6.2: World War I

World War I

1914-1918: the world at war

views of wwi

"the great war" / "the war to end all wars"
the war to make the world safe for democracy
a new kind of war
30 nations involved
- number of people involved → "total war"
- home front = mobilization
- casual slaughter of people - 11 million+
enormous casualties
- western front
- battle of the somme (5 months)
- battle of the verdun (6 months)
- eastern front
- battle of tannenberg (5 days)
the war of the industrial revolution
- new deadly technology, weapons of death
- machine gun - krupp's "big bertha" gun - poison gas - french renault tank - british tanks - u-boats
- allied ships sunk by u-boats: violations of US neutrality
- german u-boats and british warships
- german and british "blockades" of war zones
- airplanes
- dog fights - aces - red baron
- zeppelin - flamethrowers - grenade launchers
causes of the war
- european nations → relations
- england: stay separated from mainland
- france: feared germany
- germany: keep england isolated; revenge on france
- russia: ties to balkans + serbia
- austria-hungary: hated serbia
- italy: "land", austria-hungary
- serbia: wanted a port on the mediterranean sea
- ottoman empire: ethnic groups rising up
- (turkey): controlled bosporus strait
cutting russia off from sea
- europe had prepared for war - but they had their guns pointed toward each other (eg. russia v germany, germany v belgium, etc.) rather than at austria hungary
aggressive nationalism
- austria-hungary and turkey: ethnic groups → self-determination
- balkans: the "powder keg" of europe
- imperialism: economic rivalries
empires - #1 world power
haves v. have nots → germany
the alliance system
- triple entente: britain, france, russia
- triple alliance: germany, austria-hungary, italy
two armed camps
- allied powers: britain, france, russia, + italy
- central powers: germany, austria-hungary, turkey
the major players: 1914-1917
- allied powers: nicholas ii (russia), george v (britain), president poincare (france)
- other: victor emmanuel ii (italy)
- central powers: wilhelm ii (germany), enver pasha (turkey), franz joseph (austria-hungary)
militarism + arms race
- preparedness + mobilization
- total defense expenditure for great powers
the "spark"
- archduke franz ferdinand - heir to the throne in austria-hungary
- the assassination: sarajevo (june 28, 1914)
- the assassin: gavrilo princip - serbian secret society "black hand"
war strategies
- the schlieffen plan
- german plan for victory
- surprise attack on france → capture paris (through belgium)
- defeat russia (austria-hungary)
two-front war: western front (france), eastern front (russia)
- german atrocities in belgium
- british propaganda → impact on us neutrality
- us saw germany atrocities in belgium - rape, starving, etc.
a multi-front war
- the western front: a war of attrition
trench warfare → "no man's land"
- over the top
- verdun - february 1916

german offensive → break stalemate on the western front
each side had 500,000 casualties

the somme - july 1916

60,000 british soldiers killed in one day (420,000 in entire battle)
over 1,300,000 killed in 5 months

war is hell → sacrifices, facial reconstruction
the eastern front
- battle of tannenberg: 6-day battle → only 10,000 of 150,000 russian troops escaped (rest were killed / captured)
- germans only lost 20,000 troops and took over 92,000 russian soldiers
- the gallipoli disaster (1915)
- ~ 9 months
- british + french operation aiming to capture the ottoman empire's capital of istanbul to secure a sea route to russia (failed, heavy casualties on both sides)
america joins the allies
- the sinking of the lusitania
- us neutrality ends
- warning to germany → sussex pledge
- support for allies (england + france)
- wilson: program of preparedness

national defense act → expanded size + scope of national guard

growing animosity towards germans (anti-german sentiment in us)
allied propaganda
public opinion - yellow journalism
economic ties to the allies
cultural ties to england + france
american neutrality
election of 1916 - wilson victory
slogan: "he kept us out of war"
january 31, 1917 → peace without victory
us entry into wwi: main causes
germany: unrestricted submarine warfare

february 1917
germany wanted a quick victory against the allies (before the us could send troops in)
stop us supplies to allies
english + france also pressured the us to get involved → just needed more soldiers in the trenches

russian revolution

czar is overthrown - march 1917
promised to set up a democratic government
us could now fight for democracy
government was weak and ill-supported
russians just wanted out of the war
november 1917: bolshevik revolution
vladimir lenin - "father of communism"
lenin → bread = land = peace; signed brest—litovsk treaty and ends the war
reasoning that russia + germany are out of war → now germany only has to fight on one front, can concentrate efforts on west

the zimmerman telegram

Germany + Mexico → southwestern states?
us declaration of war
april 2 → wilson addresses congress
april 6 → formal declaration of war
twin goals: "make the world safe for democracy", "war to end all wars" (war for peace → just peace, don't need to crush germany)
wilson's 14 points
looks at each underlying cause (review for test!!!) largest aspect was to create the league of nations
"the yanks are coming" (became theme song of sorts)

mobilization efforts in the us

committee on public information - george creel
anti-german feelings + actions
espionage + sedition acts
council of national defense
war industries board - bernard baruch
women + the 19th amendment
"work or fight"
national war labor board
food administration - herbert hoover
1. fuel administration - harry garfield
2. paying for the war: liberty bonds
3. mobilizing an army - selective service act

women and the war effort - spies eg. mata hari (german spy)
wartime propaganda, posters, radio advertisements