IB History War

Causes of WWI Tensions in Europe after 1870 - Prussia defeats France in 1870 + allies with Germanic states - New united Germany wants its own empire - Germany starts to make Brits feel threatened - New navy threatens GBR's naval supremacy. - Arms race begins and produces the dreadnought - France starts feeling threatened by Germany, allies w/ Russia - Germany now feels surrounded so allies w/ Austro Hungary and Italy - GBR doesn't form an alliance but grows closer w/ France July Crisis (1914) - Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated by Serbian nationalist - A-H wants revenge and when Serbs fail to meet ultimatum - A- H declares war - Tensions in Europe grow as nations take sides: - Serbia, Russia, France - Austro-Hungary, Germany, Italy (defensive alliance on their part) British Involvement - Britain unsure whether or not to get involved as consequences would be big - Germany then attacks France through Belgium - GBR had sworn to protect Belgium so they issue the German ultimatum - Germany ignores Britain’s ultimatum, forcing the entire British empire into war Europe in 1871 Setting the scene - In 1871, there were only a few empires ruling Europe - For example, Ireland was still a part of the UK - The German Empire was also much more expansive - Most of Southern Europe was owned by the Ottoman Empire - The Austro-Hungarian empire was still active - On January 18, 1871, Germany unified and declared their unification and status as an empire while at the palace of Versailles in France - Principles of reconstruction - created in post-Napoleonic France - Legitimacy - Compensation - Balance of power Franco-Prussian War - July 1870-May 1871 - Germany establishes Prussia as a major state after it defeats Austria in the Seven Weeks’ War in 1866 - France is worried that Prussia will ally with Spain - it got along with neither but was sandwiched between them - Napoléon III (not the famous Napoléon) declared war in July, but he didn’t have the full picture - turns out Prussia was much better armed than he expected - France loses the Franco-Prussian war quite spectacularly - Germany took a lot of France’s territory after the war Conservative Vs. Liberal Powers - Conservative: Austro-Hungary and Russia - Want things to stay the same - Weakened by nationalism, specifically nationalism of smaller ethnic groups (Poles, Serbs, etc.) - In 1867 Austria became the Austro-Hungarian Empire - This renaming angered a lot of minorities (Croats, Serbs, etc.) because Hungary got a name-drop but they didn’t - Russia especially was an absolute monarchy under the Romanovs - Russification was divisive (minorities) - 1861 Emancipation of the Serfs (Russian peasants, basically slaves) - State-led industrialization - Russo-Japanese war 1904-5 - Liberal: France and the UK - Popular involvement in politics - UK: - Stable government - By 19th century standards, it had narrowing income disparities - Irish resentment - Ireland want to rule themselves but the Brits don’t want that because they love exploiting resources - Splendid isolation - policy of not bothering with Europe, just sitting alone in British pride. - Brits are focused on the Russian threat to their central Asian power balance - they ignored the rise of Germany. Big mistake! - France: - No longer a dominant power after Franco-Prussian War - Divided between monarchists (monarchy) and republicans (no monarchy) - Popular participation in politics, strong sense of national identity, good public education system → cohesion! - Common feeling of French unity, despite some local divides Germany from 1871 - Focal point of international relations in Europe because they want to be a big European power - Geographically very close to Europe’s other powers - Otto Von Bismarck - “Europe’s Greatest Statesman” - Focus on domestic issues - French isolation - Wanted Russia and Aus-H to get along - Main focus was to try and “create Germans” - create sense of national identity and pride - 1890 - Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck - He wants to focus on acquisition of colonies - Manipulating nationalist and militaristic sentiments to maintain domestic support and keep Social Democrats in the minority - Claimed relation to Atilla the Hun - A disastrous leader! He tried to cause arguments and talked bad about leaders on broadcasts/interviews German Foreign Policy The German Empire - The German Empire and its colonial possessions were not very big compared to its allies - They wanted to have land from “Cairo to Cape” for easy transportation of goods and etc. - When Germany talked about wanting their “place in the sun”, Britain got mad because their saying was “the sun never sets on the British Empire”. Otto Von Bismarck - Chancellor 1871-1890 - Realpolitik and Kulturkampf - Kulturkampf was trying to get rid of too much Catholic/Lutheran influence and making people feel more affinity with Germany rather than their