Chapter 20: The Great War

I. Promise and Peril

A) Reasons for Hope

International Cooperation
Organizations
Red Cross
Standardization of weights and measures
Pan-American Union
Olympic Games
A) Reasons for Hope

International Efforts at Peace

Alfred Nobel
Andrew Carnegie
Peace Palace at The Hague
Peace organizations
What
started
this mess?
B) Reasons for Fear

The real source of tension

Extreme Nationalism
Chauvinism
Militarism
Excessive buildup
National glory
 Imperialism
Conflicting claims
Rival Alliances
Sometimes in secret
C) Steps Toward War

The Building of Bismarcks System

System of Alliances
Keep France diplomatically isolated
Three Emperors League
Fell apart
C) Steps Toward War

The Building of Bismarcks System

Dual Alliance
With Austria-Hungary
Triple Alliance
Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary
C) Steps Toward War

The Building of Bismarcks System

Reinsurance Treaty
Secret alliance with Russia
Unsuccessful at bringing Britain into Triple Alliance
C) Steps Toward War

The Breakdown of Bismarcks System

Wilhelm II
Forced Bismarck to resign as chancellor
Allowed Reinsurance Treaty to expire
C) Steps Toward War

The Breakdown of Bismarcks System

France and Russia make a defensive alliance
Germany antagonized Britain
Entente Cordiale between Britain and France
C) Steps Toward War

The Breakdown of Bismarcks System

Anglo-Russian Entente
Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia
C) Steps Toward War

The Testing of the Alliance System

Morocco
Instability of Balkans
Powder keg of Europe
II. The Pressing Conflict
A) The Commencement of
the War

Archduke Francis
Ferdinand
assassinated
while in Sarajevo
 A) The Commencement of the War

Austria sent ultimatum to Serbia

Serbia agreed to nearly all demands
Austria declared war on Serbia anyway
 A) The Commencement of the War

Russia mobilized to come to Serbias defense

Germany declared war on Russia and on France
Central Powers (Germany and Austria-
Hungary) vs. Allies (Russia, Serbia, France)
 A) The Commencement of the War

War in the West

Germany: Schlieffen Plan
Attack France first, then turn to face Russia
Germans demanded to pass through Belgium
Denied, but Germans did it anyway
Britain joined the Allies
 A) The Commencement of the War

War in the West

Germans almost made it to Paris, but were
pushed back
Both sides dug into trenches
 A) The Commencement of the War

War in the East

Russians achieved several initial victories
General Paul von Hindenburg defeated Russians
Russians did not threaten German borders again
during the war
 A) The Commencement of the War

War in the East

Russian problems
Inadequate factories
Inability to receive supplies
Ottoman Empire
On the Central Powers side
Gallipoli Peninsula
Bulgaria joined the Central Powers
 B) The Course of the War

Stalemate!
Stalemate

A situation in which both sides

are at a standstill
B) The Course of the War

Stalemate turns into a war of Attrition

Attrition

A war in which both sides try to

wear each other down gradually
B) The Course of the War

Italy Joins the Allies

Neutral at start of war
Promised loans and territory
B) The Course of the War

New Weapons of War

Machine guns
 New Weapons of War
Machine guns
Flame throwers
 New Weapons of War
Machine guns
Flame throwers
Poisonous gas shells
Gas masks and detection devices
 New Weapons of War
Machine guns
Flame throwers
Poisonous gas shells
Gas masks and detection devices
Big Bertha guns
 New Weapons of War
Machine guns
Flame throwers
Poisonous gas shells
Gas masks and detection devices
Big Bertha guns
Tanks
B) The Course of the War

New Weapons of War

Airplanes
Dogfights
Zeppelins
Submarines
B) The Course of the War

The War at Sea

U-boats
War zone around British Isles
Sinking of Lusitania
B) The Course of the War

The War at Sea

Battle of Jutland
All-out submarine campaign
B) The Course of the War

Collapse of Russia
Nicholas II abdicated
Provisional government under Alexander Kerensky
Second revolution brought Communists to power
Vladimir Lenin
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
B) The Course of the War

