World History Honors

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World War I
The Road to
World War I
In what way did the system
of European nation-states
help lead to World War I?
The BIG Idea
Competition Among Countries Militarism,
nationalism, and a crisis in the Balkans led to
World War I.
Content Vocabulary
• Conscription – military draft
• Mobilization- assembling troops and supplies for war
 • Emperor William
People, Places, and Events II
• Triple Alliance – Germany, • Czar Nicholas II
Italy, Austria-Hungary – Russian
leader who
• Triple Entente – France, Great mobilized the
Britain, Russia army against
• Archduke Francis Ferdinand – Germany to
was assassinated which start WWI.
created the situation that • General Alfred
started WWI
von Schlieffen
• Bosnia
• Gavrilo Princip – assassinated
Francis Ferdinand and his
wife.
Causes of the War
Nationalism, militarism, and a system
of alliances contributed to the start of
World War I.
Causes of the War (cont.)
– Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
– Triple Entente: France, Great Britain, and Russia

• Two alliances were created dividing Europe

along national lines.
• These alliances were tested during the early 1900’s
during a series of crises in the Balkans between
1908 and 1913.
• These rivalries over colonies and trouble in the
Balkans left European nations resentful of each
other and eager for revenge.
• Nationalism was another issue – many of the
different ethnic groups wanted to become their
own nation.
Causes of the War (cont.)
• Socialism also to rise – labor movements increased
making leaders fearful of possible revolutions in the
European nations.
• The desire to suppress these actions caused nations to
adopt a policy of militarism, or a readiness for war.
• Mass armies created continent-wide – armies doubled
between 1890 -1914.
• They drew up vast and complex plans for mobilizing
millions of soldiers and enormous quantities of supplies in
the event of the war.
• They established conscription to ensure an adequate
supply of troops.
The Outbreak of War
Serbia’s determination to become a
large, independent state angered
Austria-Hungary and started
hostilities.
The Outbreak of War (cont.)
• Militarism, nationalism, and the desire to put a stop to
internal dissent from the ethnic groups played a part in
starting WWI.
• It was also based on the decisions that European leaders
made in response to a crisis in the Balkans that led directly to
WAR.
• Serbia, who was supported by Russia, was determined to
create a large, independent nation in the Balkans.
• Austria-Hungary wanted to prevent that from happening.
• On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to
the throne of Austria-Hungary, visited Sarajevo, Bosnia
which was an area in the Austria-Hungarian empire.
• Waiting for him was a group of conspirators.
 The Outbreak of War (cont.)
• In that group was a 19 year old, Gavrilo Princip, a
Bosnian Serb, who was a member of the Black Hand,
a Serbian terrorist organization that wanted Bosnia to
be free of Austria-Hungary and become a part of the
larger Serbian kingdom, assassinated the archduke
and his wife.
• Austria tried to conduct an investigation – Serbia would
not cooperate.
• The first two countries to respond to the assassination
were Russia and Austria-Hungary.
• They wanted to attack Serbia but feared Russia would
support Serbia so they asked Germany for their help.
• Emperor William II of Germany promised Austria-Hungary
full support if war broke out with Russia.
The Outbreak of War (cont.)
• On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war
on Serbia.
• In response to Austria-Hungary’s declaration
of war, Russia’s Czar Nicholas II ordered
mobilization of the Russian army in order
to support Serbia. In 1914, mobilization
was considered an act of war.
• Germany reacted quickly and declared
war on Russia.
The Outbreak of War (cont.)
• Germany reacted quickly and warned
Russia they had 12 hours to demobilize.
• Russia ignored the warning
• Germany declared war on August 1st
1914
• Like the Russians, Germany had a military
plan. General Alfred von Schlieffen of
Germany designed a plan for a two-front
war against Russia and France. This was
known as the Schlieffen Plan.
– Germany would conduct a small holding
action against Russia. There would be a
rapid invasion of France.
France
The Outbreak of War (cont.)
• Great Britain declared war on Germany
after von Schlieffen violated Belgian
neutrality by demanding that German
troops be allowed to pass through
Belgium.
• By August 4, all the Great Powers of
Europe were at war.
World War I
Why did the war become
a stalemate on the
Western Front?
 Section 2-Main Idea
The BIG Idea
Devastation of War The stalemate at the Western
Front led to a widening of World War I, and
governments expanded their powers to accommodate
the war.
 Section 2-Key Terms
Content Vocabulary
• Propaganda – to spread
ideas to influence public • total war – a war
opinion for or against a involving complete
cause.
mobilization of
• trench warfare - fighting resources and people.
from ditches protected by
barbed wire; this time of • planned economies –
fighting kept the Western systems directed by
Front from moving very government agencies
much.
in order to mobilize
• war of attrition - a war resources for the war
based on wearing the effort.
other side down by
constant attacks and
heavy losses
 Section 2-Key Terms
People, Places, and Events
• Marne – first battle of WWI where trench warfare
began
• Gallipoli
• Lawrence of Arabia – urged princes in the Middle
East to revolt against their Ottoman lords.
• Admiral Holtzendorf
• Woodrow Wilson – president of the United States at
the time of WWI
1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
Section 2
Trench warfare brought the war on the
Western Front to a stalemate while
Germany and Austria-Hungary
defeated Russia on the Eastern Front.
1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
Section 2 (cont.)
• Government propaganda had stirred
national hatred. Most people believed their
nation’s cause was just and that the war
would be over quickly.
• Most wars, prior to this, in Europe, only
last a few weeks.
• Most soldiers believed they would be
home by Christmas.

