the twentieth- century crisis - cisd · primary sources about the twentieth-century crisis. the...

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eriod in Perspective

The Twentieth-Century Crisis

1914–1945

The period between 1914 and 1945 was one of the mostdestructive in the history of humankind. As many as 60

million people died as a result of World Wars I and II, theglobal conflicts that began and ended this era. As World

War I was followed by revolutions, the Great Depression,totalitarian regimes, and the horrors of World War II, it

appeared to many that European civilization had becomea nightmare. By 1945, the era of European domination

over world affairs had been severely shaken. With thedecline of Western power, a new era of world history was

about to begin.

Primary Sources LibrarySee pages 998–999 for primary source readings to

accompany Unit 5.

Use The World History Primary Source Document Library CD-ROM to find additional

primary sources about The Twentieth-Century Crisis.

The

� Gate, Dachau Memorial

� Former Russian pris-oners of war honorthe American troopswho freed them.

“Never in the field ofhuman conflict was so muchowed by so many to so few.”

—Winston Churchill

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➊ Europe

The League of NationsAt the end of World War I, the victorious nations set up a “general associa-

tion of nations” called the League of Nations, which would settle interna-tional disputes and avoid war. By 1920, 42 nations had sent delegates to the

League’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, andthey were eventually joined by another 21.

The United States never joined. Opponents in theU.S. Senate argued that membership in the Leaguewent against George Washington’s advice to avoid“entangling alliances.” When the League failed tohalt warlike acts in the 1930s, the same opponentspointed to the failure of collective security.

The League of Nations was seen as a peacekeeperwithout a sword—it possessed neither a standingarmy nor members willing to stop nations that usedwar as diplomacy.

International PeacekeepingUntil the 1900s, with the exception of the Seven Years’ War, never in history had there been a conflict that literally spanned the globe.The twentieth century witnessed two world wars and numerousregional conflicts. As the scope of war grew, so did internationalcommitment to collective security, where a group of nations jointogether to promote peace and protect human life.

1914–1918World War Iis fought

1919League of Nations created to prevent wars

1939–1945World War IIis fought

The League of Nations and Uncle Sam

➊

➌

➋

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➌ South Africa

The Power of World OpinionBy 1995, the UN had taken part in 35 peacekeeping

missions—some successful, some not. It also had provided protection for over 30 million refugees.

The UN used world opinion to promote justice. In 1977, it urged nations to enforce economic sanctions and an arms embargo against South Africa until apartheid was lifted. In 1994, South Africa held its first all-race elections. Many believed this was a major triumph for collective international action.

➋ The United States

The United NationsAfter World War II, the United States hosted a meeting to create a new peace-

keeping organization. Delegates from 50 nations hammered out the Charter ofthe United Nations. To eliminate the root causes of war, the UN created agenciesthat promoted global education and the well-being of children. In 1948, UnitedStates delegate Eleanor Roosevelt convinced the UN to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which committed the UN to eliminate oppression.The headquarters for the UN are located in New York City.

Why It Matters

1945United Nations is founded

1948UN adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1988Nobel Peace Prize awardedto UN peacekeeping forces

1950–1953UN troops participatein the Korean War

The UN hopes to use collective international actions to promote peace aroundthe world. Often this involves preventing injustice and improving living condi-tions. What are some recent UN actions that support these principles?

UN membership flags

Casting a vote in South Africa

UNIT 5 The Twentieth-Century Crisis

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War and Revolution

1914–1919

Key EventsAs you read this chapter, look for the key events of World War I, the Russian Revolution,

and the Paris Peace Conference.• Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist.

• Militarism, nationalism, and alliances drew nations into war.• The United States’s entry into the war helped the Allies.

• The impact of the war at home led to an increase in the federal government’s powers and changed the status of women.

• The Russian Revolution ended with the Communists in power.• Peace settlements caused lingering resentment.

• The League of Nations was formed.

The Impact TodayThe events that occurred during this period still impact our lives today.

• World War I led to the disintegration of empires and the creation of new states. • Communism became a factor in global conflict as other nations turned to its ideology.

• The Balkans continue to be an area of political unrest.

World History Video The Chapter 23 video, “Modern Warfare,” chronicles innovations in warfare during the twentieth century.

1914Assassination ofArchduke Ferdinandsparks World War I

1914 1915 1916

1915Germansubmarinesinks theLusitania

German U-boat

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Battle of the Somme by Richard Woodville The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles of World War I.

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the Glencoe WorldHistory Web site at wh.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 5–ChapterOverview to preview chapter information.

1917 1918 1919

1919Allies signTreaty ofVersailles

1917United Statesenters the war

1918Germanyagrees totruce

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the Glencoe WorldHistory Web site at

and click on Chapter 23–ChapterOverview to preview chapter information.

1917RussianRevolutionbegins

Bolsheviks in Russia

People celebrating the end of the war

tx.wh.glencoe.com

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/worldhistory/gwh2003/tx/content.php4/754/1

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n July 1, 1916, British and French infantry forcesattacked German defensive lines along a front about

25 miles (40 km) long near the Somme River in France. Each soldier carried almost 70 (32 kg) pounds of equipment,including a rifle, ammunition, grenades, a shovel, a mess kit,and a full water bottle. This burden made it “impossible tomove much quicker than a slow walk.”

German machine guns soon opened fire. “We were able to see our comrades move forward in an attempt to cross No-Man’s-Land, only to be mown down like meadow grass,”recalled one British soldier. Another wrote later, “I felt sick at the sight of this carnage and remember weeping.”

Philip Gibbs, an English journalist with the troops,reported on what he found in the German trenches that theBritish forces overran: “Victory! . . . Groups of dead lay inditches which had once been trenches, flung into chaos bythat bombardment I had seen. . . . Some of the German deadwere young boys, too young to be killed for old men’s crimes,and others might have been old or young. One could not tellbecause they had no faces, and were just masses of raw fleshin rags of uniforms. Legs and arms lay separate without anybodies thereabouts.”

In the first day of the Battle of the Somme, about 21,000British soldiers died. After four months of fighting, the Britishhad advanced five miles (eight km). About one million Alliedand German soldiers lay dead or wounded.

OThe Battle of the Somme

Advancing troops in the Battle of the Somme

British artillery firing on the Germans at the Battle of the Somme

Why It MattersWorld War I (1914–1918) devas-tated the economic, social, andpolitical order of Europe. People atthe time, overwhelmed by the sizeof the war’s battles and the numberof casualties, simply called it theGreat War. The war was all themore disturbing to Europeansbecause it came after a period thatmany believed to have been an ageof progress. World War I and therevolutions it spawned can properlybe seen as the first stage in the cri-sis of the twentieth century.

History and You Look online orin the library for a speech deliveredby Woodrow Wilson or anotherleader, explaining the reasons for entering the war. Analyze thearguments. How might someoneopposed to the war counter thosearguments?

1882Triple Allianceforms

1907Triple Ententeforms

1914World War Ibegins

Guide to Reading

The Road to World War I

Preview of Events✦1860 ✦1870 ✦1880 ✦1890 ✦1900 ✦1910 ✦1920

On June 28, 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, was assassinated in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. One of the conspiratorsdescribed the scene:

“As the car came abreast, [the assassin] stepped forward from the curb, drew hisautomatic pistol from his coat and fired two shots. The first struck the wife of the Arch-duke, the Archduchess Sophia, in the abdomen. She was an expectant mother. Shedied instantly. The second bullet struck the Archduke close to the heart. He utteredonly one word: ‘Sophia’—a call to his stricken wife. Then his head fell back and hecollapsed. He died almost instantly.”

—Eyewitness to History, John Carey, ed., 1987

This event was the immediate cause of World War I, but underlying forces had beenmoving Europeans toward war for some time.

Nationalism and the System of AlliancesIn the first half of the nineteenth century, liberals believed that if European

states were organized along national lines, these states would work together andcreate a peaceful Europe. They were wrong.

The system of nation-states that emerged in Europe in the last half of the nine-teenth century led not to cooperation but to competition. Rivalries over colonies

Voices from the Past

Main Ideas• Militarism, nationalism, and a crisis in

the Balkans led to World War I.• Serbia’s determination to become

a large, independent state angeredAustria-Hungary and initiated hostilities.

Key Termsconscription, mobilization

People to IdentifyArchduke Francis Ferdinand, Gavrilo Prin-cip, Emperor William II, Czar Nicholas II,General Alfred von Schlieffen

Places to LocateSerbia, Bosnia

Preview Questions1. How did the assassination of Archduke

Francis Ferdinand lead to World War I?2. How did the system of alliances help

cause the war?

Reading StrategyCause and Effect Use a diagram like theone below to identify the factors that ledto World War I.

CHAPTER 23 War and Revolution 717

World War I

Assassination at Sarajevo

400 kilometers0Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection

400 miles0

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20°E10°E0° 30°E

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Black Sea

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Atlantic

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lennahChsilgnE

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AFRICA

SPAIN

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ROMANIA

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

RUSSIA

GERMANY

ITALY

SWITZ.

LUX.

BULGARIA

GREECE

ALBANIA

MONTE-NEGRO

NETH.

BELG.

UNITEDKINGDOM

SERBIA

DENMARK

SWEDEN

NORWAY

Crete

Sicily

Sardinia

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ALSACE &LORRAINE

BOSNIA

OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Paris

Rome

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St. Petersburg

BerlinLondon

Constantinople

Madrid

Moscow

Budapest

and trade grew during an age of frenzied nationalismand imperialist expansion.

At the same time, Europe’s great powers had beendivided into two loose alliances. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed the Triple Alliance in1882. France, Great Britain, and Russia created theTriple Entente in 1907.

In the early years of the twentieth century, a seriesof crises tested these alliances. Especially trouble-some were the crises in the Balkans between 1908and 1913. These events left European states angry ateach other and eager for revenge. Each state wasguided by its own self-interest and success. Theywere willing to use war as a way to preserve thepower of their national states.

The growth of nationalism in the nineteenth cen-tury had yet another serious result. Not all ethnicgroups had become nations. Slavic minorities in theBalkans and the Hapsburg Empire, for example, stilldreamed of creating their own national states. TheIrish in the British Empire and the Poles in the Rus-sian Empire had similar dreams.

Identifying Did the growth ofnationalism in the first half of the nineteenth century lead to increased competition or increased cooperation amongEuropean nations?

Reading Check

Internal DissentNational desires were not the only source of inter-

nal strife at the beginning of the twentieth century.Socialist labor movements also had grown morepowerful. The Socialists were increasingly inclined to use strikes, even violent ones, to achieve theirgoals.

Some conservative leaders, alarmed at the increasein labor strife and class division, feared that Euro-pean nations were on the verge of revolution. In theview of some historians, the desire to suppress inter-nal disorder may have encouraged various leaders totake the plunge into war in 1914.

Explaining According to some histo-rians, how might internal disorder have been one of the causesof World War I?

MilitarismThe growth of mass armies after 1900 heightened

the existing tensions in Europe. The large size ofthese armies also made it obvious that if war didcome, it would be highly destructive.

