Chapter 24: The First World War – Expanded Overview

July Crisis (June–July 1914)

• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) by Gavrilo Princip (Bosnian‐Serb member of the nationalist group Black Hand)
  • Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia; symbolism: challenge to Habsburg authority over Slavs.
  • Immediate diplomatic shockwave; demonstrates potency of nationalism + separatism in multi-ethnic empires.
• Austria-Hungary obtains Germany’s “blank check” (unconditional diplomatic & military support)
  • Significance: emboldens Vienna to issue a deliberately harsh ultimatum to Serbia, aiming to crush Serbian nationalism.
• Serbian reply accepts most demands but rejects clauses undermining sovereignty ➜ Austria declares war (28 July 1914).
• Alliance chain reaction
  • Russia mobilises to protect “Slavic brother” Serbia.
  • Germany views Russian mobilisation as casus belli, declares war on Russia (1 Aug) and France (3 Aug).
  • German violation of Belgian neutrality (Schlieffen Plan) triggers British entry (Treaty of 1839 obligations + fear of continental hegemon).
• Broader meaning: illustrates how militarism (rigid timetables), aggressive nationalism, and entangled alliances convert a Balkan crisis into a world war.

Mobilisation & Early Campaigns (August–December 1914)

• Germany activates Schlieffen Plan
  • Aim: rapid knockout of France by sweeping through neutral Belgium, then pivot east.
  • Assumption: Russia’s vast size delays its full mobilisation.
• Belgian resistance & destruction of forts (Liège) slow advance; atrocities against civilians used in Allied propaganda (“Rape of Belgium”).
• First Battle of the Marne (Sept 6–12)
  • Allied counter-attack halts German advance ≈ 40 km from Paris.
  • German retreat to Aisne river; both sides “race to the sea,” digging trenches from North Sea to Swiss border.
• Eastern Front
  • Russia invades East Prussia; defeated decisively at Tannenberg & Masurian Lakes by Hindenburg & Ludendorff.
  • Demonstrates logistical strains yet ties down German divisions, affecting West.
• Illusion of “home by Christmas” evaporates; industrial firepower + defensive tech prolong conflict.

Stalemate & Trench Warfare (1915)

• Continuous trench systems ≈ 700 km.
• Conditions: mud, vermin, shell shock, trench foot; rotation systems yet high psychological strain.
• New weaponry entrenches deadlock
  • Machine guns (e.g., Maxim: 500+ rounds/min) dominate no-man’s-land.
  • Barbed wire complicates infantry assaults.
  • First large-scale poison gas use (Chlorine at Ypres, April 1915); leads to gas masks and escalating chemical arms.
• War of attrition logic: aim to bleed enemy manpower & materiel rather than manoeuvre.

Failed Breakthroughs (1916–1917)

• Battle of Verdun (Feb–Dec 1916)
  • German strategy (“bleed France white”); 300+ days, ~700,000 casualties; minimal territorial change.
• Battle of the Somme (July–Nov 1916)
  • Anglo-French offensive; first day British suffer ≈60,000 casualties.
  • Introduction of tanks (Mark I) – psychological effect but mechanical unreliability.
• Battle of Passchendaele / Third Ypres (July–Nov 1917)
  • Mud-choked battlefield; tiny gains at cost of ~500,000 casualties.
• French Army Mutinies (1917)
  • Sparked by Nivelle Offensive failure; soldiers refuse pointless attacks, yet remain defensive.
• Emerging technologies
  • Flamethrowers (German origin 1915) – shock weapon but limited range.
  • Creeping barrage artillery tactics evolve.
• Moral & cultural impact: perception of futile slaughter fuels disillusionment (e.g., “Lost Generation,” war poetry, trench newspapers).

War of Empires & Global Dimensions

• Colonial mobilisation
  • 2.5 million troops from British Empire (India, Africa, Canada, ANZAC, etc.).
  • French empire contributions (Senegalese Tirailleurs, North Africans).
• Middle East theatre
  • Ottoman Empire enters on Central side (Nov 1914).
  • Arab Revolt (1916) aided by T. E. Lawrence; British promises of post-war Arab independence later contradicted by Sykes-Picot Agreement & Balfour Declaration.
• Japan joins Allies (Aug 1914)
  • Seizes German Pacific islands & Shandong (accelerates Japanese imperial ambitions).
• Aftermath seeds anti-colonial movements (India’s Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms 1919; Wafd nationalism in Egypt; Vietnamese activism under Ho Chi Minh).

The Home Fronts

• Total-war economics
  • State direction of industry (War Raw Materials Board in Germany, Ministry of Munitions in Britain).
  • Rationing of bread, meat, coal; German “Turnip Winter” (1916–17).
• Propaganda & censorship: posters, newsreels, Defence of the Realm Act (UK) limits dissent.
• Women’s expanded roles
  • Munitionettes, transport workers, agricultural labour (Women’s Land Army).
  • Post-war suffrage gains (e.g., Representation of the People Act 1918 in UK).
• Social strains: strikes (Berlin 1918), anti-war demonstrations (Petrograd), pacifist movements.
• Psychological impact: civilian casualty from air raids (Zeppelin, Gotha bombers) inaugurates concept of “total war on the home front.”

Russian Revolutions (1917)

• February/March Revolution
  • Causes: military defeats, supply crisis, unpopular monarchy; Petrograd strikes turn into mass protests.
  • Tsar Nicholas II abdicates; Provisional Government pledges to continue war, undermining support.
• Dual power → Bolshevik October/November Revolution
  • Lenin’s slogans: “Peace, Land, Bread” & “All power to the Soviets.”
  • Red Guards seize key points; first socialist state proclaimed.
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918)
  • Russia cedes Baltic states, Ukraine, Finland; exits war, freeing German troops for Western Front.
• Long-term impact: global ideological divide between capitalism & communism; inspires left-wing movements worldwide.

Road to German Defeat (1918)

• Spring Offensives (Kaiserschlacht)
  • Operation Michael (March 21): stormtrooper tactics gain 65 km but outstrip logistics.
  • Failure to secure decisive victory before US strength materialises.
• Allied counter-offensive (“Hundred Days,” Aug–Nov 1918)
  • Coordinated armour, air power, artillery, and fresh American troops.
  • Hindenburg Line breached; German retreats accelerate.
• Domestic collapse
  • Naval mutinies at Kiel (late Oct); socialist uprisings; proclamation of Weimar Republic.
  • Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates (Nov 9).
• Armistice signed 11 Nov 1918 at 11:00 a.m. – fighting ceases on Western Front.

Consequences & Legacy

• Human cost: ≈10 million military dead, 20 million wounded; influenza pandemic multiplies tragedy.
• Political upheaval
  • Fall of four empires: German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, Ottoman.
  • New states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Baltic republics).
• Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919)
  • Article 231 “war-guilt” clause assigns blame to Germany; reparations 132 billion gold marks.
  • Territorial losses: Alsace-Lorraine, Polish Corridor, colonial mandates.
  • Military restrictions: army limited to 100,000, no tanks/air force.
• Unresolved issues: Italian “mutilated victory,” colonial expectations unmet, German resentment ➜ fertile ground for extremist ideologies.
• Cultural transformation
  • Breakdown of Victorian/Edwardian certainties; modernism in art, literature; questioning of authority.
  • Women’s emancipation, technological acceleration (aviation, radio, medicine).
• Set stage for volatile inter-war period, leading, within a generation, to World War II.