UNIT 1: WWI

AND RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION
1. The First World War
1.1. CAUSES
■ Between 1870 and 1914 there was a climate of tension in Europe
as a result of the unstable balance of power (the Armed Peace).
European powers invested heavily in arms.
o Territorial rivalries since the Franco‐Prussian War (1870):
Annexation of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany.
o Germany clashed with France over control of Morocco.
o Germany was strengthening its navy. The UK viewed this as a
threat to its own naval dominance.
o France, the UK and Russia worked to resolve their colonial
clashes. France and the UK signed the 1904 Entente Cordiale,
which ended their confrontations in Africa.
o In the Balkans, the decline of the Ottoman Empire (the "sick
man of Europe) and the rise of nationalism led to tensions
between Russia, Austria-Hungary and Serbia (the Eastern
question).
1. The First World War
1.1. CAUSES
■ This climate of tension led to the formation of two blocs:
o Germany made alliances to maintain its hegemony in Europe
and preventing France from declaring war: Triple Alliance
(1882) between Germany, the Austria-Hungary and Italy.
o France and Russia reacted by becoming allies in 1892. This
became the 1907 Triple Entente when the UK joined in
response to Germany’s colonial expansion. The aim was to stop
Germany expansion and hegemony in Europe.
1. The First World War
1.2. OUTBREAK (1914)
■ In June 1914, Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-
Hungarian Empire, was killed by a
serb nationalist (Gavrilo Princip) in
Sarajevo ➔ Austria-Hungary blamed
Serbia for the attack ➔ Russia
supported its ally, Serbia ➔ Germany
declared war on Russia and France,
Britain on Germany and Austria
because of the German invasion of
Belgium ➔ The whole system of
alliances of the Armed Peace came
into action.
■ BE CAREFUL: The members of the
Triple Entente became known as the
Allied Powers and the Triple Alliance
became known as the Central Powers.
1. The First World War
1.3. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAR
■ Total war: The First World War forced countries to mobilise all their
human and economic resources. Millions of men were recruited to
fight in the war. At the same time, all economic output went towards
the war effort.
■ Trench warfare. Victory for the last man standing army (crucial
importance of the rearguard). War of attrition.
■ The weapons used during the war made it the deadliest conflict the
world had ever seen. Grenades, flamethrowers, machine guns,
howitzers... ➔ 16 M deaths (10 M soldiers, 6 M civilians)
■ Chemicals, such as mustard gas, were also used. Gas masks to
protect from blindness and suffocation.
■ Tanks helped soldiers move over difficult terrain. Aeroplanes, used
for reconaissance, but later for fighting and bombing. Germany also
introduced the submarine. Bu they were not as decisive as
expected.
1. The First World War
1.4. PROGRESS (1914-1918)
■ The war began on the western front with the execution of Germany’s
Schlieffen Plan: trying a flash victory over France so they could move
all their troops to the east and defeat Russia.
■ Germany crossed Belgium and Luxembourg, but stopped near Paris
(First Battle of the Marne, 1914) thanks to the british support to the
french: the battle front will stagnate with little advances.
■ In the eastern front, Russia attacked the Eastern German borders
and were defeated in the Battle of Tannenberg (1914), but the
german army was seriously damaged in Galitzia (Ukraine).
■ In the Balkans, Austria was stopped against Serbia. Decisive
Ottoman victory in the Battle of Gallipoli (1915), preventing the link
through the straits between the western allies and Russia.
■ Trench warfare since 1915: Defensive positions with very little
advances, but with very high casualties (massive use of soldiers,
artillery and chemical weapons) ➔ Battle of Verdun and Battle of
the Somme, 1916, with 400.000 and 300.000 deaths respectively.
Race to
the sea

