Chapter 28 World War I and the Crisis of the European Global Order

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Chapter 28World War I and the Crisis of the
European Global Order

• Ms. Sheets
• AP World History

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M.A.I.N. Causes of WWI (1914-1918)

• Militarism New industrial technologies after
  Germany began building a navy, all nations began
  creating more weapons.
• Alliances
• Triple Alliance (aka Central Powers) Germany
  Austria-Hungary Italy initially Ottoman
  Empire Bulgaria.
• Triple Entente (aka Allied Powers) Russia
  France Britain Italy in 1915 Japan US
  later.
• Imperialism Tensions are high between alliance
  systems who are in the midst of imperialist
  rivalries over the few lands still not yet
  colonized (First Moroccan Crisis)
• Colonists acted as resource-providers and
  combatants hoped to achieve independence after
  the war and were often promised this
• Nationalism (new Germany Balkan independence)

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World War I in Europe and Middle East
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Outbreak of War

• Ethnic divisions and rivalries in the Balkans
  added tension to Europe.
• July 1914 Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist
  assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian
  Empire, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife in
  Sarajevo, Bosnia.
• July Crisis of 1914 Austria-Hungary demands
  political and territorial concessions from
  Serbia Serbia refuses Austria-Hungary invades
  Serbia
• Russia supported Serbia via Pan-Slavic Movement
• Movement in 19th c., supported by Russia, aimed
  at unification of Slavic peoples who had long
  been ruled by others
• Germany supported Austria-Hungary
• Alliances fall into place and there exists no
  more possibility of regional war.

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War in Europe

• Germanys concern fight war on both fronts.
• Plans to attack France first via Belgium before
  turning east to the backward and slow Russia
• Britain protected its ally, Belgium.
• Japan supports Britain (naval allies)
• Most Europeans thought war would be quick and
  decisive.
• Yet, Germany did not have a quick victory in
  France ? Western Front Germans halted by the
  French on the Marne River.
• Trench warfare ensued along Western Front for
  three years
• War where new types of technology had been used
  airplanes tanks poison gas radio technology

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War Outside Europe

• Only South America does not participate.
• Troops were recruited from colonies mostly
  fighting for the Triple Entente.
• Primarily occurs when Europeans realize war will
  not be decisive or quick.
• Germanys main support was the Ottoman Empire,
  who entered WWI in 1915.
• Gallipoli Campaign, 1915-1916
• British and French try to capture Istanbul
  attempt fails with casualties on both sides seen
  as huge success for Ottomans
• Effective British naval blockades ensured Germany
  could not receive raw materials from its
  colonies, as German ships were destroyed.
• The British Dominions (Canada, Australia and New
  Zealand) contributed resources to Great Britain.
• China declared war on Germany in 1917.

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War in the East and in Italy

• Russia focused on Austria-Hungary and eastern
  Germany, but easily defeated by Germany troops.
• Aristocratic generals commanded millions of
  illiterate and poorly trained peasants
• 1917 Russia (Lenin) withdraws from WWI early
  signs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (ceded Russian
  territory to Germans).
• 1915 Austria-Hungary crushed Serbia, but
  struggled against Russia.
• Inept generals multiethnic armies with soldiers
  whose loyalties to Austrian emperor was
  inconstant
• British and French troops were deployed to stop
  Austrian advance east.
• 1915 Italy switched from the Triple Alliance to
  the Triple Entente.
• Britain promised territory gains in war at
  Austria-Hungarys expense if Italy switched.
• Most Entente-Italian assaults against
  Austria-Hungary ended in disaster.
• Italy frustrated it did not receive additional
  territory at end of war.

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American Involvement in 1917

• Americans sold food, weapons, and gave loans to
  the Entente.
• 1915 German submarine sank British luxury liner,
  Lusitania 100 Americans died.
• Germans claim Lusitania carrying secret
  shipments Britain denies it later proven true
• In 1916, Germany attacks U.S. merchant ships en
  route to Britain.
• Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare
• 1917 Zimmermann Telegram Great Britain
  intercepts telegram where Germany promised Mexico
  territory it had lost in Mexican-American War in
  exchange for joining Germany.
• 1917 The United States entered WWI policy
  previously was isolationism.
• By 1918, millions of American men in training
  makes Germany believe they need to end war
  quickly
• Will be the turn of the tide US troops are
  freshly ready and newly armed with supplies

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The Home Fronts

• Governments developed propaganda to promote
  patriotism and citizen support for the war.
• Soldiers felt unsupported, and that citizens
  lacked commitment for or understanding of war.
• British/Americans bombarded with stories of
  German atrocities.
• Many aspects of industrialization were taken over
  by the governments.
• People either benefit from industrialization or
  are excluded sparks labor protests.
• Women participated greatly on the home front.

