FIRST WORLD WAR (1914-1918)

Nobody thought of a long war when it broke out in summer 1914

Drafted soldiers went apparently happy to fight (and, of course, win) a short war…

Reality was very much crueler .

•Soldiers and civil population went through a terrible and long war over more than four years.

Georges Clemenceau Jorge V, Rey del Reino UnidoEl Zar Nicolás II

Vittorio Emanuele II, Rey de Italia

El Emperador de Austria Francisco José IEl Kaiser alemán Guillermo II

El zar Nicolás II junto a Jorge V en Berlín (1913).

CAUSES OF THE WWI

The new international expansionist policy (Weltpolitik) undertaken by the German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1890.

It destabilized the international situation.

Changes in the balance of economic and military might between the powers.

German economy caught up with UK’s and Berlin started an ambitious naval rearmament program.

Conflicts between

powers in Asia and Africa

.

Colonial crisis in Morocco

between Germany and

France.

Germany annexed the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine after the Franco-Prussian war in 1870.

France strongly desired to recover those regions.

The rivalry between Russia (Serbia) and Austria-Hungary for the hegemony in the Balkans .

The Turkish Ottoman Empire was not able to control that region anymore.

Psychological rivalry between peoples, encouraged by nationalist propaganda campaigns

Hatred of the neighbour was more the norm than the exception

Two new non European powers: United States and Japan.

Conflict took a global dimension, further away from Europe.

FORMATION OF ALLIANCES The Triple

Alliance: Germany, Austria-

Hungary and Italy.

The German Reich and the Austro-Hungarian Empire constituted the core of this alliance.

The Triple Entente made up of Britain, France, and Russia.

It was concluded by 1907.

German expansionism led to Britain and France to end their colonial differences.

The rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia in the Balkans pushed Russia into the alliance.

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS WHICH LED TO THE WAR

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS WHICH LED TO THE WAR

Greece defeated Turkish Army in the First Balkan War

THE OUTBREAK OF WAR

THE SPARK THAT LIT THE FIRE: SARAJEVO MURDER

Archduke Franz Ferdinand (successor to the Austria-Hungarian throne) was assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serb terrorist nationalist organization .

Austria blamed Serbia and issued an ultimatum to allow Austrian forces to investigate the murder in Serbia.

SUMMER 1914: THE FINAL CRISIS

Austria-Hungary issues an

ultimatum to Serbia (its forces

will enter the country to

investigate the murder)

Serbia refuses the ultimatum

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. 28 July

1914

Russia mobilizes its troops to

defend Serbia

Germany (Austria-Hungary ‘s ally) declares war on

Russia

France (Russia’s ally) declares war

on Germany

Germany invades Belgium to attack

France

Great Britain (France’s ally)

declares war on Germany

Serbian soldiers

German soldiers

Agosto 1914: soldados franceses marchan hacia el frente

ALLIES AND CENTRAL POWERS IN EUROPE

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WWI

ITS EXTENT The high number of combatant countries, the

vast geographical extent justify the name "Great War" or "World War".

Although it started in Europe, with the involvement of Austro-Hungary and Serbia, the game of military alliances dragged into the war to a growing number of powers.

Some countries at war (UK, France, etc.) were holders of vast colonial empires put their respective domains at war, which in practice the five continents were involved in hostilities.

ALLIED AND CENTRAL POWERS IN THE WORLD

 "THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR. COMRADES IN ARMS."

ITS LENGTH

Since Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia on July 28, 1914 until Germany signed the armistice on 11 November 1918.

A war that surpassed in duration to those who had taken place during the 18th and 19th centuries.

NEW ARMAMENT Among the innovations they highlighted:

The tank Gas masks Barbed-wire fences (alambrada con espinas) Chemical weapons Machine guns (ametralladoras) Aircraft Blimps or zeppelins balloons Submarines.

Improved: Riffles. Grenade launchers (lanzagranadas) Armored ships.

