The war of the NationsA b r i e f o n t h e g r e a t w a r b e t w e e n t h e

c e n t r a l p o w e r s a n d t h e a l l i e s . ( 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 1 8 )

BACKGROUND TO WORLD WAR I

• Franco- Prussian War in 1870• The Three-Emperors League and Dual Alliance• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Other important causes-

• The Arms Race• The Anglo –German Naval race• Kaiser Wilhelm II• Russia’s control over the Balkan region• Crisis between 1905-1913- Bosnian crisis

T h e t w o p o w e r c e n t re s

Triple Alliance power• Austria-Hungary declares

war on Serbia on 23RD JULY 1914.

• Germany bounded by treaty to Austria-Hungary indirectly declares war on Russia.

• Italy enters to help its allies in may 1915

Triple Entente power• Russia bounded by treaty to

Serbia comes to its aid.• France bounded by treaty to

Russia indirectly is at war with Germany ,invades neutral Belgium.

• Britain allied to France declared war on Germany as it was obligated to help Belgium.

• US enters after threat from Germany’s unrestricted Submarine warfare.

Wo r l d Wa r I A l l i a n c e s Allied Powers:• Russia•France•British Empire•Italy•USA (joined in 1917)•Japan•Romania•Serbia•Belgium•Greece•Portugal•Montenegro

Central powers:•Germany•Austria-Hungary•Turkey

Wo r l d Wa r 1 : T h e c h a n g i n g b o u n d a r i e s ( 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 1 8 )

Causes o f Wor ld War I

• Cult of offensive swept through Europe before the war.

• Cult of the offensive refers to a strategic military dilemma, where leaders believe that offensive advantages are so great that a defending force would have no hope of repelling the attack; consequently, all states choose to attack.

• General Alfred von Schlieffen, author of the 1914 German war plan, declared that “Attack is the best defence.” The German Schlieffen Plan is a notable example of the cult of the offensive

• It was not only Germany who followed the cult of the offensive; the French army, among others, was also driven very strongly by this doctrine, where its supporters included Ferdinand Foch, Joseph Joffre and Loyzeaux de Grandmaison.

• Other European states, like England, Belgium and Russia displayed milder symptoms of the same virus.

• Germany followed an expansionist policy. Germans believed that expansion could solve their insecurity.

• Insecurity- German expansionists complained that German borders were constricted and indefensible picturing a Germany which is badly protected by its unfavourable geographical frontiers. Expansion was the suggested remedy.

• Security was not Germany’s only concern; German elites endorsed imperialism often using security arguments.

• Spokesmen for the German military establishment exaggerated the threat to Germany.

• Members of the German elite sometimes privately acknowledged that Germany was under less threat than the public was being told.

Causes o f Wor ld War I

Play of Treati es

• Austria-Hungary, unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.

• Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia

• Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty

• France, bound by treaty to Russia

• Britain, allied to France

• With Britain's entry into the war, her colonies and dominions abroad variously offered military and financial assistance, and included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.

• United States.

• Japan

• Italy

• Bismarck's Need for Alliances

• Britain's Splendid Isolation

• The Three Emperors League & Dual Alliance

• The Triple Alliance

• A Secret Franco-Italian Alliance

• British said this was a war to end war…to make the world a safe place for democracy. They were bitten by the idealism bug.

US enters the war on April 6, 1917 – How ?Before 1917• For the first 3 years US was technically neutral in the war.• American banks were pumping money for Britain to wage war.• US ammo Companies were producing riffles, artillery ammunition etc for allies.• England was a major trading partner of the United States• 1916 : US President Wilson gets re-elected on anti-war sentiments.• Britain wanted America to join the war and support them – established a secret

propaganda to manipulate American news coverage.

By 1917, despite the propaganda, the finance & military support that US was giving to its allies, Britain was on the verge of Bankruptcy along with the allies.

Secretly, US President Wilson was planning America’s entry into the war because of many reasons:

W W 1 & t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s

While many British passenger ships had been called into duty for the war effort, Lusitania remained on her traditional route between Liverpool and New York. The German Embassy in Washington had issued this warning on 22 April 1915.

NOTICE!

TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.

IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY

Map showing submarine warfare zone around the United Kingdom, declared by Germany on February 18 , 1915

S i n k i n g o f L u s i t a n i a

•In January 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare.

•The German Foreign minister, in the Zimmermann Telegram, told revolution-torn Mexico that U.S. entry was likely once unrestricted submarine warfare began, and invited Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against the United States.

•British intelligence intercepted the telegram and passed the information on to Washington.

•Wilson released the Zimmerman note to the public and Americans saw it as a cause for war and thus, the war was declared on 6th April 1917

•During the war, the US mobilized over 4,000,000 military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths

W W 1 & t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s

1917 – War Declared !

There were two effects the war had on US economy:1. Short Term : US & the roaring 20’s – the US economy witnessed an economic boom

due to their involvement in WWI. (From 1915 the US made tons of loans to the UK)Between 1914 and 1918, some 3 million people were added to the military and half a million to the government.Overall, unemployment declined from 7.9 percent to 1.4 percent in this period

2. Long Term : The Treaty of Versailles led to a system where the US was cashing in its wartime loans to

the UK, which in turn was using the wartime reparations it received from Germany to pay off the US.

This system collapsed when the Germany economy succumbed to hyperinflation and died.

