european history: part iii

European HistoryBroad Historic Overview

Period: World War I and World War II

POLS 208 European StudiesEuropean University of Lefke

German Unity and German Nationalism

Under Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany begins a “new course”

After 1871, German trade and industry increases vigorously

Many-sided rivalry develops between Germany and Britain, esp. when Wilhelm II begins building ocean-going navy

Britain and France draw together diplomatically as 20th Century begins

War World I


Germany had allowed an implicit alliance with Russia to lapse

French resent the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine (1871)

German Leaders fear “encirclement” by hostile nations

These factors contribute to the War in 1914

War World I


Precipitating factors

WWI one of the most contested issues in history

Complexity of the war and the number of theorized causes

War tensions build over a long period

Germany’s aggressive foreign policy contributes to the outbreak

Some historians speculate Germany willed and engineering the war

Germany compelled to go to war

War World I


War brought by poor leadership

War brought about by accident – tension between Alliances

WWI culmination of historical developments – Austria and Serbia conflict inevitable, Russia imperialistic expansion eastward, French resentful over Alsace-Lorraine

General rise in Nationalism

War World I


The war became inevitable with the “blank check”

Austro-Hungarian Emperor sends letter to Wilhelm II

Wilhelm II’s Chancellor telegrams back confirming that Austria-Hungary can rely on any action taken against Serbia

War World I


The Alliances

By 1914, Triple Entente was formed: France, Russia and Britain

Hungary, Germany and Italy form the Triple Alliance

Other European Nations and US are neutral

Great Britain and France rely also on their overseas possessions to expand their “allies”

War World I


Alliances

New Military Techniques and Technologies

WWI introduces “total war”

Full mobilization of society

WWI marks the end of war as “glamorous occupation”

WWI introduces a number of new technologies and techniques

War World I


War World I


New Military Techniques and Technologies

From the age of coal to the age of petroleum

Chemical welfare

Submarines: advent of depth charges and sonar

Rudimentary tanks and mechanized warfare towards the end

Machine Gun

All these aimed at improving trench warfare

The Schlieffen Plan

Designed by Field Marshall Count Alfred von Schlieffen

Out of fear of two-front war

To eliminate one of the fronts before the other side could prepare

Rapid German mobilization

Holland – Luxembourg – Belgium – France route

Overwhelming numbers on the far right flank with minimum troops north and on Russian east front

War World I


The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan

Elimination of French, allows Germany fight against Russia or Britain

Defeat the Belgian Fortress in Liege by encirclement

Shlieffen retires in 1906. Replaced by Helmuth von Moltke

1907-08 Moltke readjusts the plan. Direct move into Belgium.

War World I


New Alliances for the War

Triple Entente forms the Allied Powers with Italy joining the Alliance

Allied Powers: Britain, France, Italy, Russia and US

Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria

War World I


New Alliances

August 1914: war erupts

June 28th Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to Austria-Hungary throne) assassinated in Sarajevo

Austria declares war on Serbia

Germany declares war on France and Russia

August 4, Germany invades Belgium

Britain thus joins the war

War World I


German Force enacts Moltke’s plan

Fortress of Liege attacked. Lasts 10 days.

Second half of August, hasty French counteroffensive collapses in Lorraine under heavy German machine-gun fire

Germany crosses Belgium into France on a wide front

Russia invades German easternmost province, East Prussia, in August

Russians defeated in the Battle of Tannenberg

War World I


Near-panic by end of August as Germans move south toward Paris

On German side, gap develops between the westernmost army corps couples with exhaustion of the troops

French reinforces Paris to the front

Germans halted along the river Marne in the 1st week of September

Beginning of static trench lines that define the front in West Europe for 4 years

War World I


1915-1916

February 4th 1915, Germany declares submarine blockade of GB

May 7th 1915, Germany sinks passenger ship Lusitania

Massive uproar in US as over 100 US citizens vanish

August 30th, Germany declares it will not longer attack ships without warning

War World I


1915-1916

February 4th 1915, Germany declares submarine blockade of GB

France’s front focus of mass attacks: huge loss but little gain

GB fully engaged with France, raising large conscript army for the 1st time in History

1915: first attacks with chlorine gas by Germans

The battle of Verdun: the longest in the war (1916): Germans fought to a draw. 1 million casualties.

