Chapter 27The Crisis of the

Imperial Order, 1900-1929

Early Twentieth Century Historical Events

 empty cell Europe and North America Middle East East Asia1900 1904 British-French Entente

1907 British-Russian Entente1909 Young Turks overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamid

1900 Boxer uprising in China 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War

1910 1912-1913 Balkan Wars 1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparks World War 11916 Battles of Verdun and the Somme1917 Russian Revolutions; United States enters the war1918 Armistice ends World War 1 1918-1921 Civil war in Russia1919 Treaty of Versailles

1912 Italy conquers Libya, last Otto man territory in Africa1915 British defeat at Gallipoli1916 Arab Revolt in Arabia1917 Balfour Declaration

1919-1922 War between Turkey and Greece

1911 Chinese revolutionaries led by Sun Yat-sen overthrow Qing dynasty1915 Japan presents Twenty-One Demands to China

1919 May Fourth Movement in China

1920 1923-1928 New Economic Policy in Russia

1922 Egypt nominally independent1923 Mustafa Kemal proclaims Turkey a republic

1927 Guomindang forces occupy Shanghai and expel Communists

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Origins of the Crisis in Europe and

the Middle East

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The Ottoman Empire and Balkans

• By the late nineteenth century, the once-powerful Ottoman Empire was in decline and losing the outlying provinces closest to Europe.

• The Young Turks conspired to force a constitution on the sultan, advocated centralized rule and Turkification of minorities, and carried out modernizing reforms. The Turks hired a German general to modernize Turkey’s armed forces.

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Nationalism, Alliances, and Military Strategy

• The three main causes of World War I were nationalism, the system of alliances and military plans, and Germany’s yearning to dominate Europe. (imperialism)

MAIN Causes of the Great War

1) Militarism2)Alliance systems3)Imperialism3) Nationalism

Militarism-Aggressive preparation for war◦Alliance systems and imperialist rivalries only helped to fuel the arms race of the early 1900’s in Europe.

◦Naval power was the most obvious form of military buildup.

◦Germany poured money into its navy in order to challenge Britain on the open seas. Both nations built more and better naval vessels as a result.

◦The size of armies grew steadily to number in the millions. Each nation was preparing itself for war.

Military drafts were held throughout Europe, doubling the size of most armies.

New weapons produced in mass quantities-◦Machine gun ◦Improved rifles◦Poisonous gas◦Airplanes*◦Tanks*

Increased railroad construction made mobilization faster

Alliance systems◦Germany’s growing industrial and military power in

Europe threatened the major powers on the continent (France, Russia, and Britain)

◦Germany’s neighbors, France and Russia, allied themselves in the 1890’s to surround Germany and discourage a declaration of war or invasion by Germany.

◦Britain responded in part due to Germany’s growing economic power and threatening naval capabilities.

◦By the early 1900’s the three (Russia, France, and Britain) had formed the Triple Entente (agreement) (later called the Allied Powers or Allies)

◦Germany responded by allying with Austria-Hungary. (Known as Central Powers)

*Originally Italy is on this side but later they flip to the Allies

Imperialism-The extension of a nations power over other lands

◦For decades, most European powers had been engaged in an imperialist rivalry around the globe. These rivalries heightened tensions between the nations.

◦Imperialist rivalries only served to further the tensions between nations and feed the jingoism (warlike nationalism) of each nation.

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• Nationalism was deeply rooted in European culture, where it served to unite individual nations while undermining large multiethnic empires.

• Imbued with nationalism and largely unfamiliar with the reality of large-scale warfare, most people viewed war as a crusade for liberty or as revenges for past injustices.

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• The major European countries were organized into two alliances: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, and Russia).

• The military alliance system was accompanied by inflexible mobilization plans that depended on railroads to move troops according to precise schedules.

• When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, the alliance system, in combination with the rigidly scheduled mobilization plans, meant that war was automatic.

Map of Europe in 1913

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The Balkan problem Nowhere was the tension higher in Europe than in the Balkans.

Complex ethnic divisions and rivalries made this territory a hotbed of crisis.

On top of this, in the years before WWI, there had been a series of regional wars in this region over territories and resources.

The Balkans in 1914

Annexed to Austria in 1908

“The Powder Keg of Europe”

On June 28, 1914, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand visited the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

Bosnia had been taken from Serbia by Austria-Hungary years earlier.

A Serbian nationalist, Gavriel Princip, assassinated the Archduke. ◦The “spark” that ignites WWI

Alliance System takes over

Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Serbia.

Serbia was backed by Russia (defender of the Slavic race), so Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary.

Germany backed Austria-Hungary, so it declared war on Russia.

Britain and France then declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary

Alliance System

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The “Great War” and the Russian Revolutions, 1914–1918

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“We’ll be home by Christmas!”

