded by General John “Black Jack” Pershing.
• The AEF were the newest troops, but they were also the
best trained. Gen. Pershing didn’t want to just fill in the
weak spots in the Allied army. He divided his forces into
three groups. Soldiers with the most military experience
were sent to France first followed later by the remaining
forces after they received additional training.
• They won some of the most important victories
of WWI.
The AEF
• July 18, 1918 – American and Allied forces made a
surprise attack on the Germans at Chateau-Thierry, a
town less than 50 miles from Paris.
• The American Expeditionary Force, with the help of
British tanks, pushed the Germans back 8 miles in one
day (at a time when gaining a few hundred yards was
considered great progress) and are credited for saving
the French capital.
March on Paris
• July 18, 1918 became known as “Schwartztag” or
“Black Day” by the Germans.
• The morale of the German soldiers was at an all-time
low.
• In Germany, Communist protesters were calling for
an end to the war and were drawing large crowds,
leading to fears of a German communist revolution.
• Nationalist groups in regions of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire were beginning to form armies to fight for
independence.
• The Imperial German Navy mutinied when ordered to
go on what they believed was a suicide mission.
German Morale
• November 7, 1918 – Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany
abdicated.
• November 9, 1918 – Kaiser Karl of Austria abdicated.
• November 11, 1918 – Realizing the war was lost,
German and Austrian provisional governments signed
an armistice agreement (a temporary stop to the
fighting).
• January 1919 – Germany and the Allies held a peace
conference to determine the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles, officially ending the war.
Armistice
.
• The Great War had involved 34 nations.
• 11 million soldiers had died:
116,000 Americans
322,000 Serbs
325,000 Turks
533,000 Italians
1 million Brits
1.5 million Austrians
1.5 million French
3.3 million Russians
2 million Germans
• 4 empires had fallen: German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and
the Ottoman
• 1/3 of the British fleet, the largest in the world, was destroyed
• The United States emerged as a World Power
Results of the Great War
• There was great optimism in Europe about the Treaty
of Versailles because it was widely known that
American President Wilson had a bold plan for
preventing another Great War.
• Wilson was a scholar and had been president of
Princeton.
• He outlined 14 points which would bring about a
lasting peace in Europe and the World.
• Other Allied leaders thought he was too idealistic.
An end to war…
• 1. Abolition of secret treaties
2. Freedom of the seas (no unrestricted warfare or
blockades)
3. Free Trade
4. Disarmament “to the lowest point consistent with
domestic safety”
5. Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and
national self-determination)
6. Russia to be assured independent development and
international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory
7. Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status
Wilson’s 14 Points
• 8. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany
9. Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality
10. Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as
a nation
11. Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan
states to be de-occupied
12. Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman
Empire as the Empire dissolved
13. Establishment of an independent Poland
14. A League of Nations– a multilateral international
association of nations to enforce the peace
Wilson’s 14 Points
• The Big Four: American President Woodrow Wilson,
French President Clemenceau, British Prime Minister
Lloyd-George, and Vittorio Emanuel Orlando of Italy
Negotiating the Treaty
• David Lloyd-George stated that he agreed that
Wilson’s plan was the best course, but he’d just been
elected on a platform of securing a “harsh peace.”
• French Prime Minister Clemenceau was also expected
to punish Germany.
• Lloyd-George predicted that the Treaty of
Versailles would cause another war within 25
years.
• WWII began 21 years later.
A Harsh Peace
• German diplomats weren’t allowed to negotiate, but were
only summoned to sign the completed document
• France was given Alsace-Lorraine and was given use of
the coal deposits in the Rhineland for 15 years.
• Germany’s overseas colonies went to Great Britain, the
US, and Japan.
• East Prussia went to form part of Poland
• The War Guilt Clause assigned all the blame to Germany
and humiliated the German people.
The War Guilt Clause
Political Boundaries Based Loosely
on Language and Ethnicity
• The Allies also wanted to insure that Germany was too
weak economically to ever go to war again.
• Germany lost:
15% of its coal;
50% of its iron ore
20% of its iron-steel industry
All merchant ships
All patents (Bayer Aspirin)
• Germany owed the Allies $37 billion in reparations
($5 billion+ to pay back the US on behalf of the allies)
A Weakened Germany
• Propaganda Posters
use symbols such as
the flag, the Statue
of Liberty, and
Uncle Sam to
inspire patriotism.
Analyzing Propaganda
Posters
Propaganda is the dissemination of information to influence
thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions. Posters often
employ more than one of these propaganda devices.
• Propaganda
Posters use images
of women and
children in
jeopardy to appeal
to one’s sense of
chivalry or to
generate sympathy.
Analyzing Propaganda
Posters
• Propaganda Posters
may appeal to the
audience’s fears.
• They may demonize
the enemy while
glamorizing the allies.
Analyzing Propaganda Posters
You’re doomed anyway, so why not die as
a hero in battle for king and country?
You can be as important to the war effort
as the soldiers are. The more money you
give the government, the more U-Boats
they can destroy.
She’d join if she could, and
she thinks your were a wimp
if you don’t.
Propaganda Posters can
have hidden or implied
messages.
Your children
will be
ashamed of you
if you don’t get
involved.
Propaganda posters may influence you to
“jump on the bandwagon.” That is, to do
what everyone else is doing.
Propaganda posters often use
guilt to manipulate you to comply.
U.S.
President
Wilson
Lord Kitchener,
Britain’s Minister
for War
Propaganda may use a respected authority figure
or other important figure that we want to emulate.
Sometimes propaganda appeals to a
person’s desire to belong to a group.
"The "plain folks" or "common man" approach
attempts to convince the audience that the
position is just good, common sense.
• What symbols are used
in this poster?
• Is there an implied
message?
• What other devices are
used?
Analyzing propaganda posters.
• What devices are
being used?
• Is there an implied
message?
Analyzing propaganda posters
• What devices are
being used?
• Is there an implied
message?
Analyzing Political Posters