Conscription, a military draft, had been estab-lished as a regular practice in most Western countriesbefore 1914. (The United States and Britain were

Reading Check

718 CHAPTER 23 War and Revolution

Alliances in Europe, 1914

The alliance system was one of the major causes of World War I.

1. Interpreting MapsWhat geographic factormade it unlikely thatWorld War I battleswould be fought in GreatBritain?

2. Applying GeographySkills Create a three-column chart with theheadings Triple Entente,Triple Alliance, and Other.Place all the countrieslabeled on the map inthe proper column.

Triple AllianceTriple EntenteBalkans


“Till the worldcomes to anend theultimatedecision willrest with thesword.”—Emperor William II

of Germany

It was against this backdrop of mutual distrust andhatred that the events of the summer of 1914 wereplayed out.

Assassination in Sarajevo On June 28, 1914, Arch-duke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne ofAustria-Hungary, and his wife Sophia, visited theBosnian city of Sarajevo (SAR•uh•YAY•VOH). Agroup of conspirators waited there in the streets. Theconspirators were members of the Black Hand, a Ser-bian terrorist organization that wanted Bosnia to befree of Austria-Hungary and to become part of alarge Serbian kingdom.

The conspirators planned to kill the archduke,along with his wife. That morning, one of the con-spirators threw a bomb at the archduke’s car, but itglanced off and exploded against the car behind him.Later in the day, however, Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb, succeeded in shooting both thearchduke and his wife.

Austria-Hungary Responds The Austro-Hungariangovernment did not know whether or not the Serbiangovernment had been directly involved in the arch-duke’s assassination, but it did not care. It saw anopportunity to “render Serbia innocuous [harmless]once and for all by a display of force,” as the Austrianforeign minister put it.

Austrian leaders wanted to attack Serbia butfeared Russian intervention on Serbia’s behalf, sothey sought the backing of their German allies.Emperor William II of Germany and his chancellorresponded with a “blank check,” saying that Austria-

exceptions.) European armies doubled in sizebetween 1890 and 1914.

With its 1.3 million men, the Russian army hadgrown to be the largest. The French and Germanarmies were not far behind, with 900,000 each. TheBritish, Italian, and Austro-Hungarian armies num-bered between 250,000 and 500,000 soldiers each.

Militarism—aggressive preparation for war— wasgrowing. As armies grew, so too did the influence ofmilitary leaders. They drew up vast and complexplans for quickly mobilizing millions of men andenormous quantities of supplies in the event of war.

Military leaders feared that any changes in theseplans would cause chaos in the armed forces. Thus,they insisted that their plans could not be altered. Inthe 1914 crises, this left European political leaderswith little leeway. They were forced to make deci-sions for military instead of political reasons.

Examining What was the effect ofconscription on events leading up to World War I?

The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914Militarism, nationalism, and the desire to stifle

internal dissent may all have played a role in thestarting of World War I. However, it was the deci-sions made by European leaders in response toanother crisis in the Balkans in the summer of 1914that led directly to the conflict.

The Serbian Problem As we have seen, states insoutheastern Europe had struggled for many years tofree themselves of Ottoman rule. Furthermore, therivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia fordomination of these new states created serious ten-sions in the region.

By 1914, Serbia, supported by Russia, was deter-mined to create a large, independent Slavic state inthe Balkans. Austria-Hungary, which had its ownSlavic minorities to contend with, was equally deter-mined to prevent that from happening.

Many Europeans saw the potential danger in thisexplosive situation. The British ambassador toVienna anticipated war in 1913:

“Serbia will some day set Europe by the ears, andbring about a universal war on the Continent. . . . Icannot tell you how exasperated people are gettinghere at the continual worry which that little countrycauses to Austria under encouragement fromRussia. . . . It will be lucky if Europe succeeds in avoid-ing war as a result of the present crisis.”

Reading Check

Like the Russians, the Germans had a militaryplan. It had been drawn up under the guidance ofGeneral Alfred von Schlieffen (SHLEE•fuhn), sowas known as the Schlieffen Plan. The plan called fora two-front war with France and Russia, who hadformed a military alliance in 1894.

According to the Schlieffen Plan, Germany wouldconduct a small holding action against Russia whilemost of the German army would carry out a rapidinvasion of France. This meant invading France bymoving quickly along the level coastal area throughBelgium. After France was defeated, the Germaninvaders would move to the east against Russia.

Under the Schlieffen Plan, Germany could notmobilize its troops solely against Russia. Therefore, itdeclared war on France on August 3. About the sametime, it issued an ultimatum to Belgium demandingthe right of German troops to pass through Belgianterritory. Belgium, however, was a neutral nation.

On August 4, Great Britain declared war on Ger-many, officially for violating Belgian neutrality. Infact, Britain, which was allied with the countries ofFrance and Russia, was concerned about maintainingits own world power. As one British diplomat put it,if Germany and Austria-Hungary won the war,“what would be the position of a friendless Eng-land?” By August 4, all the great powers of Europewere at war.

Evaluating What was the SchlieffenPlan and how did it complicate the events leading to WorldWar I?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Define conscription, mobilization.

2. Identify Triple Alliance, Triple Entente,Archduke Francis Ferdinand, GavriloPrincip, Emperor William II, CzarNicholas II, General Alfred von Schlieffen.

3. Locate Serbia, Bosnia.

4. Explain why Great Britain becameinvolved in the war.

5. List the ethnic groups that were leftwithout nations after the nationalistmovements of the nineteenth century.

Critical Thinking6. Analyze How did the creation of mili-

tary plans help draw the nations ofEurope into World War I? In your opin-ion, what should today’s national andmilitary leaders have learned from themilitary plans that helped initiate WorldWar I? Explain your answer.

7. Sequencing Information Using a dia-gram like the one below, identify theseries of decisions made by Europeanleaders in 1914 that led directly to theoutbreak of war.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the painting of Emperor

William II of Germany shown on page719 of your text. How does this portraitof the emperor reflect the nature ofleadership before World War I?

9. Expository Writing Some historiansbelieve that the desire to suppressinternal disorder may have encour-aged leaders to take the plunge intowar. As an adviser, write a memo toyour country’s leader explaining howa war might be advantageous withregard to domestic policy.

Hungary could rely on Germany’s “full support,”even if “matters went to the length of a war betweenAustria-Hungary and Russia.”

Strengthened by German support, Austrian lead-ers sent an ultimatum to Serbia on July 23. In it, theymade such extreme demands that Serbia had littlechoice but to reject some of them in order to preserveits sovereignty. On July 28, Austria-Hungarydeclared war on Serbia.

Russia Mobilizes Russia was determined to sup-port Serbia’s cause. On July 28, Czar Nicholas IIordered partial mobilization of the Russian armyagainst Austria-Hungary. Mobilization is theprocess of assembling troops and supplies and mak-ing them ready for war. In 1914, mobilization wasconsidered an act of war.

Leaders of the Russian army informed the czarthat they could not partially mobilize. Their mobi-lization plans were based on a war against both Ger-many and Austria-Hungary. Mobilizing against onlyAustria-Hungary, they claimed, would create chaosin the army. Based on this claim, the czar ordered fullmobilization of the Russian army on July 29, know-ing that Germany would consider this order an act of war.

The Conflict Broadens Indeed, Germany reactedquickly. The German government warned Russiathat it must halt its mobilization within 12 hours.When Russia ignored this warning, Germanydeclared war on Russia on August 1.

The WarGuide to Reading

Main Ideas• The stalemate at the Western Front led

to new alliances, a widening of the war,and new weapons.

• Governments expanded their powers,increased opportunities for women, andmade use of propaganda.

Key Termspropaganda, trench warfare, war of attri-tion, total war, planned economies

People to IdentifyLawrence of Arabia, Admiral Holtzen-dorff, Woodrow Wilson

Places to LocateMarne, Tannenberg, Masurian Lakes,Verdun, Gallipoli

Preview Questions1. How did trench warfare lead to

a stalemate?2. Why did the United States enter the

war?

Reading StrategyOrganizing Information Identify whichcountries belonged to the Allies and theCentral Powers. What country changedallegiance? What country withdrew fromthe war?

Preview of Events


Stefan Zweig, an Austrian writer, described the excitement Austrians felt going towar in 1914:

“What did the people know of war in 1914, after nearly half a century of peace?They did not know war; they had hardly given it a thought. They still saw it in the per-spective of their school readers and of paintings in museums; brilliant cavalry attacksin glittering uniforms, the fatal shot always straight through the heart, the entire cam-paign a resounding march of victory—‘We’ll be home at Christmas,’ the recruitsshouted laughingly to their mothers in August of 1914. . . . The young people werehonestly afraid that they might miss this most wonderful and exciting experience oftheir lives; . . . that is why they shouted and sang in the trains that carried them to theslaughter.”

—The World of Yesterday, Helmut Ripperger and B. W. Buebsch, trans., 1943

Europeans went to war in 1914 with remarkable enthusiasm.

1914 to 1915: Illusions and StalemateBefore 1914, many political leaders had thought that war involved so many

political and economic risks that it would not be worth fighting. Others hadbelieved that diplomats could easily control any situation and prevent war. At thebeginning of August 1914, both ideas were shattered. However, the new illusionsthat replaced them soon proved to be equally foolish.

Government propaganda—ideas spread to influence public opinion for oragainst a cause—had worked in stirring up national hatreds before the war. Now,in August 1914, the urgent pleas of European governments for defense against


1916Battle of Verdun

1917United Statesenters the war

✦1914 ✦1915 ✦1916 ✦1917 ✦1918 ✦1919

Allies

Split Off

Central Powers

Allies

Troops going to war

1915Lusitania sunk byGerman forces

Trench Warfare

Warfare in the trenches of the WesternFront produced unimaginable hor-

rors. Battlefields were hellish landscapes ofbarbed wire, shell holes, mud, and injuredand dying men. The introduction of poisongas in 1915 produced new forms ofinjuries. One British writer described them:

“I wish those people whowrite so glibly about thisbeing a holy war couldsee a case of mustardgas . . . could see thepoor things burnt andblistered all over withgreat mustard-coloured sup-purating [pus-forming] blisters withblind eyes all sticky . . . and stucktogether, and always fighting forbreath, with voices a mere whisper,

saying that their throats are closing andthey know they will choke.”Soldiers in the trenches also lived withthe persistent presence of death. Becausecombat went on for months, soldiers hadto carry on in the midst of countless bod-ies of dead men or the remains of menblown apart by artillery barrages. Many sol-

diers remembered thestench of decomposingbodies and the swarmsof rats that grew fat inthe trenches.

Daily life in thetrenches was pre-dictable. Thirty minutesbefore sunrise, troopshad to “stand to,” or be combat-ready torepel any attack. If noattack came that day,

British gas mask and pack

aggressors fell on receptive ears in every nation atwar. Most people seemed genuinely convinced thattheir nation’s cause was just.