Battle of Somme: Nov.18, no breakthrough, another 1 million perished

War World I


1917 – 1918: Final Phases

February 1st 1917, Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare

Germans believe they could win GB in 6 months and the US will take a year to mobilize forces

Cultural despair prevalent in Europe as entire generation of youth fed into the maw of combat

French armies came close to mutiny in 1917

War World I


Germany: hunger and deprivation as overseas trade was blocked

German Labor strikes and political discontent increasing

Russia collapses and the Tsar ousted in favor of liberal-socialist regime

April 6th 1917, US enters the war

The Third Battle of Ypres: July 31st – November 17th minor gains for Britain, but no breakthrough through German defense

War World I


While WWI going on, in November 7th Bolsheviks led by Lenin overthrows the post-Tsar Russian Government

March 1918, new Russian Gov’t represented by Leon Trotsky signs an armistice treaty with Germany

March 21st Germans launch “Ludendorff” offensive hoping to win before US troops arrive

Germans draw closer to Paris, but exhaustions takes a toll by the end of the summer

War World I


September 29th 1918, allied troops finally break into German fortifications at the Hindenberg line

November 9th 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates

November 10th German Weimar republic founded

November 11th, 1918, at 11:00 am on the 11th day of the 11th month war ended as Germany and Allies sign an armistice agreement

War World I


European combatant nations exhausted

Political conditions vastly changed

German, Austrian and Russian monarchies replaced by democratic or revolutionary gov’ts

European ethnic groups seize chance to obtain independence

Victorious powers attempt to bring peace to Europe

Germany heavily blamed and punished

Europe: 1918 to 1945


The Treaty of Versailles 1919

The Peace of Paris: The “Big Four” discuss the results of the war

US President Woodrow Wilson, GB Prime Minister, Lloyd-George, France Statesman Clemenceau, Italy Diplomat Orlando

Germany and Russia not invited

Wilson’s leading as US least damaged and seemingly neutral in the war

Wilson’s 14 points: idealistic road map to a new future



Wilson’s 14 Points

Democratic, liberal, enlightened and progressive

New type of treaty designed to bring peace last forever

Disallow secret treaties

Freedom of the seas

Arms reduction

Self-determination of nations

League of Nations: key instrument to prevent future war



Treaty’s treatment of Germany

Despite Wilson’s idealism, the Treaty was harsh, brutal and punitive in nature

Aspect of it designed to to attempt prevent Germany’s ability to wage war in the future

France takes control over Saar valley (iron and coal) for 15 years

France gets Alsace-Lorraine returned



Rhineland would be demilitarized as buffer zone



Germany’s colonies divided between France and GB

Germany loses 13.5 % of land and 12.5 % of population

German Navy confiscated and military limited to 100,000

No submarines, planes, artillery permitted

Germany forced to pay brutal reparations: 132 billion gold marks

Article 231 of the Treaty, “War Guilt Clause”, orders Germany to take full responsibility for the war



Germany after WWI

New democratic Weimar Republic faces serious problems

Germans refuse to admit their army lost the war

This undermines the credibility of the new Republic, despite the fact that n 1918 German High Commander asks the politicians to form a Gov’t which Allies will find acceptable for negotiations

Economic Problems on the rise

Germany unable to pay debt, France takes control over the Ruhr Valley. Massive hyperinflation as Germany prints money in return



Political chaos for several years: political parties battle over the central gov’t

The Spartacists (communist) stage uprisings in Berlin & other cities, size Bavaria

Freikorps (demobilized soldiers) crash the Bavarian coup d'état, will to overthrow the Weimar Republic in 1920, but German workers respond with strike

1919, small right-wing party in Munich, recruits a new member. Army Corporal named Adolf Hitler.

The skilled orator & Politician heads the Nat’l Socialist Worker’s Party: Nazis



Late 1920’s German returns its prosperity thanks to US aid (the Dawes Plan 1924 and the Young Plan 1929)

Realistic plans for reparation payments aiming to restore economic stability

The prosperity eliminates the radical groups both on the left and right



The Rise of Pacifism and Isolation in 1920s

Nations desire to avoid the horrors and atrocities of the WWI

Washington Naval Congress 1921: US, GB, France, Japan and Italy agree not to build new battleships for 10 years and reduce size of their navies

1925, Locarno Treaties, Germany unconditionally guarantees France and Belgium borders. Promises not to violate Czechoslovakia and Poland





The Rise of Pacifism and Isolation in 1920s

Germany joins the League of Nations in 1926. Russia joins in 1934

1928, 65 nations sing the “Kellogg Briand Pact” rejecting war as means of policy

Fascism rises in Europe

Liberal democracies in Britain and France encounter Isolationism and Pacifism

Unemployment problems and colonial struggles

As result of the 1930 Great Depression, Socialism becomes very popular, i.e., the Gov’t responsibility to meet citizen’s social needs



The Great Depression: challenges democracy, fascists and communists increased popularity

