'25_APEURO_WWI
highlighted - expand on
causes of the great war (wwi)
tensions from imperialism
boer war
crises in morocco (1905-1911)
a rumour that french people were mistreating german tourists in morocco
berlin bis baghdad rr
conflicts in the balkans
especially between austria hungary<->serbia and austria hungary<->russia
irredentism: belief people who should be part of your country are in another country
need to move border, not people
militarism
violence is intellectually respectable
change in nationalism
aggressive and irredentist
social darwinism
pan germanism
idea that all germanic people should live under a single german state
pan slavism
idea that all slavs should live in a single country (russia)
vitai lampada (they pass on the torch of life)
alliance systems with secret clauses and other military preparations
naval arms race between germany and gb
germany weltpolitik (world policy)
if germany has colonies, if must have a navy to protect them
germany announced intent to build navy that could compete with gb
gb got mad
wanted their splendid isolation
german ship designs (1906)
dreadnought
british design initially
drags out fights at short distance from home
not for long distance
russia
slow, slow slow
railroads to carry lotsss of people
lotsss of railroads
assumed they would fight both germany and aus-hung
did not make plans to fight one or the other
Germ’s plan to go through France then Russia, defeating each
wanted to end with belgium, going through them back
problem: belgium is neutral
gb and french naval planning
since entente cordiale of 1904, fr and gb navies practicing war stuff
preparation, just in case
gb covers english channel, north sea, and atlantic coast of france
france defends suez canal
DING DING DING
that’s a bell
problems with schlieffen plan
relies on speed and russian army being sucky
plan was military, took no account of diplomatic reality
belgian neutrality
spark that litt it up!
austria hungary
need new emperor
archduke franz ferdinand (new crowned prince)
liberal leanings
royal fam does NOT like this guy
taking a little drive around sarajevo
black hand
throws bomb at carriage
does nothing
one guy
shoots
dead
aus hung freaks out
Germany says: whatever aus hung does, we’ll do as well
austria has 10 demands
serb accepted 8, wanted to negotiate 1, rejected 1
AUS GRRR
lob some shells into serb
russia goes hey hands off my lil bro, lil bro
force austria to back down to mobilizing everything (against aus hung AND germ, after failing to just do aus hung first)
tsar says don’t worry cuzzz, we gotta do thisss
belg neutrality guaranteed by gb
gb not enthusiastic for war
boer war urghhh
gb 2 moral problems
honor treaty to defend belg or not?
honor naval agreements with france?
if germ overran belg, germ would get a port for their navyyy
aug 4, gb declared war on germ
germ’s ignored ultimatum like lalalaa
italy allied to germ and aus hung
did not honor alliance
said only needed to attack if THEY were attacked but they started it
people loved the idea of the war!
yay!
peace, cleanliness!
rushing to sign up, thought it would be easy and short
“the great war” wuh wuh won
vera brittain book
allies
france
uk
portugal
russia
romania
not italy yet
central
aus hung
germ
bulgaria
turkey
fr operations
modern weapons, less modern attitudes
did not use helmets
bright bright bright uniforms
attacked alsace-lorraine
suffered defeat
black day
27k fr soldiers died in a single day
worst fight ever for a fr army
french retreated
schlieffen plan fell behind schedule
belgians fought
brits fought (not expected by germs)
battle of frontiers
germ victory, but fr and uk fought hard, giving germ a slowww victory
germans were stopped at marne
both sides started digging trenches
confident of a breakthrough
expectant of a short war
thought were stocked for months of fighting
ran low in a few weeks
war spendings became several times larger than expected
trench warfare along western front
boring
3 years
gruesome
no man’s land
place between both trenches; held by no one
trench foot
christmas truce 1914
germ and uk soldiers sang carols, played soccer
soldiers executed by higher ups
naval war
british blockades of germ held its econ and caused food shortages in germ
germs retaliated with u boats
unrestricted submarine warfare
just shoot these guys bru
only one major surface naval battle
battle of jutland (may 31-june 1916)
bloody draw
germans sank brit ships then vice versa
germany declared victory then left
brit control over north sea except for germ submarines
battle of the somme (july 1-nov 18 1916)
black day for the british
massacre
thought they killed germs with artillery after 10 days
didn’t
they went over to kill “stragglers”
slaughter
battle of verdun (feb-dec 1916)
we’re gonna kill lots at verdun, even out own
just gotta get the death ratio 5:2
got 4:3
reims
cathedral where kings were crowned
oil of clovis
royal touch for scrofulous]
the homefront
rationing food
if food is too expensive, poor can’t afford
loss of support for war effort
full employment and higher wages
women worked in trad male jobs
clothing became less restrictive
short hair
smoking in public
stalemate and econ stress caused divisions within countries
germ
malnutrition
result of brit blockade and rationing
loss of support for war
workers accused farmers of profiting off war
(france, 1917)
war poets
british poets who had lived through the war
end of the great war
germans resume unrestricted submarine war
u boats super super effective against brit ships
calculated they could starve brit of food and raw materials
us intervened
us intervened (march 1917)
czar had been overthrown a month earlier
russia now parliamentary republic with provisional government writing a constitution
zimmerman telegram
jan 1917
germany encouraged mexico to attack us
germ promised help
intercepted by brit intelligence and given to us
us public opinion was crazy
public enraged
germans assessed us army, was mainly correct about it being crap
got the navy part wrong
us navy was more powerful
probably a match for brit navy even
underestimated how quickly us army can grow
1918
wilson offered a peace proposal called 14 points
no secret alliances
freedom of seas
free trade
reduce militarism
fairer imperialism
russia dropped out of war
germans turned down war
sensed victory after russia dropout
germs launched giant offense on western front
was now just a one front war for germ
within sight of paris
sometimes shelled paris with cannons
was germ victory actually at hand?
no
gb and us navy made anti submarine measures
reduced u boat effectiveness
convoys
depth charges
dazzle paint
germ advance faltered
fr and us armies held at marne
germ army exhausted
in germ, civilians starving
strikes common
allies fought back
germ black day (august 8 1918)
germs thrown back 11 km in one day
27k killed
tanks
armistice
immediate ceasefire
germ laid down weapons immediately
germ army evacuated fr, belg, luxembourg, alsace lorraine
allied army occupy rhineland
allied army mobilized in the field
allies maintained naval blockade until final peace treaty signed
malnutrition and starvation in germ continued
end of war
10 million soldiers killed
2x wounded
6 million civilians dead
flu epidemic wiped out 20-50 mil worldwide
1918
russian, ottoman, aus hung, germ empire, no more
europe went from being creditor nations to debtors
especially to us
us involvement in world affairs
large areas of france and belgium in need of repair
colonial subjects were protesting for independence
specifically those who served
“the comfortable 19th century assumptions of inevitable progress based on science, reason and technology, individual freedom, democracy and free enterprise, gave way in many places to cynicism, nihilism, dictatorship, statism, official racism, and class warfare.”