religion. - Bismarck did however eventually end up working with the Catholics to create one of the first welfare states (the part of the state that looks after healthcare, education, etc.). This, in the 1880s, was the first comprehensive national healthcare system. Work injury compensation, old age pensions, etc. - Realpolitik is just the name given to Bismarckian politics - focusing on unifying Germany whilst isolating France. Germany needs to be stable before stretching itself too far. - “The Iron Chancellor”, “Europe’s Greatest Statesman” - Arch-conservative but introduced many progressive reforms to get what he wanted - Wealthy Prussian background - Traditional, conservative, well-off individual - “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable, the art of the next best” - Hosted Berlin conference in 1885 The Great Eastern Crisis 1875-1878 - 1875 - Herzegovina rebelled against the Sultan (Ottoman Empire) - Great powers believed they needed to prevent Balkan conflict - The Dreikaiserbund (3 Kaiser’s Bond/3 Emperors’ Group) were the first to act (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia) → Andrassy Note to Sultan (urged the Sultan to introduce reforms and bring in some social progress) - Rejected by Herzegovina - Ottoman Empire began the Berlin Memorandum, but fell into internal strife before it could be delivered - Starting to enter their declination era - Rebellion crushed in August 1876, which annoyed Russia who wanted to claim Ottoman territories after the empire was expected to fall - Tales of atrocities committed by Ottomans (outrage by more liberal countries of Europe) European involvement - Russia declared war on Turkey, 1877 (Secured Austrian neutrality first) - Britain = neutral until Russia threatened to invade Constantinople → asked Germany and Austria to ally with them to stop it - Russia offered peace terms which were largely accepted but adjusted slightly in the Treaty of Berlin Impact on European Relations - Bosnia and Herzegovina still officially in the Ottoman Empire, but transferred to Austrian control - Cyprus given to Britain via secret land agreement - Germany drew away from Russia and became closer to Austria-Hungary (Dual Alliance) - Germany closely allied with Ottoman Empire - Influenced Britain agreeing to the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 German Alliances - Bismarck - The Dual Alliance (1879) - Germany and Austro-Hungary - Each agreed to come to the other’s aid in the event of war with Russia or to remain neutral in a war with any other power - Treaty was to last for 5 years BUT remained valid until 1918 - The Dreikaiserbund (1873 & 1881) - Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia - Remain neutral in the event of any of them being in a war with another power - Balkans divided into spheres of interest - The Triple Alliance (1882) - Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy - Germany and Austria-Hungary agree to intervene if Italy were attacked by France - If Germany were attacked by France, Italy would support Germany - The Reinsurance Treaty (1887) - Germany and Russia - Agreed to remain neutral in the event of either one of them being involved in a war with a third power Bismarck’s Successes and Failures SUCCESS - Prevented the formation of any hostile coalitions against Germany and obtained power status for the country - Handling of Congress of Berlin, African Division, and the Bulgarian Crisis helped to prevent European war - Restrained Austrian ambitions in the Balkans (successors did NOT - WWI) FAILURE - Failed to keep Austria and Russia on good terms, could not reconcile France to the loss of Alsace-Lorraine - Biggest criticism of Bismarck was his disregard for the interests and wishes of the peoples of small nations which lead to significant problems Sammlungspolitik & Social Imperialism - Sammlungspolitik (policy of concentration) = the banding together of social elites to protect their position from “threats” below - Social Imperialism = “an attempt to buttress the position of the elites at the top of Germany’s class system by diverting the masses away from social and political reform and towards a populist acceptance of the Kaiser and the Kaiserreich.” (Geoff Layton) Pressure Groups - German Colonial Association - Founded 1882 - More German colonies - Pan-German League - Founded 1891 by Alfred Hugenberg and Karl Peters - Radical right-wing nationalist organization which supported Weltpolitik and saw itself as an unofficial watchdog, critic, and advisor to successive governments - German Navy League - Founded 1898 - Campaigned for an enlarged German fleet and supported Weltpolitik - Had strong links with big business and conservative politicians The “New Course”, 1890-94 - No coherent policy - Reflected the Kaiser’s anti-Russian and pro-Brit sympathies - 1890 - Germany allows the Reinsurance Treaty to lapse - Russia no longer considered Germany’s natural