I. War and Revolution
A. Path to War
The idea of nation-states creates conflict, not peace
National boundaries don’t reflect ethnic demographics
Statesmen (politicians, military officers) viewed war as a protector, not danger
Danish, Austrian-Prussian, Franco-Prussian Wars = only took weeks-year
War “fixed the problems”
Go to war, sign a treaty, gain/lose land, that’s it
War escalates, better technology = irreversible catastrophe
Internal conflicts via minorities (Poles, Slavs, Irish, etc.) = instability
Combatants take advantage of conflict (Germany → Ireland, Mexico)
Stateless peoples
Conscription = huge armies = devastating amounts of death
Alliances create false sense of security
Strong allies → arrogance, confidence
M.A.I.N. Causes
Militarism
Naval buildup between Britain and Germany
Dreadnoughts, battleships, U-boats, etc.
Glorification of military and amassing of weapons, soldiers, etc.
Increased spending on military to be competitive
Alliances
Wilheim II stokes tension by changing foreign policy (Germany first)
Shift of alliances and web of complicated relationships
Austria-Hungary looks to Balkans as up for grabs; opportunity to expand
Russia looks to slavic Balkans as their own
Imperialism
Expansionism and competition
Global reach between European industrialized powers
Balkan imperial rivalry (e.g. Serbia wanting Adriatic access)
Nationalism
Tennis Court oath: created nation of France
Revolutions of 1848: people wanted to create nation states
Germany and Italy emerge as unified nation states
Balkan states have strong nationalism (e.g. Serbia)
Proving who’s the best
B. Balkans Light the Match
June 28 1914: Serbian nationalists (Black Hand, Gavrillo Princip) kill Austrian Archduke
Fired up over Austria taking Bosnia; feel threatened
Austria is convinced the Serbian government was involved, sends Serbia an unprecedented ultimatum
Called for the investigation in a sovereign nation
Execution of those involved
William II’s blank check to Austria (security of strong ally) → July 28, 3rd Balkan War
Blank check = full support
Austria declares war on Serbia, Russia comes to protect their Slavic ally Serbia
Russian mobilization = Germans declaring war on Russia and Serbia on August 1
This begins the Great War
Schlieffen Plan = Germans invasion of Belgium, GB/Fr enter
Plan: knock out France through Belgium, turn to Russia and win (required speed)
Let Austro-Hungarians play defense to hold the front until Germany could turn around
C. Sitzkreig to Slaughter (Phony War)
Nationalism + propaganda = early enthusiasm for war
Media controlled how news were portrayed
Schlieffen required speed; stopped it via slow trenches
Bogged down the fighting
Eastern front: moving frontlines = huge loss of life (2.5 million Russians)
Terrible supply lines
Just falling apart
Western strategy: create mobility via breakthroughs
1917: 700k died at Verdun
Colonialism globalized the war (Africans, Japanese, Aussies, New Zealanders)
All the imperialism, alliances, and competition led up to this point…
Germany engaged in submarine warfare to sink British dreadnoughts (battleships)
U-boats tick off the United States (culminates in Lusitania)
Destructive technology results in terrifying numbers of deaths in battle
Machine gun
Barbed wire
Submarines (U-boats)
Airplanes*
Poison gas (biological warfare)
Tanks
D. Over Here!
Politician/ Economic centralization = big gov
Early Progressive Era helped lay foundations
Programs like FDA, etc. = more gov power/ intervention/ involvement
Paves way for increased gov control during war
Internal conflict replaced patriotic nationalism
Soldiers' mutinies/revolutions: Easter Rebellion (Ireland) & Russian Revolution
Government fought via suppression of civil liberties
Like freedom of speech, assembly, etc.
Done in response of war, rebellions, unrest, etc.
Trade unions & role of women increased
Russian trade unions: soviets
Workers treated better b/c armies needed items produced; couldn't affond strike
Men gone = more women workers
Ottomans: Armenian genocide, Arab revolt against Turks..