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The End of War

• After Russia withdrew, a confident Germany
  transferred more soldiers to the Western Front
  victory seemed near.
• Newly-arrived American soldiers stalled German
  advance in northern France.
• Germany (mounting casualties, sheer fatigue) vs
  America (new enthusiastic)
• Austro-Hungarian empire abdicated.
• German commanders agreed to an armistice on
  November 11, 1918.
• WWI claimed 15 million and wounded 20 million.
• Young generation of European men nearly wiped
  out.
• Bombs and troops had destroyed cities, towns, and
  farms.

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Woodrow Wilsons Fourteen Points (1918)

• Statement declaring that WWI was a just moral
  affair proposal for European peace
• List of fourteen post-war goals
• Free trade
• Diplomatic end to the war
• International disarmament to lowest point
  consistent with domestic safety
• Withdrawal of Central Powers from occupied
  territories
• Creation of Poland
• Territorial restructuring along ethnic lines
• League of Nations
• Return Alsace-Lorraine to France
• Self-determination right of people in region to
  determine whether to be independent or not
• Became the basis for terms of German surrender
• Wilson awarded 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his
  efforts in WWI

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Paris Peace Conference of 1919

• Meeting of Entente leaders to determine peace
  terms for Europe and how to deal with defeated
  empires after the armistice (end of war).
• Outcome is Treaty of Versailles
• The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved into
  Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
• Ottoman Empire reduced to present-day Turkey
  Great Britain control Iraq and Pakistan France
  control Syria and Lebanon.
• Russia lost territory to Poland and Romania.
• Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania receive
  independence from Russia.
• Wartime promises of independence to colonial
  leaders in return for their war support for
  Entente were forgotten.

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Treaty of Versailles (1919)

• Germany was given no part in drafting the Treaty
  of Versailles.
• Goal cripple Germany economically so it could
  never again rise to power and threaten to invade
  other European states.
• Major players disagreed about how to deal with
  Germany.
• Outcome for Germany
• Article 231 Clause included that placed total
  blame for war upon Germany
• Limit their army to 100,000 soldiers.
• Alsace and Lorraine (won in Franco-Prussian War)
  returned to France
• Pay 33 billion in reparations to Entente
  members.
• Lost all colonies (Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon,
  Samoa)
• League of Nations established (idea of US
  President Woodrow Wilson)

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League of Nations

• The League of Nations, proposed by Woodrow
  Wilson, was established after WWI to preserve
  peace and humanitarian goals.
• Many nations refused to join it
• England and France hesitant
• Germany and Russia not allowed
• U.S. declines
• League of Nations was a pre-cursor to the United
  Nations.
• Effective at functions such as providing famine
  relief and dealing with refugee issues, but was
  otherwise weak.

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Cultural Ramifications

• Pointlessness of war and cynicism abound.
• Traditional ideas of wars nobility and heroism
  collapsed.
• Optimism of La Belle Époque had ended.
• Art, cinema, poems, literature respond.
• Writers War soldiers wrote letters to loved
  ones wrote poems in trenches
• Spread of liberal reforms (education) meant most
  soldiers (and public) were literate.
• Soldiers experiences preserved
• Lost Generation
• Term popularized by Ernest Hemingway
• Refers to F. Scott Fitzgerald Gertrude Stein
• Hemingways The Sun Also Rises captures the
  variety of losses in war (masculinity)
• Artists transfer from Romanticism to Modernism.