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Stalemate, 1914–1917• The nations of Europe entered the war in

high spirits, confident of victory. German victory at first seemed assured, but as the German advance faltered in September, both sides spread out until they formed an unbroken line of trenches (the Western Front) from the North Sea to Switzerland.

• The generals on each side tried for four years to take enemy positions by ordering their troops to charge across the open fields, only to have them cut down by machine-gun fire.

The Western Front in World War I

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The Schlieffen PlanGermany found itself at a distinct

disadvantage once war was declared, having to fight a two-front war.

As a result Germany devised a plan to launch a quick and massive attack to the west (towards France) and then turn back towards the more backward less threatening Russia in the east.

This plan was spearheaded by General Alfred von Schlieffen, hence the name.

The Schlieffen Plan

The World at WarInitially, the Schlieffen plan worked

brilliantly. Germany swept through Belgium rather quickly and found itself in northern France pushing towards Paris.

French forces retreated to Paris to regroup and defend their capital. Just outside Paris the two sides squared off at the Marne River in what came to be called the Battle of the Marne.

French forces heroically halted the German advance and saved their capital and nation from German occupation.

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare Continued…

“The Front is a cage in which we must await fearfully whatever may happen.”-German soldier, later novelist

“Neither [side] had won or could win the warThe war had won and would go on winning.”-British war poet

War on the Eastern FrontThough war in the East was just as

horrific, the results were much different.

German armies were able to make large gains against the poorly trained and ineptly led Russian forces.

The highest levels of casualty of any of the nations involved in the war and the poor leadership of the Russian state led to outright mutinies and revolts that toppled the tsarist regime in 1917.

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• For four years, the war was inconclusive on both land and at sea.

• While military thinking remained largely unchanged, there were significant developments in military technology, as the war saw the use of submarines, poison gas, tanks and airplanes.

Effects of WWI WeaponryOn top of having

devastating killing power, the weapons of WWI were best used to hold defensive positions rather than lead charges or offensive maneuvers.

As a result, very little ground was gained by either side between 1914 and 1917.

• By 1915 airplanes had appeared on the battle from for the first time!

• First used to spot enemy position

• Began attacking ground targets

• Pilots first shot at each other with pistols then mounted machine guns

• Germans used zeppelins to bomb London and eastern England

• But… zeppelins filled with hydrogen explode when hit by guns…

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The Home Front and the War Economy

• The material demands of trench warfare led governments to impose stringent controls over all aspects of their economies.

• Rationing and the recruitment of Africans, Indians, Chinese, and women into the European labor force transformed civilian life and gave women especially a taste of personal and financial independence.

Direct Control from Governments

As war continued, governments took more and more control over areas of both public and private life:◦Industrial sectors were taken over by gov’t.

Factories were told what to produce and railroads administered by the state.

◦Massive censorship took place (Sedition Acts) newspapers and even letters from soldiers

◦Propaganda departments were created to stir public support and opinion.

- As a result, WWI became the first total war in human history.

Propaganda

Developments for womenNew work

opportunities in factories during war◦ Including heavy

industry and munitions Higher wages More confidence Nurses on the

frontlinesSocial changes:

◦ Rising hemlines◦ Able to smoke in public◦ Unchaperoned dating

Suffrage!

Women in World War I

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• German civilians paid an especially high price for the war because the British naval blockade cut off access to essential food imports.

• British and French forces overran Germany’s African colonies (except for Tanganyika). In all of their African colonies, Europeans requisitioned food, imposed heavy taxes, forced Africans to grow export crops and sell them at low prices, and recruited African men to serve as soldiers and as porters.

The First World War in Europe

Map 28.2 p718

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• The United States grew rich during the war by selling goods to Britain and France. When the United States entered the war in 1917, businesses engaged in war production made tremendous profits.

Why did the U.S. join WWI?

Tried to remain neutral, although making lots of money on the war

The majority of Americans were pro-British partly due to their success with propaganda & partly due to economic ties

German use of submarines (U-boats)◦Sinking of the Lusitania 1915 (100 Americans

onboard) Germans agreed not to use them-they lied. Becomes a conflict again later.

U.S. joins the war in 1917

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The Ottoman Empire at War

• The Turks signed a secret alliance with Germany in 1914.

• Turkey engaged in unsuccessful campaigns against Russia, deported the Armenians (causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands), and closed the Dardanelles Straits.

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• When they failed to open the Dardanelles Straits by force, the British tried to subvert the Ottoman Empire from within by promising emir Hussein ibn Ali of Mecca a kingdom of his own if he would lead a revolt against the Turks, which he did in 1916.

