World War I: The Great War

1. World War I: The Great War

2. Europe in the 1910s was a tense place. Great Britain, France, and Russia were the classic powerhouse nations, wealthy, with big militaries. But Germany was growing rapidly, building a huge army and a modern navy. The powerful nations were getting nervous.

3. Germany had whipped France before. In the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Germany humiliated the mighty French army and forced France to hand over two territories, Alsace and Lorraine. The French were angry about losing the war and the land.

4. One of the main causes of World War I was Nationalism Nationalism is defined as the desire of people with similar cultures to have their own independent countries. It is identified by intense devotion to one's culture or nation. Do not confuse nationalism with patriotism.

5. Imperialistic Austria-Hungary had taken over a place called Bosnia. Bosnia wanted to be independent, and the nations Serbia and Russia were trying to help them. Why? They all spoke the same language. Basically, Bosnia was a Russian place, that was owned by Austria. Bosnia wanted to be free from Austria, and that is nationalism.

7. Another cause of World War I was Militarism Militarism means the development of armed forces and using them as a tool of diplomacy. Historically, nations did not keep large armies during peace time. (They're too expensive) Just before World War I, European nations started building large armies and navies. Why?

8. Imperialism had a lot to do with that, too. If you're going to start colonies all over the world, you need a navy to get to them, and an army to protect them. Plus, if your neighbor builds up his army and you don’t, you're open to attack and unable to defend yourself. So, you have to build up your army too. This leads to a situation where the nations of Europe had huge armies, and they were all suspicious of each other; they were prepared and waiting for war, anticipating some event to touch it off.

9. So the nervous nations started making plans for a war they thought might be coming. The Germans drew up the Schlieffen Plan which called for Germany to hit France hard, knock them out quick, then turn on France's allies (Russia.) The French drew up Plan 17, which called for the French to focus on capturing on Germany's capital, Berlin.

10. In 1914, protests broke out in Bosnia, encouraged by Serbia and Russia. To calm the protestors down, the emperor of Austria-Hungary sent the prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, to the area. But when he got there, he was shot and killed. The assassin was a Serbian named Gavrilo Princip. The emperor was enraged and threatened war against Serbia.

12. "I am a Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of state, but it must be free from Austria." —Princip, during his trial in 1914. "No I am not sorry. I have cleared evil out of the way" —during his trial "I am not a criminal, for I destroyed a bad man. I thought I was right." —after he performed his assassination "No I am not sorry. I have cleared evil out of the way" —during his trial "If I hadn't done it the Germans would have found another excuse." —Supposedly his last words.

13. Alliances were another cause of WWI. When Austria threatened Serbia, little Serbia ran to its big friend, Russia. Russia promised to help Serbia if Austria attacked. So then Austria went to their ally, Germany. Germany vowed that if Russia attacked Austria, Germany would help Austria. So then Russia went to their ally, France, who promised to support Russia. Then Great Britain, France's ally, did the same thing. The US, 3,000 miles away from this foolishness, wanted to stay out of the whole thing. We wanted to be neutral.

14. Encouraged by Germany, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Russia then declares war on Austria-Hungary. So Germany declares war on Russia. In response, France and Great Britain declare war on Germany. So this little conflict between two tiny places, Austria and Serbia, turns into a huge, never before seen, bloody war called The Great War, later World War I.

15. August 3, 1914, the German army invaded France, but were stopped short of Paris. The Russians invaded Germany, but they were stopped also. All sides started digging deep ditches, called trenches, to get out of the way of bullets. They would end up fighting from these trenches for over 4 years. What was trench fighting like?

17. The US at this time was ISOLATIONIST: we wanted to be left out of these foreign affairs. We were trading with all the nations involved, and we didn’t want to commit to a side and lose half of our trade. We wanted to be NEUTRAL, and we were from 1914 to 1916. So what happened to change that?

18. First, Americans felt a natural friendship with Britain. Also, the US was trading much more with France and GB than with Germany. From 1914 on, US trade with France and GB quadrupled, while US trade with Germany fall to nearly zero. Also, US banks had loaned $2.3 billion to France and GB to fight the war. If they lost, our banks would never recover their money. Many people said that US prosperity depended on Germany losing.

19. Meanwhile, British PROPAGANDA encouraged Americans to fear the Germans and help the Allies.

21. Then Germany did a couple of really stupid things. They looked for a way to cut the US off from GB, so they declared that they would use their submarines (U-boats) to sink any ship that came near Britain. This was called UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE. May 7, 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed a British passenger ship called The Lusitania. Over 1,000 people were killed. 128 of them were Americans.

24. Germany saw that the US was moving closer to helping GB in the war, so they looked for a way to keep the US out of Europe. Germany sent a letter to Mexico asking Mexico to attack the US. The US intercepted the letter, and it was printed on the front page of all the papers. The Zimmermann Note caused Americans to start getting angry at Germany.

26. The people of the US forgot their ISOLATIONIST ways, and cried for war. April 2, 1917, Congress declared war against Germany.

27. By the time the US got into the war, the German army was exhausted, running out of supplies, unable to replace their casualties. 2 million American men leapt onto the continent, confident, fresh, and ready to attack. The German army collapsed, fled from their trenches, and the US and her allies chased them until an ARMISTICE (cease-fire) was signed November 11, 1918.

28. The treaty that officially ended World War I, the VERSAILLES TREATY, was signed a year later.

29. What did the Versailles Treaty say? 1. Nine new nations were established in Europe, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.

32. Versailles Treaty provisions continued: 2. Germany was not allowed to have an army. 3. Germany had to give Alsace and Lorraine back to France, and pay them a huge amount of reparations: money paid to repair war damage. 4. The war-guilt clause forced Germany to admit that WWI was their fault, and only their fault, humiliating and angering the German people.

33. The results of World War I: 1. 22 million people were killed, about half of them civilians. 2. The war cost the nations involved an estimated $338 billion. 3. An entire generation of European young men were dead or destroyed. 4. An angry and humiliated Germany would start World War II about 20 years later. 5. The League of Nations was started as a world police force. It failed.

34. Results of the war in the US: 1. With men gone to the war, women took factory jobs in huge numbers. In return for their contribution to the war effort, they would receive the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. 2. America became the dominant industrial power of the world. 3. Contributed to the movement of African-Americans to the North: the Great Migration. 4. Intensified anti-immigrant and anti-Communist sentiments among some Americans.

35. New killing technology of World War I: 1. Machine guns

36. 2. Tanks

38. 3. Gas warfare

39. And this new technology created new types of wounds: Poison Gas:

40. Trench Foot:

41. Shell Shock:

42. Famous people of World War I: 1. Eddie Rickenbacker was the most famous American Ace of WWI. He had 26 kills and won the Medal of Honor.

43. 2. The most famous German Ace was Baron Manfred von Richtofen, the Red Baron. He had 84 kills.

44. 3. France's most famous pilot was Eugene Bullard, the Black Bird of Death.

45. 4. Tennessean Alvin York single-handedly destroyed multiple German machine gun nests and took 132 German prisoners of war. He is commonly considered to be America's greatest war hero.

47. So, why did the US get involved in World War I, on the side of the Allies? 1. The US had common ancestry with Britain. 2. The US was trading a lot more with the Allies than with the Central Powers. 3. US banks wanted to protect the money they loaned to the Allies. 4. British propaganda. 5. The Zimmermann Telegram. 6. German U-boats killing Americans