WW1

The Triple Alliance

- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

- Germans wanted a "place in the sun"

- Alsace and Lorraine were annexed to Germany

- Bismarck created alliance to keep Germany together

- If a member became involved in war w/ 2 or more ppl, allies should help w military

- failed "reinsurance" treaty with Russia

The Triple Entente

- France, Britain, Russia

- French (radicals) vs. Russia (autocratic)

- British and France agree dot forget Fashoda

- Was an entente cordiale (didn't talk about war)

- British were uncertain about Germany's goals and formed alliance

1st Morocco Crisis

- Germans felt encircled by Entente

- Wilhelm II made speech in favor of Moroccan independence, trying to keep France out of Morocco

- Reinforced alliance

2nd Morroccan Crisis

- The Panther, a German gunboat arrived "to protect German interests"

- Germans wanted French Congo

- got some parts of it

1st Balkan Crisis

- south Slavs/Yugoslavs felt like they were one people

- wanted independece, Serbs said to go there

- Russia turned to Balkans/Turkish after Russo-Japan war

- Secret agreement and Bosnia became independent

The assasination

- The Sarajevo Crisis

- 1914: young Bosnian revolutionary, member of "Union or Death,"/Black Hand assassinated the heir to the Habsburg empire

- in the streets of Sarajevo, in the Austrian Empire.

Austrias' Response to assasination

- Austria wanted to crush Serbia

- Germans issued a "blank check"

- Sent ultimatum saying to punish the assasinators

- Serbs agreed

- Austria still declared war

Russia's response to assasination

- Defended Serbia

- Mobilized army on Germa frontier

- Germans declared war on Russia and France

- Decision was based on hope Britain wouldn't enter

- French Channel was open to German attack unless Britain defended it

Causes of WW1

IMAGINE F (fear)

I

- Imperialism, countries wanting to conquer and protect land

- Internal Problems (Germany, Russia)

M

Militarism, belief of having powerful military

A

- Alliances

- Two camps of Europe

- All lived in fear of war, stood by allies to protect themselves

- The Evasiveness of Britain: Germany wouldn't have declared war if they knew English were joining

G

- Geography

- Germany was encircled

- alliances

N

- Nationalism

E

- Economic Goals

- international economy but a national policy

- industrial countries: needed imports and exports

- Drove imperialism

Schlieffen Plan

- Reach Paris in 42 days through Belgium

- Forced France to retreat

- Wanted to delay Russian army, conquer France, then defeat Russians

- Abandoned plan because they overestimated Russian army in the east

- Underestimated F & Belgian resistance in the wes

- Switched to defensive war

- Violated Belgain's treaty of neutrality

Battle of Marne

- F & B attacked gap between German armies

- Moltke ordered retreat and was replaces with Falkenhayn

- Took high ground on River Aisne, and British dug trenches (new long warfare tactics)

- Then threatened to capture Antwerp

- France won (abandonment),

Flanders

- Germans moved their after Marne

- Waterlogged from flooding

- King Albert ordered the river channel to flood countryside

- sacrificed his country to sto pGermans

Battles of Ypres

- armies were trying to move around each other

- Germans had high ground, offensive

- Generals ordered troops to attack in masses across open fields

- Defense cut them down with artillery

- long line from border to border w trenches

- Germans used illegal gas

- Soldiers quickly adapted by using hankerchiefs

- failed to take advantage of gas surprise

Nueve Chapelle

- Hard for B & F to get out of trenches to attack

- Generals made new tactic:

Shelled german trenches then charged across open space

- Germans fired from trenches

- Fear from constant shelling

- Bad communication made it hard to follow dents

- Germans made 2nd line of trenches

- Britain tried to use artillery, airplanes, and troops at same time as surprise

Eastern Front

- To get to Berlin, Russians had to go through East Prussia

Battle of Tannenberg

- Hindenburg and Ludendorff vs. Samsonov

- Both Entente and the Central Powers were learning how to use the radio, became lazy about encoding their messages

- heard message ab Samsonov and Rennenkampf revealing they wouldn't help each other