Lawrence of Arabia = British secret agent
Trying to convince Arabs to revolt (destroy Ottomans from within); made agreements/promises
Armenians = Christian minority in Ottoman Empire
Worried they would side w/ Christian Europeans; war causes paranoia
European empires collapsed: Austria-Hungary & Ottoman
Death of 2 empires, but birth of new one: Soviet Union
E. Russian to Leave (Russian Revolution)
1914-1916: 2 million Killed; 4-6 million wounded
Tsarist top-down failures = revolutions
Central powers also adding fuel to fire
Germany sends Lenin to Russia
Bread rations = Women's March Revolt; Tsar abdicated.
Provisional gov: soviet & Bolshevik threats
Bolsheviks = communists
Kerensky = leaden of provisional gov
still participating in war, so Bolsheviks fight back (want out of war)
Trotsky & Lenin's Bolsheviks seized power = cIvil war
Had support of soviets (soviets = manpower)
March 3, 1918: Brest-Litovsk pulled Russia out of WWI
Russia must give up lots of land to Germany i must pull out of war to focus on communizing
1918-1921: Civil War = Bolshevik victory; Romanovs slaughtered
Bolsheviks v. Menshevik (moderates) v. Ukrainians (wanted more independence)
Ukrainians persecuted & starved in Holodomor
Bolshevik victory = birth of Soviet Union
Lenin's NEP compromised communism far free-market
NEP = new economic policy
Lenin does this out of necessity (pp| need to eat)
F. Central Powers Collapse
Starts well; sending Lenin to Russia => revolution (sending saboteur within)
Gets most of the territory they wanted via Brest-Litovsk
Knocked out Russia out of the war
US entered, but was far away
Russian Revolution renewed German hopes
Fresh Americans + Allied resistance = 2nd Battle of the Marne stalls Central Powers from encroaching on Paris
300k+ casualties, ending in stalemate (halted)
German goal: get to Paris
This battle ended German hope for a victory on the western front
Allies forced out Kaiser = Weimar Republic
Unprecedented peace terms via changing German government
11 Nov 1918 Ebert’s socialist government sued for peace
Kaiser out => Ebert’s government represented Germany but seemed illegitimate from within
Germany quit when they were still in France…
Facilitated “stabbed in the back theory” (November criminals)
Ebert and Weimar were illegitimate; “selling Germany out”
Germany could have won, but was sabotaged from within
Why would Germany give up and surrender to the allies?
Moderate socialists used army to crush communists
Democratic Successor States: Poland, Czechloslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia
League of Nations Mandates (former Ottoman): Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine
G. Peace to End All Peace… (Treaty of Versailles)
Aims: self-determination (European successor states), revenge (French), communist fear, punish Germany, League of Nations (Wilson)
Reparations + war + guilt clause = German nationalism
Guilt clause: WWI is entirely Germany’s fault
Territorial loss (Poland, Alsace-Lorraine)
France takes it back after Franco-Prussian War
Germans had no say over the peace treaty
“Dictated peace” popularized radical groups (Hitler)
In short: empires died, nation-states rise
H. Ashes of the Ottomans
Versailles Treaty takes land and allows occupation of former territory, becoming mandates (facilitated by France/Britain) or split up to allies (Greece, Italy)
Creation of an independent, secular Turkish republic
Mustafa Kemal = Ataturk; father of the Turks
Ottoman Empire: dismantled and occupied (1922-23)
Kemal proclaimed Republic of Turkey as Sultan Mehmed VI left to Malta
Sultan Mehmed VI = last Sultan of Ottoman Empire
Britain promised Jews a homeland, and made promises of land to Arabs (Lawrence of Arabia, WWI) => two conflicting promises = Arab bitterness
Arabs declared Syria and Iraq independent → British/French intervention
Turkey was attacked by Greece (ancient enemy wanting revenge & occupied by France (to stop the fighting)
Kemal’s resistance = Treaty of Lausanne = Turkish independence under a republic
Lousanne “ethnically cleansed” Greeks out of Turkey and Turks out of Greece = bitterness