2. Engulfed the entire globe
Harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles
› Unbalanced global economy
› Led to Great Depression
› Became a rallying point for NAZI brand of
German nationalism
Destroyed 3 Empires: Russia, Austro-
Hungarian, Ottoman
70 million men mobilized
3. Sorted by number Mobilized
Germany
Austria-Hungary 7,800,000 1,200,000 3,620,000 2,200,000
Turkey 2,850,000 325,000 400,000 250,000
Bulgaria 1,200,000 87,500 152,390 27,029
These figures from Everett, Susan, The Two World Wars, Vol I - World War I (1980
Bison Books)
4.
5.
6. Combustible rivalry between Great Britain and
Germany
› The King of England, the German Kaiser, the Russian Czar
and the Empress of Austria-Hungary were cousins—the
Grandchildren of Queen Victoria
Rivalry over who controlled the seas, who controlled
colonies in Africa and the Middle East, whose
industrial output was greatest
Rivalries
› Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire (Central
Powers) vs.
› Britain, France, Russia (Triple Entente) Italy (Allied Powers)
› Secret Alliances: agreed to go to war to defend satellite
nations and each other
7. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austro-
Hungarian Empire assassinated in June
1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian
national who was a member of the Black
Hand
11. Trial of the Black Hand Members
Princip sentenced to Life in Prison.
Lived 3+ years in this cell. TB, bone
Disease (required amputation of
One arm) and malnutrition killed
Him.
12. The Balkans
› The Austro-Hungarians and the Ottomans:
unsteady empires
› Nationalist movements and pan-Slavism
› Great powers tried to avoid direct
intervention
› The First Balkan War (1912)
Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro
against the Ottomans
13. Summer 1914
› July: Austria issued an ultimatum
A punitive campaign to restore order in Bosnia
and crush Serbia
The demands were deliberately unreasonable
14. Summer 1914
› The Serbs mobilized their army
› July 28, 1914: Austria declared war
› Austria saw the conflict as a chance to
reassert its authority
› Russia saw the conflict as a way to regain
the tsar’s authority
› July 30, 1914: Russia mobilized its troops to
fight Austria and Germany
15. Diplomatic maneuvers
› Germany
Detailed war plans
Kaiser Wilhelm II sent an ultimatum to Russia
› Germany demanded to know French
intentions
› August 1, 1914: Germany declared war on
Russia
16. Diplomatic maneuvers
› August 7, 1914: Montenegrins joined the
Serbs against Austria
› July: the Japanese declared war on
Germany
› August: Turkey allied itself with Germany
› A “tragedy of miscalculation”
Little diplomatic communication
Austrian mismanagement
The lure of the first strike
18. German war plans
› Designed to suit Germany’s efficient but
small army
› Von Schlieffen Plan—Attack France first,
neutralize the Western Front, then attack
Russia
19.
20. German war plans
› Problems
The plan overestimated physical and logistical
capabilities
The speed of movement was too much for the
troops
The resistance of the Belgian army
Frequent changes made to the plan
21. The Battle of the Marne
› The Western Front
The Great Powers dug in
Trench warfare
› The importance of the Marne
Changed Europe’s expectation of war
The war would now be long, costly, and
deadly
27. Gallipoli and naval warfare
› Turkish intervention
Threatened Russia’s supply lines
Endangered British control of the Suez Canal
› Churchill argued for a naval offensive in the
Dardanelles
28. Gallipoli and naval warfare
› Gallipoli landing (April 25, 1915)
Incompetent naval leadership
Fought for seven months and then the British
withdrew
Major Allied defeat
32. A war of attrition
› The nature of modern war
› The total mobilization of resources
› The Allies imposed a naval blockade on
Germany
› Germany responded with submarine warfare
Germans sank the Lusitania (May 7, 1915)
Almost twelve hundred killed
Provoked the animosity of the United States
33. Reliance on Technology
Mobilization of entire population
War on Civilians
Total Devastation left little to recover
once hostilities ceased
55. from Bullets & Billets:
"First Discovered in the Alluvial Deposits
of Southern Flanders.
Feeds Almost Exclusively on Jam and
Water Biscuits.
Hobby: Filling Sandbags,
on Dark and Rainy Nights".
Bruce Bairnsfather, creator
56.
57. The Sadness of the Somme, Oil on Plywood by Mary Riter Hamilton
62. Pluck” by Eva Dobell (a British Nurse)
Crippled for life at seventeen,
His great eyes seem to question why:
with both legs smashed it might have been
Better in that grim trench to die
Than drag maimed years out helplessly.
A child-so wasted and so white,
He told a lie to get his way,
To march, a man with men, and fight
While other boys are still at play.
A gallant lie your heart will say.
So broke with pain, he shrinks in dread “
To see the 'dresser' drawing near;
and winds the clothes about his head
That none may see his heart-sick fear.
His shaking, strangled sobs you hear.
But when the dreaded moment's there
He'll face us all, a soldier yet,
Watch his bared wounds with unmoved air,
(Though tell-tale lashes still are wet),
And smoke his Woodbine cigarette.
63. First Soul
I was a peasant of the Polish plain;
I left my plough because the message ran:-
Russia, in danger, needed every man
To save her from the Teuton; and was slain.
I gave my life for freedom—This I know
For those who bade me fight had told me so.
64. Second Soul
I was a Tyrolese, a mountaineer;
I gladly left my mountain home to fight
Against the brutal treacherous Muscovite;
And died in Poland on a Cossack spear.
I gave my life for freedom—This I know
For those who bade me fight had told me so.
65. Third Soul
I worked in Lyons at my weaver's loom,
When suddenly the Prussian despot hurled
His felon blow at France and at the world;
Then I went forth to Belgium and my doom.
66. Fourth Soul
I owned a vineyard by the wooded Main,
Until the Fatherland, begirt by foes
Lusting her downfall, called me, and I rose
Swift to the call—and died in far Lorraine.
67. Fifth Soul
I worked in a great shipyard by the Clyde;
There came a sudden word of wars declared,
Of Belgium, peaceful, helpless, unprepared,
Asking our aid: I joined the ranks, and died.
I gave my life for freedom—This I know
For those who bade me fight had told me so.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74. Great Depression
Bolshevik Revolution
Militarization
Rise of militant German nationalism
Rise of anti-Semitism
Creation of new states without regard for
the ethnic and historical conflicts
between peoples of different cultures
75. Article Two of the UN Convention on Genocide of December 1948
describes genocide as carrying out acts intended to destroy, in whole
or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6045182.st
m
76.
77. January 1918 to December 1920
Between 50 and 100 million died
Attacked young, apparently healthy
people between 18-25 years of age
500 million, or 27% of the world’s
population, were infected
78. Serbia lost 40% of its troops (15% of its
population
France, Britain and Germany each lost about
one third of their men aged 19-22.
Disillusionment among the survivors about
nationalism, the political class
› Russian mistrust of Western Democracies
› American isolationism
Europe no longer the center of the world
economy
Disillusionment: a generation of men
slaughtered to no apparent end.
