World War 1 - Review

Aim: What were the results of WWI and how did it lead to the rise of Adolf Hitler?

Do Now: Take Quiz. You will have 10 minutes.

Lesson Overview:

Item	Approx Time
Do Now	3-5 Min
Mini Lesson	15-20 Min
Activity	15 Min
Discussion	5-7 Min

Causes of WWI

M = Militarism

A = Alliances

I = Imperialism

N = Nationalism

S = Sarajevo

Militarism

The menace of the hostile division led to an arms race, another cause of World War I. Acknowledging that Germany was the leader in military organization and efficiency, the great powers of Europe copied the universal conscription, large reserves and detailed planning of the Prussian system. Technological and organizational developments led to the formation of general staffs with precise plans for mobilization and attack that often could not be reversed once they were begun. The German von Schlieffen Plan to attack France before Russia in the event of war with Russia was one such complicated plan that drew more countries into war than necessary.

Armies and navies were greatly expanded. The standing armies of France and Germany doubled in size between 1870 and 1914. Naval expansion was also extremely competitive, particularly between Germany and Great Britain. By 1889, the British had established the principle that in order to maintain naval superiority in the event of war they would have to have a navy two and a half times as large as the second-largest navy. This motivated the British to launch the Dreadnought, invented by Admiral Sir John Fisher, in 1906. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 had demonstrated how effective these battleships were. As Britain increased their output of battleships, Germany correspondingly stepped up their naval production, including the Dreadnought. Although efforts for worldwide disarmament were made at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, international rivalry caused the arms race to continue to feed on itself.

Imperialism

Another factor which contributed to the increase in rivalry in Europe was imperialism. Great Britain, Germany and France needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. These countries competed for economic expansion in Africa. Although Britain and France resolved their differences in Africa, several crises foreshadowing the war involved the clash of Germany against Britain and France in North Africa. In the Middle East, the crumbling Ottoman Empire was alluring to Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia.

Nationalism

At the settlement of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the principle of nationalism was ignored in favor of preserving the peace. Germany and Italy were left as divided states, but strong nationalist movements and revolutions led to the unification of Italy in 1861 and that of Germany in 1871. Another result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 was that France was left seething over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and Revanche was a major goal of the French. Nationalism posed a problem for Austria-Hungary and the Balkans, areas comprised of many conflicting national groups. The ardent Panslavism of Serbia and Russia's willingness to support its Slavic brother conflicted with Austria-Hungary's Pan-Germanism.

Alliances

World War I was caused in part by the two opposing alliances developed by Bismarckian diplomacy after the Franco-Prussian War. In order to diplomatically isolate France, Bismarck formed the Three Emperor's League in 1872, an alliance between Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary. When the French occupied Tunisia, Bismarck took advantage of Italian resentment towards France and created the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy and Austria- Hungary in 1882. In exchange for Italy's agreement to stay neutral if war broke out between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary would protect Italy from France. Russia and Austria-Hungary grew suspicious of each other over conflicts in the Balkans in 1887, but Bismarck repaired the damage to his alliances with a Reinsurance Treaty with Russia, allowing both powers to stay neutral if the other was at war.

Collapse of Bismarckian Alliances However, after Bismarck was fired by Kaiser William II in 1890, the traditional dislike of Slavs kept Bismarck's successors from renewing the understanding with Russia. France took advantage of this opportunity to get an ally, and the Franco- Russian Entente was formed in 1891, which became a formal alliance in 1894. The Kruger telegram William II sent to congratulate the leader of the Boers for defeating the British in 1896, his instructions to the German soldiers to behave like Huns in China during the Boxer Rebellion, and particularly the large- scale navy he was building all contributed to British distrust of Germany.

As a result, Britain and France overlooked all major imperialistic conflict between them and formed the Entente Cordiale in 1904. Russia formed an Entente with Britain in 1907 after they had reached an understanding with Britain's ally Japan and William II had further alienated Russia by supporting Austrian ambitions in the Balkans. The Triple Entente, an informal coalition between Great Britain, France and Russia, now countered the Triple Alliance. International tension was greatly increased by the division of Europe into two armed camps.

Sarajevo

Assassination in Sarajevo

Europe had reached its breaking point when on June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serbian nationalist belonging to an organization known as the Black Hand (Narodna Obrana). Immediately following the assassination Germany pledged its full support (blank check) to Austria-Hungary, pressuring them to declare war on Serbia, while France strengthened its backing of Russia. Convinced that the Serbian government had conspired against them, Austria-Hungary issued Serbia an unacceptable ultimatum, to which Serbia consented almost entirely.

Unsatisfied, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. On July 29, Russia ordered a partial mobilization only against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia, which escalated into a general mobilization. The Germans threatened war on July 31 if the Russians did not demobilize. Upon being asked by Germany what it would do in the event of a Russo-German War, France responded that it would act in its own interests and mobilized. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later, on France. The German invasion of Belgium to attack France, which violated Belgium's official neutrality, prompted Britain to declare war on Germany. World War I had begun.