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Lost Generation

• A generation of innocent young men, their heads
  full of high abstractions like Honour, Glory and
  England, went off to war to make the world safe
  for democracy. They were slaughtered in stupid
  battles planned by stupid generals. Those who
  survived were shocked, disillusioned and
  embittered by their war experiences, and saw that
  their real enemies were not the Germans, but the
  old men at home who had lied to them. They
  rejected the values of the society that had sent
  them to war, and in doing so separated their own
  generation from the past and from their cultural
  inheritance
• - Samuel Hynes, historian

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Weak European Imperialism

• To win support of Western-educated elites and new
  allies in different regions, French and British
  made many promises regarding postwar colonial
  relationships.
• Primarily promised independence Created a great
  deal of postwar strain when this did not come to
  pass
• War cast doubt on white racial supremacy
• War gave support to anti-colonial movements in
  European colonies which are characterized by
  three themes.
• Led by charismatic, Western-educated elites who
  support nationalism.
• Leaders will rally peasant and urban masses.
• Leaders will often rely on nonviolent forms of
  protest.

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Indias National Congress Party

• The National Congress Party led India to
  independence and governed India through its
  postcolonial era.
• Formed by Indians in 1885 as an educated
  political club, and was supported by many British
  officials.
• The NCP gave Indians a sense of identity.
• NCP became concerned over British Raj racism and
  budget, where most money went to the British army
  and administrators.

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Indian Nationalism

• India contributed significantly to World War I as
  a colony of Great Britain.
• Wartime inflation affected all segments of Indian
  population.
• British leaders promised Indians self-government
  once WWI was over some steps were taken towards
  this
• Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 provided Indians
  opportunities to vote for and serve on all-Indian
  legislative councils.
• Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 gave Indian
  legislators increased control.
• Yet, the Rowlatt Act of 1919 restricted Indian
  civil rights (freedom of the press, root out
  conspirators), which fueled local protest and
  caused Indians to doubt British intentions.
• 1919 Protests led to Amritsar Massacre

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Emergence of Gandhi - 1919

• Mahatma (born Mohandas) Gandhi emerged as an
  Indian leader around 1919.
• He preached non-violent but aggressive protest
  against British colonization.
• Peaceful protests boycotts strikes
  noncooperation demonstrations
• Built up a strong following with the middle-class
  and Indian peasants.
• Combined Western-educated ideas about law with
  Hindu values and asceticism.
• With Gandhi as leader, nationalist protest surged
  in 1920s and 1930s.

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Egyptian Demands for Independence

• The British had occupied Egypt in 1882 since
  Orabis revolt
• Egyptian dissent began in the early 1900s first
  nationalist parties formed, frustrated by British
  monopolies and corruption.
• 1906 Dinshaway Incident
• Revealed British arrogance and superiority in an
  already tense relationship.
• Led to inflamed Egyptian nationalism.
• By 1913, British gave in and granted Egypt
  representation in British Parliament.
• 1914 WWI begins British distracted.

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Egyptian Revolution of 1919

• During WWI, the British defended the Suez Canal
  and used critical resources (cotton) from Egypt
  in the war.
• 1919 Demand Egyptian representatives at Paris
  Peace Conference denied.
• Egyptian Revolution of 1919 revolt against
  British occupation of Egypt and Sudan
• 1922 Britain recognized Egyptian independence
  and British withdrawal began.
• Led by Wafd Party (nationalist liberal political
  party)
• 1923 New constitution that changes Egypt from
  dynastic rule of khedives to a parliamentary
  monarchy that is nationally-elected.
• British presence continues until British
  withdrawal of the Suez Canal zone in 1936.
• Even though Egypt now had independence, later
  Egyptian politicians were more concerned with
  power and wealth than with poverty aide,
  education, health, or labor.

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Nationalism in the Middle East

• After WWI, the Ottoman Empire collapsed (1923)
  and an independent Turkish Republic was
  established.
• In League of Nations, Britain and France divided
  Arab portions of Ottoman Empire, despite European
  promises of Arab independence after WWI.
• France Syria Lebanon
• Britain Iraq Palestine and Lebanon
• Nationalism grows in these locations
• Palestine and a Jewish Holy Land?
• 1894 Dreyfus Affair spurred Jewish Zionists
  (movement for a Jewish Middle Eastern holy land).
  
• 1917 Balfour Declaration aggravated
  relationships between Palestinian Arabs and
  Englishmen.