1917. Soldado americano con máscara antigas

1916. Construyendo piezas con alambre de púas para la defensa. Batalla del Somme

1916. Masked British soldiers with a gun machine. First day of the Battle of the Somme.

1916. Cráter por una bomba en París

1917. Puerto de Kiel

1916. Lanzando una granada

Tanks in the Great War

The telephone and telegraph were used for communication between the troops

1915. Soldado alemán con un teléfono de campo

GENERAL MOBILIZATION. TOTAL WAR

Huge armies. General

mobilization. Female labor. The struggle

destroyed armies and destroyed industries and infrastructures.

Women working as a conductor and driver on a tram in Glasgow

Women Firefighters take part in a drill at a London work house, April 1916.

Munitionettes: 950,000 female workers were employed in British factories, including this worker, pictured making shell cases in a Vickers factory in January 1915

PROPAGANDA

The outbreak of war was favored by an environment of international rivalry.

Use of propaganda by both sides. The duration, extent and harshness of the

conflict weakened the morale of both the combatants and the rear, so campaigns in journals, radio and posters were used.

REAR IMPORTANCE

World War I took place also in the rear. Large amounts of military equipment, food

and medicine were required from the cities. Industries were adapted to war needs. Food shortages were particularly acute and

forced restrictions through ration cards. Women workers. States were forced into debt to pay for the

war. US lend money to the Allied armies. During the war also lend money to Germany.

ALLIES AND CENTRAL POWERS IN EUROPE

PHASES OF THE WWI

THE WAR OF MOVEMENTS – 1914

SCHLIEFFEN PLAN German plan which was

based on: Rapid attack on France

through neutral Belgium After defeating France,

German troops could turn about and attack Russia, backward country that would need a long time to mobilize their troops

Battle of Marne, 1914 Allied troops managed to halt the German advance From that moment, armies dug trenches all along a front

which extended from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier Stalemate in the western front Germans did not achieve a decisive victory in the eastern

front

French troops in the battle of Marne

Durante la Primera Batalla del Marnedos regimientos franceses acudieron a la batalla en TAXI

TRENCH WARFARE: 1915-1916 The stalemate in the

western front led to a new sort of warfare: the war of attrition (GUERRA DE DESGASTE). A military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel.

Soldados alemanes en una trinchera, festejando la Navidad

1916. Soldados leyendo un periódico en una trinchera

1916. Soldado alemán en una trinchera

1916. Soldados muertos en una trinchera

1916. Dos imágenes: arriba, soldados alemanes; abajo, tropas británicas

Battle of Verdun, 1915

Battle of Somme 1916

1917: THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR

SINKING OF THE US SHIP LUSITANIA, 1915

1915. Funeral en Cobh (Cork) por las víctimas del Lusitania, barco hundido en la costa de Irlanda. Murieron casi 1.200 personas

Zimmerman telegram was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States.

The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence.

Revelation of the contents outraged American public opinion and helped generate support for the United States declaration of war on Germany in April 1917

February 1917 – The Tsar Nicholas II is dethroned

November 1917 – The Communists took over power

March 1918 – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia left the war

Germany acquired provisionally huge territories in the East

1918: THE END OF THE WAR

Germany could move troops from east to weast Spring offensive

Massive arrival of American troops in Europe

Germans started retreating

Revolution in Germany – Kaiser abdicated

German representatives signing the armistice 11 november 1918

11 de noviembre de 1918. Celebración del armisticio al final de la guerra

THE PEACE TREATIES

The victors: Lloyd George (GB), Orlando (It), Clemenceau (Fr) and Wilson (USA)

No negotiations with the defeated: the diktat of Versailles

Different treaties signed by the winners with the defeated:

Treaty of Versailles with Germany

Treaty of Saint-Germain with Austria

Treaty of Trianon with Hungary

Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria

Treaty of Sevres with Turkey

THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES Different attitudes of the

winners towards Germany: Clemenceau: the hardest

stance (“Germany will pay”) Lloyd George, although

willing to punish Germany, a more conciliatory attitude.