A new set of illusions also fed the enthusiasm for war. In August 1914, almost everyone believedthat the war would be over in a few weeks. Peoplewere reminded that almost all European wars since1815 had, in fact, ended in a matter of weeks. Both thesoldiers who boarded the trains for the war front inAugust 1914, and the jubilant citizens who showeredthem with flowers as they left, believed that the war-riors would be home by Christmas.

The Western Front German hopes for a quick endto the war rested on a military gamble. The SchlieffenPlan had called for the German army to make a vastencircling movement through Belgium into northernFrance. According to the plan, the German forceswould sweep around Paris. This would enable themto surround most of the French army.

The German advance was halted a short distancefrom Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September

6–10). To stop the Germans, French military leadersloaded two thousand Parisian taxicabs with freshtroops and sent them to the front line.

The war quickly turned into a stalemate, as neitherthe Germans nor the French could dislodge eachother from the trenches they had dug for shelter.These trenches were ditches protected by barbedwire. Two lines of trenches soon reached from theEnglish Channel to the frontiers of Switzerland. TheWestern Front had become bogged down in trenchwarfare that kept both sides in virtually the samepositions for four years.

The Eastern Front In contrast to the Western Front,the war on the Eastern Front was marked by mobility.The cost in lives, however, was equally enormous.

At the beginning of the war, the Russian armymoved into eastern Germany but was decisivelydefeated at the Battle of Tannenberg on August 30and the Battle of Masurian Lakes on September 15.As a result of these defeats, the Russians were nolonger a threat to German territory.

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the day’s routine consisted of breakfast fol-lowed by inspection, sentry duty, work onthe trenches, care of personal items, andattempts to pass the time. Soldiers oftenrecalled the boredom of life in the dreary,lice-ridden, and muddy or dusty trenches.

At many places along the opposing linesof trenches, a “live and let live” systemevolved. It was based on the realizationthat neither side was going to drive out theother. The “live and let live” system resultedin such arrangements as not shelling thelatrines and not attacking during breakfast.

On both sides, troops produced theirown humor magazines to help pass thetime and fulfill the need to laugh in themidst of their daily madness. The Britishtrench magazine, the B. E. F. Times,devoted one of its issues to defining mili-tary terms, including “DUDS—These are oftwo kinds. A shell on impact failing toexplode is called a dud. They are unhappilynot as plentiful as the other kind, whichoften draws a big salary and explodes forno reason.”

British soldiers in the trenches

CONNECTING TO THE PAST

1. Explain What was the rationale behind the “liveand let live” system?

2. Writing about History Write several journalentries as if you were a soldier in the trenches.

1916 to 1917: The Great SlaughterOn the Western Front, the trenches dug in 1914

had by 1916 become elaborate systems of defense.The lines of trenches for both sides were protected bybarbed wire entanglements up to 5 feet (about 1.5 m)high and 30 yards (about 27 m) wide, concretemachine-gun nests, and other gun batteries, sup-ported further back by heavy artillery. Troops lived inholes in the ground, separated from each other by astrip of territory known as no-man’s-land.

Tactics of Trench Warfare The unexpected devel-opment of trench warfare baffled military leaders.They had been trained to fight wars of movementand maneuver. The only plan generals could devisewas to attempt a breakthrough by throwing massesof men against enemy lines that had first been bat-tered by artillery. Once the decisive breakthroughhad been achieved, they thought, they could returnto the war of movement that they knew best.

At times, the high command on either side wouldorder an offensive that would begin with an artillery

Austria-Hungary, Germany’s ally, fared less well atfirst. The Austrians had been defeated by the Russiansin Galicia and thrown out of Serbia as well. To makematters worse, the Italians betrayed their German andAustrian allies in the Triple Alliance by attacking Aus-tria in May 1915. Italy thus joined France, GreatBritain, and Russia, who had formed the TripleEntente, but now were called the Allied Powers, orAllies.

By this time, the Germans had come to the aid ofthe Austrians. A German-Austrian army defeated theRussian army in Galicia and pushed the Russians farback into their own territory. Russian casualties stoodat 2.5 million killed, captured, or wounded. The Rus-sians had almost been knocked out of the war.

Buoyed by their success, Germany and Austria-Hungary, joined by Bulgaria in September 1915,attacked and eliminated Serbia from the war. Theirsuccesses in the east would enable the Germans tomove back to the offensive in the west.

Contrasting How did the war on theEastern Front differ from the war on the Western Front?

Reading Check

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barrage to flatten the enemy’s barbed wire and leavethe enemy in a state of shock. After “softening up”the enemy in this fashion, a mass of soldiers wouldclimb out of their trenches with fixed bayonets andhope to work their way toward the enemy trenches.

The attacks rarely worked because men advancingunprotected across open fields could be fired at bythe enemy’s machine guns. In 1916 and 1917, millionsof young men died in the search for the elusivebreakthrough. In 10 months at Verdun, France, in1916, seven hundred thousand men lost their livesover a few miles of land. World War I had turned intoa war of attrition, a war based on wearing the otherside down by constant attacks and heavy losses. ;(See page 998 to read an excerpt from Arthur Guy Empey’s Overthe Top in the Primary Sources Library.)

War in the Air By the end of 1915, airplanes hadappeared on the battlefront for the first time in his-tory. At first, planes were used to spot the enemy’sposition. However, planes soon began to attackground targets, especially enemy communications.

Fights for control of the air occurred and increasedover time. At first, pilots fired at each other withhandheld pistols. Later, machine guns were mountedon the noses of planes, which made the skies consid-erably more dangerous.

The Germans also used their giant airships—thezeppelins—to bomb London and eastern England.This caused little damage but frightened many people.Germany’s enemies, however, soon found that zep-pelins, which were filled with hydrogen gas, quicklybecame raging infernos when hit by antiaircraft guns.

Explaining Why were militaryleaders baffled by trench warfare?

Reading Check

Widening of the WarBecause of the stalemate on the Western Front,

both sides sought to gain new allies who might pro-vide a winning advantage. The Ottoman Empire hadalready come into the war on Germany’s side inAugust 1914. Russia, Great Britain, and France—theAllies—declared war on the Ottoman Empire inNovember.

The Allies tried to open a Balkan front by landingforces at Gallipoli (guh•LIH•puh•lee), southwest ofConstantinople, in April 1915. However, Bulgariaentered the war on the side of the Central Powers, asGermany, Austria-Hungary, and the OttomanEmpire were called. A disastrous campaign at Gal-lipoli forced the Allies to withdraw.

In return for Italy entering the war on the Alliedside, France and Great Britain promised to let Italyhave some Austrian territory. Italy on the side of theAllies opened up a front against Austria-Hungary.

By 1917, the war that had started in Europe hadtruly become a world conflict. In the Middle East, aBritish officer known as Lawrence of Arabia, in 1917,urged Arab princes to revolt against their Ottomanoverlords. In 1918, British forces from Egyptdestroyed the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East.For their Middle East campaigns, the British mobi-lized forces from India, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Allies also took advantage of Germany’s pre-occupations in Europe and lack of naval strength toseize German colonies in the rest of the world. Japan,a British ally beginning in 1902, seized a number ofGerman-held islands in the Pacific. Australia seizedGerman New Guinea.

Describing What caused the widen-ing of the war?

Reading Check

724

The introduction of airplanes greatly changed thenature of warfare during the twentieth century.What kind of aircraft did the Germans use duringWorld War I?

Then and Now

British fighter plane, c. 1917 �

U.S. jet fighter, 2001 �

Entry of the United StatesAt first, the United States tried to remain neutral.

As World War I dragged on, however, it became moredifficult to do so. The immediate cause of UnitedStates involvement grew out of the naval warbetween Germany and Great Britain.

Britain had used its superior naval power to set upa naval blockade of Germany. The blockade kept warmaterials and other goods from reaching Germanyby sea. Germany had retaliated by setting up its ownblockade of Britain. Germany enforced its blockadewith the use of unrestricted submarine warfare,which included the sinking of passenger liners.

On May 7, 1915, the British ship Lusitania wassunk by German forces. There were about 1,100 civil-ian casualties, including over 100 Americans. Afterstrong United States protests, the German gov-ernment suspended unrestricted submarine warfarein September 1915 to avoid antagonizing the UnitedStates further. Only once did the German and Britishnaval forces actually engage in direct battle—at theBattle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, when neither sidewon a conclusive victory.

By January 1917, however, the Germans were eagerto break the deadlock in the war. German navalofficers convinced Emperor William II that resumingthe use of unrestricted submarine warfare couldstarve the British into submission within six months.

When the emperor expressed concern about theUnited States, he was told not to worry. The Britishwould starve before the Americans could act. Even ifthe Americans did intervene, Admiral Holtzendorffassured the emperor, “I give your Majesty my wordas an officer that not one American will land on thecontinent.”

The German naval officers were quite wrong. TheBritish were not forced to surrender, and the return tounrestricted submarine warfare brought the UnitedStates into the war in April 1917. United States troops

725CHAPTER 23 War and Revolution

Masurian LakesSept. 1914

Tannenberg, Aug. 1914

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July–Aug. 1918

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World War I in Europe, 1914–1918

Trench warfare produced a stalemate on the Western Front.

1. Applying Geography Skills Create a bar graph withdates as one axis and miles as the other. Using Berlin asthe starting point, plot the Central Powers advances fromthe earliest to the latest dates shown on the map.

Allies

Central Powers

Neutral nations

Line of trench warfare,1915–1917

Farthest advance ofAllies with date

Farthest advance of Central Powers with dateBritish naval blockadeAllied mine barrierGerman submarine war zoneSinking of the Lusitania, May 7, 1915Armistice line, Nov. 11, 1918Treaty line of Brest-LitovskAllied victory

Central Powers victory

Indecisive

Schlieffen Plan

did not arrive in large numbers in Europe until 1918.However, the entry of the United States into the warnot only gave the Allied Powers a psychologicalboost, but also brought them a major new source ofmoney and war goods.

Evaluating Why did the Germansresort to unrestricted submarine use?

The Home Front: The Impact of Total War

As World War I dragged on, it became a total war,involving a complete mobilization of resources andpeople. It affected the lives of all citizens in the war-ring countries, however remote they might be fromthe battlefields.

Masses of men had to be organized and supplieshad to be manufactured and purchased for years ofcombat. (Germany alone had 5.5 million men in uni-form in 1916.) This led to an increase in governmentpowers and the manipulation of public opinion tokeep the war effort going. The home front was rap-idly becoming a cause for as much effort as the warfront.

Increased Government Powers Most people hadexpected the war to be short, so little thought hadbeen given to long-term wartime needs. Govern-ments had to respond quickly, however, when thewar machines failed to achieve their goals. Manymore men and supplies were needed to continue thewar. To meet these needs, governments expandedtheir powers. Countries drafted tens of millions ofyoung men for that elusive breakthrough to victory.

