Events before the First World War

German unification sought

Nationalism, imperialism
Otto von Bismarck (Prussian statesman) saw threat to other nations
1882: Alliance of Austria, Italy, and Germany was formed
1890: William II unsuccessful at world politics (bad attitude)
1894: French-Russian alliance is formed
Early 1900s: Great Britain joins French-Russian alliance
Central Powers: Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary
Allied Powers: France, Russia, Great Britain
Balkan Crises
decline of Turkish Empire
clashing interests and balance of power, territorial gains and losses
rise in nationalism (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece)
conferences and treaties that aimed to balance power eventually lead to wars
Balkan Wars 1912/1913
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
June 28, 1914: Gavilo Princip, Bosnian Serb student assassinated Austro-
Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife
political objective: cut-off South Serb territories
tensions between Serbia and Austria-Hungary escalate
after days of negotiations, Austria declared war on Serbia
July 28, 1914: Great War breaks out
The First World War
Austria partnered with Germany, while Serbia aligned with Russia.
treaties enabled France and Great Britain to later on support Russia.
Total War: all of society involved: food rationalization, military conscription,
government intervention
1917: Russian Czar dethroned, leads to provisional government
1917: Lenin rules Russia, pulls out of war; US joins in due to Germanys naval
attacks
Trench wars are introduced, so are high-caliber artillery, chemical weapons
War of Attrition: wearing down enemy until point of collapse (resources)
Battle of Verdun: single longest and deadliest war
War fatigue and exhaustion, collapsing economies
Stab-in-the-back myth: German right-wing nationalists believed Weimar
Republic officers were traitors
November 9, 1918: Germany surrenders in dire conditions; war is over
November 11, 1918: Armistice is signed
Post WWI: Treaty of Versailles
signed in Versailles, Paris
June 28, 1919
meant to impose sanctions heavily on Germany
war guilt: Germany has biggest fault and blame
The Big Three: USA, Great Britain, France
1. W. Wilson (USA): fair and lasting peace, military reduced for all,
League of Nations
2. D.L. George (Great Britain): conflicting views, Germany should be
punished not until destitution because he feared rise of communism
3. Clemenceau (France): bring Germany to its knees so it may never start
war again
Provisions
1. Territory: Germany loses significant states to other nations
2. Military: cuts in military power, heavy restrictions on personnel,
equipment, weapons
3. Reparations: millions of euros in compensation for damages
4. League of Nations: established to prevent future wars
5. War Guilt: accept full responsibility for war
Germany was forced to sign treaty, angered public, incapable of war
Post WWI: Weimar Republic (1918-1933)
imperial government, attempted German democracy
blamed for surrender by left-wing Communists and right-wing Nationalists
1923: Hitler attempts to overthrow government in Beer Hall Putsch;
imprisoned and writes autobiography, My Struggle
1923: large financial inflation
1929: Global Crisis (The Great Depression)
Nazi party: strict order and national pride, anti-Semitism
Communists: against capitalism, state property
1933: Coalition of Nazi Party formed
1. Hitler as Chancellor
2. political opponents targeted and executed
3. Stormtroopers (Nazi soldiers) as police assistance
4. repression of Jews
Events leading to the Second World War
1936: Nuremberg Law
1. prohibition of marriages with Jews
2. declared Jews as non-Germans
3. 1938: Night of Broken Glass (Jewish shops and homes were
vandalized)
Why the Jews?
1. tradition of anti-Semitism in Europe
2. wanting the perfect race
Peoples Community: uniting people across classes to achieve national
purpose
Italys Mussolini and Soviet Unions Stalin gain power
Stalin instills command economy
1. five-year plans
2. forced labor
3. collectivization of agrarian sector (land is state-owned)
1930s: Great Purge
1. people seen as threats sent to camps of forced labor
2. executions and killings
3. destroying churches
4. NKVD: Secret Police
5. Personality cult: mass media and propaganda to charismatic authority
The Third Reich
1. Hitlers Third Empire
2. expansionism: Germans outside; Lebensraum, territorial increase
3. complete alignment to Nazi goals and control
4. revision of Versailles treaty: rapid expansion of army
5. dictatorship
6. rewarding Aryan women for reproduction
7. Holocaust: mass murder of Jews
1939: Germany prepares attack on Poland, soon after does, and Second World
War breaks out
The Second World War
German conquest was quick, colonized all of Europe
blitzkrieg tactic: lightning war
1. attack all at the same time
2. quick moving tanks and armored vehicles
3. troops marching
1940: Battle of England was Hitlers first defeat
1941: Invasion of Soviet Union shocked Stalin
War of Extermination against Jews
Einsatzgruppen
1. member of German elite forces
2. primary goal is to kill Jews
3. extermination camps: gas chambers (Auschwitz, Poland)
4. kept a secret but Germans knew there was something happening
Stalin got his act together
Battle of Stalingrad: Stalin city
1. prestigious place
2. 6-month battle
3. Germany lost
June 1944: Invasion of France
1. D-Day = decision day in Normany
2. France was liberated
3. US, France, and Britain (Allied Powers)
Hitler wanted to commit suicide due to humilitation
May 1945: Germans fully surrender, no armistice
Stalin began conquering Eastern side of Germany
Second World War ends in Europe
Post WWII
millions homeless, collapsed European economy
Marshall Plan: economic support to aid in rebuilding economies in Europe
after the war
1947: Berlin Blockade: airlift goods to Berliners
1949: Creation of East and West states
Welfare-state: higher taxes for social projects
Soviet Union controlled Eastern Europe; US controlled Western Europe
1950s: economic stability across western Europe
1951: Economic cooperation
1956: Hungarian uprising was unsuccessful but instrumental
1958: European community
1968: Prague Spring (political reforms in Czechoslovakia
1989: Breaking of Berlin Wall