16. The First World War

WWI

• first large-scale international since the Napoleonic Wars;

• all great powers including => Japan, Italy and the US - involved

• gigantic economic, social and demographic consequences

• the war resulted in the downfall of 4 empires: Germany, Austria- Hungary, Russia and the Ottoman Empire

• Started by a spark: the assassination of Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo → 18 June 1914

First Large-Scale Global War Since the Napoleonic Wars

• WWI the first truly global conflict including all major powers of the time

  1) Allies: France, Britain, Russia → later joined by Italy, Japan and the US

  2) Central Powers: Germany, Austro- Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria

• 38.2 Million Causalities

  → Approx. 10 million deaths, 7 million civilian deaths, and 21 million wounded

  → massive loss of life due to trench welfare, new weapons (machine guns, poison gas) and disease

Gigantic Consequences

• Economic: European economies were devastated; massive war debts and inflation

• Social: Rise of pacifism, trauma (shell shock; psychological trauma experienced by soldiers due to the intense stress of battle) and disillusionment

• Demographic: A ‘lost generation’ of young men; population imbalances in many countries

Collapse of 4 Major Empires

→ the war resulted in the downfall of 4 empires

• German Empire → Became Weimar Republic

• Austro- Hungarian Empire → Split into Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and others

• Russian Empire → Overthrown in 1917; led to the Bolshevik Revolution and USSR

• Ottoman Empire → Dissolved; led to the modern Middle East and the Republic of Turkey

The Spark => Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

• 28 June 1914

• Sarajevo, Bosnia (then parts of Austria- Hungary)

• Assassin: Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist linked to the group Black Hand

• Triggered a chain reaction of alliances and declarations of war, starting with Austro- Hungary declaring war on Serbia

Rivalries and Alliences

→ Situation herited from the Napoleonic Wars and the Vienna Congress

→Otto van Bismarck: ‘All international politics reduces itself to the formula: Try to be à’ trois as long as the world is governed by the unstable equilibrium of five great powers’

Military Alliances in 1914

WWI Rivalries

• classic rivalries were those between 1) France and Germany, since the War of 1870- 71 → the lost of Lorraine- Alsace and 2) Austria- Hungary and Russia, over influence in he Balkans, flamed by Pan- Slavism and aspiring for a free maritime passage to the Mediterranean

Triple Alliance

• Germany + Austria- Hungaria + Italy (1882)

  → primarily directed against Russia

  → + Germany’s fear to be ‘sandwiched’ between France and Russia

• 1879: Dual alliance between Germany and Austria- Hungary to counter further Russian expansion in the Balkans. to fill the vacuum left by the waning Ottoman Empire → they were joined by Italy in 1882

Triple ENTENTE

• France, Great Britain and Russia (1905)

• resulted most and for all from the French strife to end isolation in European geo-politics

• Heavy French investments in Russia since the late 1880s

• in 1892 Russia and France had signed military treaty followed by a formal Dual Allience in 1894

  → they were joined by traditionally neutral Britain as they feared German expansion more than French rivalry in the colonies

WWI Mounting tensions

• Arms race since 1905: in the wake of the humiliating Russian defeat against Japan → Russo- Japanese War (1904-1905) → Germany and Britain - accelerated military buildup

  • naval arms race + continental militarisation: all major powers increased army sizes and stockpiled weapons, creating a climate of suspicion and readiness for war

• 1905: The First Moroccan Crisis

  • Germany challenged French influence in Morocco to test the strength of the Entente Cordiale (Britain- France alliance)

  • Kaiser Wilhelm II - visited Tangier and declared support for Moroccan independence

  • Algeciras Conference (1906), where most powers sided with France. Germany was diplomatically isolated.