Reading Check

Throughout Europe, wartime governments alsoexpanded their power over their economies. Free-market capitalistic systems were temporarily putaside. Governments set up price, wage, and rentcontrols; rationed food supplies and materials; regu-lated imports and exports; and took over transporta-tion systems and industries. In effect, in order tomobilize all the resources of their nations for the wareffort, European nations set up planned economies—systems directed by government agencies.

Under conditions of total war mobilization, thedifferences between soldiers at war and civilians athome were narrowed. In the view of political leaders,all citizens were part of a national army dedicated tovictory. As United States president Woodrow Wilsonsaid, the men and women “who remain to till the soiland man the factories are no less a part of the armythan the men beneath the battle flags.”

Manipulation of Public Opinion As the war con-tinued and casualties grew worse, the patriotic enthu-siasm that had marked the early stages of World WarI waned. By 1916, there were signs that civilianmorale was beginning to crack under the pressure oftotal war. War governments, however, fought backagainst the growing opposition to the war.

Authoritarian regimes, such as those of Germany,Russia, and Austria-Hungary, relied on force to sub-due their populations. Under the pressures of the war,however, even democratic states expanded theirpolice powers to stop internal dissent. The British Par-liament, for example, passed the Defence of the RealmAct (DORA). It allowed the government to arrest pro-testors as traitors. Newspapers were censored, andsometimes their publication was even suspended.

Wartime governments made active use of propa-ganda to arouse enthusiasm for the war. At the begin-ning, public officials needed to do little to achieve thisgoal. The British and French, for example, exaggeratedGerman atrocities in Belgium and found that their cit-izens were only too willing to believe these accounts.

As the war progressed and morale sagged, gov-ernments were forced to devise new techniques formotivating the people. In one British recruitingposter, for example, a small daughter asked herfather, “Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?”while her younger brother played with toy soldiers.

Total War and Women World War I created newroles for women. Because so many men left to fight atthe front, women were asked to take over jobs thathad not been available to them before. Women wereemployed in jobs that had once been considered


American troops leave for war.

beyond their capacity. These included such occupa-tions as chimney sweeps, truck drivers, farm labor-ers, and factory workers in heavy industry. Forexample, 38 percent of the workers in the KruppArmaments works in Germany in 1918 were women.

The place of women in the workforce was far fromsecure, however. Both men and women seemed toexpect that many of the new jobs for women wereonly temporary. This was evident in the British poem“War Girls,” written in 1916:

“There’s the girl who clips your ticket for the train,And the girl who speeds the lift [elevator] from floor

to floor,There’s the girl who does a milk-round [milk delivery]

in the rain,And the girl who calls for orders at your door.Strong, sensible, and fit,They’re out to show their grit,And tackle jobs with energy and knack.No longer caged and penned up,They’re going to keep their end upTill the khaki soldier boys come marching back.”

At the end of the war, governments would quicklyremove women from the jobs they had encouragedthem to take earlier. The work benefits for womenfrom World War I were short-lived as men returnedto the job market. By 1919, there would be 650,000unemployed women in Great Britain. Wages for thewomen who were still employed would be lowered.

Nevertheless, in some countries the role played bywomen in wartime economies had a positive impact

on the women’s movement for social and politicalemancipation. The most obvious gain was the right tovote, which was given to women in Germany, Austria,and the United States immediately after the war. MostBritish women gained the vote in 1918.

Many upper- and middle-class women had alsogained new freedoms. In ever-larger numbers, youngwomen from these groups took jobs; had their ownapartments; and showed their new independence.

Summarizing What was the effect oftotal war on ordinary citizens?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Define propaganda, trench warfare,

war of attrition, total war, plannedeconomies.

2. Identify Lawrence of Arabia, AdmiralHoltzendorff, Woodrow Wilson.

3. Locate Marne, Tannenberg, MasurianLakes, Verdun, Gallipoli.

4. Explain why World War I required totalwarfare.

5. List some of the occupations opened towomen by the war.

Critical Thinking6. Identify What methods did govern-

ments use to counter the loss ofenthusiasm and opposition to the war at home?

7. Organizing Information Use a dia-gram like the one below to identifyways in which government powersincreased during the war.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the photograph of British sol-

diers shown on page 723. How doesthis photograph illustrate the type ofwarfare that emerged during WorldWar I? What aspects of trench warfareare not shown in the photo?

9. Expository Writing What lastingresults occurred in women’s rightsdue to World War I? What were thetemporary results? Write an essaydiscussing the effect of the war onwomen’s rights.

Government Powers

Edith Cavell1865–1915—British nurse

Edith Cavell was born in Norfolk,England. She trained as a nurse andmoved to Brussels in 1907 to headthe Berkendael Medical Institute.After the outbreak of war, the institutebecame a Red Cross hospital. Cavellworked to shelter French and British soldiersand help them reach safety in the Netherlands.

Outraged, German military authorities in Brussels puther on trial for aiding the enemy and ordered her to beshot. Before her execution, Cavell said, “I am glad to diefor my country.” To arouse anti-German sentiment, boththe French and British used her as an example of Ger-man barbarism. The Germans insisted they had the rightto execute a traitor—whether man or woman.


PPassengers boarding the British liner R.M.S. Lusitania

in New York on May 1, 1915, for the voyage to Liver-

pool, England, knew of Germany’s threat to sink ships

bound for the British Isles. Britain and Germany had

been fighting for nine months. Still, few passengers

imagined that a civilized nation would attack an

unarmed passenger steamer without warning.

Listing to starboard, the linerbegan to sink rapidly at the bow,sending passengers tumbling downher slanted decks. Lifeboats on theport side were hanging too farinboard to be readily launched, thoseon the starboard side too far out to beeasily boarded. Several overfilledlifeboats spilled occupants into the

sea. The great liner disappeared underthe waves in only 18 minutes, leavingbehind a jumble of swimmers,corpses, deck chairs, and wreckage.Looking back upon the scene fromhis submarine, even the Germancommander Schwieger was shocked.He later called it the most horriblesight he had ever seen.

Lusitaniathe

1

2

2Built eight years earlier, the Lusitaniawas described as a “floating palace.”German authorities, however, saw heras a threat. They accused the Britishgovernment of using the Lusitania tocarry ammunition and other war sup-plies across the Atlantic.

With her four towering funnels, theliner looked invincible as she left NewYork on her last voyage. Six days later,at 2:10 P.M. on May 7, 1915, WaltherSchwieger, the 30-year-old commanderof the German submarine U 20, fired asingle torpedo at the Lusitania from arange of about 750 yards (686 m).

Captain William Turner of the Lusi-tania saw the torpedo’s wake from thenavigation bridge just before impact. Itsounded like a “million-ton hammerhitting a steam boiler a hundred feethigh,” one passenger said. A second,more powerful explosion followed,sending a geyser of water, coal, anddebris high above the deck.


News of the disaster raced acrossthe Atlantic. Of 1,959 people aboard,only 764 were saved. The dead in-cluded 94 children and infants.

Questions were immediatelyraised. Did the British Admiralty give the Lusitania adequate warning?How could one torpedo have sunkher? Why did she go down so fast?Was there any truth to the Germanclaim that the Lusitania had beenarmed?

From the moment the Lusitaniasank, she was surrounded by contro-versy. Americans were outraged bythe attack, which claimed the lives of123 U.S. citizens. Newspapers calledthe attack “deliberate murder” and a“foul deed,” and former President Theodore Roosevelt demanded

revenge against Germany. The attackon the Lusitania is often credited withdrawing the United States into WorldWar I. However, President Woodrow Wilson—though he had vowed tohold Germany responsible for its sub-marine attacks—knew that the Ameri-can people were not ready to go towar. It was almost two years beforethe United States joined the conflictin Europe.

A British judge laid full blame onthe German submarine commander,while the German governmentclaimed that the British had deliber-ately made her a military target. Trag-ically, inquiries following the sinkingof the Lusitania revealed that CaptainTurner had received warnings bywireless from the British Admiralty,

0 mi

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30

1 The Lusitania arrives in New York on her maiden voyage in 1907 (oppo-site page).

2 Captain William Turner of the Lusita-nia, (opposite page, center); WaltherSchwieger, commander of the Germansubmarine U 20 (opposite page, right).

3 Headlines in Boston and New York(above) report the terrible news of thesinking of the Lusitania on May 7,1915. In the two days prior to theattack on the Lusitania, the Germansubmarine U 20 had sunk three shipsoff Ireland’s southern coast. Yet thecaptain of the Lusitania, who hadreceived warnings by wireless from theBritish Admiralty, took only limited pre-cautions as he approached the area.

S P E C I A L R E P O RT

3


but took only limited precautions ashe approached the area where the U 20 was waiting.

Rumors of diamonds, gold, andvaluables locked away in Lusitania’ssafes have prompted salvage attemptsover the years. To date, no treasurehas ever been reported.

Perhaps the biggest puzzle hasbeen the hardest to solve: Why didthe liner sink so fast? Newspapersspeculated that the torpedo hadstruck munitions in a cargo hold,causing the strong secondary explo-sion. Divers later reported a hugehole in the port side of the bow,opposite where munitions would havebeen stored.

Hoping to settle the issue, a teamfrom the Woods Hole Oceano-graphic Institution, sponsored by theNational Geographic Society, senttheir robot vehicle Jason down to

photograph the damage. Fitted withcameras and powerful lights, the robotsent video images of the wreck byfiber-optic cable to a control room onthe surface ship, Northern Horizon. Apilot maneuvered Jason with a joy-stick, while an engineer relayedinstructions to the robot’s computers.Other team members watched for rec-ognizable objects on the monitors. Inaddition to using Jason to make avisual survey of the Lusitania, the teamof researchers and scientists also usedsonar to create a computerized, three-dimensional diagram of how thewreck looks today.

From this data, it was discoveredthat the Lusitania’s hull had been flat-tened—in part by the force of grav-ity—to half its original width. Butwhen Jason’s cameras swept across thehold, looking for the hole reported bydivers shortly after the sinking, therewas none to be found. Indeed, no evi-dence was found that would indicate

that the torpedo had detonated anexplosion in a cargo hold, undermin-ing one theory of why the liner sank.

Questions about her cargo havehaunted the Lusitania since the dayshe went down. Was she carrying ille-gal munitions as the Germans havealways claimed? In fact, she was. Themanifest for her last voyage includedwartime essentials such as motorcycleparts, metals, cotton goods, and food,as well as 4,200 cases of rifle ammuni-tion, 1,250 cases of shrapnel (notexplosive), and 18 boxes of percussionfuses. However, the investigation con-ducted by the Woods Hole team andJason suggested that these munitionsdid not cause the secondary blast thatsent the Lusitania to the bottom. So what did?

One likely possibility was a coal-dust explosion. The German torpedostruck the liner’s starboard side about10 feet (3 m) below the waterline,rupturing one of the long coal

4


bunkers [storage bins] that stretchedalong both sides. If that bunker,mostly empty by the end of the voy-age, contained explosive coal dust, thetorpedo might have ignited it. Suchan occurrence would explain all thecoal that was found scattered on theseafloor near the wreck.

