The War to End All Wars

WHAP/Napp

Cues: / Notes:
I.  Overview
A.  World War I (July 1914 - November 1918)àknown as the Great War
B.  War killed up to 10 million soldiersàBetween 3 to 5 million civilians perished, mainly of disease and ______caused by war
C.  Approximately 28 million to 30 million people were ______or disabled
D.  Cost $32 billion (almost $400 billion in current economic terms)
E.  Shattered Europe politically, economically, and culturally
I.  Four great empires – German Reich, Russia’s tsarist regime, Austria-Hungary’s Habsburg dynasty, and ______Empire –destroyed
II.  New Attitudes
A.  Spirit of optimism and faith in progress vanished, replaced by ____, anxiety
B.  European’s view of themselves as models of civilized behavior and cultural superiority was exposed as a foolish ______
C.  Only major nation in ______to escape this malaise was U.S.
D.  Social changes à final decline of aristocracy, rise of middle and lower classes, greater democratization, complete industrialization of Europe
E.  And granting of suffrage to women in most Western nations
F.  A fundamental shift in ______poweràbecoming clear that Europe would not be able to continue in its position of preeminence for much longer
G.  U.S.A. àon its way to becoming the world’s powerhouse
H.  World War I ended one age and began another à W.W. I considered to be the true beginning of the 20th century
III. Causes
A.  Militarism, alliance systems, imperialism, and ______(MAIN)
B.  Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) versus Triple Entente (France, Russia, and Britain)
C.  Italyàweak link and would actually change sides during World War I
D.  War began in Balkans, famously known as the “powder _____ of Europe”
E.  Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife Sophie, on June 28, 1914, in Bosnian city of ______
F.  Killer was a Bosnian student of Serb descent and a member of a terrorist group that received money and arms from ______
G.  Austria blamed Serbia for the murders
H.  On July 23, Austria handed Serbia an ______, a list of humiliating demands, and threatened to declare war if Serbia did not agree to all them
I.  Slavic Russia, “big brother” to Serbs, was intervenedàlike clockwork, ______system went into operation
III. The War
Summaries:
Cues: / A.  During war, members of Triple Entente were known as ______
B.  In 1917, United States also joined Allied war effort
C.  But Russia dropped out of war when the Bolsheviks came to power
D.  On other sideàCentral PowersàGermany and Austria-Hungary, members of the Triple Alliance, minus Italyàjoined by Bulgaria and ______
E.  Germany’s war plan – Schlieffen Plan – and its failure determined how first phase of World War I proceeded
F.  Germany’s difficulty lay in two-front ground waràOn one front, Germany fought France and Allied forcesàon other, fought ______and Allies
G.  Schlieffen Plan: Germany would send 75 percent of army against France, in order to capture ______and knock France out of war in six weeks
H.  Rest of German army, along with Austrians, would defend against Russia, which was expected to take months to mobilize fully
I.  To catch French off guard, main attackàthrough neutral ______
J. Illegal invasion of Belgium and deaths of many civilians ensured that Britain would join the war on side of Allies
K. But Schlieffen Plan failedàAlthough German troops came within sight of Paris, the French army made a heroic stand at the ______River
L. During rest of 1914, two European fronts, Western Front and ______Front
M. Western Frontàtrench warfareàstalemateàhundreds of thousands of casualties, but no useful outcomesàalso mud, lice, rats, disease, and dead bodies
N. Eastern Frontàwas much longeràRussians found themselves in terrible troubleàfact that Bulgaria and Ottomans on side of ______Powers meant that Russia was cut off from its allies and had to fight the war without assistance
O. And Vladimir Lenin and Bolsheviks promised, “______, peace, and land” – and came to power after second revolution in Russia within one year – Russians quickly pulled out of the war
P. And over time, Germany’s success with submarine warfare would backfire, bringing the United States into the war in 1917
Q. T.E. Lawrence, better known as ______of Arabia, persuaded Arab princes to rise up against their Ottoman mastersàby 1917 and 1918, Ottoman Empire was dismantled
R. Before that, in 1915, Ottomans carried out 20th-century’s first campaign of genocide, massacring somewhere between 500,000 and 2 million ______
S. 1917àZimmerman telegramàGermany tried to convince ______to declare war on the United States by offering land at end of waràtelegram intercepted
T. The war came to an end on November 11, 1918
U. World War I had been a total war in that it required nations to involve their populations and mobilize their resources completely
V. Paris Peace Conference, from 1919 to 1920àWilson of U.S., David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Vittorio ______of Italy
W. The Allies drew up five treaties, one for each defeated powerà Treaty of Versailles was agreement reached with Germany and signed on June 28, 1919
X. Germany was ______for the war (a “war guilt” clause), forced to pay reparations, and lost its coloniesàpaved way for another war
Summaries:

Questions:

·  How did the First World War change European views of European societies?

·  Describe the chronology of the war (from causes to actual fighting).

·  What was the Schlieffen Plan and how did it affect the outcome of the war?

·  Compare and contrast the Western and Eastern Fronts.

·  Describe how the actions of Italy, the U.S.A., and Russia impacted the outcome of the war.

·  Discuss the Treaty of Versailles and its impact on world history.

1.  Which of the following events could BEST be used as evidence to support the argument that Germany was to blame for World War I?
(A) The assassination of Francis Ferdinand
(B) The harshness of the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia
(C) The Germans’ “blank check” to Austria
(D) The Anglo-German naval race
(E) The Zimmerman telegram
2.  Which of the following BEST describes the Schlieffen Plan?
(A) A massive attack on and rapid defeat of France, then a single-front war with Russia
(B) A massive attack on and rapid defeat of Russia, then a single-front war with France
(C) The devotion of equal force and attention to France and Russia at the same time
(D) A total focus on the strategic threat posed by Britain’s royal Navy
(E) A Flanking move directed against Serbia, which might otherwise knock Austria out of the war
3.  Where was the Germans’ initial drive towards Paris halted?
(A) The Aisne
(B) Verdun
(C) The Somme
(D) Ypres
(E) The Marne / 4.  Which of the following is most true about combat on the Western and Eastern fronts?
(A) Fighting on the Eastern Front degenerated into stalemate, whereas conditions on the Western Front were much more fluid
(B) Fighting on the Western Front degenerated into stalemate, whereas conditions on the Eastern Front were much more fluid.
(C) Conditions on both fronts were roughly the same.
(D) The level of technology on the Eastern Front was significantly higher than on the Western Front.
(E) There were no aircraft used on the Eastern Front.
5.  What was the most useful type of naval vessel deployed during World War I?
(A) The battleship
(B) The battle cruiser
(C) The submarine
(D) The destroyer
(E) The aircraft carrier
6.  What British guerrilla leader captured the world’s imagination by stirring up Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire?
(A) D.H. Lawrence
(B) T.E. Lawrence
(C) Richard Francis Burton

Excerpt from elsa.berkeley.edu

Wilfred Owen, in particular, stressed the tragic waste of war and many of his poems were compassionate rather than bitter or angry. He wanted to stir up pity for the dead who had died agonizing and undignified deaths. He also wanted to make readers aware of all of the good young men on both sides could have achieved, if only they had lived.

He believed in Christian pacifism and strongly put forward the case in letters home, rather than in his poems. Other poets made similar expressions of pity or protest. For example, Sassoon asks for sympathy for the dead member of the Working Party. Rudyard Kipling compares the modern soldier's agony to Christ's agony in Gethsemane. Other poems which express this theme are Owen's Strange Meeting and Sassoon's Attack.

Dulce et decorum est *("tis sweet and fitting to die for one's country”)
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many lost their boots,
But limped on: blood shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue: deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time.
But someone was still yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we hung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.*

Thesis Statement: Comparative: Germany and Russia during the First World War ______