• 1908: Annexation of Bosnia- Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908, which it had occupied since 1878

  • angered Serbia and Russia, who supported supported Slavic unity and opposed Austrian expansion

  • tension rose in the Balkans, especially between Austria- Hungary and Serbia

• 1908 coup d’etat by Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire

  • the Young Turks (reformist nationalist group) staged a coup d’etat

  • aimed to modernise and centralise the empire, which alarmed neighbouring powers

  • this revolution weakened Ottoman control over its territories, increasing instability in the Balkans

• 1911: Second Moroccan Crisis

  • France sent troops to Fez to suppress a rebellion and strengthen its control over Morocco

  • Germany responded by sending the gunboat Panther, claiming to protect german interests

  • outcome = another diplomatic defeat for Germany; France gained more control in Morocco and Germany received minor compensation in Central Africa

  • => increasing British hostility toward Germany, pushing Britain and France closer together

The First Balkan War

• 1912

• the Balkan League: Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro

  vs the Ottoman Empire

• Goal: to drive the ottomans out of their remaining European territories

• Outcome:

  → the Balkan League won

  → the Ottoman Empire lost most of its European land

  → Albania was created (With support from Austria-Hungary and Italy) to block

Second Balkan War

• 1913

• Serbia, Greece, Romania + Ottoman Empire

  vs Bulgaria

• Cause: Dispute over the division of territory won in the First Balkan War, especially Macedonia

• Outcome:

  → Bulgaria was defeated

  → Serbia and Greece gained more territory

  → Bulgaria became resentful, setting the stage for its alliance with the Central Powers in WWI

Impact on South Slav Nationalismm

• Serbia emerged stronger gaining land and prestige but also frustrated because the creation of Albania blocked its access to the sea

• this fueled South Slav (Yugoslav) nationalism, especially among Serbs who wanted to unite all Slavic peoples in the Balkan- including those under Austro-Hungarian rule - like Bosnia

• This nationalist tension contributed directly to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 sparking WWI

Countdown to War - July 1914

→ 23 July 2914

Austria- Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, blaming it for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

• the ultimatum was intentionally harsh → designed to provoke rejection

• Austria was hesitant at first, but was encouraged by Germany’s ‘blank cheque’ — a promise of full support

→ 25 July 1914

Serbia responded partially accepting the ultimatum but Austria found it insufficient

• Tsar Nicholas II of Russia ordered partial mobilisation to support Serbia, a fellow Slavic nation

→ Late July 1914

• Britain attempted last-minute diplomacy to prevent war - proposing a conference, but it failed

• Germany and Austria- Hungary pushed forward with military plans

→

The von Schlieffen Plan (Germany’s War Strategy)

• Goal: avoid two- front war by defeating France quickly and then turning east to fight Russia

• Assumption: Russia would take 2 weeks to mobilise its army

• Strategy:

  → bypass France’s strong eastern defences

  → invade through Belgium (and possibly the Netherlands) to strike France from the north

  → encircle Paris and force quick surrender

• attack the french from their vulnerable north-side

• Great Britain would never accept the violation of Belgian Neutrality but Germans were prepared to run that risk

The start of the WWI

• 28 july 1914 => Austria- Hungary declared war on Serbia, although the Serbian government had been prepared to give in on most points of the Austrian ultimatum

• the next day => Russian tsar ordered a full- scale mobilisation

• on 31 July Germany declared war on Russia and the next day invaded the Grand- Duchy of Luxembourg

  • on 3 August Germany declared war on France and it invaded Belgium

• In reaction to the violation of the Belgian neutrality, on 4th August the British declared war on Germany

Violation of Belgian Neutrality

• Belgium was neutral under IL

• Britain had pledged to defend Belgian neutrality (treaty of London, 1939)

• Germany invaded anyway, expecting Britain might stay away

• Result: Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914

The von SCHIEFFEN PLAN and its early execution

og plan

• Germany aimed to quickly defeat France by invading through Belgium and possibly the Netherlands