ally - Incompatible with Germany’s other commitments - Overtures to Britain - Close dynastic relationship - 1890 - Anglo-German Convention - Result: pushes Russia into the arms of France - Now Germany is boxed in by allied countries, and if they try to expand their territory inside of Europe, they either make one or the other angry Bernhard Von Bülow (1897) - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1897-1900, Chancellor of the German Empire 1900-1909 - Weltpolitik - More aggressive and assertive foreign policy after 1897 - Rejection of Bismarck’s “continental policy” - 1897 - seizure of the Chinese port of Kiao-Chow and Shantung province is claimed as a German “sphere of influence” (nobody can operate there unless Germany gives OK) - 1898 - purchase of Pacific Islands from Spain (Carolines, Marshalls, and Marianas) - 1899 - acquisition of Samoan Islands - 1900 - Germany leads multinational intervention force after the Boxer Revolution* - Weltpolitik debate (3 perspectives) - 3 main aims: large navy, Central African Empire (Mittelafrika), and a Central European customs union (Mitteleuropa), all part of a master plan for world power - Motivated by domestic concerns and a substitute for unwanted social change (social imperialism) - Not designed to outflank the socialists but rather to unite the Conservatives, National Liberals, and Center Party behind the government Flottenpolitik - In the 1890s Germany only had the world’s 7th biggest navy, but its share of world trade was almost as big as Britain’s - 1898 - Alfred von Tirpitz appointed Navy State Secretary - 1898 - First Navy Law - provided funds for the construction of 16 new battleships - 1900 - Second Navy Law - 3 new ships per year for the next 6 years - 1906 - Britain launches the HMS Dreadnought, a revolution in naval technology which was thought to have made all existing battleships obsolete - 1908-1912 - Naval building stepped up, leading to a dangerous and expensive arms race with Britain The Boxer Rebellion - Anti-foreigner attack by Chinese peasants (Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists) - November 2, 1899 to September 7, 1901 - 3 main causes: - Deep-rooted hatred in China for “foreign devils” - New Empress Dowager Cixi - opposed privileges given to foreigners - Cixi painted foreigners as a common energy to avoid criticism of her - Key events: - Many natural disasters during the late 1890s which were hard-suffered by peasants - Boxers then began attacking foreigners and Christians - Attacks started in the east coast province of Shandong before spreading further north east to locations such as Shanxi - Uprising arrived in Beijing and German ambassador Clemens von Ketteler was killed - Westerners sought refuge in the British Legation and were besieged for 55 days - Empress Cixi backed the Boxers and declared war, but forces were unable to overcome the British Legation’s defenses. Finally, an international military force defeated the Boxers. - Western opinions of the Boxers were not positive, because the Boxers had such opposing views on Christianity and foreigners being in their country. - Because of this, opinions in papers like the New York Times describe the Boxers as things like “rowdies” (meaning noisy/disorderly) - Because Western culture is so firmly tied to Christianity, Brits and Americans especially had a lot of feelings about being the ones hated for their foreign status for once - The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists were the Boxers - They performed various martial arts and calisthenics rituals with the belief that it would make them invincible - Westerners referred to this practice as “shadow boxing” - Blamed their situations on the foreigners being given land Imperialism and WWI Why Imperialism? - The behaviour of an empire - The desire of Western empires to colonize other places - Happens because of the search for raw materials - Market expansion - Slave trade was abolished, countries still wanted to partake in exploitation - Spread of Christianity to the “uneducated barbarians” - Economic motivations - Industrial Revolution led to need for raw materials - New markets available in Africa to sell manufactured goods - Having an empire shows power and wealth (status symbol), gives people pride in their country - Empires saw their endeavors as humanitarianism - Thought they were helping the “barbarians” - Thought Africans should be more like Europeans - Provided medicine and educations - Improved infrastructure - BUT… often caused more harm than good - Social Darwinism - Western civilization is better than others - The “White Man’s Burden” - converting native populations to Christianity and educating them in the Western way of life was the responsibility of white people as the “superior race” (Rudyard Kipling) Scramble for Africa - Conflict - 1880s European nations fighting over territory - 1884 - Berlin Conference - Bismarck - Formal treaty