World War I in Europe, 1914–1918

1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
Section 2 (cont.)
• Western Front
– As Germany marched toward Paris,
they were halted by French troops at
the First Battle of the Marne.
– Both sides dug trenches, making
advancement from either side difficult. The
result was a stalemate.
– For four years, both sides remained
virtually in the same positions due to
the trench warfare.
1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
Section 2 (cont.)
• The Eastern Front
– The Russians were defeated in both the
Battle at Tannenberg and the Battle of
Masurian Lake in eastern Germany.
– Austria-Hungary was defeated by the
Russians in Galicia and pushed out of
Serbia.
– Germany came to Austria’s aid and
pushed the Russians back into their
own territory.
1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate
Section 2 (cont.)
– Italy abandoned Austria and Germany
and attacked Austria therefore joining
France, Great Britain, and Russia and
were now called the Allied Powers, or
Allies.
– By May 1915, Russian casualties
equaled 2.5 million, almost knocking
them out of the war.
– Bulgaria joined Germany and Austria-
Hungary. They attacked and eliminated
Serbia from the war.
The Great Slaughter
New weapons and trench warfare
made World War I far more devastating
than any previous wars.
The Great Slaughter (cont.)
• Trenches were elaborate systems of
defense protected by barbed wire. Troops
lived in holes in the ground separated by
a strip of land known as no-man’s-land.
• Attacks consisted of heavy artillery
wearing down the enemy’s barbed wire.
Then soldiers would attempt to advance
on the enemy’s trenches.
• 1916-1917 – millions of young men died in
the search for the elusive breakthrough.
The Great Slaughter (cont.)
• The attacks were rarely successful
because the advancing troops were often
fired upon by enemy machine guns,
ultimately killing millions of men.
• Trench warfare was a tactic that turned
World War I into a war of attrition.
• By 1915, airplanes were added to the
battlefront for the first time.
• Fight for control of the air occurred and
increased, over time.
The Great Slaughter (cont.)
• Planes were first used to spot enemy
positions but eventually began to attack
ground targets especially enemy
communications.
• In the beginning, pilots shot at each other
with pistols but were later equipped with
machine guns.
• The Germans used their giant airships,
known as zeppelins, to bomb cities but
these were easily shot down by
antiaircraft guns.
A World War
With the war at a stalemate, both the
Allied Powers and the Central Powers
looked for new allies to gain an
advantage.
A World War (cont.)
• The Ottoman Empire joined the Central
Powers that consisted of Bulgaria,
Germany, and Austria-Hungary.
• The Allied Powers—France, Great Britain, Russia, and Italy—
declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
• The Allies unsuccessfully attempted to open a Balkan
front on the war by landing and attacking at Gallipoli (near
Constantinople)– had to withdraw because it was so
disastrous. (Churchill’s biggest mistake)
• In return for Italy entering the war on the Allied side, France
and Great Britain promised to let Italy have some Austrian
territory. This opened up a front against Austria-Hungary
A World War (cont.)
• The war soon became a world conflict when a
British officer, Lawrence of Arabia, encouraged
Arab princes in the Middle East to revolt against
their Ottoman overlords.

