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→ Also known as “The Great War”

Background on the War:

→ Prior to WW1 Europe was on a good track, and they were doing fine. War had been prevented by Bismark. He did this by keeping other countries which were threats weak. But this would all change when King Wilhelm would fire Bismark causing many problems.

Causes of the War:

• There were already alliances in Europe. As well as tension.

  • Germany and Austria had a good alliance.

  • France was quite mad at Germany after the Franco-Prussian war.

  • Italy would want to be on Germany’s side.

• Power in Europe was unbalanced.

  • Germany was way more powerful than the other countries.

• Military power was increasing.

  • Newer weapons were being created in most countries.

• Imperialism

  • Most European countries weren’t too happy with the splitting up of Africa.

• Pan-Slavism:

  • Definition: Russia should protect Russian people.

  • This is important because Serbia (Who were viewed as Russian people) were at conflict with Austria.

The Spark (What started the war):

• Serbia wanted to expand and enlarge their country, but Austria didn’t want them too.

  • Russia was all for Serbian expansion.

• Then the Archduke of Austria (Francis Ferdinand) went on a tour, and was assassinated by a Serbian Nationalist group.

  • Austria is outraged by the assassination. So they go to Germany and ask if they will help in a war.

• King Wilhelm was now in charge and he gave Austria the blank check agreement.

  • Blank Check- Germany would help Austria no matter what they chose to do.

• Austria then declares war on Serbia, so Germany also enters the war.

  • Russia joins as well because of Pan-Slavism.

The Alliances: (And how they got involved)

→ The two sides were the Triple Entente, and the Triple Alliance.

Triple Entente (Allies):

• Russia- Was brought in because they wanted to help Serbia (Pan-Slavism)

• France- Hated Germany so they just joined the alliance opposing them.

• Britain- Joined later, when Germany invaded neutral Belgium.

Triple Alliance (Central Powers):

• Austria- Started the war by declaring war on Serbia.

• Germany- Joined when Austria declared war because of the Blank Check agreement.

• Italy- Joined because they disliked Austria,but later switched sides.

• Total War- Involving the civilian population in the war.

The War:

The schlieffen Plan:

• Germany was enemies with both Russia and France who were on both sides of the country.

  • They did not want to be fighting a war on both sides (Two Front War), since they would have to split their army in half.

• They realized that Russia would probably take longer to get ready for war, so they decided to go after France first, then go for Russia.

  • This would make it so that more of their army could fight in one area.

• To get to France, Germany decided to invade Belgium who was neutral, and then enter France from there.

  • Britain was mad about Belgium being invaded so they also declared war on Germany.

• Germany then tried to take Paris but the French were able to fight back, and at the Battle of the Marne a new kind of war began.

Trench Warfare:

→ Both sides fight by digging trenches, and in between them is an area of land known as “No Man’s Land”, and boths sides would fight from their trench

• It was first started at the Battle of the Marne, where both French and Germans started to build trenches, somewhat near Paris.

• Trenches were often terrible places to live. With the conditions being awful.

  • Trench living conditions:

    • They were very unsanitary

    • constantly wet

    • People were cramped

    • Constant fear of being attacked

• Conditions in German trenches were a lot better than the West’s trenches, because the French and their allies thought the war would be over quickly, so they didn’t care as much about the trenches being built.

• The way fighting worked was that one side would send soldiers “over the top”, into “No Man’s Land” where they would try to overrun the opposing sides trench, while they were being shot at.

  • No Man’s Land- The area between trenches, it was full of mines, and bodies from those who tried to cross it.

  • “Over the Top”- What it was called when soldiers left their turned to cross “No Man’s Land”.

• The Problem was that with Trenches land was being won very slowly, and in small quantities. This led to a stalemate in the war.

  • Stalemate- Both sides are fighting but neither is winning.

The Stalemate:

• Both sides really wanted to break the stalemate.

  • There were many breaks towrd the end of the war.

• Break 1: Russia leaves the war

  • The Russian revolution started casuing Russia to leave the war

    • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Russia leaves and gives land to Germany

  • This means that Russia is now fighting a one front war.

• Break 2: The British Blockade and U-boats

  • The British were making the Germans starve.

    • This also caused Germany do have very little war supplies left.

  • Germany eventually did a counter blockade using U-boats.

    • U-boats: underwater boats (Submarines)

  • The problem was that subamrine warfare had rules

    • You had to announce that you were going to sink a ship

    • Germany started sinking ships without warning

  • They sunk many ships including some American ones

    • The Lusitania was sunk, killing about 100 Americans

      • All this made America very anti-German

• Break 3: U.S joins the war

  • Germany realized the U.S would probably join, and on the opposing side.

    • So they sent a note to Germany

  • The Zimmerman Note- A message from Germany to Mexico saying that if Mexico fought against America they would distract the U.S from the war, and in the end Mexico would get their land back.

  • The note is intercepted and the U.S then declares war on Germany

    • It takes them until 1918 to actually get their soldiers over to Europe.

• Break 4: The tank

  • The tank became very useful, because it was able to more easily destroy trenches.

    • Made the war mobile again.

    • The British were the first to use them, and had a better desing them Germany.

• Break 5: The Winter of 1917

  • The winter was very hard, and the flu was going around

    • Influenza hit the Germans hard.

    • It killed about 20 million people world wide.

The End and the results:

→ Many of the Breaks above were useful for the west, and ended up weakening Germany.

The End:

• Most of the Central Powers began to fall apart and leave the war.

  • Germany was now very alone

• Italy had switched to the winning side.

• Germany decided to go for one more attack on Paris, to try and win the war.

  • They didn’t even get close before being pushed back by the west.

• Germany’s Kiser, Wilhelm II stepped down causing the German government to become weak.

• Finally on the 11th of November, they signed the armistice ending WW1, and the allies ended up winning.

  • The 11th day of the 11th month, on the 11th hour.

The Results:

• After the war the world leaders met in Paris to figure out what to do next.

• The Winners (USA, France, Britain, and Italy) wrote the peace agreement and decided to put the blame on Germany.

• Woodrow Wilson (U.S president) has his own ideas for how to write the treaty.

Wilson’s 14 points: (Don’t need to know them all)

• Limit Arms

• End Secret Alliances

• Every country picks if they want to be ruled, or independent (Self-determination)

• Create the League of Nations.

  • League of Nations- An international assembly of different countries, that would work together to keep peace.

• Freedom of the seas

• Go back to the original borders

→ Realize Wilson was very fair, because the U.S wasn’t as affected as the other countries.

• Not all those points were actually used though.

Treaty Of Versailles:

→ The actual peace agreement that was made in Pairs.

• Punish and blame Germany for the war

• Only Germany had to reduce their army

  • Couldn’t have more than 100,000 men.

• Germany couldn’t make as many weapons

• Take land from Germany reducing its size.

• Germany has to pay reparations

  • Reparations- Cost of war

• The League of Nations was created

  • The U.S voted not to join (even though Wilson wanted too), causing the League to be weak.

• Was signed in 1919

→ The entire treaty was very unfair toward the Germans, and many people there got upset at how they were being tested. Other countries like Japan and Italy were on the winning side and didn’t get much, making them upset. The treaty created lots of tension, which was a huge factor in WW2.

Next Lesson: Inter War Years