to divide up Africa - 14 European nations + USA - No African nations or people in general were invited - Coastal Africa was more desirable - Limited exploration of interior of Africa - Malaria - Limited military power - As science and military tech became better, Africa became more vulnerable - At the Berlin Conference, European countries could claim African land if they controlled strategic points - Europe also agreed to bring “Commerce, Christianity, and Civilization” to Africa - UK wanted “Cairo to Cape” - While Europe was very advanced, Africa was dealing with cultural disunity - Made Africa more easily dominated - Europe had: - Better weapons (guns + spears) - Able to control a conquered area more easily (railways, steamboats, telegraphs) - Quinine (Malaria immunization) - Europeans pitted rivals against each other - Lots of consequences for Europeans - Boer War - Britain fought the Zulus and the Boers - Costly, bloodshed, bitterness - UK had largest empire, largest navy, and largest mercantile fleet - “Cairo to Cape” - Envy - Germany and Italy relative newcomers - Need to prove themselves - Diplomatic incidents - Moroccan crises - Under French sphere of influence though not a French colony - Wilhelm II supported Moroccan independence to antagonize France - French suppression of a rebellion interrupted by Germans landing the Panther without permission or warning - Ottoman decline - “The Sick Man of Europe” - Ottomans lost several wars at the turn of the century - Crimean war - Russo-Turkish War - First Balkans War (1912-13) - Power vacuum in Eastern Europe Key Points of Imperialism - Several European nations had empires by the end of the 19th century - UK had largest - Italy and Germany started late - Germany did a better job than Italy - Race to acquire the last remaining territories, especially in Africa - Competition and rivalry during and after the Scramble for Africa led to tension and diplomatic incidents e.g. Moroccan Crises - Deterioration of Ottoman Empire attracted attention of European powers in the Balkan states Essay question practice - Examine how German foreign policy impacted European powers between 1890 and 1908 - Command term - Connections between links and factors: how do they fit together in detail? - Define key terms - Goalposts: what am I looking at? Which parts of that topic? The Spark of WWI - Gavrilo Princip of the Black Hand assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the throne) and his wife Sophie - Backdrop - Balkans were very tumultuous - Balkan wars, Bosnian crisis, decline of the Ottomans, power vacuum - Ottomans are being pushed out slowly - some areas are essentially independent except for the paperwork - All depends on Austria-Hungary and Russia getting along - 1908: Bosnia-Herzegovina annexed by A-H → angered Serbs - 1912 and 1913 - Back to back wars - Serbia more than doubled territory - Bulgaria expands - Greece gets more territory - Russia and France were pushed together because Kaiser Wilhelm was annoying them (reinsurance treaty lapsed) → now A-H worry that Russia has another powerful empire, while Britain is worried that Germany is a bit too confident and vocal (keeping a close eye on him) Final chain of events - Franz Josef asks Wilhelm for support - German chancellor informed Austrian representatives that Vienna has Germany’s full support (the blank cheque) - A-H ambassador gives Serbia an ultimatum: wipe out terrorists, let A-H in to carry out an investigation (know they won’t do it, excuse to go to war) or they will invade - Serbia asked Russia for help, Tsar started mobilising his army → wrote to the Kaiser (his cousin) and said ‘you’re the only one who can stop this’ but the Kaiser liked the idea of a war - July 28 - A-H declares war on Serbia - Russia supports Serbia - August 1: Germany declares war on Russia - This pulls in France and Britain Who was to blame? - BBC article - Heather Jones - Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany - Assassinations of military leaders did not typically result in war, but A-H wanted a war to get rid of Serbia, which was unstable and risky. Serbia did not want a war as they were recovering from back-to-back Balkan wars. Germany encouraged A-H in declaring war, wanting to play a role in the conflict. Russia reacted quickly and mobilised its army before attempting to properly calm down the conflict. This scared Germany, so they preemptively declared war on Russia and France, invading through Belgium and pulling in Britain. - Bellicose, war-hungry, panicked leaders - John Rohl - Austria-Hungary and Germany - The war breaking out was a conspiracy between A-H and Germany - they laid plans deliberately into motion. The only thing that went wrong in their plan was that they never intended to pull in Britain. Kaiser Wilhelm had implemented a culture of militarism and war in Germany, along with his belief in the supremacy of the monarchy, his belief that he