• In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the British suggested to the Zionist leader Chaim Wiezman that they would “view with favor” the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

• Palestine (seen as the ancient homeland of the Jews) was currently occupied by 80% Muslims…

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Double Revolution in Russia• By late 1916, the large but incompetently

led and poorly equipped Russian army had experienced numerous defeats and had run out of ammunition and other essential supplies.

• The civilian economy was in a state of collapse, and the cities faced shortages of fuel and food in the winter of 1916–1917.

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• In March 1917 (February by the old Russian calendar), the tsar was overthrown and replaced by a Provisional Government led by Alexander Kerensky.

• On November 6, 1917 (October 24 in the Russian calendar) Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks staged an uprising in Petrograd and overthrew the Provisional Government. (Also took over winter palace and slaughtered entire royal family.)

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The End of the War in Western Europe, 1917-1918

• German resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare brought the United States into the war in April 1917.

• The Germans were able to break through and push within 40 miles of Paris. The arrival of U.S. forces allowed the Allies to counterattack in August 1918.

• The German soldiers retreated; an armistice was signed on November 11.

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Peace and Dislocation in Europe, 1919–1929

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The Impact of the War

• Between 9 and 10 million people died in the war.

• The war also created millions of refugees, many of whom fled to France and to the United States, where the influx of immigrants prompted the U.S. Congress to pass immigration laws that closed the doors to eastern and southern Europeans.

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• One byproduct of the war was the influenza epidemic of 1918–1919, which started among soldiers headed for the Western Front and spread around the world, killing some 20 million people (twice as many than those that died in the war).

• The war also caused serious damage to the environment, especially along the Western Front in France and Belgium.

Problems in Europe after WWI

10 million dead, 20 million wounded

Land ruined (farms)Cities demolished (industry)Germany had a weak new government

Influenza pandemic

This does not include the issues brought on by the Treaty of Versailles

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The Peace Treaties• Three men dominated the Paris Peace

Conference: U.S. President Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and French Premier Georges Clemenceau.

• Because the three men had conflicting goals, the Treaty of Versailles turned out to be a series of unsatisfying compromises that humiliated Germany but left it largely intact and potentially the most powerful nation in Europe.

• The Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart. New countries were created in the lands lost by Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.

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The Treaty of Versailles Wilson wanted to use his Fourteen Points plan and

create the League of Nations, Clemenceau and George wanted to punish Germany… Wilson was outvoted…

Germany had to • pay reparations for the war• return Alsace and Lorraine to France• accept the war guilt clause • make a demilitarized zone around its borders• And could have no navy or air force

The League of Nations was created but the U.S. Senate refused to join, making this group weak from the beginning.

Territorial Changes in Europe After World War I

Map 28.3 p723

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Russian Civil War and the New

Economic Policy• In Russia, Allied intervention and civil war

extended the fighting for another three years beyond the end of World War I.

• By 1921, the Communists had defeated most of their enemies, and in 1922, the Soviet republic of Ukraine and Russia merged to create the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

• The USSR or Soviet Union

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• Years of warfare, revolution, and mismanagement had ruined the Russian economy.

• Beginning in 1921, Lenin’s New Economic Policy helped to restore production by relaxing government controls and allowing a return of market economics.

• This policy was regarded as a temporary measure that would be superseded as the Soviet Union built a modern, socialist, industrial economy by extracting resources from the peasants to pay for industrialization.

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• When Lenin died in January 1924, his associates struggled for power; the two main contenders were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.

• Stalin filled the bureaucracy with his supporters, expelled Trotsky, and forced him to flee the country. Began Five-Year Plans to build industry at unprecedented speed.

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An Ephemeral Peace• The 1920s were a decade of

dissatisfaction among people whose hopes had been raised by the rhetoric of war and dashed by its outcome.

• In 1923, French occupation of the Ruhr and severe inflation brought Germany to the brink of civil war. Fiscal reform, the creation of an American-led system to facilitate payment of war debts, and French withdrawal from the Ruhr marked the beginning of a period of peace and economic growth beginning in 1924.

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• Germany borrowed money from money from New York to pay France and Britain and they in turn used that money to repay their loans from the U.S.

• The industrial nations of Europe began rebuilding.

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China and Japan: Contrasting Destinies

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Social and Economic Change• In the first decades of the twentieth

century, China was plagued by rapid population growth; an increasingly unfavorable ratio of population to arable land; avaricious landlords and tax collectors; and frequent, devastating floods of the Yellow River.

• Above the peasantry, Chinese society was divided among many groups: landowners, wealthy merchants, and foreigners, whose luxurious lives aroused the resentment of educated, young, urban Chinese.

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• Japan had few natural resources and very little arable land. While not troubled by floods, Japan was subject to other natural calamities.