Effects of WWI

Overwhelming odds and weariness forced an end to the fighting with the defeat of the Central Powers. The peace conference that followed was headed by the "Big Four," David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, and Woodrow Wilson of the United States. Together, they drafted the Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, which officially ended the war. Wilson tried to institute his 14 Points but was largely rejected. However, the League of Nations was created as a result and attempted to act as the peacekeeper of Europe. Unfortunately, it was weak and ineffectual due to the absence of the United States.

The treaty, however, was more about revenge, than it was about forging a lasting peace. Germany was forced to accept total responsibility for the start of the war. They also were forced to pay huge reparations, and give over vast amounts of territory. The start of World War II is a direct result of the harsh treatment of Germany after World War I and the main reason that Hitler used as propaganda by saying he wanted to avenge the treaty of Versailles.

Effects Upon England

England had been the center of the great British Empire before World War I. The war marks the beginning of the decline of that empire in the face of rising nationalist demands for independence throughout the non-European world.

England had also been the great creditor nation of the world, providing shipping and insurance services to the rest of the world. The cost of the war was so great that England consumed all of its credits and became heavily indebted to the United States. As a result of the war, the world's financial center shifted from England to the United States, from London to New York.

The demands by women for the right to vote had become most strident in England prior to the war. It could no longer be denied. Women acquired that right throughout most of the countries of Europe following the war.

Working class people, as well as women, were fully employed during the war, and their status, once defined as very subordinate to the aristocracy, was greatly enhanced. The distribution of income shifted in favor of the poor. Relatively, the status of the aristocracy was diminished. Politically, this is reflected in England by the rise of the Labor Party as one of the two major parties.

Effects Upon France

In France, the heavy losses in manpower at the front decimated an entire generation of Frenchmen and is thought to have created a leadership vacuum when that generation came of age. France had fallen behind Germany and England in population during the 19th century. They were, therefore, less able to sustain wartime losses.

France also suffered untold property damage since most of the war on the western front was fought on French soil.

Effects Upon The United States

The United States, removed by an ocean from the center of the war and joining late in the war, did not suffer the catastrophic losses of the major belligerents. U.S. losses in life were great, more than 100,000, but this was small in comparison to the millions lost by the other major powers.

Furthermore, the United States was a great continental power, with great population and resources. The war stimulated the U.S. economy, increased employment and wages, and brought great profit to industry. The United States emerged from the war as clearly the greatest power in the world as well as the creditor nation of the world.

These circumstances thrust the United States into a position as world leaders, while the American people still assumed that Europe had little to do with America. President Wilson had a vision that would have involved the United States extensively in world affairs through the League of Nations, but he was unable to find popular support.

Effects Upon Germany

Germany had entered World War I as the greatest power among the belligerents, with its people immensely proud of Germany's achievements in the years since unification. Defeat in war was a profound shock, and coupled with economic privation and collapse, was more than the German people could accept.

The unusual circumstances at the end of the war, in which their government collapsed and the Social Democratic Party assumed power, were not of their choosing. Revolution was forced upon them by outside pressure, before the people were prepared for change. The new government was unpopular from the beginning. Rather than being in the mainstream of German politics, its support came mainly from the working class. Its popularity was further eroded by the fact that it was tainted with having to sign the armistice and then to accept the Versailles Treaty, a treatly which was universally denounced by the German people.

Severe economic difficulties created by the war and the demand for reparations caused despair and hardship which ensured an uncertain future for the nation.

Effects Upon Austria-Hungary And The Ottoman Empire

Austria-Hungary collapsed during the war, torn apart by its multi-national divisions. Though the Treaty negotiators in Paris in 1919, recognized a new political arrangement after the war, it, too, lacked stability because it was impossible to put to rest the multi-ethnic tension between the people in the region.

Czechoslovakia was a relatively stable successor state in the north, though it was divided among two Slavic nationalities and included many Germans in the Sudetenland, as well as Polish and Hungarian minorities.

Romania, one of the Allied nations, was given a large share of territory inhabited by Hungarians.

The greatest uncertainty was, however, in the areas inhabited by Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, where the different ethnic groups could not be separated from one another and were included together in the new multi-national state of Yugoslavia.

In the former European portion of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish people mingled with Bulgars in Bulgaria, while Albanians mingled with Greeks in Greece and with Serbs in Yugoslavia.

Both the Austrian and the Ottoman Empires had been destroyed without there being any stable alternative.

Effects Upon Russia

In Russia, the war led to the Russian Revolution and a civil war which continued the conflict for three years beyond World War I. The civil war involved foreign intervention, almost total disintegration of the economy and, by 1921, massive famine.

The revolution came earlier than it otherwise would have, under circumstances of war, and before a middle class leadership were prepared to establish a stable, liberal alternative to the old regime.

In other words, the war accelerated the process of change driven by industrialization, and created circumstances in Germany, in the Balkans, and in Russia which people were not prepared for. As previously indicated, it also thrust the United States into a position of world leadership before the American people were ready to accept that responsibility.

The problems, the instability, the uncertainties, and the economic collapse created by the war were far more difficult to deal with than any situation that existed prior to the war.

Classwork & Homework

Lesson PowerPoint: Results of WWI

Lesson Video: World War I Summary

Lesson Activity: Write a paragraph on the Causes and Effects of World War I.