Low wages – less purchasing power

Agricultural depression & falling prices: increased agri-output but decreased demand

Overproduction in factories

Overexpansion in credit, US Stock market crash of 1929



FEDs untimely raise in interest rates (to lure foreign investment)

The Smooth-Hawley Tariff: immediate backlash in tariffs across the world. Majority of world trade collapses



Calls for autonomy in the colonies effected also by WW’s 14 points and proposed “self determination”

1931, “Commonwealth of Nations” – Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Irish Free State, and South Africa, but still linked to GB via trade (Statute of Westminister)

1930s India, under the Muslim League and Indian Nat’l Congress, called for greater role in their Gov’t

Ghandi’s “Civil Disobedience” end British rule. 1935 Government of India. 1947 India gains independence & splits with Pakistan

1908, “Young Turks” overthrow Abdul Hamid II and rule till 1918. After WWI, Kemal Ataturk takes over. 1923 moves capital from Constantinople to Ankara. 1930 Constantinople name is changed. Western dress, Latin alphabet, polygamy ban, women given suffrage in 1936



Italy: fascism under Benito Musolini and Germany: Hitler

Fascism: new form of gov’t - extreme nationalism, nat’l unity, emphasis on masculinity, youth, aggression, violence, racial superiority, one supreme leader with superhuman abilities; rejection of individual rights; use of secret police; censorship, propaganda; militaristic and aggressive foreign policy; central control of the economy; individual subordinate to the needs of the society as a whole



1936, German troops enter the Rhineland to establish national self esteem

1938, Hitler’s policy of expansionism to establish Greater Germany, starting with Austria

GB realizes policy of appeasement are taken advantage of

Hitler signs Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Soviet Union: a treaty of non-agression



Outbreak of WWII

The Treaty of Versailles creates “revisionist” powers

Germany as losing side, heavy reparations

Italy gets nothing out of the Peace of Paris

Hungary loses 2/3 of her territory, each 3rd ethnic Hungarian placed under foreign rule

Japan doesn’t receive what she wants after winning Russia

Soviet Union not invited to the Peace of Paris



1933, Germany leaves the League of Nations

1934, Germany attempts to annex Austria

1935, Italy invades Ethiopia

Germany reoccupies the Saar Valley

1936, Germany remilitarizes the Rhineland

1938, Germany annexes Austria & Sudetenland

1939, Germany seizes Czechoslovakia



During 1939, Italy and Germany sign “the Pact of Steel” alliance and Germany and SU sign a non - aggression pact (sign that war was imminent)

September 1st 1939 Germany invades Poland using new war machine: lightning warfare (Blitzkrieg)

September 3rd 1939, GB and France declare war on Germany

September 17th 1939, USSR invades Poland

1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan sing the Tripartite Treaty forming the Axis Powers



Western Democracies reluctant to interfere

Feel guilt over Germany’s treatment

Areas Germany invaded all of German heritage

Leaders met in Munich in 1938. Hitler promises no more aggressive actions

1939, the WWII breaks out



Fall of 1939 – Spring of 1940: Allies do not interfere i.e. “phoney war”

1940: Germany invades Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, and France

1940 Battle of Britain, German air force fails

1941 Germany attempts to invade Russia to destroy communism & access oil. They fail and winter causes mass deaths and destruction of the German army

1942, Germany attacks Stalingrad and fails again

1943, GB and US defeats German forces in North Africa



1943, Allies battle Italy and Mussolini's forces successfully

1943, Battle of Kursk: the largest armored engagement of all time on the Eastern Front. Soviet wins.

September 8th 1943 Italy surrenders

June 6th 1944, Allied forces land in Normandy. D-DAY



Late 1944, Battle of Bulge in Belgium, Allies crash the remaining of the German forces

May 8th 1945, Victory in Europe Day as Russians take Berlin



Conclusions of the War

Two Major Conferences: Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference

Discuss how to effectively terminate WWII

Feb.11th 1945: US President Franklin Roosevelt, Britain Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and SU Leader Joseph Stalin



Several Essential provisions:

United Nations: “global association of gov’ts facilitating cooperation in Int’l Law, Int’l Secutiry, Economic Development and Social Equity.”

4 Part dismemberment of Germany: UK, France, US and Russia

Nuremburg trials: army members held to Int’l standards

Poland reconstituted, reparations enforced against Germany

Parties agree to the Declaration of Liberated Europe



The Potsdam Conference

July to August 1945

US President Harry Truman, British PM Attlee and Joseph Stalin

Conference provides for German Disarmament, demilitarization and denazification

Poland was shifted and massive post-war migration occurred

Japan threatened with destruction by a new weapon.



EU now


european history: part iii

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