WORLD WAR I

Information
—World War I, also known as the Great War, started 1914 after the assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that
lasted until 1918. During the four-year conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and
the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy,
Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Thanks to new military
technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of
carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers had won, more
than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.

I. How did this happen?

A. Basic Cause

● Militarism: Militarism is the belief that a country's army and navy (since air forces
didn't exist at the start of WWI) were the primary means that nations resolved
disagreement between each other. It also glorified military power, which led to the
belief that military solutions were desirable or inevitable when seeking a resolution
to international conflicts. As a result, countries like to boast about the power of
their armed forces. Some countries spent money improving their land armies, while
others spent money on their navies. Some countries tried to gain the advantage by
having the greatest number of men in their armies, while others focused more on
having the most advanced technology in their forces. Regardless of how they
approached it, countries used militarism as a way of gaining an edge on their
opponents. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German Emperor from 1888 to 1918, invested a
lot of time and effort into the militarization of Germany, especially in a more
 aggressive stance in European diplomacy. An example of this competition for a
military edge can be seen in the race between Britain and Germany to have the most
powerful navy. This led to a naval arms race between Britain and Germany, starting
in around 1900. However, Britain had developed the most advanced battleship of
the age, known as a 'dreadnought’, in 1906. The Germans were so impressed by this,
that they increased their government spending so that they also had some
dreadnoughts. So, by 1914, Britain had 29 dreadnought battleships, while Germany
had 17

● Alliance Formation: One of the most commonly discussed causes of WWI was the
system of alliances that existed by 1914, the year the war started. An 'alliance' is an
agreement made between two countries, where each side promises to help the other
if required. What made the formation of alliances an important cause of WWI, was
the fact that these alliances were designed for mutual defense: meaning that if one
member was attacked, others were bound to defend them. So, if just one country
attacked another, most of Europe would immediately be at war, as each country
jumped in to help out their friends.

● Imperialism: as a concept, has been around for a very long time in human history.
Imperialism is the desire to build an empire for your country. This usually involves
invading and taking land owned by someone else and adding it to your empire. By
the 19th century, many European countries had been involved in imperialism by
conquering less advanced nations in Asia, the Americas or Africa. In fact, the fierce
colonial competition for territories in Africa, known as the 'Scramble for Africa',
meant that nations like Germany, Britain, and France vied for dominance by seizing
large tracts of land from smaller nations. By 1900, the British Empire was the
largest imperial power in the world. It controlled parts of five different continents
and owned about a quarter of all land in the world. France was also a large empire,
with control over parts of south-east Asia and Africa. By 1910, Germany had been
trying to build its own empire to rival that of Britain and France and was interested
in expanding its colonial holdings. Germany's aggressive foreign policy was known
as Weltpolitik, and it expressly aimed to expand its influence and challenge Britain’s
dominance, particularly in terms of colonial acquisitions and naval strength. This
 meant that when an opportunity for a war of conquest became available, Germany
was very keen to take advantage of it.

● Nationalism: The final of the four causes is nationalism. Nationalism is the idea that
people should have a deep love for their country, even to the extent that they are
willing to die for it.Throughout the 19th century, most countries had developed
their own form of nationalism, where they encouraged a love of the nation in their
citizens through the process of creating national flags and writing national
anthems. Children at schools were taught that their country was the best in the
world and that should it ever be threatened, that they should be willing to take up
arms to defend it. The growing nationalist movements created strong animosity
between countries that had a history of armed conflict. A good example of this is the
deep anger that existed between Germany and France. These two countries had a
recent history of war and struggle over a small region between the two, called
Alsace-Lorraine. Germany had seized control of it after the Franco-Prussian War in
1871, which the French were deeply upset by.

As a result, France believed that it should be willing to fight and die to take it back.

B.Immediate Cause
—It all began in 1908, when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia. This infuriated the Bosnian
Nationalists, who wanted to unify all southern slavic countries under one government.
Tensions were still high all the way into 1914 when Archduke Franz Fernidand decided to
visit Bosnia. This was of course a terrible mistake, as the Bosnians would seek to assassinate
Archduke Ferdinand. Completely ignoring the severe danger and risk he is put at, he
continued to drive across Sarajevo with the top down in his limousine. It was here that the
driver spotted a small bomb from the corner of his eye, and slammed the gas. The bomb
instead blew up the car behind the Archduke, and he and his wife were safe. Later on
Archduke Ferdinand decided to visit the people who were wounded from the bomb attack,
but didn’t know exactly where the hospital went. The Archduke and his wife made a wrong
turn onto a street where the Serbian nationalist Gavrillo Princip was drinking. Two shots
were fired, and Gavrillo Princip had assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sofie (his
wife).