W W 1 & t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s"The total cost of World War I to the United States of America was approximately $32 billion, or 52 percent of gross national product at the time.“

Eff ects o f Wor ld War I

• Defeat of the Central Powers under the leadership of Germany.

• Treaty of Versailles

• League of nations

• Downfall of Monarchies

• Bolshevik rise to power in Russia in 1917 and the triumph of fascism in Italy in 1922.

• Russia withdrew from the War by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk .

• The 1918 influenza pandemic

In 1919, Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson from the US met to discuss how Germany was to be made to pay for the damage world war one had caused.

Tre a t y o f Ve rs a i l l e s

Wilson had devised a 14 point plan that he believed would bring stability to Europe.

Open Diplomacy - There should be no secret treaties between powers Freedom of Navigation - Seas should be free in both peace and war Free Trade - The barriers to trade between countries such as custom duties should be removed Multilateral Disarmament - All countries should reduce their armed forces to the lowest possible levels Colonies - People in European colonies should have a say in their future Russia - Russia should be allowed to operate whatever government it wanted and that government should be accepted, supported and welcomed. Belgium - Belgium should be evacuated and restored to the situation before the war. France - should have Alsace-Lorraine and any lands taken away during the war restored. Italy - The Italian border should be readjusted according to nationality National Self -Determination - The national groups in Europe should, wherever possible, be given their independence. Romania, Montenegro and Serbia - Should be evacuated and Serbia should have an outlet to the sea Turkey - The people of Turkey should have a say in their future Poland - Poland should become an independent state with an outlet to the sea. League of Nations - An assembly of all nations should be formed to protect world peace in the future.

Tre a t y o f Ve rs a i l l e s

By the time World War I ended in the defeat of the Central Powers in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more wounded.

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, determined post-war borders from Europe to the Middle East, established the League of Nations as an international peace organization and punished Germany for its aggression with reparations and the loss of territory.

The German people were very unhappy about the treaty and thought that it was too harsh. Germany could not afford to pay the money and during the 1920s the people in Germany were very poor.

This map shows the areas that Germany lost following the Treaty of Versailles

Tragically, the instability caused by World War I would help make possible the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and would, only two decades later, lead to a second devastating international conflict – World War II

The war left a legacy of bitterness that contributed to World War II twenty-one years later.

C a s u a l t y r a n k s b y c o u n t r y

C a s u a l t y r a n k s b y c o u n t r y

Effect of World War 1 on art

Futurism or Modern Art

C R W Nevison – La Mitrailleuse Mark Gentler – Merry Go Round

John Singer Sargent - Gassed

Conflict between Real and Ideal

Paths of Glory - Nevison

Paul Nash – Menin Road

Effect on Literature

• Cynicism in Poetry: • Realism • Modernism

Popular Writers

• Wilfred Owen• Rudyard Kipling• Thomas Hard• Erich Maria Remarque

Films that depicted the war

• The Big Parade • Wings • Paths of Glory • Sergeant York

Psychological operations in World War I

What is psychological warfare? Introduction

German Dissemination of Propaganda

• Paper balloons with flysheets• Gazette des Ardennes• “Never say die” • “Why continue the fight”

In the sphere of leaflet propaganda the enemy has defeated us. Shooting poison darts from a secure hiding place was never a German art. We realized, however, that this struggle is a life and death matter, and that one has to fight the enemy with his own weapons. Yet the spirit of the enemy leaflets skulks around and refuses to be killed...The enemy has defeated us not as man against man in the field of battle, bayonet against bayonet. No, bad contents in poor printing on poor paper has made our arm lame.

Artist portrayal of Hiddessen's first leaflet drop

The leaflet goes on to use a twisted logic to explain that those people who refuse to fight and surrender are heroes, while those who stand and die for a cause are cowards.

Leaflets aimed at Sikhs in the British-Indian army. Language is Urdu, script is Devanagiri

Look here you fellows – I don’t want to tell you fairy tales and I don’t want to try and change your opinion against your country – I know you chaps stick to your country and I admire you for it – What I am going to tell you are facts and nothing but facts. Do you fellows realize what America’s so called help means to England? It means ENGLAND’S FINANCIAL RUIN…

Life, Liberty and happiness.So long as the administration is determined to keep the war going there is only one way for you to get out of this miserable fix and that is for you to stop fighting. You can do this honorably. As a freeborn American citizen, you have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The American Constitution guarantees you these rights. Exercise them!..."

THINK IT OVER!You have had music to march to, flags waving to cheer you on and words of praise and you have left behind you all that is dear to you to come to France to fight the Germans. Until the English wanted you for cannon food you never knew that the Germans were your enemies, but no sooner did England realize that she couldn’t beat the Germans even with the help of nearly all the rest of the savage and civilized world that she persuaded you that the Germans were ‘Huns’ and your deadly foes…"

What are we fighting for? The German note: The German Government requests the President of the United States of America to take in hand the restoration of peace, acquaint all belligerent States with this request, and invite them to send plenipotentiaries for the purpose of opening negotiations. It accepts the programme set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress on Jan 8, 1918……

The German People Offers Peace. The new German democratic government has this programme: ‘The will of the people is the highest law.’ The German people wants quickly to end the slaughter. The new German popular government therefore has offered an Armistice…

Treaty of Versailles

Thank You