was destined to lead Germany to greatness, and his disdain for diplomacy. He appointed 20 ish men - mostly military and naval leaders - to decide the policy of Germany, and with their eagerness for militarism and preference to ‘go down fighting’ then end up in a situation where they were not on top, they backed A-H knowing that this would result in war. This was controlled by the chancellor von Bethman Hollweg, who controlled the diplomatic side of things so he could create a custom-built war essentially (for example, convincing the people that Germany was under attack). The only thing that he failed at was not pulling in Britain. - Kaiser Wilhelm’s culture of militarism, Bethman Hollweg 1914: The Schlieffen Plan Why Germany thought they could be successful and why they weren’t - Main plan of attack for a war in Europe - designed in 1905 by Alfred von Schlieffen - Idea was that Germany would avoid fighting a war on two fronts as they did not want to be trapped in the middle → Russia and France - They didn’t want to fight on the East and the West: what Bismarck also wanted to avoid - Schlieffen Plan - Big part of the German army would go to France and defeat them within 6 weeks while the rest of the army kept a lid on everything in Russia - Then head to Russia and get rid of them - Army groups - 1-3 go through Belgium and get to Paris (right) → huge, 7-1 ratio - 4-5 push almost straight through in the centre, expect some resistance - 6-7 hardly push down at the left wing, static and distracting troops - The plan is that Paris is surrounded and then falls - Some downsides: France has mobilised its forces already as they are suspicious of Germany → plans were not updated - Schlieffen dies and Helmuth von Molke modifies the plan: more cautious - Instead of annihilation and attrition (wiping out) - Wanted neutralisation, reduced the number of troops on the right from the 7:1 - Apparently Schlieffen's last words were ‘remember to keep the right strong’ - Reduces the number of troops by about ⅓: aren't able to push quickly - Doesn’t push troops through the Netherlands: ends up with a bottleneck - German/French border was small - Decide to go through Belgium and Luxembourg - Demands that Belgium let them on August 2nd - 3rd of August: first German troops enter Belgium - 4th of August: Britain protests and threatens to declare war - Bombing attack on Potstam where the original plan documents were stored, so there aren’t any original documents of the plans – nobody really knows! - Above is the generally accepted adaptation of what happened - Plan dependent on four big things - France would be defeated in 6 weeks - Russia would take at least 3 weeks to mobilize, closer to 6 - They actually mobilized in 10 days - Britain would not come to Belgium’s aid - The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) actually mobilized and were in Belgium by August 23rd (Battle of Mons) - Germany could hold off Russia from the time they mobilized until their victorious troops could come over from France using their modernized railway network. The Battle of Mons - August 1914 - British effort to hold up the German drive towards Paris - On Aug. 23, the Germans opened fire on the Brits, but they were not aware of Britain’s strength - The British riflemen were so accurate that the German soldiers first thought that they were being battered by machine guns – Germany took heavy losses because of this - German army changed their strategy and eventually forced the BEF to retreat - Hold up for the Germans but not a halt - Allowed French troops to rally outside Paris - But Germans made it very close to Paris - By 6th September the German forces were almost within striking distance of Paris 1st Battle of the Marne - September 1914 - First use of reconnaissance aircraft and radio intercepts in war - Using planes to spy on the enemy and get connaissance (knowledge) on what they’re doing - Radio intercepts: listening to the enemy over the radio to find out what they’re doing - It was reconnaissance planes and radio intercepts that allowed allied forces to encircle Germans - Von Moltke told the Kaiser “Sir, we have just lost the war” - Resigned as soon as it all went wrong and was replaced by Erich von Falkenhayn War!! Allies - Great Britain - Russia - France - Japan (a few weeks later) - Italy (nine months later, claimed joining Triple Alliance was a defensive strategy) - United States (give it time) - Canada (w/ GBR) Central Powers - Germany - Austria-Hungary - Bulgaria - Ottoman Empire (later on to try and regain lost territories) The Western Front - The failure of the Schlieffen Plan ultimately led to the strategy of trench warfare along the Western Front which is so strongly associated with WWI - There was also an Eastern Front from Poland down to Serbia Trenches - Originally a German reaction to secure the territory they had already conquered. - It later was adopted as a defense against shell