The Lusitania’s giant funnels havelong since turned to rust, an eeriemarine growth covers her hull, and

her superstructure is ghostly wreck-age. Yet the horror and fascinationsurrounding the sinking of the greatliner live on. With today’s high-tech-nology tools, researchers and scien-tists at Woods Hole and the NationalGeographic Society have providedanother look—and some newanswers—to explain the chain ofevents that ended with the Lusitaniaat the bottom of the sea.

1. How did the Lusitania contribute todrawing the United States into WorldWar I?

2. Describe the Lusitania’s route. Where was it when it sank?

3. What mysteries were researchersable to solve by using underwaterrobot technology?

INTERPRETING THE PAST

5

6

S P E C I A L R E P O RT

4 Homer, a small robot, (opposite page)explores a hole in the stern of the Lusi-tania that was cut by a salvage crew torecover silverware and other items.

5 A provocative poster (left) depicteddrowning innocents and urged Americansto enlist in the armed forces.

6 Alice Drury (above left) was a youngnanny for an American couple on theLusitania. She and another nanny werecaring for the couple’s children: Audrey(above right), Stuart, Amy, and Susan.Alice was about to give Audrey a bottlewhen the torpedo hit. Alice wrappedAudrey in a shawl, grabbed Stuart, andheaded for the lifeboats. A crewmanloaded Stuart, but when Alice tried toboard, the sailor told her it was full.Without a life jacket and with Audreyaround her neck, Alice jumped into thewater. A woman in the lifeboat grabbedher hair and pulled her aboard. Audrey’sparents were rescued too, but Amy,Susan, and the other nanny were lost.Alice and Audrey Lawson Johnston haveremained close ever since.

Guide to Reading

The Russian Revolution

Preview of Events

John Reed, an American journalist, described an important event that took place inSt. Petersburg, Russia, on the night of November 6, 1917:

“After a few minutes huddling there, some hundreds of men began again to flowforward. By this time, in the light that streamed out of the Winter Palace windows, Icould see that the first two or three hundred men were Red Guards [revolutionaries],with only a few scattered soldiers. Over the barricade of firewood we clambered, andleaping down inside gave a triumphant shout as we stumbled on a heap of riflesthrown down by the guards who had stood there. On both sides of the main gatewaythe doors stood wide open, and from the huge pile came not the slightest sound.”


Reed was describing the Bolshevik seizure of the Winter Palace, seat of the RussianGovernment, by Bolshevik revolutionaries. This act led to a successful revolution in Russia.

Background to RevolutionAs you will learn, out of Russia’s collapse in 1917 came the Russian

Revolution. Its impact would be felt all over the world.Russia was unprepared both militarily and technologically for the total war

of World War I. Russia had no competent military leaders. Even worse, Czar


Main Ideas• The czarist regime in Russia fell as a

result of poor leadership.• The Bolsheviks under Lenin came to

power.• Communist forces triumphed over

anti-Communist forces.

Key Terms soviets, war communism

People to Identify Alexandra, Grigori Rasputin, AlexanderKerensky, Bolsheviks, V. I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky

Places to LocatePetrograd, Ukraine, Siberia, Urals

Preview Questions1. What promises did the Bolsheviks

make to the Russian people?2. Why did civil war break out in Russia

after the Russian Revolution?

Reading StrategyCategorizing Information Using a chartlike the one below, identify the factorsand events that led to Lenin coming topower in 1917.


✦1916 ✦1917 ✦1918 ✦1919 ✦1920 ✦1921

1916Rasputin assassinated

1917Czar Nicholas IIsteps down

1918Lenin signs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

1921Communists control Russia

Lenin in Power(1917)

John Reed

then tied him up and threw him into the Neva River.He drowned, but not before he had managed to untiethe knots underwater. The killing of Rasputinoccurred too late, however, to save the monarchy.

The March Revolution At the beginning of March1917, a series of strikes led by working-class womenbroke out in the capi-tal city of Petrograd(formerly St. Peters-burg). A few weeksearlier, the govern-ment had startedbread rationing inPetrograd after theprice of bread had skyrocketed.

Many of the women who stood in the lines waiting for bread were also factory workers whoworked 12-hour days. A police report warned thegovernment:

“Mothers of families, exhausted by endless stand-ing in line at stores, distraught over their half-starvingand sick children, are today perhaps closer to revolu-tion than [the liberal opposition leaders] and ofcourse they are a great deal more dangerousbecause they are the combustible material for whichonly a single spark is needed to burst into flame.”


FINLAND

Petrograd(St. Petersburg)

RUSSIAa e Scitla

B

Nicholas II insisted on taking personalcharge of the armed forces despite his obvi-ous lack of ability and training.

In addition, Russian industry was unableto produce the weapons needed for the army.Many soldiers trained using broomsticks.Others were sent to the front without riflesand told to pick one up from a dead comrade.

Given these conditions, it is not surprisingthat the Russian army suffered incrediblelosses. Between 1914 and 1916, two millionsoldiers were killed, and another four to sixmillion wounded or captured. By 1917, theRussian will to fight had vanished.

Beginnings of Upheaval Czar Nicholas II was anautocratic ruler who relied on the army and bureau-cracy to hold up his regime. Furthermore, he wasincreasingly cut off from events by his German-bornwife, Alexandra. She was a willful and stubbornwoman who had fallen under the influence of Grig-ori Rasputin (ra•SPYOO•tuhn), an uneducatedSiberian peasant who claimed to be a holy man.Alexandra believed that Rasputin was holy, for healone seemed able to stop the bleeding of her sonAlexis. Alexis, the heir to the throne, had hemophilia(a deficiency in the ability of the blood to clot).

With the czar at the battlefront, Alexandra madeall of the important decisions. She insisted on firstconsulting Rasputin, the man she called “herbeloved, never-to-be-forgotten teacher, savior, andmentor.” Rasputin’s influence made him an impor-tant power behind the throne. He did not hesitate tointerfere in government affairs.

As the leadership at the top stumbled its waythrough a series of military and economic disasters,the Russian people grew more and more upset withthe czarist regime. Even conservative aristocrats whosupported the monarchy felt the need to do some-thing to save the situation.

For a start, they assassinated Rasputin in Decem-ber 1916. It was not easy to kill this man of incrediblephysical strength. They shot him three times and

Rasputin (shown upper right corner) had great influenceover Czar Nicholas II and his family, shown here in a1913 photograph. Why was Rasputin able to influenceRussian political affairs?

History

The Mystery of AnastasiaCzar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five chil-

dren were murdered on the night of July 16, 1918. Soonafter, rumors began to circulate that some members ofthe family had survived.

In 1921, a young woman in Dalldorf, Germany,claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngestdaughter of Nicholas II. Some surviving members of

the Romanov family became convincedthat she was Anastasia. Grand Duke

Andrew, Nicholas II’s first cousin,said after meeting with her, “For methere is definitely no doubt; it isAnastasia.”

Later, the woman claiming to be Anastasia came tothe United States. While in New York, she registered at aLong Island hotel as Anna Anderson and soon becameknown by that name. In 1932, she returned to Germany.During the next 30 years, she pursued a claim in Ger-man courts for part of the estate left to Empress Alexan-dra’s German relatives. In the 1960s in the United States,she became even better known as a result of a popularplay and film, Anastasia.

In 1968, Anna Anderson returned to the UnitedStates, where she died in 1984. In 1994, DNA testing oftissues from Anna Anderson revealed that she was notthe Grand Duchess Anastasia. In all probability, AnnaAnderson was Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polishfarmer’s daughter who had always dreamed of being an actress.

The woman claiming to be Anastasia convincedmany people of the authenticity of her claim. Whatdo you think might have motivated her to act out thepart of Anastasia for so many years?

government urged the czar to step down. Because heno longer had the support of the army or even thearistocrats, Nicholas II did step down, on March 15,ending the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty.

The provisional government, headed by Alexan-der Kerensky (keh•REHN•skee), now decided tocarry on the war to preserve Russia’s honor. Thisdecision to remain in World War I was a major blun-der. It satisfied neither the workers nor the peasants,who, tired and angry from years of suffering, wantedabove all an end to the war.

The government was also faced with a challenge toits authority—the soviets. The soviets were councilscomposed of representatives from the workers andsoldiers. The soviet of Petrograd had been formed inMarch 1917. At the same time, soviets sprang up inarmy units, factory towns, and rural areas. The sovi-ets, largely made up of socialists, represented themore radical interests of the lower classes. Onegroup—the Bolsheviks—came to play a crucial role.

Identifying Develop a sequence of events leading to the March Revolution.

Reading Check

On March 8, about10,000 women marchedthrough the city of Petro-grad demanding “Peaceand Bread” and “Downwith Autocracy.” Soon thewomen were joined byother workers. Togetherthey called for a generalstrike. The strike shutdown all the factories inthe city on March 10.

Alexandra wrote her husband Nicholas II at thebattlefront, “This is a hooligan movement. If theweather were very cold they would all probably stayat home.” Nicholas ordered troops to break up thecrowds by shooting them if necessary. Soon, how-ever, large numbers of the soldiers joined the demon-strators and refused to fire on the crowds.

The Duma, or legislative body, which the czar hadtried to dissolve, met anyway. On March 12, it estab-lished the provisional government, which mainlyconsisted of middle-class Duma representatives. This

HISTORY

Web Activity Visitthe Glencoe WorldHistory Web site at

andclick on Chapter 23–Student Web Activity to learn more about theRussian royal family.

� AnnaAnderson� Grand

DuchessAnastasia

734

tx.wh.glencoe.com

http://www.glencoe.com/qe/qe34tx.php?&st=754&pt=2&bk=22

The Rise of LeninThe Bolsheviks began as a small faction of a

Marxist party called the Russian Social Democrats.The Bolsheviks came under the leadership ofVladimir Ilyich Ulianov (ool•YAH•nuhf), known tothe world as V. I. Lenin.

Under Lenin’s direction, the Bolsheviks became aparty dedicated to violent revolution. Lenin believedthat only violent revolution could destroy the capi-talist system. A “vanguard” (forefront) of activists, hesaid, must form a small party of well-disciplined pro-fessional revolutionaries to accomplish the task.

Between 1900 and 1917, Lenin spent most of histime abroad. When the provisional government wasformed in March 1917, he saw an opportunity for theBolsheviks to seize power. In April 1917, Germanmilitary leaders, hoping to create disorder in Russia,shipped Lenin to Russia. Lenin and his associateswere in a sealed train to prevent their ideas frominfecting Germany.

Lenin’s arrival in Russia opened a new stage of theRussian Revolution. Lenin maintained that the sovi-ets of soldiers, workers, and peasants were ready-made instruments of power. He believed that theBolsheviks should work toward gaining control of

these groups and then use them to overthrow theprovisional government.

At the same time, the Bolsheviks reflected the dis-content of the people. They promised an end to thewar, the redistribution of all land to the peasants, thetransfer of factories and industries from capitalists tocommittees of workers, and the transfer of govern-ment power from the provisional government to thesoviets. Three simple slogans summed up the Bol-shevik program: “Peace, Land, Bread,” “Worker Con-trol of Production,” and “All Power to the Soviets.”