• The Ottoman Empire was destroyed in the

Middle East by British forces who led a
coalition of Indian, Australian, and New
Zealand forces.
• At first the U.S. tried to remain neutral during
the war.
A World War (cont.)
• Great Britain and Germany implemented a
series of naval blockades against one
another.
• On May 7, 1915, Germans sank the British
ship Lusitania, provoking the United
States. About 1100 civilians including
over 100 Americans died. Germany ended
unrestricted submarine warfare to avoid
conflict with the U.S.
A World War (cont.)
Section 2
• In January of 1917, Germany was tired of
the deadlock in the war.
• German naval officers wanted to convince the emperor to use
submarine warfare but when he expressed his concern about
the United States possibly entering the war, Admiral
Holtzendorf convinced the German emperor to resume
unrestricted submarine warfare by stating the following: “not
one American will land on the continent”

• The Germans’ use of unrestricted

submarine warfare causes the United
States to retaliate by entering the war and
joining the Allied Powers.
The Impact of Total War
World War I became a total war, with
governments taking control of their
economies and rationing civilian
goods.
The Impact of Total War (cont.)
• World War I eventually became a total war
when the countries involved called for
complete mobilization of their resources
and people.
• The war affected the lives of all citizens in
the nations involved.
– Countries drafted tens of millions of
men.
– Governments rationed food supplies
and materials.
The Impact of Total War (cont.)
– Imports and exports were regulated.
– Transportation systems and industries
were temporarily taken under government
control.
– In order to mobilize all the resources of
their nations for the war effort,
European nations set up planned
economies.
The Impact of Total War (cont.)
• President Woodrow Wilson declared that
the men and women at home helping with
the war effort were no less part of the army
than the soldiers at war.
The Impact of Total War (cont.)
• As public support for the war began to
waiver, governments expanded their
powers to stop internal dissent.
– Authoritarian regimes relied on force to
quiet opposition.
– The British Parliament allowed the
government to arrest protesters as traitors.
– Newspapers were censored.
The Impact of Total War (cont.)
• Women took on new roles during the war
by filling the jobs traditionally done by
men.
• After the war, many jobs were taken from the
women as the men returned to the
workforce.
• The role women played during the war
had a positive impact on the women’s
movement and in many areas, women
gained the right to vote after the war.
The Russian
Revolution
What led to the fall of the
czarist regime in Russia?
The BIG Idea
Struggle for Rights The fall of the czarist regime and
the Russian Revolution put the Communists in power
in Russia.
 People and Places • V. I. Lenin –
under his
• soviets – councils comprised of representatives leaderhip, the
from the workers and soldiers. Bolsheviks
• Grigory Rasputin – Siberian peasant who became a party
influenced Alexandra dedicated to
violence and war
• Alexandra – Russian czar’s wife who was
influenced by Rasputin • Leon Trotsky-
head of the
• Petrograd Petrograd
• Aleksandr Kerensky soviet and later
commissar of
• Bolsheviks – started as a small Marxist party that war.
challenged the czar and eventually became the
Communist party in Russia.
• Czar Nicholas II – placed himself in charge of the
armies of the Russians
Background to Revolution
Worker unrest and the Russian czar’s
failures in the war led to revolution in
March 1917.
Background to Revolution (cont.)
• The Russian military suffered heavy losses during the war
due to a lack of experienced leaders and adequate
weapons.
• Between 1914 - 1916, 2 million soldiers were killed,
another 4-6 million were wounded or captured. By
1917, their will to fight had been lost.
• Czar Nicholas II insisted on taking charge
on the armed forces, leaving his wife
Alexandra to make the decisions at
home.
• Grigory Rasputin gained Alexandra’s
confidence and began to influence her
political decisions.
Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917–1922
