WW1

World War One

Overview

In 1914 European strongest countries and main power were Rivals for Land and Trade and very suspicious of each other. No power wanted to be isolated from the rest, so they made alliances to defend themselves from others.

Triple Aliance : Germany , Auntria-Hungary/AH, Italy (GAI)

Triple Entente : Britain, France, Russia (BFR)

Battle of Kosovo : 1389

War between Serbian Prince vs Ottoman Empire
Serbian Prince loses but heavy losses on both sides.
Serbia loses independence to Ottoman Empire.

Alsace and Lorraine Seize : 1871

Germany wanted to grow it’s empire as it’s economy was growing drastically and it wanted raw materials for it’s growing industries.
Germany defeated France and took over the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
But Germany was not able to expand it’s empire as much as France and Britain as Germany was hemmed in by other countries (Russia, Austria and Belgium).

Naval Arms race : 1906

Germany was building Bigger Naval forces
Britain saw this as a threat to it’s defence, land and trade
Britain produced it’s first “Dreadnought”, a very powerful new battleship.
Germany followed with improved ships
Naval Arms race began

Bosnia and Herzegovina Seize : 1908

Austria wants more land in the Balkans, so it seized Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Germany supported this attack, because it would give Germany direct trade route to Medditarenean.
Russia did not like this and opposed this, as this would cut off Russia from the Mediterranean.

Morocco Crisis : 1911

Morocco is an area in the North of Africa under French control so there was some amount of unrest there.
Started because of Germany’s desire for expansion. Germany wanted to grow it’s empire as it’s economy was growing drastically and it wanted raw materials for it’s growing industries.
Germany sent Gunship/ battleship “Panther” to Morocco to the port of Agadir saying that it was coming to defend Morocco from France.
This was just an attempt and tactic by Germany to extend it’s influence in the Northern part of the Africa
But France and Britain together warned Germany not to interfere
France and Britain saw this as a threat and challenge to their established power.

Balkan Crisis : 1912

Balkans was the south-east Europe which was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. There was a lot of interest and rivalry between the great powers in the Balkans.
Turkey was becoming too weak to keep control over the Balkans area
War broke out in the Balkans between Serbia, Turkey, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria over the land
Some people in the Balkans such as the Serbians wanted to unite all the Slav people around Black Sea into their own new nation.
Slavs are a branch of Indo-European group just like Germans, Goths, Russian, Serbs, Hungarian, Polos, Checks, Belarusians, Latvians, etc
Austria-Hungary has many Slavs, if Slavs saperate into a new state, it would break the Austrian Empire. By this time Austria had already seized Bos and Herz
Germany encouraged Austria and Hungary’s expansion because they wanted direct access to the Mediterranean area.
Russia supported Serbians as it did not like Austria’s invasion as this would cut off Russia from Mediterranean. .
Tensions in the Balkans is not a good sign, especially the powers were also involved now and it looked very dangerous for whole Europe

Assassination at Sarajevo : 1914

Heir (next in line) of the throne of Austria-Hungary was Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Moderate in views and open to giving some control to the saperetists.
At that time the Foreign minister was Berchtold
Hapsburg family ruled Austria-Hungary at the time
Remember in 1908 Austria-Hungary seized Bosnia, since then Bosnia was under Austria’s rule.
On Sunday June 28th Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were visiting Sarajevo.
Serbian Nationalists / Separatists / Fanatics and Bosnian students from a group called Black Hand wanted to free Slav people from Austro-Hungarian rule, They lived in Serbia and got Military training from there.
Archduke’s visit was announced. One of the plotters Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke and his wife Sophie as they drove through the streets of Sarajevo in a open-topped car on June 28th
Gavrilo Princip had nothing to lose and he was dying of Tuberculosis. He wished to die as a Martyr. He hated Austrian occupation of Bosnia.

Impact/Outcome of Assassination

Austrian/Hungaria used this as a justification for their expansion into Serbia.
AH could not let the murder go unpunished.
A perfect chance to attack Serbia and weaken the slav nationalists
Good opportunity to gain Serbia and also extend into the Balkan.
Have unrestricted access to the Mediterranean sea route.
Show the strength of the Hapsburg family
AH Foreign minister Berchtold recommended war.
AH was too weak to act alone. It knew that Russia would be on the side of Serbia and would protect it. So it consulted Germany for it’s help.

Germany’s involvement

Germany recommended and encouraged war on July 6th. This was the key decision to the road to war.
Bethmann was Germany’s Foreign minister : he told Austrians that what ever Austria decides to do with Serbia, Germany will stand by AH as an Ally.
Bethmann said : If war must happen, better now than in one or two years because by then the Triple Entrante will be even Stronger. Kaiser(Emperor) Wilhelm was also in agreement.
Kaiser(Emperor) Wilhelm and Bethhelm not only gave AH the freedom to make their own decision on the attack and that they will support any decision, they also encouraged war now than later.
Maybe they should have approached Britain at this time for a peaceful solution.

Onset of WW1

Even though no one was sure and could prove that the Serbian govt was behind the killing, on 23rd July the AH sent a protest to Serbia for 10 demands.
All demands were Humiliating to Serbia but it accepted all but one.
AH was not satisfied,It starts shelling Serbian city.
Russia announced it’s support for Serbia.