The United States Enters the War

Initially neutral
Why did Wilson ask for a declaration of war?
German submarine campaign
Ties with Britain and France
B) The Course of the War
Why did Wilson ask for
a declaration of war?
German plot
Allied propaganda
Monetary ties
Balance of power
American soldiers did
not have an immediate
impact
John J. Pershing
C) The Conclusion of the War

Germany made a final offensive

Pushed back by Ferdinand Foch and the Allies
Counterattack with American help
Germanys allies collapsed
C) The Conclusion of the War

Germany appeals for an armistice

Kaiser flees to Holland
German republic formed
Armistice signed on Nov. 11, 1918, at 11:00 a.m.
Results of the war
 On the firestep in the trenches during the night, you
could hear the groaning of the dying but you couldn't
go out to help them. There were rats feeding on their
flesh. They were dying there, dying in misery and pain,
and the rats were nibbling away at their flesh.
-Cecil Withers, British private
 The air in the dugout is so foul that I sit by the
entrance. Walter Mayer and Hendrich from my
squad sit next to me. Hendrich has completely lost
his composure. He is down on his knees and prays.
Mayer loses all patience. He tells him off. In this
situation a prayer is senseless... Our roof is blown
apart by a 28 cm shell. Because I am sitting by the
entrance, I am left unscathed, just shoved inside.
Most of the men are dead.
-Walter Pechtold, German soldier
 The appearance of the trench is atrocious... In
places pools of blood. On the protective wall, in the
communication trench, stiff corpses covered with
tent canvas... An unbearable stench poisons the
air... I have not slept for 72 hours. It is raining.
-Charles Delvert, French infantry captain
When we started firing we just had
to load and reload. They went down
in their hundreds. You didn't have to
aim, we just fired into them.
-German machine gunner
 Soon a fresh gun gets through the fire to the
front. They are selected soldiers. But by midday
they, too, are finished. One of them, bleeding,
comes to us. The men are so apathetic that
they cannot bring themselves to bandage the
man.
-Walter Pechtold, German soldier
 I can still see the bewilderment and fear on the
men's faces when we went over the top. All over the
battlefield, the wounded were lying there English
and German, all asking for help... You couldn't help
them. I came across a Cornishman, ripped from
shoulder to waist with shrapnel, his stomach on the
ground beside him in a pool of blood.
-Harry Patch, British private
III. The Pursuit of Peace
A) The Paris Peace Conference

The Conference was an affair of three

sides the victors, the vanquished, and
Wilson.
-- Richard Hofstadter
A) The Paris Peace Conference

Central Powers and Russia not invited

Dominant leaders:
Woodrow Wilson (USA)
Georges Clemenceau (France)
David Lloyd George (Britain)
Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
The Paris Peace Conference

Fourteen Points
Wilsons relatively moderate settlement
Clemenceau and Lloyd George wanted to
see Germany punished
Treaty of Versailles

Between Allies and Germany

Territorial provisions
Loss of European territory
Loss of all colonies
Economic provisions
Coal and ships
Reparations
 Treaty of Versailles

Military provisions
Demilitarized zone
No tanks, large guns, submarines, or military aircraft
War Guilt clause
Treaty of Versailles

Germany refused to sign the treaty

Signed it under protest
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B) The League of Nations

Woodrow Wilson
Purpose: To guarantee international cooperation
and to achieve international peace and security
 B) The League of Nations

Ultimate failure
Lacked authority
Ineffective
Decisions required unanimous approval
United States refused to join
C) Reparation Revisions

Britain & France had war debts to USA

Reparations/war-debt cycle
D) Disarmament and Nonaggression Pacts

Washington Naval Conference

Disarmament
Ratio of warships among naval powers
D) Disarmament and Nonaggression Pacts

Kellogg-Briand Pact
Renounce use of offensive war
Use arbitration rather than force
Made war illegal
All these pacts turned out to be failures
World War I

The End!