THE GUNS OF AUGUST

• Two pistol shots fired on the streets of Sarajevo (Bosnia)– June 28, 1914

• Assassin: Gavrilo Princip– Serbia– Agent for “Union of Death”

• Victim: Archduke Francis Ferdinand– Heir to throne of Austrian

Empire• Result: Outbreak of World War

One – the “Guns of August”

REACTION• Union of Death made its

headquarters in Serbia– Dedicated to creating a

“Greater Serbia”• Main obstacle was Austrian

Empire which controlled some territory that would be included in “Greater Serbia”

• Austria reacts strongly to assassination– Issues Serbia an ultimatum

which would result in war if Serbia failed to meet demands

– Declared war on Serbia in July 1914

INTERNATIONAL SITUATION 1870-1914

• CAUSES

• Germany’s desire to protect newly-won status

• French desire for revenge• Intense economic

competition between Great Britain and Germany

• Competition between Russia and Austria Empire in the Balkans

• Competition for colonies

ALLIANCES• TRIPLE ALLIANCE

– GERMANY– AUSTRIAN EMPIRE– ITALY

• TRIPLE ENTENTE– FRANCE– GREAT BRITAIN– RUSSIA

• INTENDED TO BE DEFENSIVE ALLIANCES –BUT INSTEAD PROVED TO BE DEADLY TRAPS

CHAIN OF EVENTS• Austria declares war on Serbia• Russia mobilizes army and

announces it will support Serbia• Germany mobilizes army and

announces it will support Austria• France mobilizes army and

announces it will support Russia• Great Britain does not mobilize

immediately but enters conflict on side of French and Russians when Germany violates Belgian neutrality

• Italy does not mobilize at all

THE LINEUP• CENTRAL POWERS

– Germany– Austrian Empire– Ottoman Empire– Bulgaria

• ALLIES– France– Great Britain– Russia (drops out in 1917)– United States (enters in

1917)– Italy (enters in 1916)– Japan

ALLIED LEADERS

David Lloyd George

Great Britain

Georges Clemenceau

France

Woodrow Wilson

United States

Nicholas II

Russia

CENTRAL POWERS LEADERS

William II

Germany

Francis Josef

Austrian Empire

THE START OF THE WAR

• Schieffen Plan– Massive invasion of

northern France through Belgium

– Catch French by surprise and capture Paris

– Stopped at the First Battle of the Marne• Germany had to pull

out two divisions• British troops fought

with the French

THE WESTERN FRONT

1915 GALLIOPI

• Attempt by British to capture Straits into the Black Sea from the Turks and thus open way to supply Russia– Planned by Winston

Churchill• Fought entirely by colonial

troops from Australia, New Zealand, and India

• Bloody fiasco – Churchill loses job as Minister of the Navy and the straits remain closed for remainder of war

1916 OFFENSIVES ON THE WESTERN FRONT

VERDUN

BATTLE OF THE SOMME

1917 TYPICAL BEGINNING• Italy joins war on Allied side

– Defeated at horrible Battle of Caporetto

– 700,000 casualties

• Russia launches Kerensky Offensive– Massive failure– Russian soldiers begin to

desert, murder their officers, and turn on the civilian leaders who had sent them to be slaughtered

1917 U.S. ENTERS/RUSSIA LEAVES • US ENTERS– German U-boat attacks on neutral

shipping angers the United States– Congress declares war on Germany in

April 1917– Estimated that it would take at least a

year for U.S. to mobilize and train an army and arrive in Europe

• RUSSIA LEAVES– Revolution erupts in November 1917– Bolsheviks seize power and pull

Russia out of the war– Germany transfers men from Russia to

Western Front, gaining numerical advantage there

1918 THE END OF THE WAR• Germans launch three offensives on

Western Front in Spring 1918

• Break through Allied lines and head for Paris

• Stopped 80 miles outside of Paris by Allied forces, reinforced by U.S troops– Led by Marshal Ferdinand Foch

• Allies push Germans back into Germany

• Germans ask for armistice. Goes into effect November 11, 1918

WAR OF POSITION

Trench

Poison Gas

Tank

Airplane

Machine gun

War in which defensive

capabilities outperformed

offensive ones, so that neither side could achieve a

significant breakthrough

Trench warfare: four dehumanizing years of living and dying half-buried in mud; wet,

cold, frightened, and bombarded by the most barbarically

ingenious weapons the Western mind

could invent

OLD STANDBYS

ArtilleryEnfield Rifles

ASPECTS OF THE WAR I• NATIONAL COMMITMENT

• Governments allocated raw materials, controlled transportation, regulated prices and wages, and rationed food and necessities

• Universal conscription• Women replaced men in

the workforce• Huge rise in national

debts• Severe hardship for

many civilian populations

ASPECTS OF THE WAR II

• TRULY GLOBAL WAR– Involved non-European

countries– Fought outside Europe by

non-European people– Belligerents used colonial

troops– Lawrence of Arabia

organized Arab BedouinsLAWRENCE OF ARABIA

CASUALTIES

10 MILLION DEAD

6000 PER DAY

20 MILLION WOUNDED

“LOST GENERATION”

ADDITIONAL CONSEQUENCES

• MATERIAL LOSSES: 200 BILLION DOLLARS– 10 MILLION DOLLARS A DAY– BANKRUPT ALL BELLIGERENTS EXCEPT U.S.

• ALTERED POLITICAL STRUCTURE– CAUSED COLLAPSE OF OTTOMAN AND AUSTRIAN EMPIRES– CAUSED CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT IN RUSSIA AND GERMANY

• LEGACY? HUMAN AND MATERIAL DEVASTATION, BANKRUPTCY, AND COMPLETE POLITICAL CHAOS