Wilson, its “14 points”. Italy was the weakest

winner: Orlando tried to obtain territorial gains in Austria-Hungary but failed and felt dissapointed (“We have won the war, but we have lost the peace”) .

War guilt: Germany had to accept the blame of starting the

war .Germans considered this clause as extremely

unfair .As a consequence….

War reparations Germany has to pay for the damage caused to the

Allies .A huge amount of money was fixed without any

consultation to Germany (140.000 million gold marks).

Territorial loss

Military Clauses:

Drastic limitation of the German navy. Dramatic reduction of the Army (only

100,000 troops, prohibition of having tanks, aircraft and heavy artillery).

Demilitarization of the Rhineland region (Renania).

THE TREATY OF SAINT-GERMAIN The Treaty of Saint

Germain, signed with Austria.

Disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

The result of his break up were new states such as Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

On top of that, several sections of the former empire were annexed by new states such as Poland and Yugoslavia.

THE TREATY OF TRIANON The Treaty of Trianon,

signed with Hungary. Territorial loss: Part to

Yugoslavia and to Romania. Large Hungarian minorities

(3 million people, equivalent to one third of the Hungarian population total) were left outside of the Hungarian state, living as minorities in Czechoslovakia, Romania (Transylvania) and Yugoslavia.

THE TREATY OF SÈVRES AND LAUSSANNE The Treaty of Sèvres

(1920), signed with Turkey, and then fixed in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

The Treaty of Sevres was extremely hard and led the Turkish national rebellion led by Kemal Ataturk.

Distribution of Turkish possessions in the Middle East between France (Syria, Lebanon) and Britain (Palestine, Iraq, Jordan).

THE TREATY OF NEUILLY

The Treaty of Neuilly, signed with Bulgaria.

The small Balkan country suffered several territorial losses, in the benefit of Romania, Greece and a brand-new country: Yugoslavia.

All the defeated countries, like Germany, were forced to pay reparations and to limit the strength of their armies.

TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK The outcome of the

Russian revolution: new states in central and eastern Europe.

New states were born in Central and Eastern Europe:

Poland, reborn from Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian territories.

Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which were former regions of the Russian Empire.

FAILED TREATIES

These treaties rather than solve the problems that had led to the Great War, increased tensions in Europe.

The most important was the German problem. Many Germans began to bide their time to get his revenge against the “diktat”, the “humiliation” of Versailles. (Treaty of Versailles)

CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR

WWI «changed» the world. Nothing was the same after 1918:

Terrible loss of life: eight million dead, millions wounded people, maimed, widows and orphans.

The material destruction suffered especially by Europe.

The destruction of Ypres with the shell of the Cloth Hall standing, 1917.

WWI «changed» the world. Nothing was the same after 1918:

USA became the first world power. Europe started a long decadence

The mass mobilization of men led to the incorporation of women into work.

Soviet revolution and the spread of a prerevolutionary climate in Europe.

The exacerbated nationalism + fear of a communist revolution fascist movements

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The League of Nations

(Sociedad de Naciones) was

President Wilsons’s idea.

Objective: to guarantee peace and promote

cooperation throughout the world.

Headquarters in Geneva.

Initially: 45 countries (even Spain!)

Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Sesión inaugural de la Sociedad de Naciones en Ginebra

USA didn’t want to join.

USSR, Germany were excluded from the

LN

Two organisations: An Assembly (all members states).

A Council (the victorious nations – England,

France, Italy and Japan).

The League of Nations failed: Some of the most important countries didn’t join

the League of Nations: USA, Germany (later, in 1926 Germany joined the

LN, to get out again when Hitler reached the power in 1933).

USSR wasn’t admitted. Japan left in 1933 and Italy in 1936.

The League of Nations had a lack of economic or military means to impose its decisions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z8sssbk

(Life in trenches) http://

www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/soldiers_stories_gallery_03.shtml (Trench life)