fire and explosions - Life in the trenches were described as 80% bored to death; 19% frozen to death; 1% scared to death - Total trench system ran around 430 miles from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border - Trench network was very complex and it wasn’t unusual for soldiers to get lost - skilled guides led people through the trenches - British believed that trenches were not permanent, did not encourage any feeling of being there to stay - Germans were more thorough, and build their trenches deeper, with more amenities and the general attitude was that they were there to stay - How the trenches were constructed depended on the soil - In Flanders, for example, it was muddy and the water table was high - Trenches were not straight but zigzagged around - Conditions were terrible - Some lived in six inches of water - Shell fire and explosions were still experienced - Prone to flooding - Harsh winter made trench life a nightmare as you’d have to re-dig the trenches with snow - Lice, rats, trench foot, frostbite The Stalemate! - Combination of trench warfare and other things (TRENCH WARFARE IS NOT A TECHNOLOGY OF WAR!) - Four main reasons - Germans failed to break through and capture Paris - Race to the sea - Falkenhayn decided to try and get around enemy lines in an attempt to capture port towns in order to cut off the BEF’s supplies and reinforcements - Defensive positions - Germans and Allies resisted each other’s attacks by digging defensive positions, making it harder to push through territory lines/fortifications - Worsening weather - as the winter came, activity was limited. Soldiers were effectively living outside, movement was difficult, artillery and visibility in mist, fog, rain… etc. The Battle of the Somme Background - Planned to be a joint British and French attack but the French were under a lot of pressure at Verdun so they couldn’t send any forces - Field Marshal Haig wanted to delay the attack but the French needed relief from pressure at Verdun - The BEF ended up taking on the German army alone and the Battle of the Somme is known as one of the worst disasters in British military history Where - By the River Somme - Northern France The Plan - Reconnaissance planes to spot artillery - A weeklong artillery bombardment to destroy German defences (“not even a rat left alive”) - Infantry advance to take hold of German positions - Cavalry (mounted soldiers) charge to sweep through breaking the enemy line in two Reality - Artillery bombardment warned the Germans that an attack was coming - German trenches were well made and well fortified. Their dugouts were deep underground and could withstand anything except a direct hit - Bombardment churned up the ground badly which made British advances more difficult - ⅓ of British artillery shells failed to explode so some parts of Germany’s defences were not even touched - When the British men went over-the-top (into no-man’s-land), they were decimated by the Germans’ machine gun and artillery fire - The Brits suffered over 57,000 casualties in one day, and over 19,000 of those were killed - Entire companies of soldiers were wiped out (100 men per company) - Companies were often groups of men from the same villages or regions so villages would lose scores of their men in one go - Britain didn’t capture a single one of their objectives - didn’t push far enough forward to claim what they wanted - French managed to keep Verdun - This was the worst day in history for the British Army - Some German machine gun crews refused to keep firing as they believed it was immoral Why it went wrong - 1.7 million artillery shells fired but ⅓ of them did not explode - British artillery wasn’t powerful enough to destroy German dugouts - Barbed wire was supposed to be cut through by artillery but that’s not how artillery works - Brits had to walk 100s of metres across exposed ground that had been churned up by artillery fire - easy for Germans to pick them off with guns - British generals had decided that regardless of human cost, they had to help take the pressure off the French in Verdun Outcomes - Almost a ½ million British soldiers were killed - The French, attacking where the German defenses were weaker, were more successful but without backup from Brits they couldn’t hold their advance - Haig allowed bloodshed to continue despite the growing losses - By the time he called off the attack, more than 450,000 British, 200,000 French and 650,000 German were killed - After 4 mos of fighting the allies ad advanced no more than 5 miles - In terms of relieving the pressure on the French at Verdun, the battle had been a success, and it did massive damage to German forces in the long-term once they realized where they went wrong - Still very catastrophic - “Lions led by donkeys”: expression coined after the Somme - Very brave and powerful young men who go out to do the fighting - Stupid and cowardly men leading them there