• they shift forces east to fight Russia, assumption it would mobilise slowly

Modification of the plan

• Germany did not invade the Netherlands

• diverted more troops to defend Alsace- Lorraine

• these changes weakened the right wing, making the plan less effective

Battle of the Marne (Sept 1914)

• German forces advanced to the Marne River, just 50km from Paris

• Allied counterattack (mainly French and British) pushed them back

• German retreated to the Aisne river, around 60km north

• Resulted in a stalemate and the beginning of trench warfare on the Western Front

—> continuation of the ww1

• in Flanders and Artois the German advances were halted

• by November both sides digged in their trenches => from then onward, the front line, running from the Franco- Swiss border in the southeast to the Flemish coast in the northwest => would hardly move for another four years

• during the next years → both sides would try to break through enemy lines but all of these efforts failed at a horrendously high coast of causalities

The War becomes global

• by the end of 1914, Japan entered on the Allied side

  → seized German colonies in the Pacific and Shandong Peninsula in China

  → motivated by imperial ambitions and alliance with Britain

  → Anglo-Japanese Alliance 1902

• a year later, Italy joins the Allies (1915)

  → initially part of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary => switched sides in May 1915

  → promised territorial gains (e.g. South Tyrol, Dalmatian coast)

  → fought Austria- Hungary along the Isonzo Front (12 battles, high causalities, little gains)

• Ottoman Turkey

  → joined in November the German- Austrian alliance (in opposition to its old Russian enemy)

  → key event: Gallipoli Campaign (April 1915- Jan 1916)

  • allied attempt (mainly British, ANZAC forces) so seize the Dardanelles and knock the ottomans out of the war

  • Failed campaign with heavy losses; boosted Turkish nationalism and rise of Mustafa Kemal Atarurk

• Allied Success in Africa and Middle East

  → africa: allies captured most German colonies (togoland, german southwest africa, cameroon)

  → Middle east: Arab revolution (1916-1918); targeted ottoman control in the Arabian Peninsula and Syria; British forces captured Bagdad and Jerusalem (1917)

1917 as the turning point of WWI

• US enters the War on 6 April 1917

  → triggered by the Zimmermann Telegram: Germany proposed a military alliance with Mexico against the US

  → Combined with unrestricted submarine warfare, this pushed the US to declare war on Germany

  →US entry brought fresh troops, resources and morale to exhausted Allies

• Russian Revolution

  → 15 March 1917: Tsar Nicholas II abdicated after mass protests and military mutiny (Feb Revolurion)

  → a provisional government took over but continued the war

  → 6 now 1917 → Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin

  => Treaty of Brest- Litovsk: signed between bolshevik Russia and Central Powers

  • Russia exited the war, giving up vast territories = Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic states

  • Allowed Germany to shift troops to the Western front, but US soon tipped the balance

1918

→ German Spring Offensive (March - July 1918)

• also called the Ludendorff Offensive

• Germany launched a last major push on the Western Front before American forces could fully arrive

• Initial success: broke through Allied lines and advanced rapidly

• halted by July 1918→ especially after the second battle of Marne

• Marked the turning point: Allies began a sustained counteroffensive

→ Collapse of the German Regime (Oct- Nov 1918)

• Military failures, economic hardship and civil unrest led to the collapse of morale

• oct 1918: German generals urged the Kaiser to seek peace

• Early November: Kaiser Wilhelm I abdicated ( 9 nov); a republic was declared in Germany

→ Armistice Signed - 11 nov 1918

• signed in a railway carriage in Compiegne, France

• came into effect at 11 am, 11 nov 1918

• marked the end of fighting on the Western Front, though a formal peace treaty (Treaty of Versailles) came later in 1919

Outcomes of WWI

• for 1500 days on a row → about 6000 people were killed every day

• in all 9.4 million men were killed or ‘disappeared’ and 21,2 million were wounded and 7,6 million prisoners of war were taken

• Europe became a continent of widows and spinsters

• psychological effect

• enormous economic damage