War of
movement

War of
trenches
1. The First World War
1.4. PROGRESS (1914-1918)
■ The war became a global conflict through the deployment of colonial
troops. In addition, Japan joined the Allied Powers, occupied the
German colonies in the Pacific and expanded its influence in China.
■ Nationalism was growing in the Arab world in opposition to the
Ottoman Empire. UK fueled these feelings, but secretly signed the
Sykes-Picot Accords with France in 1916 to divide the region.
■ The Turkish government suspected that Armenian groups were
collaborating with Allied Powers to sabotage the Turkish army. These
suspicions were the trigger for the Armenian Genocide.
■ The USA joined the Allied Powers in 1917. Russia withdrew from the
war after the October Revolution of 1917 (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).
■ The Germans focused on the Western Front, but were defeated at
the Second Battle of the Marne, 1918. After that, the Hundred Days
Offensive and the German Revolution forced the German Kaiser
Wilhelm II to abdicate and the Armistice was signed on November
11, 1918.
Main causes of the US entrance in the WWI
■ Sinking of the RMS Lusitania: british liner torpedoed by Germany in
the context of the unrestricted submarine warfare (naval warfare in
which submarines sink merchant ships and cruises without warning)
■ The Zimmermann telegram: a german secret communication
proposing a military contract with Mexico if the US entered WWI.
■ Defense of the economic ties with the allies (UK and France)
■ Defense of democracy: Wilson (US president) advocated the defense
of democracy against the autocratic regimes of the central powers.
Main reasons of the allied victory
■ Entrance of the US – Superiority
■ Maritime blockade made by UK and US – Run out of supplies
■ Attrition of the central powers – Atacked in various war fronts
■ German’s allies collapse – Lack of support for Germany
■ Germa’s internal collapse in the final months (German revolution,
Kiel mutiny…)
1. The First World War
1.5. THE PEACE TREATIES
■ Five treaties resulted from the Paris Peace Conference (1919–
1920). The Versailles Treaty (1919) dictated that:
o The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dismantled.
o The Ottoman Empire fell and was replaced by Turkey. France
and the UK ruled the regions between Syria and Yemen.
o Germany had to accept responsibility for the war. Alsace-
Lorraine was returned to France and other lands were given to
Denmark, Belgium and Poland. Germany’s colonial
possessions were shared out among the Allied Powers.
o Germany was disarmed and there were harsh restrictions on
the use of submarines, military aircraft and on the size of the
German army. It was ordered to pay reparations of 226 000
million marks ➔ Hyperinflation.
o Humiliation for the Germans ➔ Paved the way to increasing
nationalism and future revenge.
1. The First World War
1.6. CONSEQUENCIES OF THE WAR
■ NEW MAP OF EUROPE: Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires
were dismantled. New countries.
■ DEMOGRAPHY: the war was a demographic disaster (16 M deaths).
Loss of an entire generation in some villages. Millions of wounded
and mutilated. Effects on the birth rates and available workforce.
■ ECONOMY: Europe suffered industrial loss and was left in debt.
Devastating crisis and inflation in Germany. Neutral countries were
benefited.
■ POLITICS:
o Republic of Weimar in Germany.
o Feeling of revenge in Germany.
o Consolidation of power of US.
o Foundation of the League of Nations (Predecessor of the UN)
for guaranteeing peace and cooperation. Failed because US
was not part, USSR excluded, Germany and Italy left.
2. The Russian Revolution
2.1. PROGRESS
■ In 1900, Russia was an autocratic, semi-feudal empire ruled by a
tsar who had absolute power. Agriculture was the main economic
activity, food scarcity was a problem and there was social unrest.
■ Popular discontent led to protests in St Petersburg, which became
the catalyst for the February Revolution in 1917. The tsar Nicholas II
abdicated and a provisional government led by the Mensheviks
(Kerensky) was established. It moved towards a parliamentary
democracy (constitutive elections), but still in WWI. Slow progress +
war + poverty ➔ Popular discontent.
■ The Bolsheviks, a radical party led by Lenin, won the soviets’
support (workers' councils) and took power as a result of the
October Revolution in 1917 (uprising in Petrograd and assault on
the Winter Palace).
■ One of their first measures was the signing of the Treaty of Brest-
Litovsk, which ended Russia’s involvement in the war. The new
government expropriated private land and nationalised factories.
2. The Russian Revolution
2.2. THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
■ Between 1918 and 1921, the Russian Civil War was fought between
the White Army and the Red Army.
o The White Army, formed of the various groups that opposed the
Bolsheviks: conservatives, liberals, tsarism supporters, Russian
Orthodox Church, Mensheviks (moderate socialists). It was
supported by France, US, UK and Japan.
o The Red Army was formed of Bolsheviks and was led by Leon
Trotsky.
■ War communism was established as the economic system. All
industry focused on military needs, money was abolished, private
enterprise was prohibited and any agricultural surplus was taken
from peasants for redistribution.
■ After three years of conflict, which totally devasted the population,
the Red Army eventually won the war.
2. The Russian Revolution
2.3. CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLUTION AND THE WAR
■ Following the Bolshevik victory, a Federal Republic was created. It
was finally known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
This was a new way of organising the state.
■ Power was in the hands of the soviets and the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union (CPSU) was the only political party. In 1924, the
USSR approved a constitution.
■ In terms of the economy, the USSR struggled with a post-war crisis
throughout the early 1920s.
■ To mitigate the effects of the crisis, Lenin introduced his New
Economic Policy (NEP). These new economic measures were a step
away from war communism. They established a kind of state
capitalism which would allow certain coexistence of public and
private sectors. The country continued to follow Lenin’s NEP until his
death in 1924.
3. Arts: Avant-Garde movement
■ Between 1905 and 1914, the new styles emerged represented a
radical break from more traditional styles. This was the beginning of
the Avant-Garde Movement. Even though each style was different,
they shared some common characteristics:
o Each had its own manifesto.
o They rejected academic art, which was considered out of touch.
o Artists expressed contempt towards bourgeois conservatism.
o Art was viewed as a platform for the unrestricted creative
expression of the artist.
o They broke the idea that art should represent beauty; ugliness
and the grotesque could be as important.
o New styles: EXPRESSIONISM, CUBISM, FAUVISM, FUTURISM...
Expressionism:
The Scream,
Munch
Cubism:
Retrato de
Pablo
Picasso,
Juan Gris
Fauvism: Dance, Matisse