A. Pressure for Peace
1. The late 1800s and early 1900s saw serious efforts to end the scourge of war.
2. The Struggle for women’s suffrage throughout Europe supported the peace movement.
3. Other powerful forces at the same time were pushing Europe to the brink of war.
B. Aggressive Nationalism
1. Nationalism can be a positive force, binding together a nation’s people.
2. Nationalism was strong in both Germany and France.
3. In Eastern Europe, Russia sponsored a powerful form of Nationalism called Pan-Slavism
C. Economic and Imperial Rivalries
1. Economic rivalries further poisoned the international atmosphere.
2. The British felt threatened by Germany’s economic growth.
3. Imperialism also divided European Nations.
D. Militarism and the Arms Race
1. The late 1880s saw a rise in militarism, the glorification of the military.
2. The rise of militarism grew partly out of the ideas of Social Darwinism
3. As international tensions grew, the great powers expanded their armies and navies.
E. A Tangle of Alliances
1. Fear and distrust led the great powers to protect themselves through alliances.
2. The first alliances had their origins in Bismarck’s day
3. A rival bloc took shape in 1894, when France and Russia signed an alliance.
II. The Guns of August
A. A Murder with Millions of Victims
1. June 28 was the date on which Siberia had been conquered by the Ottoman Empire
2. Pricip joined Unity or Death, a terrorist group commonly known as the Black Hand
3. June 28 was also an important date of Francis Ferdinand as well
B. Peace Unravels
1. Austria sent Serbia a sweeping ultimatum, or final set of demands.
2. Italy and Britain remained uncommitted and Italy decided to remain neutral for the time being.
3. Neutrality is a policy of supporting neither side in a war.
C. Whose Fault?
1. During the war each side blamed the other.
2. Each great power believed its cause was just.
3. Austria wanted to punish Serbia for encouraging terrorism. Germany felt that it must stand by its one dependable ally, Austria; Russia saw the Austrians ultimatum to Serbia as an effort to oppress Slavic peoples.
III. A New Kind of Conflict
A. The Western Front
1. As the was began, German forces swept through Belgium toward Paris. German generals however, soon violated the Schliffen Plan
2. On the Western Front, the warring armies burrowed into a vast system of trenches, stretching from the Swiss frontier to the English Channel.
3. in 1961 booth allies and central powers launched massive offensives to break the stalemate. German forces tried to overwhelm the French at Verdun.
B. Other European Fronts
1. On the Eastern front, the battle lines swayed back and fourth, sometimes over large areas.
2. In August 1914, Russian armies pushed into eastern Germany. Then at, the battle of Tannenberg, they suffered one of the worst defeats of war.
3. in 1915, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and helped crush its old rival Serbia.
C. The War Beyond Europe
1. At sea Britain blockaded Germany, while German U-boats sank ships crossing the Atlantic toward Allied ports. Such unrestricted sub warfare outraged neutral countries especially the US
2. European colonies were drawn into the struggle. The allies overran scattered German colonies in Africa and Asia
3. The Ottoman empire joined the Central Powers in 1914. The Turks the closed off Allied ships from the Dardanelles, a strategic link to the Black sea and Russia.
IV. Winning the War
A. Effects of the Stalemate
1. Total war is the channeling of a nation’s entire resources into a war effort.
2. Economics impacted booth sides set up systems to recruit arm transport and supply armies that numbered in the millions.
3. Booth sides waged a propaganda war. Propaganda is the spreading of ideas to promote a cause or damage an opposing cause.
B. Women at War
1. Women played a major part in the war as millions of men left to fight women took over their jobs and kept national economies going.
2. Military nurses shared the dangers of the men whose wounds they tended. At aid stations close to the front lines they worked around the clock, especially after a big “push” brought a flood of casualties.
3. War work gave women a new sense of pride and confidence. After the war, most women had to give up their jobs to men returning home.
V. Collapsing Morale
1. By 1917 the morale of booth troops and civilians had plunged. Germany was sending 15 year old recruits to the front. Britain was on the brink of bankruptcy. Long casualty lists, food shortages, and the failure of generals to win promised victories led to calls for peace.
2. Three years of war hit Russia hard. Stories of incompetent generals and corruption destroyed public confidence.
3. Russia’s withdrawal had an immediate impact on war. With Russia out of the struggle, Germany could concentrate its forces on the Western Front.
B. The United States Declares War
1. Soon after the Russian Revolution began, however, another event altered the balance of forces. The United States, which so far had stayed out of the fighting, declares war on Germany
2. One major reason for US joining was the German Sub attacks on merchant and passenger ships carrying America citizens.
3. The US had other reasons to support the Allies. Many Americans felt ties of culture to Britain.
C. Campaign To Victory
1. A final showdown got underway in early 1918. In March, the Germans launched a huge offensive that pushed the Allies back 40 miles by July
2. The German people showed the monarch their frustration as uprisings exploded among the hungry city dwellers.
3. The German government sough an armistice, or agreement to end fighting with Allies
VI. Making the Peace
A. The Costs of War
1. The human and material costs of the war were staggering. More than 8.5 million people were dead.
2. The allies blamed the conflict on their defeated foes and insisted that the losers make reparations or payments for damage of war
3. Under the stress of war governments had collapsed in Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman empire.
B. The Paris Peace Conference
1. Wilson was one of three strong personalities who dominated the Paris Peace conference.
2. Crowds of other representatives circled around the “Big three” with their own demands and interests
3. Faced with conflicting demands Wilson had to compromise on his Fourteen points
C. The Treat of Versailles
1. In June 1919, the peacemakers summoned representatives of new German Republic to the palace of Versailles outside Paris.
2. The German delegates read the document with growing horror. It forced Germany to assume full blame for causing the war.
3. The treaty also imposed huge reparations that would put an already damaged German economy under a staggering burddon.
D. Other Settlements
1. The allies drew up separate treaties with the other Central Powers. These treaties redrew the map of Eastern Europe.
2. European colonies in Africa and the pacific and Asia rose in the old Hapsburg Heatland
3. The treaties created mandates, or territories that were administered by western powers
E. Hopes for Global Peace
1. The Paris Peace conference offered one beacon of hope in the League of Nations
2. Wilson’s dream had become reality. Yet his own Senate refused to ratify the treaty and the United States never joined.
3. As time soon revealed the league was powerless to prevent aggression or war. Still it was a first step toward something genuinely new an international organization dedicated to maintaining peace and advancing the interests of all peoples