Examining What was Lenin’s planwhen he arrived in Russia?

Reading Check


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RostovTsaritsyn(Volgograd)

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VladimirMoscow

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Petrograd(St. Petersburg)

MurmanskHelsinki

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Litovsk

Vladivostok

Archangel

Yekatarinburg

Tobolsk

Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917–1922

The Russian Revolution and civil war resulted in significantchanges to Russia’s boundaries.

1. Interpreting Maps Compare the area of Russia underBolshevik control in 1919 with the area not underBolshevik control. Which is larger? Which containedRussia’s main cities?

2. Applying Geography Skills Pose two questions foryour classmates to determine whether or not they candescribe the changes in Russia’s boundaries resultingfrom the Russian Revolution and World War I.

Western boundary of Russia, 1914

Russia, 1922

Land lost by Russia (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918)

Center of revolutionary (Bolshevik) activity, 1917–1918

White Russian (anti-Bolshevik) or Allied attack, 1918–1920

Area under Bolshevik control, October 1919


bringing Russia back into the war. The Allied forcesrarely fought on Russian soil, but they did givematerial aid to anti-Communist forces.

Between 1918 and 1921, the Communist (Red)Army was forced to fight on many fronts againstthese opponents. The first serious threat to the Com-munists came from Siberia. Here an anti-Communist(White) force attacked westward and advancedalmost to the Volga River before being stopped.

Attacks also came from the Ukrainians in thesoutheast and from the Baltic regions. In mid-1919,White forces swept through Ukraine and advancedalmost to Moscow before being pushed back.

By 1920, however, the major White forces had been defeated and Ukraine retaken. The next year, theCommunist regimeregained control overt h e i n d e p e n d e n tnationalist govern-ments in Georgia,Russian Armenia,and Azerbaijan (A•zuhr•BY•JAHN).

The royal familywas another victim of the civil war. After the czarabdicated, he, his wife, and their five children hadbeen taken into captivity. In April 1918, they weremoved to Ekaterinburg, a mining town in the Urals.On the night of July 16, members of the local sovietmurdered the czar and his family and burned theirbodies in a nearby mine shaft.

Identifying Who opposed the newBolshevik regime?

Triumph of the CommunistsHow had Lenin and the Communists triumphed

in the civil war over what seemed to be overwhelm-ing forces? One reason was that the Red Army was awell-disciplined fighting force. This was largely dueto the organizational genius of Leon Trotsky. Ascommissar of war, Trotsky reinstated the draft andinsisted on rigid discipline. Soldiers who deserted orrefused to obey orders were executed on the spot.

Furthermore, the disunity of the anti-Communistforces weakened their efforts. Political differencescreated distrust among the Whites and preventedthem from cooperating effectively with one another.Some Whites insisted on restoring the czarist regime.Others believed that only a more liberal and demo-cratic program had any chance of success.

Reading Check

RUSSIA

GEORGIA

ARMENIA

AZERBAIJAN

Black Sea

CaspianSea

The Bolsheviks Seize PowerBy the end of October, Bolsheviks made up a slight

majority in the Petrograd and Moscow soviets. Thenumber of party members had grown from 50,000 to240,000. With Leon Trotsky, a dedicated revolution-ary, as head of the Petrograd soviet, the Bolshevikswere in a position to claim power in the name of thesoviets. During the night of November 6, Bolshevikforces seized the Winter Palace, the seat of the provi-sional government. The government quickly col-lapsed with little bloodshed.

This overthrow of the provi-sional government coincidedwith a meeting in Petrograd ofthe all-Russian Congress ofSoviets, which represented localsoviets from all over the coun-try. Outwardly, Lenin turnedover the power of the provi-sional government to the Con-gress of Soviets. The real power,however, passed to a Council ofPeople’s Commissars, headed

by Lenin.The Bolsheviks, who soon renamed themselves

the Communists, still had a long way to go. Leninhad promised peace, and that, he realized, would notbe an easy task. It would mean the humiliating lossof much Russian territory. There was no real choice,however.

On March 3, 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and gave up eastern Poland,Ukraine, Finland, and the Baltic provinces. To hiscritics, Lenin argued that it made no difference. Thespread of the socialist revolution throughout Europewould make the treaty largely irrelevant. In any case,he had promised peace to the Russian people. Realpeace did not come, however, because the countrysoon sank into civil war.

Describing What was the impact ofthe Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on Russia?

Civil War in RussiaMany people were opposed to the new Bolshevik,

or Communist, regime. These people included notonly groups loyal to the czar but also liberals andanti-Leninist socialists. These groups were joined bythe Allies, who were extremely concerned about theCommunist takeover. The Allies sent thousands oftroops to various parts of Russia in the hope of

Reading Check

V. I. Lenin

The Whites, then, had no common goal.The Communists, in contrast, had a single-minded sense of purpose. Inspired by theirvision of a new socialist order, the Commu-nists had the determination that comes fromrevolutionary zeal and convictions.

The Communists were also able to translatetheir revolutionary faith into practical instru-ments of power. A policy of war communism, forexample, was used to ensure regular supplies for theRed Army. War communism meant government con-trol of banks and most industries, the seizing of grainfrom peasants, and the centralization of state admin-istration under Communist control.

Another Communist instrument was revolution-ary terror. A new Red secret police—known as theCheka—began a Red Terror aimed at the destructionof all those who opposed the new regime (much likethe Reign of Terror in the French Revolution). TheRed Terror added an element of fear to the Commu-nist regime.

Finally, the presence of foreign armies on Russiansoil enabled the Communists to appeal to the power-ful force of Russian patriotism. At one point, over a

hundred thousand foreign troops—mostly Japanese,British, American, and French—were stationed inRussia in support of anti-Communist forces. Theirpresence made it easy for the Communist govern-ment to call on patriotic Russians to fight foreignattempts to control the country.

By 1921, the Communists were in total commandof Russia. In the course of the civil war, the Commu-nist regime had transformed Russia into a centralizedstate dominated by a single party. The state was alsolargely hostile to the Allied powers, because theAllies had tried to help the Communists’ enemies inthe civil war.

Contrasting Why did the Red Armyprevail over the White Army?

Reading Check


9. Expository Writing Write an essaycomparing the economic, political,and social causes of the American,French, and Russian Revolutions.

Checking for Understanding1. Define soviets, war communism.

2. Identify Alexandra, Grigori Rasputin,Alexander Kerensky, Bolsheviks, V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky.

3. Locate Petrograd, Ukraine, Siberia,Urals.

4. Explain why Lenin accepted the loss ofso much Russian territory in the Treatyof Brest-Litovsk.

5. List some of the different opinions thatsplit the White forces.

Critical Thinking6. Explain How did the presence of Allied

troops in Russia ultimately help theCommunists?

7. Organizing Information Using a chartlike the one below, sequence the stepsthe Communists took to turn Russiainto a centralized state dominated by a single party.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the photograph of Czar

Nicholas II and his family shown onpage 733 of your text. Is this photo-graph an idealized view of royalty? Doyou think the people of Russia wouldhave agreed with this view of the royalfamily as portrayed in this photograph,especially during World War I?

Steps to Communist control

1.

2.

The Red Army is shown here marching throughMoscow. Between 1918 and 1921, the Communist(Red) Army faced resistance from both the Allies andthe anti-Communist (White) forces. Who was theCommunist commissar of war during this period?

History

738

Ten Days That Shook the World

JOHN REED WAS AN AMERICAN JOURNALISTsympathetic to socialism. In Ten Days That Shookthe World, he left an eyewitness account of theRussian Revolution. Inspired by the Bolsheviks,he helped found the American Communist LaborParty in Chicago. Accused of treason, he returnedto the Soviet Union, dying there in 1920.

“It was just 8:40 when a thundering wave ofcheers announced the entrance of the presidium[executive committee], with Lenin—great Lenin—among them. A short, stocky figure, with a big headset down in his shoulders, bald and bulging. Littleeyes, a snubbish nose, wide, generous mouth, andheavy chin. Dressed in shabby clothes, his trousersmuch too long for him. Unimpressive, to be the idolof a mob, loved and revered as perhaps few leadersin history have been. . . .

Now Lenin, gripping the edge of the readingstand, letting his little winking eyes travel over thecrowd as he stood there waiting, apparently oblivi-ous to the long-rolling ovation, which lasted severalminutes. When it finished, he said simply, ‘We shall

now proceed to construct thesocialist order!’ Again that over-whelming human roar.

‘The first thing is the adoptionof practical measures to realizepeace. . . . We shall offer peaceto the peoples of all the warringcountries upon the basis of theSoviet terms—no annexations,no indemnities, and the right of self-determination ofpeoples. . . . This proposal ofpeace will meet with resistanceon the part of the imperialistgovernments—we don’t fool our-selves on that score. But wehope that revolution will soonbreak out in all the warringcountries; that is why we

address ourselves especially to the workers ofFrance, England and Germany. . . .’

‘The revolution of November 6th and 7th,’ heended, ‘has opened the era of the Social Revolu-tion. . . . The labour movement, in the name ofpeace and socialism, shall win, and fulfill itsdestiny. . . .’

There was something quiet and powerful in all this, which stirred the souls of men. It was understandable why people believed when Lenin spoke.”

—John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World

Lenin speaks to the troops in Moscow.

Analyzing Primary Sources

1. Did John Reed agree or disagree with Lenin?

2. How do you know that Reed’s account of Lenin is biased?

End of the WarGuide to Reading

Main Ideas• Combined Allied forces stopped the

German offensive.• Peace settlements brought political and

territorial changes to Europe and cre-ated bitterness and resentment in several nations.

Key Termsarmistice, reparation, mandate

People to IdentifyErich von Ludendorff, Friedrich Ebert,David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau

Places to LocateKiel, Alsace, Lorraine, Poland

Preview Questions1. What were the key events in bringing

about an end to the war?2. What was the intended purpose of the

League of Nations?

Reading StrategyOrganizing Information At the ParisPeace Conference, the leaders of France,Britain, and the United States were moti-vated by different concerns. Using achart, identify the national interests ofeach country as it approached the peacedeliberations.

✦1917 ✦1918 ✦1919 ✦1920

1918 Germany agreesto an armistice

1919 Treaty of Versailles signed atthe Paris Peace Conference

Preview of Events


On September 15, 1916, on the Western Front, a new weapon appeared:

“We heard strange throbbing noises, and lumbering slowly towards us came threehuge mechanical monsters such as we had never seen before. My first impression wasthat they looked ready to topple on their noses, but their tails and the two little wheelsat the back held them down and kept them level. . . . Instead of going on to the Ger-man lines the three tanks assigned to us straddled our front line, stopped and thenopened up a murderous machine-gun fire. . . . They finally realized they were on thewrong trench and moved on, frightening the Germans out of their wits and makingthem scuttle like frightened rabbits.”