Britain’s Involvement

British Foreign Secretary Lord Grey asked for Intl Conference to sort out the crisis.
AH ignored all this and since it has support from Germany, it attacked Serbia on 28th July.
Maybe Lord Grey instead of asking for Intl Conference, he could have taken a stand and warned Germany that Britain is taking Franco-Russian side
Maybe Lord Grey could have warned Franco-Russia that it will remain neutral and not support them, then may be Russia would not have mobilised troops against AH to protect Serbia.

Britain did not want to defend Serbia.
But it could not stand Germany waging war against France and Russia either.
If Germany dominated whole of mainland Europe, it would become major power and Britain will not be safe.
In 1839 : Britain signed a treaty wherein it would protect Belgium from any attack. Because Belgian coast is an ideal place to launch any invasion on Britain.
Britain demanded that Germany withdraw troops by 4th of August
Germany did not withdraw. Britain declared war on Germany.

The War begins

30th July Russia mobilised it’s troops to protect Serbia across the border of Germany and AH. Soon the alliance countries turned the local war into a global and world war. War Began in August 1914. Every one expected and hoped that it will be over by Christmas.

Central Powers / Entante : GBAT : Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Turkey

Allies : FRIBBS : France, Russia, Italy, Britain, Belgium, Serbia (Italy moved from Entante into Allies in 1915.)

Schlieffen Plan :

August 1st Germany declared war on Russia
August 3rd Germany declared war on France.
Germany’s Chief of Staff Von Moltke put the Schlieffen Plan into action, named after the General Alfred Von Schliffen who invented it.
Germany begins huge and a rapid attack on France : Germany feared that it may have to fight Russia in the east and the same time fight France in the west at the same time. It knew that Russia was busy protecting Serbia and it would take atleast 6 weeks for it to Organise it’s troops. If Germans could defeat France in 6 weeks, they will turn the forces east to Russia. The plan depends on attacking France through Belgium, because French troops directly on the border of Germany (Metz) were too strong so they chose to attack France through Belgium. Any delay in beginning the attack on France will ruin Germany’s chances.
Some German troops were staged at the France and Germany Border near Metz. France had very strong troop near Metz
German sent some troops to the east in the Russia Border
Main German forces invaded France through Belgium. Plan was to encircle Paris and then attack French forces from the rear. The plan was to quickly defeat France and then move to the east to attack the slow-moving Russian forces.
August 4th Britain declared war on Germany

Schlieffen Plan fails

Germany started towards France on August 3rd .
German faced tough resistance from Belgium. They spend almost 10 days fighting Belgium at Liege.
125,000 well trained men part by the British Expeditionary Forces , and led by General John French held the German troops at Mons (Belgium)
As per the Treaty of 1839, Britain had to protect Belgium and ensure it’s safety if ever under attack
19th Aug Russian Army attacked Eastern Frontier of Germany before the German troops could reach Paris.
German troops withdrew the attack on Paris to protect the Eastern Frontier
Russia and France employed new methods of transport:
Lorries, Steamships, railways to move defence troops into position faster than expected, weakening the Schlieffen Plan further.
French Comander in Chief General Joffre used almost 5000 trains in troop movements

Battle of Marne

Sep 4th (One month after the Germany troops started heading towards Paris) finally exhausted Germany troops reached River Marne, almost in sight of Paris
French troops at Metz failed to win back Alsace and Lorraine so they retreated to help defend Paris.
BEF joined them. Reserve troops were sent from Paris to help.
250 taxis were used to send fresh troops.
Battle of the Marne lasted a week and involved Two Million Men. Germans were forced back.
Fierce battles were fought to gain as much land as possible. At the “first Battle of Ypres” one British division lost 10774 of it’s 12000 men.

Trench Warfare

Germans went back 60KM to the River Aisne where they dug Trenches defended by Machine-gun posts.
Allies could not break through the trenches that Germany was building. They dug parallel trenches.
Each side extended their trenches so they enemy could not get behind them.
By end of 1914, then trenches were dug up and stretched from Switzerland Alps in South to The English Channel in the North.
Fierce battles with heavy casualties and had Little gain in territories
Highly favourable for the defending army
It was stalemate.

Main reason why Italy switched alliances.

Italy's main issue was its enmity with Austria-Hungary, Germany's main ally. That made Italy the "odd man out" in the so-called Triple Alliance with the other two. Italy had joined (reluctantly) with Germany out of a fear of France.

Reasons / Causes for WW1 (Short and Long Term)

World War I began in June of 1914, and is considered to have five major causes that led to the outbreak of the war. These five causes include the four long-term causes (militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism) discussed in this reading and one short-term cause (the assassination of Franz Ferdinand).

M : Militarization

Arms race : Race to have the strongest Army.
Standing Army : Men trained for the sole purpose of fighting.
Conscription : forced recruitment of men into Army
Increased Military Spending
Page 23 in Textbook

A : Alliances

Triple Entente and Triple Alliance.
Alliance systems created power blocs.
Aims was to discourage nations from getting into Armed conflicts.
Resulted in creating divisions.
BFR joined to counter increasing German economic and Military expansion.

I : Imperialism

Stonger nations extorting control and influence on weaker nations
European desire for territories : to acquires resources for their industries.
To find new markets to sell manufactures goods.
Desire for expansion then created conflicts. Examples Moroccan and Balkan crisis.

N : Nationalism

Deep devotion towards ones country
Freedom from foreign rule. Example : Slavic independence from Ottomans in Serbia, French independence from Germany for Alsace and Lorraine.
Desire for nation states based on shared culture : language, festivals. Ethnicity and race.
Slavic desire for an empire led by Serbia and protected by Russia.