- Germans encircled Russians and won

- Samsonov attacked instead of fighting and killed himself rather

- Massive German victory

- attacked near Mansurian lakes

- defeated them majorly, even though Schlieffen Plan was to only delay the Russians from invading (abandonment)

Gallipoli

- French, Austrian, and Anzacs on Italy

- Trap ottomans on peninsula and take it

- Large wave of people against fortified beaches

- People dying for no reason

Italy and Bulgarians

- Bulgarians entered central powers and Italy to allies

- Italy's army sucked

- Italy was part of the alps, easy to defend

- Three attacks against Austrians by the Italians: flooding, hard to dig trenches, easy to fall off, very scary

Britain's weapons

- India had fewer machine guns than British

- British were lacking weapons

- howitzers, mortars, grenades for trench warfare

Trench warfare

- B & F believed attacking German trenches would win

- Germans responded good, and soldiers who broke through lines couldn't communicate back

- French wanted to defend since trenches worked better than attacks

Trench psychological

- Hard to live in them

- Bathrooms were terrible

- Couldn't sleep

- Dead were lying

- 2 feet of water

- Took an hour to climb out, people slipped and died

- disease

Trench warfare on eastern front

- Only developed in specific zones

- Created stalemate and little movement

- Eastern was 2x longer than western

- geography and technology made maneuveric battles

- west: trenches protected from modern weaponry

Propaganda

- Germany using gas was propaganda for allies

- Germans evil behavior when invading Belgium

- Barbanism vs. moral righteousness

- fighting w symbols of masculinity/heros to recruit

- women take on men's roles

Race to the Sea

- After loss at Marne

- F & B and Germans

- Trying to get to coast of Belgium and France through trenches

Manpower

- Key factor since war was so long

- Deadly influenza hurt it

- Manpower crisis began early

Battle of Somme

- B & F attacked along the old Somme battlefields

- B used new technologies (artillery to identify and immobilize), airplanes and tanks

- Germans withdrew w low morale

- "black day of the German army"

- Didn't have big breakthrough, pointless lives lost

Battle of Verdun

- Germans attacked French

- French won

- Long and bloody, but failed

- Heavy casualties on both sides

Russia exiting the war

- Big loss when central powers captured warsaw and poland

- their only advantage was geography

- Bolsheviks wanted to leave to stop revolution

U.S. entering war

- After Germans attacked their ship

- Zimmerman telegram: submarine warfare made them angry against Germans

Ludendorffs operations

Operation Michael:

- Attacked British w explosives and gas

- Paul Hubb wrote about being hungry

Operation Georgette

- In Flanders, attacked w shelligns then stormtroopers

- Haig said not to retreat

- British had orderl retreat and stopped capture of Ypres

Operation Blucher-York

- Attack on Paris

- Capt. Lloyd Willaims said "Hell, we just got here"

- Germans becaame interested in epace negotiatons

End of WWI

- Allies blocked a starving Germany

- Germany had revolutions

- Kaiser accepted Wilson's Fourteen Points

- Max -> Ebert (concluded armistice Nov 11)

- Germany wanted fairness in treaty

Mudros armistice

- Ottoman's and Allies

- Harsh terms, surrender all terriotires outside of Turkey

- Allies had control inside

Treaty of Versailles

- og terms were unfair

- Erzburger negotiated them

- B & F wanted revenge, and to expand colonies into Africa

- Japan wanted German ports in China

- Italy wanted Austrian territory

- return Alsace and Lorraine to France

- Lost all colonial possessions to the League of Nations

- Give up eastern territories so a Polish nation could be created

- Couldn't have more than 100,000 soldiers

- Navy was 12 ships

- Give up all submarines, tanks, and military aircraft

- Pay full war reparations to the Allies

article 231

Germany had to take blame for the war, humiliating

Post war

- During the war people embraced violence, brutal behavior became normal, and after violence remained accepted

- Landscape was ruined

Tactics

- An artiller war

- New war with old generals

- Neither side could attack, barbed wire and guns

- killing people w explosives (not caring who they kill)