• In Japan, industrialization and economic growth aggravated social tensions between westernized urbanites and traditionalists, and between the immensely wealthy zaibatsu and the poor farmers, who still comprised half the population.

• Japanese prosperity depended on foreign trade. This made Japan much more vulnerable than China to swings in the world economy.

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Revolution and War, 1900–1918

China’s defeat and humiliation at the hands of an international force in the Boxer affair of 1900 led many Chinese students to conclude that China needed a revolution to overthrow the Qing and modernize the country.

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• When a regional army unit mutinied in 1911, Sun Yat-sen’s Revolutionary Alliance formed an assembly and elected Sun as president of China, but to avoid a civil war, the presidency was turned over to the powerful general Yuan Shikai, who rejected democracy and ruled as an autocrat.

• Sun turned his attention thereafter to organizing his followers as the Guomindang.

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• The Japanese joined the Allied side in World War I and benefited from an economic boom as demand for their products rose.

• Japan used the war as an opportunity to conquer the German colonies in the Northern Pacific and on the Chinese coast and to further extend Japanese influence in China by forcing the Chinese government to accede to many of the conditions presented in a document called the Twenty-One Demands.

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Chinese Warlords and the Guomindang, 1919–1929

• At the Paris Peace Conference, the great powers allowed Japan to retain control over seized German enclaves in China, sparking protests in Beijing (May 4, 1919) and in many other parts of China. China’s regional generals—the warlords—supported their armies through plunder and arbitrary taxation so that China grew poorer while only the treaty ports prospered.

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• Sun Yat-sen tried to make a comeback in Canton in the 1920s by reorganizing his Guomindang party along Leninist lines and by welcoming members of the newly created Chinese Communist Party.

• Sun’s successor Chiang Kai-shek crushed the regional warlords in 1927.

• Chiang then split with and decimated the Communist Party and embarked on an ambitious plan of top-down industrial modernization.

• However, Chiang’s government was staffed by corrupt opportunists, not by competent administrators: China remained mired in poverty.

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The New Middle East

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The Mandate System

• Instead of being given their independence, the former German colonies and Ottoman territories were given to the great powers as mandates. Class C Mandates were ruled as colonies, while Class B Mandates were to be ruled under League of Nations supervision.

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• The Arab-speaking territories of the former Ottoman Empire were Class A Mandates, a category that was defined to lead the Arabs to believe that they had been promised independence. In practice, Britain took control of Palestine, Iraq, and Trans-Jordan, while France took Syria and Lebanon as its mandates.

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The Rise of Modern Turkey

• At the end of the war, the Ottoman Empire was at the point of collapse, with French, British, Italian, and Greek forces occupying Constantinople and parts of Anatolia. In 1919 Mustafa Kemal formed a nationalist government and reconquered Anatolia and the area around Constantinople in 1922.

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• Kemal was an outspoken modernizer who declared Turkey to be a secular republic; introduced European laws; replaced the Arabic alphabet with the Latin alphabet; and attempted to westernize the Turkish family, the roles of women, and even Turkish clothing and headgear.

• His reforms spread quickly in the urban areas, but they encountered strong resistance in the countryside, where Islamic traditions remained strong.

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Arab Lands and the Question of Palestine

• Among the Arab people, the thinly disguised colonialism of the Mandate System set off protests and rebellions. At the same time, Middle Eastern society underwent significant changes: the population grew by 50 percent from 1914 to 1939, major cities doubled in size, and the urban merchant class adopted western ideas, customs, and lifestyles.

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• The Maghrib (Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco) was dominated by the French army and by French settlers, who owned the best lands and monopolized government jobs and businesses. Arabs and Berbers remained poor and suffered from discrimination.

• The British allowed Iraq to become independent under King Faisal (leader of the Arab revolt) but maintained a significant military and economic influence.

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• France sent thousands of troops to crush nationalist uprisings in Lebanon and Syria. Britain declared Egypt to be independent in 1922 but retained control through its alliance with King Farouk.

• In the Palestine Mandate, the British tried to limit the wave of Jewish immigration that began in 1920 but only succeeded in alienating both Jews and Arabs.

The Bund in Shanghai

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Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

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Territorial Changes in the Middle East After World War I

Map 28.4 p732

The Jewish Settlement of Palestine

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British Warship Maneuvering

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Conclusion

Though some thought the pre-war world would reemerge in 1919, the reality was very different. There had been a major realignment among nations. France and Britain were economically weakened. Russia was left in civil war and revolution. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires were divided into smaller, weaker nations. Japan and the United States came out of the war in a more strengthened position than before.

The fall of the Ottoman Empire generated hope among Turks, Arabs, and Jewish immigrants of sovereign nation status, but the imposition of British and French mandates thwarted those aspirations.