Background to Revolution (cont.)
• After experiencing a series of economic and military
disasters, conservative aristocrats assassinated Rasputin
in December 1916.
• He wasn’t easy to kill – shot him 3 times, tied him up and
threw him in a river. He drowned but not before he untied
himself. However it was too late to save the monarchy.
• In March 1917, working-class women led a series of strikes in
Petrograd (capital city formerly known as St. Petersburg,
shutting down all the factories in the city.
• The government started rationing bread after the price
skyrocketed.
• 10,000 women marched through the city asking for peace and
bread.
• The czar ordered soldiers to end the demonstration, but many of
soldiers joined the protest and refused to fire on the crowds.
Background to Revolution (cont.)
• The Duma, or legislative body, met and
asked the czar to step down. Without the
support of the army, Nicholas II agreed
and the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty
ended.
• The new leader, Aleksandr Kerensky,
decided to stay in World War I, upsetting
many people who wanted an end to the war.
• Soviets (councils composed of representatives
from Russian workers and soldiers) began to
form in army units, factory towns, and rural
areas to challenge the government’s power.
From Czars to Communists
Lenin and the Bolsheviks gained
control and quickly overthrew the
provisional government.
From Czars to Communists (cont.)
• The Bolsheviks were a small Marxist party
that turned to violent revolution under
V.I. Lenin.
• Lenin believed that the Bolsheviks
should gain control of the soviet groups
throughout Russia and use them to
overthrow the provisional government.
From Czars to Communists (cont.)
• The Bolsheviks promised to:
– end the war
– redistribute land
– transfer government power to the
soviets
– transfer factories and industries from
capitalists to committees of workers
– Slogan – “Peace, Land, Bread”
From Czars to Communists (cont.)
• On November 6, Bolshevik forces took
control of the government and outwardly
turned over power to the Congress of
Soviets.
• The Bolsheviks renamed themselves the
Communists and began to focus on peace.
• In an attempt to end Russia’s involvement in the
war, on March 3, 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk with Germany, which gave up
eastern Poland, Ukraine, Finland, and the Baltic
provinces.
From Czars to Communists (cont.)
• Civil war soon erupted in Russia because
people were opposed to the new
Communist government.
• The Allies, who were concerned about the
Communist takeover, sent troops and material
aid to the anti-Communist forces (White forces)
to battle the Communists (Red Army).
• The first serious threat to the Communists came
from Siberia, followed by Ukrainians and the Baltic
regions by the White forces. They tried to make it to
Moscow until they had to retreat.
From Czars to Communists (cont.)
• The royal family was kidnapped and
imprisoned in the Urals where they were
eventually murdered by local soviets and
their bodies were burned.
• Leon Trotsky played a major role in the Red Army’s
successes.
• War communism was used to ensure regular
supplies to the Red Army.
• The Cheka, or Red secret police, began a Red
Terror campaign to instill fear and destroy any
opposition to the Communist regime.
From Czars to Communists (cont.)
• Foreign troops that were stationed in
Russia made it easy for the communist
government to call on patriotic Russians
to fight foreign attempts to control the
country .
• By 1921, the Communists were in total
control of Russia. The civil war left the
Communists resentful toward the Allied
Powers.
End of World War I
What effect did peace
settlements have on
Europe after World War I?
The BIG Idea
Order and Security After the defeat of the Germans,
peace settlements brought political and territorial
changes to Europe and created bitterness and
resentment in some nations.
Content Vocabulary
• armistice
• reparations
• Mandates – a nation officially governed by another
nation on behalf of the League of Nations
• Self-determination – the right of each people to have
their own nation.
People and Places • Georges Clemenceau

