World War One Notes
• M.A.I.N. Causes of WWI
• Militarism: the build up of weapons and military forces in times of peace, in preparation for war
• Alliances: an agreement between two or more countries to cooperate with each other, usually for military purposes
• Imperialism: policy in which a stronger, more powerful nation takes control of a weaker, less powerful nation.
• Nationalism: the love of one’s country or culture, which typically leads to a willingness to defend it. Nationalism was the driving force behind WWI. A nation refers to a group of people who share a common culture. Not all nations had states; many were included in empires. Ethnic and ideological differences led to conflict within these empires. Nationalism also spurred economic and political rivalries among states led European nations to establish a complex system of military alliances.
Alliances
• Triple Entente: Great Britain, France and Russia
• Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary Empire
• Russia was the self-proclaimed protector of the Slavic people of Europe. Russia and Serbia had a military alliance.
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
• Austria-Hungary Empire was a large territory that included many different ethnic groups: Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Rumanians, Poles, Hungarians, and Austrians.
• Only the Austrians and Hungarians had the right to vote. Other ethnic groups desired independence.
• Serbia was at the center of the nationalist movements. Austria-Hungary was an enemy of Serbia because of the large number of Serbs living within the empire who wanted to unite with Serbia.
• In June of 1914, Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in the city of Sarajevo by a terrorist group called the Black Hand.
World War One Starts
• Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination. Eventually A-H declared war on Serbia. Russia responded by mobilizing its military which caused Germany to declare war on Russia. Germany also declared war on France and eventually Great Britain declared war on Germany. World War One began with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire)
fighting against the Allies (France, Great Britain, Russia until 1916, Italy and the U.S. after 1917).
• Over 65 million people are involved in the war.
• WWI becomes the first modern war because of the use of new weapons and technology such as the machine gun, tanks airplanes, poison gas, and submarines
• The Industrial Revolution and mechanization (having things done by machinery) made it possible for more effective weapons to be made and caused WWI to be the first modern war. New weapons included the machine gun, airplane, tanks, poison gas, and submarines.
• Traditional European military strategy was to charge across the field at the opposing army and drive force it to retreat or surrender.
• The machine gun (firing 500 rounds a minute) changed how the war was fought.
• The western front (Allies vs. Germany) became a stalemate (no winner) and trench warfare developed.
• Trench warfare is when troops from both sides fight from trenches (big ditches). No man’s land is the barren, wasteland in between the trenches. Thousands of soldiers were killed in this area as armies moved back and across this barren land.
• Generals were confused by the weapons and style of fighting kept giving the order to fight which resulted in a mounting pile of dead soldiers. In 1916, the British suffered 60,000 casualties in a single day.
Russian Revolution Notes
· Prior to WWI, Russia was a large country ruled by Czar Nicholas II. Many Russians did not like the czar or his government policies. Russians were discontented over high taxes, working conditions, and political expressions.
· When WWI broke out, Russia was not prepared to fight even though it participated from the beginning. Poor decisions by the czar and his generals resulted in the loss of battles and hundred of thousands of soldiers.
· At home people were living in poverty and starving and Nicholas II did not fix the problems. Many people listened to Vladimir Lenin and joined him in a revolution against the Russian government.
· The Bolshevik (Russian) Revolution left the czar, his family and 15 million other Russians dead. As a result of the revolution, Russia withdrew from the eastern front and abandoned their allies. They signed a peace treaty with Germany in 1918. This allowed Germany to focus all their men and supplies on the western front.
· This resulted in Germany almost defeating the Allies in the early part of 1918. The arrival of American soldiers and supplies prevented Germany from winning.
· The Russian Revolution also changed the Russian government from an absolute monarchy to communism. The Revolution ended in 1922 with the formation of the Soviet Union under the control of Lenin.
The United States and WWI
• Under President Woodrow Wilson, the U.S. remained neutral during the first two years of the war
• The U.S. practiced a policy known as isolationism; the country did not get involved with Europe’s or the world’s problems
• Germany practiced unrestricted submarine warfare-attacked military and passenger ships without warning
• Sinking of the Lusitania: British passenger liner was attacked by a German U-boat, killing 1198 passengers (including 128 Americans)
• Zimmerman Note: a note from Germany to Mexico basically telling the Mexican
government that if they fought against the U.S., Germany would help them get back Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The United States intercepted the note.
• The Russian Revolution: the U.S. didn’t like the czar, Nicholas II and once he was gone the U.S. felt like they could support the allies
• Economic Issues and British Influence: the U.S. had more in common with British than the Germans and the U.S. did more trading with the Allied Powers than the Central Powers
Outcome of WWI
• April 6, 1917 the United States declares war on Germany
• Early part of 1918, German attacks crushed the Allies on the Western Front
• By the summer of 1918, 2 million fresh American troops were turning the momentum of the war in favor of the allies
• By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were exhausted and one by one they surrendered
• The Ottoman Empire was the first to surrender, then Austria-Hungary, and finally on November 11, 1918, Germany signed an armistice or cease fire
• After 4 long years, the war was finally over
Treaty of Versailles
• After World War I, representatives from Great Britain, Italy, France and the U.S. (known as the Big Four) met to create a peace treaty
• Each country had a different objective for the treaty
• Great Britain wanted to expand its territory, protect its colonies and make
• Germany pay
• France wanted protection against any future invasions by Germany and they wanted to weaken Germany by making it give up territory, decrease its military, and pay war damages
• Italy wanted to expand its territory in Europe and overseas
• The United States only wanted peace (Wilson’s Fourteen Points) and the creation of the League of Nations
Results of the Treaty of Versailles
• Germany lost territory and colonies to France (territories of Alsace and Lorraine), Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark and Poland
• Two new countries were created: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia
• The German army was reduced to 100,000, no air force or submarines, and demilitarization of the Rhineland
• Germany accepted responsibility for starting the war (War Guilt Clause)
• Germany had to pay back $33 billion to the allies nations (war reparations)
• The League of Nations was formed (President Wilson’s idea)
• Great Britain and France were able to punish Germany with the treaty
Impact of the War
Allowed nationalism to grow (Germany)
• Created new nations and overthrew four empires (Russia, German, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman)
• Over 37 million people killed and millions misplaced (war refugees)
• Creation of the League of Nations (an international organization created to maintain peace throughout the world and to prevent future wars and conflicts)
Weaknesses of the League of Nations
• It didn’t include every major nation (the United States didn’t join even though it was President Wilson’s idea)
• Every member had to agree on every decision
• The League could not raise money, it had to depend on participants giving money voluntarily)
• There was no army to enforce the decisions of the league
• It failed out keeping peace: Japan invaded Manchuria (China), Italy took control of Ethiopia, and war broke out between Bolivia and Paraguay