world war i

1. World War I

3. System of Alliances Europe was broken into two hostile camps: the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (would drop out and be replaced by the Ottoman Empire). The costly arms race and the maintenance of large standing armies by all states except Britain served to increase fear and suspicion between the alliances. Countries in Europe had become war machines linked to one another through a web of diplomatic alliances---the chaos just needed to be set in order

5. The Drift toward War:The Balkan Wars A series of wars in the Balkans strained relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated while making a state visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Gavrilo Princip, a young revolutionary assassin from Bosnia, was linked to the Serbian army. Austria-Hungary decided to use the assassination as a pretext to crush Serbia.

6. The Drift toward War:The Balkan Wars Seeking a military solution rather than a diplomatic one, Austria presented a list of ultimatums to Serbia that it could not possibly meet. When Serbia could not agree to all of the demands, Austria-Hungary mobilized its army. Germany pledged to support Austria, believing that a war with Russia was inevitable anyway; Italy did not, thus breaking the Triple Alliance. On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia, with the assurance of French support, began to mobilize its army.

7. The Schlieffen Plan German plan to avoid defeat from Russia by taking out France first and then fight Russians. Smash France in 30 days before Russia could respond with troops Go through Belgium to surround French troops, defeat the French and then rush to Poland front on the German rail system to face Russia Once Russia began to mobilize, Germany had to attack France.

9. World War I Russia wanted to stop 15 days into the 30 day time table/Germany did not want to risk it On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia and implemented the Schlieffen Plan. Once they invaded Belgium (August 4, 1914) on their way to France, Great Britain joined the war.

10. War as Celebration Everyone believed that it would be a short war. (6 weeks) News of war was greeted by most Europeans with great enthusiasm and with outpourings of patriotism and nationalism. For decades, state-directed education had indoctrinated youth with nationalist attitudes, beliefs, and myths designed to promote social cohesion. Thus, Europe marched off to war with great joy, anticipating a great adventure and national glory.

11. Stalemate The war quickly became a stalemate. Trench warfare led to this stalemate --- Defense was as strong or stronger than offense (military tactics had not kept up with military technology) New military technology (machine guns, aerial bombing, poison gas, flame throwers, land mines, armored tanks) Yet European armies had prepared only for offensive warfare. Throughout the war we would see armies go �over the top� out of the trenches in an offensive. The result was mass carnage with very little advancement.

13. Stalemate The Germans could not quickly secure victory over the French, however, because the Russian army mobilized faster than anticipated and the Germans had to divert troops to the Eastern Front. The Germans had great success against the Russians; however, the resources needed to fight on the Eastern Front ensured that the stalemate on the Western front would continue. The result was a deadlock that neither side could break.

15. Empire at War The horrors of war reached across continents. The sprawling Ottoman Empire battled British- and Russian-led forces in Egypt, Iraq, and the Caucasus. In East Asia, Japan declared war on Germany and seized German possessions in China. The British and French conscripted colonial subjects: India: 1 million soldiers to Allies. (60,000 died) Africa: more than 1 million soldiers, 3 million transported goods. (150,000 died) Australia, New Zealand, and Canada: Over 1 million.

16. U.S. Involvement The U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917. Many reasons: unrestricted submarine warfare (Lusitania), Zimmerman telegram, British propaganda, the Russian Revolution With America�s entry, the war was transformed (at least according to Woodrow Wilson) into a moral crusade: an ideological conflict between democracy and autocracy. He had been able to claim that because of the revolution in Russia.

17. Armistice:November 11, 1918 In March 1918, Russians sign separate peace with Germans (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) With Russia out of the war, the Germans prepared for a decisive offensive before the U.S. could land sufficient troops in France to help the Allies. A war of attrition now favored the Allies, who could count on American supplies and manpower. Without an immediate and decisive victory, Germany could not win the war. The offensive failed. Fearing an Allied invasion of Germany, Kaiser William II abdicates and flees to Holland. A new German Republic is organized that signed an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending the hostilities.

18. Cost of the war 15 million people were killed. About 1/3 of the soldiers that fought in the war were wounded. The economic cost was severe. Estimates put the damage at about 100 trillion modern U.S. dollars. The European economy was left in shambles and the U.S. emerged as the dominant world economic power.

19. The Spanish Flu (Influenza)1918 Struck in the trenches of the western front and then flourished when soldiers returned home. It became the greatest public health disaster of modern history The pandemic killed between 22 and 30 million people worldwide, or roughly twice as many as had died during the fighting In Spain, it killed roughly 40 percent of the population (8 million), thus giving it the name of the Spanish Influenza. British colonial troops carried it to India where it killed 12 million. No disease, plague, war, famine, or natural catastrophe in world history had killed so many people in such a short time.