• Erich Ludendorff • Alsace

• Kiel
• Lorraine
• Friedrich Ebert
• Woodrow Wilson – became the • Poland – one of the
spokesperson for a new world new states created
order based on democracy and
international cooperation at the end of World
• David Lloyd George – prime
War I
minister of Great Britain who
wanted to make the Germans • League of Nations –
pay for the war world organization
• War Guilt Clause – declared created at the Paris
that Germany were
responsible for starting WWI Peace Conference
The Last Year of the War
The new German republic and the
Allies signed an armistice, ending the
war on November 11, 1918.
The Last Year of the War (cont.)
• After the withdrawal of the Russians,
Germany had a renewed hope for a victory.
• Erich Ludendorff (German) decided to
make one last grand offensive in the west
to end the military stalemate.
• The Germans launched their final attack
in March of 1918 but were defeated at the
Second Battle of Marne because 140,000
fresh American troops had just arrived.

Europe and The Middle East After World War I

The Last Year of the War (cont.)
• August 8, 1918 – “the black day of Germany in the history of
this war” – Erich Ludendorff
• 1 million American troops poured into France and the
Allies began to advance on Germany.
• Sept 29, 1918 – he asked German leaders to ask for
peace – the war was lost

• The Allies refused to make peace with the

autocratic imperial government of
Germany.
• Sailors in Kiel mutinied while councils of workers and soldiers
took over civilian and military offices.
• The Social Democrats, led by Friedrich Ebert, announced
the creation of a democratic republic and signed an
armistice with the Allies on November 11, 1918.
The Last Year of the War (cont.)
• After the war, the German Communist
Party formed in opposition to the Social
Democrats and tried to seize power in Berlin
and in Munich.
• The revolts were crushed and the leaders of
the Communist were captured and killed.
• Austria-Hungary collapsed as ethnic
groups achieved independence forming
Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and
Yugoslavia.
The Peace Settlements
The Treaty of Versailles punished
Germany, established new nations,
and created a League of Nations to
solve international problems.
The Peace Settlements (cont.)
• In January 1919, representatives from 27
victorious Allied nations met in Paris to
make a final settlement of World War I.
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson became
the spokesman for a new world order
based on democracy and international
cooperation.
• David Lloyd George of Great Britain and
Georges Clemenceau of France wanted
German reparations.
The Peace Settlements (cont.)
• Germany was not invited to the conference
and Russia could not attend because of its
civil war.
• One thing Wilson demanded was
accepted at the Paris Peace Conferences:
an international peacekeeping
organization, a League of Nations, to
prevent future wars.
• France’s approach to peace was guided
by their want for national security.
The Peace Settlements (cont.)
• The Treaty of Versailles with Germany:
– Article 231 - The War Guilt Clause declared
that Germany and Austria were responsible
for the war – Germany was upset because it
declared that Germany and Austria were
responsible for starting the war.
– Harsh reparations were to be paid to Allied
governments for all war damages.
– Reduction of Germany’s navy and army and
elimination of its air force
The Peace Settlements (cont.)
– Return of Alsace and Lorraine to
France
– Sections of eastern Germany were
given to a new Polish state.
– A demilitarized zone along the Rhine
River to protect France from future
German invasions
The Peace Settlements (cont.)
• New nation-states emerged from the
German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian
empires: Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania,
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and
Hungary.
• Romania acquired more land, and Serbia
formed the center of a new state called
Yugoslavia.
The Peace Settlements (cont.)
• Compromises had to be made during the
peace talks. As a result, almost every
eastern European state was left with ethnic
minorities.
• The Ottoman Empire was also divided up
and taken as mandates by the France and
Great Britain.
• France took control of Lebanon and Syria.
Britain received Iraq and Palestine.