Unit 5: Great War, Great Depression
Write the number of the paragraph where you found the answer in the space provided
Questions / Standard / Paragraph Number- What are the four M.A.I.N. causes of World War I?
- How did militarism help cause World War I?
- How did alliances help cause World War I?
- How did imperialism help cause World War I?
- Why was nationalism the biggest cause of World War I?
- What event started World War I?
- Why was World War I worse than other wars that had been fought before?
- How were the three fronts of World War I different?
- Why did Russia drop out of World War I?
- What events caused the United States to get involved in World War I?
- What were some of the problems with the Treaty of Versailles?
- How was the world different after World War I?
- How did Germany’s economy suffer after World War I?
- Why was the US economy in good shape after World War I?
- How did problems in the stock market hurt the US economy?
- What happened when the stock market crashed in 1929?
- Why did the Great Depression spread around the world?
- What ways did countries respond to the Great Depression?
- How did the United States respond to the Great Depression?
- How did Germany respond to the Great Depression?
- What makes a government totalitarian?
- What was society like in the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 30s?
- How were communism and socialism used in the Soviet Union?
- How did Josef Stalin have an impact on the Soviet Union?
- What was society like in Italy during the 1920s and 30s?
- How was fascism used in Italy?
- How did Benito Mussolini have an impact on Italy?
- What was society like in Germany during the 1920s and 30s?
- How was Nazism used in Germany?
- How did Adolf Hitler have an impact on Germany?
Unit 5 Vocabulary
Terms in BOLD are people. For instead of a definition for people, write why they were important during this time period
- Militarism
- Alliances
- Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Allied Powers
- Central Powers
- Western Front
- Trench warfare
- Stalemate
- Eastern Front
- Italian Front
- Czar Nicholas II
- Bolshevik Revolution
- Vladimir Lenin
- Neutral
- Woodrow Wilson
- Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
- Zimmermann Telegram
- American Expeditionary Force
- Armistice
- Self-determination
- Treaty of Versailles
- League of Nations
- Great Depression
- Hyperinflation
- Economic boom
- Stocks
- Surplus
- Creditors
- Stock Market Crash of 1929
- Bank Runs
- Gold Standard
- Totalitarian
- Soviet Union
- Collectivization
- Josef Stalin
- Command economy
- Fascism
- Benito Mussolini
- Nazism
- Weimar Republic
- Aryans
- Adolf Hitler
Unit 5 Reader Part 1: World War I
World War I (Standard 7-4.1) BENCHMARK
M.A.I.N. CAUSES
1World War I was the result of many different events coming together. The Industrial Revolution and its effects joined with the imperialism and nationalism of people across Europe to create conflict bigger than any that had come before. World War I would be the most destructive and most deadly war at that point in human history. It was so massive that it would be called the “Great War.”
2The four most important causes of World War I spell out the word M.A.I.N.
3Militarism (support for a strong and aggressive military) was one of the four M.A.I.N. causes of World War I. It had started as a part of imperial expansion in the 1800s. Western nations built bigger and more powerful armies and navies. They used these to conquer lands around the world and protect their homes.
4Alliances (countries agreeing to work with each other) were created so nations could protect themselves from their enemies. By joining together they made each other stronger. Russia, France, and Great Britain formed an alliance on one side of the war. Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary formed an alliance on the other.
5Imperialism was also a cause of World War I. Nations continued trying to expand into other territories for their natural resources and their markets. Young countries like Italy and Germany wanted colonies so they could become as rich and powerful as older countries like Britain. These countries had to compete with each other because most territories were already claimed.
6All of these causes were important, but the biggest cause of World War I was nationalism. Nationalism inspired the other three causes. Nationalism made economic and political rivalries stronger because every nation thought they were the best. It also had a major impact on the countries that were not independent in the years before World War I. They were part of larger empires such as Austria-Hungary or the Ottoman Empire. Many of these nations wanted independence and a country of their own.
7Nationalism would also play a major role in the event that started the war.
STARTING WORLD WAR I
8Serbia was a nation that was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even though they were a part of Austria-Hungary, a large number of Serbians believed they should have a country of their own. They felt closer to countries like Russia that shared a similar culture with them. On June 28, 1914 a small group of extreme nationalists decided to take action.
9Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were touring the Serbian city of Sarajevo. They were in danger from the moment they set foot in the city. In one case, a bomb was thrown in their car, but it didn’t go off correctly and wounded a different official. In spite of the danger the Archduke and his wife continued their tour of the city. They were on the way to the hospital to visit the wounded man when Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip stepped out the card and fired his revolver into the car. Both Archduke Ferdinand and Sophie were killed.
10The Archduke’s assassination caused Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. This triggered the alliances on both sides, dragging most of Europe into the war. When things had finally settled there were two sides fighting in World War I. The Allied Powers were Great Britain, France, and Russia. The Central Powers were Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire.
FIGHTING WORLD WAR I
11World War I was the result of many different events coming together. The Industrial Revolution and its effects joined with the imperialism and nationalism of people across Europe to create conflict bigger than any that had come before. World War I would be the most destructive and most deadly war at that point in human history. It was so massive that it would be called the “Great War.”
12One reason World War I was deadly and destructive was the Industrial Revolution. Industrialization allowed weapons to be mass produced, meaning all armies plenty of weapons to fight the war. It also encouraged people to develop new weapons technology. You can see some of the weapons developed during the war in the chart below:
Military Technology in World War ILong-Range Artillery / Rifled cannons that could hit targets several miles away. They used large shells and could be reloaded quickly
Poison Gas / Dropped on battlefields and into trenches to kill soldiers. It sometimes blew back towards the people who used it or into towns and cities near the fighting.
Submarines / Also called U-Boats. These were used to sneak attack ships by firing torpedoes from under the water.
Tanks / Large armored vehicles. During World War I they were used to cross trenches, crush barbed wire, and give soldiers something to hide behind between trenches.
Machine Guns / Guns that could fire hundreds of rounds every minute. They had to be mounted on tripods and took several people to effectively use them.
Airplanes / Airplanes had existed since shortly before World War I started. This would be first conflict where airplanes were used by the military.
Flame throwers / Gasoline-filled tanks mounted to a nozzle with a long hose. These were developed near the end of the war to clear out trenches.
13Most of the fighting of World War I took place on one of three fronts.
14The Western Front saw French and British soldiers teamed up to fight against Germany. Trench Warfare, a type of fighting where the armies used long systems of trenches as forts, was common on the Western Front. It caused the war to become a stalemate (a fight that neither side could win). Each side would try to take the other side’s trenches, which usually failed and resulted in thousands of dead and wounded.
15The Italian Front saw France fighting Austria-Hungary and Germany. Italy was also originally part of this alliance, but during the war they switched sides and joined France and the other Allied Powers.
16The Eastern Frontsaw Russia fighting Germany. Many smaller nations also fought on the Eastern Front. Nations trying to break free from imperialist nations, like Serbia for example, joined with Russia. Nations that wanted to stay in their empires mostly joined with Germany. The Eastern Front would collapse in 1917 because Russia would drop out of the war.
RUSSIA DROPS OUT
17The Russian people were not happy about being involved in World War I. Actually, they were not really happy with anything about their government. They paid high taxes to support the war. They had horrible working conditions, similar to the ones at the very start of the Industrial Revolution. They also had very few political rights because Russia was an absolute monarchy. Under normal conditions the Russian monarch, Czar Nicholas II, was able to keep his people in line. The stress caused by the war made that impossible.
18In 1917 the Russian monarchy was overthrown in the Bolshevik Revolution. During this revolution, the working class overthrew Nicholas II. Their leader, Vladimir Lenin, took control. Nicholas II, his wife, and his children were all executed by the Bolsheviks. Lenin’s government abandoned the Allied Powers and signed a peace treaty with Germany, shutting down the Eastern Front. This put even more importance on the Western Front. Fortunately, a new ally would soon arrive to take Russia’s place among the Allied Powers.
AMERICAN JUMPS IN
191917 was the year that Russia dropped out of the war. This could have been a disaster for the Allied Powers. Losing a powerful ally would have made the war very difficult to win. Fortunately, that was also the year that the United States was finally convinced to join the fighting of World War I.
20When the war started in 1914 the United States declared themselvesneutral, meaning they chose not to take anybody’s side during the war. Even early in the war the United States had a hard time staying out of it. This is especially true when it comes to Britain. Britain and the United States have a long history that keeps ties between the two countries strong. The United States continued to trade with Britain during the war. Trade with the Central Powers was heavily cut back by British blockades. These strong business ties caused American businesses to make loans to the Allied powers. They made the loans because they hoped to keep trade going so they could make more money.
