Concise Notes on World War I

World War I

Causes of World War I

  • Nationalism: devotion to one’s national group.
  • Imperialism: competition for colonies.
  • Militarism: glorifying military power; arms race.
  • Tangled Alliances: military alliances among Great Powers.

Key Players and Alliances

  • Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy.
  • Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, Russia.
  • Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria.
  • Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, United States (from 1917).

Major Events (1914-1918)

  • 1914:
    • Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated.
    • Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
    • Germany declares war on Russia and France.
    • First Battle of the Marne.
  • 1915:
    • Germany uses poison gas.
    • German forces sink the British ship Lusitania.
  • 1916:
    • Battles of Verdun and Somme.
  • 1917:
    • America enters World War I.
    • Communists seize power in Russian Revolution.
  • 1918:
    • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia withdraws).
    • Armistice signed; Allies defeat Central Powers.

Warfare

  • Western Front: bloody stalemate using trench warfare.
  • Eastern Front: more mobile, but slaughter and stalemate were common.
  • New Weapons: poison gas, machine guns, tanks, submarines.
  • Total War: countries devoted all resources to the war effort.
  • Rationing: limiting the amounts of goods people can buy.
  • Propaganda: one-sided information to persuade and keep up morale.

US Entry and Impact

  • Germans announce unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking US ships.
  • Zimmerman note from Germany to Mexico intercepted.
  • US enters war in April 1917.

Aftermath and Peace

  • Treaty of Versailles: Allies dictate harsh peace settlement.
  • League of Nations: international association to keep peace.
  • Germany takes sole responsibility for the war, pays reparations and loses territories.

League of Nations

  • International association established to maintain peace.
  • Germany and Russia initially excluded.

Outcomes

  • New nations created.
  • Mandate system established.
  • Widespread bitterness and resentment.
  • Treaty of Versailles was "a peace built on quicksand."