The tank played a role in bringing an end to World War I and foreshadowed a newkind of warfare.

The Last Year of the WarThe year 1917 had not been a good one for the Allies. Allied offensives on the

Western Front had been badly defeated. The Russian Revolution, which began inNovember 1917, led to Russia’s withdrawal from the War a few months later. Thecause of the Central Powers looked favorable, although war weariness was begin-ning to take its toll.

On the positive side, the entry of the United States into the war in 1917 gave theAllies a much-needed psychological boost, along with fresh men and material. In1918, American troops would prove crucial.


France Britain United States

British tank

Who Caused World War I?Immediately after World War I,historians began to assesswhich nation was mostresponsible for begin-ning the war. As these four selections show,opinions have varied considerably.

“The Allied and Associated Governmentsaffirm and Germany accepts the responsibility ofGermany and her allies for causing all the lossand damage to which the Allied and AssociatedGovernments have been subjected as a conse-quence of the war imposed upon them by theaggression of Germany and her allies.”

Treaty of Versailles, Article 231, 1919

“None of the powers wanted a EuropeanWar. . . . But the verdict of the Versailles Treatythat Germany and her allies were responsiblefor the War, in view of the evidence now avail-able, is historically unsound. It should thereforebe revised.”

—Sidney Bradshaw FayOrigins of the World War, 1930


A New German Offensive For Germany, the with-drawal of the Russians offered new hope for a suc-cessful end to the war. Germany was now free toconcentrate entirely on the Western Front. Erich vonLudendorff, who guided German military opera-tions, decided to make one final military gamble—agrand offensive in the west to break the militarystalemate.

The German attack was launched in March 1918.By April, German troops were within about 50 miles(80 km) of Paris. However, the German advance wasstopped at the Second Battle of the Marne on July 18.French, Moroccan, and American troops (140,000fresh American troops had just arrived), supportedby hundreds of tanks, threw the Germans back overthe Marne. Ludendorff’s gamble had failed.

With more than a million American troops pour-ing into France, Allied forces began a steady advancetoward Germany. On September 29, 1918, GeneralLudendorff informed German leaders that the warwas lost. He demanded that the government ask forpeace at once.

Collapse and Armistice German officials soon dis-covered that the Allies were unwilling to makepeace with the autocratic imperial government ofGermany. Reforms were begun to create a liberalgovernment, but these efforts came too late for theexhausted and angry German people.

On November 3,sailors in the town of Kiel, in northernGermany, mutinied.Within days, councilsof workers and sol-diers were formingthroughout northernGermany and taking over civilian and militaryoffices. William II gave in to public pressure and leftthe country on November 9.

After William II’s departure, the Social Democratsunder Friedrich Ebert announced the creation of ademocratic republic. Two days later, on November11, 1918, the new German government signed anarmistice (a truce, an agreement to end the fighting).

GERMANY

Munich

Baltic SeaNorthSea

Kiel

The empire had been replaced by the independentrepublics of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia,along with the large monarchical state calledYugoslavia. Rivalries among the nations that suc-ceeded Austria-Hungary would weaken easternEurope for the next 80 years.

Describing What happened withinGermany after the armistice?

The Peace SettlementsIn January 1919, representatives of 27 victorious

Allied nations met in Paris to make a final settlementof the Great War. Over a period of years, the reasonsfor fighting World War I had changed dramatically.When European nations had gone to war in 1914 theysought territorial gains. By the beginning of 1918,more idealistic reasons were also being expressed.

Wilson’s Proposals No one expressed these ideal-istic reasons better than the U.S. president, WoodrowWilson. Even before the end of the war, Wilson out-lined “Fourteen Points” to the United States Con-gress—his basis for a peace settlement that hebelieved justified the enormous military strugglebeing waged.

Wilson’s proposals for a truly just and lastingpeace included reaching the peace agreementsopenly rather than through secret diplomacy; reduc-ing armaments (military forces or weapons) to a“point consistent with domestic safety”; and ensur-ing self-determination (the right of each people tohave its own nation).

Wilson portrayed World War I as a people’s waragainst “absolutism and militarism.” These two ene-mies of liberty, he argued, could be eliminated onlyby creating democratic governments and a “generalassociation of nations.” This association would guar-antee “political independence and territorialintegrity to great and small states alike.”

Wilson became the spokesperson for a new worldorder based on democracy and international cooper-ation. When he arrived in Europe for the peace con-ference, he was enthusiastically cheered by manyEuropeans. Wilson soon found, however, that morepractical motives guided other states.

The Paris Peace Conference Delegates met inParis in early 1919 to determine the peace settlement.At the Paris Peace Conference, complications becameobvious. For one thing, secret treaties and agree-ments that had been made before the war had raised

Reading Check


1. Write a quote of your own that reflects your viewson which nation caused World War I. Supportyour quote with passages from the text.

Revolutionary Forces The war was over, but therevolutionary forces it had set in motion in Germanywere not yet exhausted. A group of radical socialists,unhappy with the moderate policies of the SocialDemocrats, formed the German Communist Party inDecember 1918. A month later, the Communists triedto seize power in Berlin.

The new Social Democratic government, backed byregular army troops, crushed the rebels and murderedRosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht (LEEP•KNEHKT), leaders of the German Communists. A simi-lar attempt at Communist revolution in the city ofMunich, in southern Germany, was also crushed.

The new German republic had been saved fromradical revolution. The attempt at revolution, how-ever, left the German middle class with a deep fear ofcommunism.

Austria-Hungary, too, experienced disintegrationand revolution. As war weariness took hold of theempire, ethnic groups increasingly sought to achievetheir independence. By the time the war ended, theAustro-Hungarian Empire was no more.

“In estimating the order of guilt of the variouscountries we may safely say that the only directand immediate responsibility for the World Warfalls upon Serbia, France and Russia, with theguilt about equally divided.”

—Harry Elmer Barnes The Genesis of the World War, 1927

“As Germany willed and coveted the Austro-Serbian war and, in her confidence in her militarysuperiority, deliberately faced the risk of a conflictwith Russia and France, her leaders must bear a substantial share of the historical responsibilityfor the outbreak of general war in 1914.”

—Fritz Fischer, Germany’s Aims in the First World War, 1961

the hopes of European nations for territorial gains.These hopes could not be totally ignored, even if theydid conflict with the principle of self-determinationput forth by Wilson.

National interests also complicated the delibera-tions of the Paris Peace Conference. David LloydGeorge, prime minister of Great Britain, had won adecisive victory in elections in December of 1918. Hisplatform was simple: make the Germans pay for thisdreadful war.

France’s approach to peace was chiefly guided by its desire for national security. To GeorgesClemenceau (KLEH•muhn•SOH), the premier ofFrance, the French people had suffered the most fromGerman aggression. The French desired revenge andsecurity against future German aggression.Clemenceau wanted Germany stripped of allweapons, vast German payments—reparations—tocover the costs of the war, and a separate Rhinelandas a buffer state between France and Germany.

The most important decisions at the Paris PeaceConference were made by Wilson, Clemenceau, andLloyd George. Italy, as one of the Allies, was consid-ered one of the so-called Big Four powers. However,it played a smaller role than the other key powers—the United States, France, and Great Britain, called theBig Three. Germany was not invited to attend, andRussia could not be present because of its civil war.

In view of the many conflicting demands at thepeace conference, it was no surprise that the BigThree quarreled. Wilson wanted to create a worldorganization, the League of Nations, to preventfuture wars. Clemenceau and Lloyd George wantedto punish Germany. In the end, only compromisemade it possible to achieve a peace settlement.

Wilson’s wish that the creation of an internationalpeacekeeping organization be the first order of busi-ness was granted. On January 25, 1919, the confer-ence accepted the idea of a League of Nations. Inreturn, Wilson agreed to make compromises on terri-torial arrangements. He did so because he believedthat the League could later fix any unfair settlements.

Clemenceau also compromised to obtain someguarantees for French security. He gave up France’swish for a separate Rhineland and instead accepted a defensive alliance with Great Britain and theUnited States. The U.S. Senate refused to ratify thisagreement, which weakened the Versailles peace settlement.

The Treaty of Versailles The final peace settle-ment of Paris consisted of five separate treaties withthe defeated nations—Germany, Austria, Hungary,Bulgaria, and Turkey. The Treaty of Versailles withGermany, signed at Versailles near Paris, on June 28,1919, was by far the most important.

The Germans considered it a harsh peace. Theywere especially unhappy with Article 231, the so-called War Guilt Clause, which declared that Ger-many (and Austria) were responsible for starting thewar. The treaty ordered Germany to pay reparationsfor all the damage to which the Allied governmentsand their people had been subjected as a result of thewar “imposed upon them by the aggression of Ger-many and her allies.”

The military and territorial provisions of theTreaty of Versailles also angered the Germans. Ger-many had to reduce its army to a hundred thousandmen, cut back its navy, and eliminate its air force.Alsace and Lorraine, taken by the Germans fromFrance in 1871, were now returned. Sections of east-ern Germany were awarded to a new Polish state.

German land along both sides of the Rhine wasmade a demilitarized zone and stripped of allweapons and fortifications. This, it was hoped,would serve as a barrier to any future German mili-tary moves westward against France. Outraged bythe “dictated peace,” the new German governmentcomplained but, unwilling to risk a renewal of thewar, they accepted the treaty.


Georges Clemenceau1841–1929—French statesman

Georges Clemenceau was one ofFrance’s wartime leaders. He had along political career before servingas French premier (prime minister)from 1906 to 1909 and from 1917 to1920.

When Clemenceau became premier in 1917, he sus-pended basic civil liberties for the rest of the war. He hadthe editor of an antiwar newspaper executed on a chargeof helping the enemy. Clemenceau also punished jour-nalists who wrote negative war reports by having themdrafted.

Clemenceau strongly disliked and distrusted the Ger-mans and blamed them for World War I. “For the catas-trophe of 1914 the Germans are responsible,” he said.“Only a professional liar would deny this.”

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Versailles

A New Map of Europe As a result of the war, theTreaty of Versailles, and the separate peace treatiesmade with the other Central Powers—Austria, Hun-gary, Bulgaria, and Turkey—the map of EasternEurope was largely redrawn. Both the German andRussian empires lost much territory in easternEurope. The Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared.

New nation-states emerged from the lands ofthese three empires: Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithua-nia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary.New territorial arrangements were also made in theBalkans. Romania acquired additional lands fromRussia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Serbia formed thenucleus of a new state, called Yugoslavia, which com-bined Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

The Paris Peace Conference was supposedlyguided by the principle of self-determination. How-ever, the mixtures of peoples in eastern Europe madeit impossible to draw boundaries along neat ethniclines. Compromises had to be made, sometimes tosatisfy the national interests of the victors. France, for

example, had lost Russia as its major ally on Ger-many’s eastern border. Thus, France wanted tostrengthen and expand Poland, Czechoslovakia,Yugoslavia, and Romania as much as possible. Thosestates could then serve as barriers against Germanyand Communist Russia.

