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History 102:
The Great War, 1914-1918
Why
is the Great War seminal?
·
Eventually
involved most of the world
·
65
million troops fought
·
Germany
and France mobilized 80 percent of males (aged 15-49)
·
21
million perished (soldiers and civilians)
·
21
million wounded
·
Sparked
communist revolution in Russia (and elsewhere)
·
Helped
Hitler rise to power
·
Began
de-colonization
·
Improved
many women’s situation
Causes
of the Great War
1.
Alliance system:
·
Triple
Alliance:
o
Germany
o
Austria-Hungary
o
Italy
·
Triple
Entente:
o
Britain
o
France
o
Russia
·
KEY:
1871: German unification upset balance
·
1879-1918:
Austro-German Alliance
·
1881-1887:
Alliance of Three Emperors
o
Germany
o
Austria-Hungary
o
Russia
·
Triple
Alliance, 1882-1915
o
Germany
o
Austria-Hungary
o
Italy
·
1887-1890:
Russian-German Reinsurance Treaty
·
William
(Wilhelm) II
(b.
1859; r. 1888-1918)
o
Grandson
of William I
o
Wanted
to be a “Warrior King”
o
Lame
o
1890:
Forced resignation of (irreplaceable) Bismarck
o
Lost
Russia 1890
·
France
courts Russia
·
1891:
Republican France and Autocratic Russia sign alliance (to 1917)
·
“Marseillaise”,
the hymn of the revolution
·
Britain
o
“Splendid
Isolation”
o
1900:
Germany starts building large navy
o
Boer
War, 1899-1902
o
1904:
Anglo-French Entente (Entente Cordiale):
o
Britain
got Egypt
o
France
got Morocco
o
1907:
Anglo-Russian Agreement
2.
Imperialism
·
1905-6:
First Moroccan Crisis
·
1911:
Second Moroccan Crisis
o
German
Panther at Agadir on July 1, 1911
o
British
called Germany’s bluff
o
Resolved
peacefully
3.
Nationalism
·
Serbian
·
Austrian
·
Russian
·
France
vs. Germany
o
1871
and Alsace-Lorraine
·
Germany
vs. Britain
o
Naval
Race
4.
Short memory
·
No
major wars since 1815
·
War
as adventure
·
Schoolbooks
5.
Military Plans
·
Germany’s
Schlieffen Plan
·
Russia
to mobilize against Germany and Austria-Hungary
·
Planning
made it more inevitable
Immediate
catalysts
·
1908:
Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina
·
1912:
First Balkan War, the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and
Bulgaria) took Macedonia from Ottoman Empire
·
1913:
Second Balkan war, Bulgaria attacked Serbia, leading A-H to intervene
·
28
June 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated
·
Black
Hand
·
Gavrilo
Princip
·
A-H
decides to teach Serbia a lesson
·
Franz
Joseph asks Germany for support
·
William
II sends “Blank Check” (Unconditional Support)
·
23
July 1914: A-H presents ultimatum to Serbia
·
28
July 1914: A-H declares war on Serbia
·
Tsar
Nicholas II orders partial mobilization against A-H
·
29
July 1914: Russia orders full mobilization against A-H and Germany
·
2
August 1914: German General von Moltke demands that Belgium permit German
armies to march through it
·
4
August 1914: Britain and France declared war on Germany
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