II. The War Begins

A. Declarations of War
— In response to this, Austria-Hungary seeks support from Germany, and they agree. The
two declared war on Serbia, then Russia— Serbia’s ally— mobilized its forces, and as a result,
Germany waged war on Russia. Then again, France— Russia’s ally— mobilized their forces,
then Germany declared war on France. Inturn, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Then
Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, Serbia declared war on Germany, and Great
Britain and France declared war on Austria-Hungary.

B. The western front

—Germany had to fight a war on two fronts. It wanted to defeat France, Russia's ally,
quickly, so that it could concentrate on the more powerful enemy in the east.
—The border between France and Germany was heavily fortified. Germany tried to invade
France through Belgium in the north. Belgium's army fought bravely against the Germans
but could not stop them. French and British soldiers were driven back.

—When the Germans reached the Marne River they were stopped by Allied soldiers. The
German offensive had come to an end about 40 km before they reached Paris. There, French
and German troops fought several battles.

—By 1915 both sides had dug themselves into trenches along the western front, which
reached from the coast of Belgium to the Swiss border. From there each side launched
attacks but the fronts did not move for more than three years.
 C. The eastern front
—By August 1914 Russian soldiers had been able to move deeply inside German territory,
something that the Germans had not expected. The Germans placed their soldiers between
two Russian armies in Eastern Prussia. By the end of August Germany managed to drive
the Russians out of Prussia. About 250,000 men of the tsar's army were killed or injured.

—The other part of the eastern front was less successful for the central powers. By the end
of 1914 Austria had attacked Serbia three times but was always defeated. In the meantime
Russia captured a large part of Austria's territory in the east.

2. Wars on Other Fronts

The Italian Front

—At first Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance, but it stayed out of the war in 1914
because it claimed that Austria had not been attacked and, thus, Italy did not have to
support the Austrians.

—In a secret agreement the Allies promised to give Italy Austrian territory if it attacked
Austria-Hungary. The Allies hoped that Germany would help Austria on the Italian front
and, as a result, become weaker on the Russian Front.

—During 1915 and 1916 Italy fought several battles against Austria along the Isonzo
River. Many Italian soldiers were killed and wounded, but the Italians did not gain any
land.
 The sea war
—The British navy controlled most of the seas around Western Europe. It blockaded
German ports and stopped ships from entering them. As time went on Germany did not
get the goods and food it needed. Although the German navy was not as strong as the
British it had a different weapon: U-boats. With them they blockaded British harbors and
attacked vessels that were underway to the United Kingdom.
In 1915, a German U-boat sank the British passenger ship Lusitania, killing over a
thousand passengers.

—Although both countries had many powerful warships they did not engage in direct
fighting because each country thought it would lose the war if it lost a great deal of its
navy.

The air war

—The air war was not as important as it later was in World War II. Both the Germans and
the British developed a series of airplanes that they used, at first, for observation only.

—Later on, the Germans were the first who mounted a machine gun that could fire
between the revolving blades of a propeller. This invention led to battles in the air.
Successful pilots became national heroes, like Germany's Baron Manfred von Richthofen,
better known as the Red Baron. During World War I he shot down over 80 planes, more
than any other pilot.

—Later on, Germany began bombing British cities with airships, called zeppelins.
III. The End of the World War

A. What happened at the end of the war?

—At the start of 1918, Germany was in a strong position. Russia had already left the year
before which made Germany even stronger.

A few events turned things around:

● Britain and France counterattacked after Germany's Michael Offensive in March

1918.
● The German Navy was on strike.
● In April 1917 the United States joined the war against Germany.

—Germany and her allies realized it was no longer possible to win the war. The leaders of
the German army told the government to stop. Kaiser Wilhelm, Germany's ruler, stepped
down on 9 November 1918.

B.What did the Treaty of Versailles do to Germany?

.
—The leaders of the USA, Great Britain and France met in Versailles to decide what should
happen next. Germany, Austria and Hungary were not invited. The agreement was called
the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was shocked by it because:

● They had to accept total blame for starting the war.

● They could not join the new League of Nations, where countries worked together
for peace.
● Some places Germany used to own, like Alsace-Lorraine, were taken from them.
● They were banned from having an army of more than 100,000 men and from having
any submarines or an air force.

—People in Germany were angry. The country had to pay 132 billion gold marks (their
currency before the Euro) to repair the damages of war. They became poor because of this.