As a result of compromises, almost every easternEuropean state was left with ethnic minorities: Ger-mans in Poland; Hungarians, Poles, and Germans inCzechoslovakia; Hungarians in Romania, and the


Europe and the Middle East after World War I

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World War I dramatically changed political boundaries.

1. Interpreting Maps Rank the countries and empireslisted in the map legend according to the amount of lostterritory, from largest loss to smallest loss.

2. Applying Geography Skills Look back at the map onpage 718, then examine the map above. Now, knowingthe outcome of the war, predict which countries wouldlose the most territory. Why does the actual loss ofterritory, as shown above, differ from (or match) yourpredictions?

Austria-HungaryBulgariaGermanyOttoman EmpireRussia

Territory lost by:

Rhineland

combination of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians,and Albanians in Yugoslavia. The problem of ethnicminorities within nations would lead to later conflicts.

Yet another centuries-old empire—the OttomanEmpire—was broken up by the peace settlement. Togain Arab support against the Ottoman Turks duringthe war, the Western Allies had promised to recog-nize the independence of Arab states in the OttomanEmpire. Once the war was over, however, the West-ern nations changed their minds. France took controlof Lebanon and Syria, and Britain received Iraq andPalestine.

These acquisitions were officially called mandates.Woodrow Wilson had opposed the outright annexa-tion of colonial territories by the Allies. As a result,the peace settlement created the mandate system.According to this system, a nation officially governedanother nation as a mandate on behalf of the Leagueof Nations but did not own the territory.

The War’s Legacy World War I shattered theliberal, rational society that had existed in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuryEurope. The death of almost 10 million people,

as well as the incredible destruction caused by the war,undermined the whole idea of progress. Entire popu-lations had participated in a devastating slaughter.

World War I was a total war—one that involved acomplete mobilization of resources and people. As aresult, the power of governments over the lives oftheir citizens increased. Freedom of the press andspeech were limited in the name of national security.World War I made the practice of strong centralauthority a way of life.

The turmoil created by the war also seemed toopen the door to even greater insecurity. Revolutionsbroke up old empires and created new states, whichled to new problems. The hope that Europe and therest of the world would return to normalcy was,however, soon dashed.

Identifying What clause in theTreaty of Versailles particularly angered the Germans?

Reading Check


9. Informative Writing You are areporter for a large newspaper, sentto the Paris Peace Conference tointerview one of the leaders of theBig Three. Prepare a written set ofquestions you would like to ask theleader you have selected.

Checking for Understanding1. Define armistice, reparation, mandate.

2. Identify Erich von Ludendorff,Friedrich Ebert, David Lloyd George,Georges Clemenceau.

3. Locate Kiel, Alsace, Lorraine, Poland.

4. Explain why the mandate system wascreated. Which countries became man-dates? Who governed them?

5. List some of President Wilson’s propos-als for creating a truly just and lastingpeace. Why did he feel the need todevelop these proposals?

Critical Thinking6. Making Generalizations Although

Woodrow Wilson came to the ParisPeace Conference with high ideals, theother leaders had more practical con-cerns. Why do you think that was so?

7. Compare and Contrast Using a Venndiagram like the one below, compareand contrast Wilson’s Fourteen Pointsto the Treaty of Versailles.

Analyzing Visuals8. Compare the photograph of troops

going to war on page 721 with thepainting on page 715. How do youthink the soldiers’ expectations com-pared to their actual experiences?

Treaty of Versailles

Fourteen Points

History through Art

Signing of the Treaty of Versailles by JohnChristen Johansen, 1919 A peace settlement withGermany was signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919.What were the names of the representatives of theBig Three powers at the Paris Peace Conference?

Interpreting Military Movements on MapsWhy Learn This Skill?

Although wars begin over many different issues,they end as fights to control territory. Because warsare basically fought over land, maps are particularlyuseful tools for seeing the “big picture” of a war.

Learning the SkillThe map key is essential in interpreting military

maps. The key explains what the map’s colors andsymbols represent. Use the following steps to studythe key:

• Determine the meanings of the colors on themap. Usually, colors represent different sides in the conflict.

• Identify all symbols. These may include symbolsfor battle sites, victories, and types of militaryunits and equipment.

• Study the arrows, which show the direction ofmilitary movements. Because these movementsoccur over time, some maps give dates showingwhen and where troops advanced and retreated.

Once you have studied the key and the map, follow the progress of the campaign that is shown.Notice where each side began, in which direction itmoved, where the two sides fought, and which sideclaimed victory.

Practicing the SkillThe map on this page shows the Middle East

front during World War I. Study the map and thenanswer the following questions.

1 On which side did Arabia and Egypt fight?

2 Who won the battle at the Dardanelles?

3 Describe the movement of the Central Powersoffensives.

4 When did the Allies win the most battles in theMiddle East?

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Middle East in World War I, 1914–1918

Applying the Skill

Choose a military map from this text or select one fromanother source. Study the map selection carefully.Write a paragraph about the war or conflict as it isdepicted in the map. You should respond to issues suchas where most of the fighting occurred; the year inwhich the most significant advance was made, and bywhom; and whether or not there was a decisive victoryby either side. Attach a copy of the map to your report.

Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook,Level 2, provides instruction and practice in keysocial studies skills.

Allies

Central Powers

Neutral nations

Allied victoryCentral Powers victoryAllied offensiveCentral Powers offensive

746

Using Key Terms1. The practice of requiring young people to join the military,

which was followed by many nations before World War I,was called .

2. Before World War I, many European nations completed theof their military by assembling troops and supplies

for war.

3. The development of baffled military leaders who hadbeen trained to fight wars of movement.

4. World War I became a , or war based on wearing theother side down by constant attacks and heavy losses.

5. World War I involved a complete mobilization of resourcesand people that affected the lives of all citizens in the war-ring countries—a situation called .

6. European nations set up , or systems directed by gov-ernment agencies to mobilize the entire resources of theirnations.

7. Councils of workers and soldiers called challengedthe provisional government established after Nicholas IIstepped down.

8. is the term used to describe the Communists’ cen-tralization of control over its economy.

9. Germany was required by the Treaty of Versailles to makepayments called to the nations that won the war.

Reviewing Key Facts10. Government How did the British government try to elimi-

nate opposition from the people who were opposed toWorld War I?

11. Culture Explain the social changes promised by the Bolshe-vik slogans.

12. History State the significance of the following dates: 1914,1917, and 1918.

13. Culture Describe the role and contribution of women dur-ing World War I. What was their status after the war?

14. History Why were Alexandra and Rasputin able to controlthe czar’s government during much of World War I?

15. Government How did international alliances help to drawnations into World War I?

16. History Why was a “breakthrough” such an important mili-tary goal during the war?

17. Government What did the creation of a League of Nationshave to do with Woodrow Wilson’s willingness to sign theTreaty of Versailles?

18. History Why did Russia withdraw from the war? How didthat affect Germany?

19. Science and Technology What innovations in military war-fare occurred during World War I?

• Two loose alliances form inEurope: the Triple Alliance(Germany, Austria-Hungary,and Italy) and the TripleEntente (France, GreatBritain, and Russia).

• Alliances draw France andGreat Britain into a conflictin which they have nodirect interest.

• Combat takes the formsof trench warfare on theWestern Front, a war ofmovement on the EasternFront, and Germansubmarine warfare in thewaters surrounding GreatBritain.

• For the first time in history,airplanes are used forreconnaissance, combat,and bombing.

• Military and economiccrises lead to a spontaneousrevolution that ends thereign of the czars.

• The Bolsheviks overthrowthe provisional governmentand establish a Communistregime.

• The peace is a compromisebetween international andnational interests.

• Germany’s reparationpayments, militaryreductions, and territoriallosses create a lastingbitterness that helps sparkWorld War II.

Cooperation:Alliance System

Conflict:World War I

Revolution:Russian Revolution

Internationalism:Peace of Paris

The outline below shows four themes of the chapter.

Analyzing Maps and ChartsUsing the chart above, answer the following questions:

27. Which of the Big Three nations at the Treaty of Versailleswanted to punish Germany for World War I?

28. What was the effect of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany’smilitary?

29. What territory did France regain after the war?

Self-Check QuizVisit the Glencoe World History Web site at

and click on Chapter 23–Self-CheckQuiz to prepare for the Chapter Test.

HISTORY


Critical Thinking20. Decision Making Compare Lenin’s beliefs and goals with

those of Woodrow Wilson. Which leader has had the greaterimpact on world history? Why?

21. Analyzing Why do some people feel that it is unlikely that alasting peace could have been created at the end of WorldWar I?

Writing about History22. Persuasive Writing Both Britain and the United States

passed laws during the war to silence opposition and censorthe press. Are the ideals of a democratic government consis-tent with such laws? Provide arguments for and against.

Analyzing SourcesReread the quote below, which appears on page 719, thenanswer the questions below.

“I cannot tell you how exasperated people are get-ting here at the continual worry which that little country[Serbia] causes to Austria under encouragement fromRussia. . . . It will be lucky if Europe succeeds in avoid-ing war as a result of the present crisis.”

23. Where is Vienna located? Is the ambassador neutral in hiscomments or does he favor one country over another?

24. Compare the ways in which the actual events that startedWorld War I mirror this ambassador’s concerns.

Applying Technology Skills25. Interpreting the Past Use the Internet to research the total

costs of World War I. Determine how many people, bothmilitary and civilian, were killed or wounded on both sides.Also find the monetary costs of the war for both sides. Cre-ate a table that clearly shows your findings.

Making Decisions26. Some historians argue that the heavy psychological and eco-

nomic penalties placed on Germany by the Treaty of Ver-sailles created the conditions for World War II. How mightthe treaty have been written to alleviate worldwide concernover German militarism without exacting such a heavy toll?

Directions: Choose the best answer to thefollowing statement.

Which of these statements is NOT true about World War I?

A Most Europeans believed the conflict would be short-lived.

B Brutal hardships in Russia caused it to withdraw fromthe war in 1918.

C A system of alliances meant that many countriesbecame mired in the dispute.

D Propaganda played a minor role in the war effort.

Test-Taking Tip: If a question includes the key word “not”or “except,” read the question carefully. Make sure youunderstand the question completely before you pick youranswer choice.

tx.wh.glencoe.com

United States

Wilson

Lasting peace

CountryLeaderGoal

Great Britain

Lloyd George

Germany pays

France

Clemenceau

French security

• League of Nations is formed.

• Germany accepts responsibility for starting thewar and agrees to make reparations to the Allies.

• New nations are formed.• Germany returns Alsace and Lorraine to France.• France and Great Britain acquire mandates in

the Middle East.

• Germany will reduce its army and navy andeliminate its air force.

• German land along the Rhine River isdemilitarized.

InternationalRelationsResponsibility

Territory

MilitaryStrength

Paris Peace Conference: The Big Three

Treaty of Versailles

http://www.glencoe.com/qe/qe34tx.php?&st=754&pt=3&bk=22

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