History Notes Tri 3: WWI-Russian Revolution

Battle of Verdun Date

1916

Brusilov Offense Date

1916

Battle of Somme

(1916)

• 3.5 million engaged

• 1 million casualties

How was the US involved in WWI

• Sinking of RMS Lusitania

  • Ship that “wasn’t carrying tons of weapons for”

• German submarine movements endangered US merchant ships

• Zimmerman Telegram

  • England intercepted a telegram from Germany to Mexico offering to help reclaim losses from Mexico-American war

When did the US join WWI

They declared war on Germany in 1917 but did not engage in significant force until 1918

Home Front in WWI

• Government tried to mobilize all industrial resources to support the war (nationalism)

• Women become big part of work force cus husbands are at war

• Government uses censorship and propaganda to promote the war

Planes in WWI

Shift from cavalry with Napoleon and then just people standing in lines shooting each other to planes and guns/grenades

• Planes were good for recon (scouting), arial bombing, and photography

• First flight in 1903

• Arial fights became a thing: Red Baron

Chemical Warfare

Hague Convention of 1899 - everyone swears to not use chemical warfare

• French and Germans use tear gas in 1914-1915 but are unsuccessful

• Chlorine and Mustard gas used by Germans

Tanks

British use them in Battle of Somme (followed by French and German soon after)

• Could drive through 9ft trenches and barbed wire

• First real break through of enemy lines

• Heavy weapons were soon developed to pierce tanks

1914 Christmas Truce

On Christmas, Germans and British stop fighting to celebrate

• Shows how meaningless the war was

Causes of Armenian Genocide

(1915-1917)

• Christian minority in Ottoman Empire

• After long discrimination (bc they had all the big jobs like doctor and lawyer and banker), Young Turks blamed them for their losses against Russians

  • Bc Russians and Ottomans were Christian

Outcomes of Armenian Genocide

• Armenian property was seized

• Ottoman Empire enforced lots of concentration camps (a lot of deaths)

• Hitler thinks he can do the same genocide but better and successful with no consequences

International Definition of Genocide

Any of the following done with the intention to destroy

• Killing members of a group

• Causing serious bodily harm or mental harm

• Inflicting conditions intended to end in death

• Forced sterilization

• Transferring children from one group to another

Arab Revolt

• Ottomans preoccupied with war and genocide (externally) while Arab nationalist is happening (internally)

• British supported the revolt

• Sykes-Picot Agreement

Sykes-Picot Agreement

During Arab revolt

• British and French agree to split the Ottoman territory

Outcomes of WWI

• Armistice

• Treaty of Versaille

• Spanish Flu

Armistice

• Fighting stops 11/11/1918

• Wilsons 14 Points

  • Open Diplomacy

  • Freedom of Seas (not territorial)

  • Less guns

  • National Self Determination (let people make countries)

  • Create organization of nations to hold countries in check (prevent outstepping of boundaries

• Paris Peace Conference

  • Great Britain, France, and US make major decisions

  • Germany and Austria-Hungary not allowed to attend

  • Russia too busy fighting itself to come

Were Wilsons 14 Points accomplished?

• Open Diplomacy

• Freedom of Seas (not territorial)

• Less guns

  • In Germany hahaha

• National Self Determination (let people make countries)

  • Lots of places become independent like

• Create organization of nations to hold countries in check (prevent outstepping of boundaries

  • League of Nations happens

Treaty of Versaille

Germans blamed for war and forced to

• Pay reparations

• Lost 13% of its land

• Pacific holdings split between France, Britain, and Japan

• No more artillery and way smaller military

Spanish Flu

(1918-1920)

• Started in Kansas but bc of censorship the first reported cases were in Spain

• 25-50 million people died

How does the Russian Revolution compare to the FR?

• Monarchy to godless republic very fast

• Switched calendars

• Food prices

• Infighting after war

• So many people died

Russia (In the Russian Revolution)

• Start of WWI, Russia is in crisis

• Russia had largest army in Europe but were poorly equipped to mobilize as fast as Germany

• Russia’s main port was cut off by Germany in north and Ottomans in south

Russian Revolution Dates

1917-1923

February Revolution

(1917)

As Russia struggled, Tsar Nicholas II went to front lines, leaving his wife and Rasputin in charge of the country

• Rasputin was assassinated by conservatives

• People got upset about food shortages and rationing (like the market women in the FR) and things turned violent very fast, leading to the Tsar giving up the throne

Russian Provisional Government

• Provisional government (led by Alexander Kerensky) was established and Russia continued in the war

• In order to stop a rising coup, Kerensky freed bolshevik Trotsky from prison to help unite workers behind the provisional government

  • Trotsky does violence that helps transition the government from provisional

Lenin

• He had been in exile after the 1905 Revolution

• Germany sponsored return to Russia in 1917

• He promoted “peace, land, and bread” and denounced slower reform in favor of violent revolution

October Revolution

(1917)

• Bolsheviks occupy government building and establish a new government

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

(1918)

• Done so that they can stop the war

• Ceded 1/4th of Russia’s European territory and 1/3rd of Russia’s population to Germany

• Later refused by allies

Russian Civil War

(1917-1923)

• Bolsheviks lost Russian Constituent Assembly election to socialist-revolutionary party

  • Lenin said it was rigged and they took it anyway

• Many Russians were upset about losses of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• After Russia Falls apart, some try to start independence movements and other fought to restore empire of provisional government while soviets fight among themselves

Sides of Russian Civil War

Reds (soviets) vs Whites (royalists)

• Soviets said anyone opposed to them is royalist sympathizer

• Trotsky was disastrous diplomat but good military leader

Kulak

Person with more than 8 acres of land (anyone who was successful)

Red Terror

Led by Trotsky

• Soviets saw themselves as carrying out another “better” FR

• Pravada and other state media were key in calling for violence and fueling this movement

• Millions of peasants had been destroying the Red Army and thousands were arrested

Outcomes of Red Terror

• Gulag Instituated

• 100,000+ excecuted

• 1 million+ died of all causes

Interactions with the Church

• Communism is anti-religious so the USSR (soviet union) opposed Russian Orthodox church

• USSR “secretly” made schismatic renovated church - a state sponsored alternative to the Russian Orthodox church

• Tons of Russian Orthodox priests were imprisoned and most were killed between 1917-1935