21The Central Powers also did things that made U.S. President Woodrow Wilson very upset. One practice was Germany’s use of unrestricted submarine warfare. Germany used submarines to attack Allied Powers’ ships without warning. Wilson believed the Germans were responsible for innocent lives lost to the German submarines. In 1915 the Germans sank a British passenger ship called The Lusitania, which seemed to prove Germany was a bloodthirsty nation who was willing to kill anyone that got in its way.
22In the 1916 presidential election Wilson ran on the fact that he had kept the United States neutral, but that was not going last long. The discovery of the Zimmermann Telegram was one event that pushed the United States closer to war. The telegram supposedly sent from Germany to Mexico, offering to form an alliance against the United States if the Americans joined the war. In return, Mexico was offered the chance to regain some of the land it had lost to the United States. This made many Americans very angry with Germany because the United States and Mexico had been arguing and fighting with each other for many years.
23Germany’s decision to restart submarine attacks also helped the United States move closer to war. When Germany restarted the attacks they sank several U.S. merchant ships. This was the last straw for President Wilson. Saying he would “make the world safe for democracy,” Wilson asked the Congress to declare war on Germany in April of 1917.
24The American Expeditionary Force was sent to Europe in 1918. Although they arrived very late in the war they still played an important role. Germany had planned one final attack on the Western Front. They hoped to push through Britain’s weak defenses and turn the tide of the war in Germany’s favor. The United States stopped the German attack and broke the stalemate. The Allied Powers were on the move towards Germany. The two sides agreed to an armistice (an agreement to stop fighting) on November 11, 1918. The fighting of World War I was over.
Outcomes of World War I (Standard 7-4.2)
THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
25When World War I ended the Allied Powers could not agree on what to do. President Woodrow Wilson wanted whatever treaty they came up with to solve the problems that led to World War I. He wanted to end militarism, end secret alliances, and allow countries to have self-determination (freedom to make choices for themselves). Wilson’s plan to create world peace was called the Fourteen Points. He hoped that by adopting it the world could end war for all time.
26However, the other winning nations were not interested in world peace. They wanted to weaken Germany so they would not have to compete with them in the future. They also wanted to increase their own wealth and power. They ignored the majority of Wilson’s Fourteen Points and created a treaty that would benefit them the most.
27The treaty they came up with was called the Treaty of Versailles. Britain and France wrote it because they wanted profit more than they wanted peace. For this reason, the main purpose of the treaty was to punish Germany. One way it did this was including a War Guilt Clause in the Treaty of Versailles. The War Guilt Clause forced Germany to accept the blame for starting World War I. You can see what the War Guilt Clause did in the chart below:
How the War Guilt Clause punished GermanyGermany was forced to pay reparations (fines you pay to make up for something bad you did
Germany had its military restricted to 100,00 soldiers
Germany was not allowed to have either airplanes or submarines in its army or navy
Germany had to give up land in Europe and almost all of its colonies
28The Treaty of Versailles hurt Germany’s economy. It caused problems within German y’s government. Maybe worst of all, it embarrassed the German people.
29It was difficult for the Treaty of Versailles to create peace. Some of the Allied Powers, such as Russia, signed their own treaties with Germany and were not invited to participate at Versailles. This created bad feelings among the winners and hurt attempts to create world peace. Other nations like the United States rejected the treaty and went back to isolation. They wanted to avoid getting caught in the types of alliances that led to World War I.
THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
30The best attempt to create pace was the creation of the League of Nations. The League was based on a simple idea: If the nations of the world could come together and talk about their problems then maybe they could avoid fighting wars. The problem was that the League was broken from very beginning. The United States refused to join the League. Germany and Russia were not allowed to join because of what happened during World War I. Japan and Italy quit the League when it told them to stop being imperialist. Any decisions the League made had to be unanimous, meaning they had to have the agreement of all of its members. Even when they made a decision they had no power to back up what they said.
CHANGES IN THE MAP OF EUROPE
31Peace also became difficult due to the way the map of Europe changed after World War I. At the end of the war countries had to deal with growing nationalism inside their borders and inside their colonies. While self-determination was still the goal it was not often given. Only the Allied Powers were given the ability to run things for themselves. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires were forced to break apart. The nation of Poland was carved out of land that had been part of Germany and Russia and gained its independence.