World War 1

• THE GREAT WAR
• AKA: Family Feud
• Mostly a close-quarters war with land squabbles
• War to End All Wars
• New type of warfare- much more brutal
• TOTAL WAR
• War That Shapes the 20th Century
• Every conflict today can be traced to WW1
• War To Make Room for "Democracy"
• Equalize nations, move rankings to globalized
• Causes of War
• Root and Long Term Causes
• Nationalism rise in major countries
• War is inevitable
• Well foreseen by all of Europe
• Realpolitik and Weltpolitik
• War's definition
• Limited vs. Total War
• Limited was operated by rules
• More like a game, less brutal
• Limited war is justifiable because it can be profitable
• Short Term Causes
• Ally Soup (tangled web of alliances)
• Bismarck is to blame
• Was fired and replaced by an idiot.
• Two armed and hostile teams
• Technology
• Most weapons and field health trace to WW1
• NATIONALISM!**
• Panslavism (national movements in Balkans)
• Revanche (French revenge on Germany for Alsaise Lorraine
• Militarism
• Standing army (France and Russia) and Naval (Germany) buildup
• Imperialism
• "Balkan Powder Keg"
• Kaboom! Explosion that could affect all of Eu
• Pretext Cayse
• Sammslungpolitik (rallying together)
• Propaganda cause (liesss)
• *Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary*
• Crown Prince killed by Serbs, big deal!!
• Casus Belli (real cause)
• Austria-Hungary (A-H)-  Guard the Balkans
• Germany (GE)- Allied to A-H, prove strength
• Great Britain (GB or BR)- GE built up navy, sign of aggression, Poor Lil Belgium
• Italy (IT)- Mare Nostrum (claim the Mediterranean)
• Russia (RU)- Warm Water Port
• France (FR)- Revanche
• Belgium (BE)- GE plowed through country (only country with a justifiable reason, TBH)
• Serbia (SE)- panslavism
• Ottomans (OT)- Protect Balkans to protect own position
• America's Involvement!
• We sucked

• Fought 5 months
• Did NOTHING
• B-But we saved the day! 
• Sorry, no.
• Years of War
• The Guns of August
• Aug 1914 - Dec 1914
• Still gungho about war, enthusiasm is high
• Romanticism vs. Reality of War
• Von Moltke's changes to Von Schlieffen Plan
• 1 front to 2 front
• Timetable- soldiers move faster than supplies
• pause for supplies
• *Violated Belgian Neutrality!*
• December 1914- Christmas Truce
• Last nod to old way of warfare
• The Year of Stalemate and Sideshows - 1915
• Attritional War- not total war yet
• Break stalemates by ANY MEANS NECESSARY
• Technology boom begins- advantages get trumped by new tech, continuing cycle
• Sideshow is a campaign away from main front to try to gain advantage at the main front
• The Year of Slaughter, Attrition, and Decisions (S.A.D.) - 1916
• Wasted year for all resources, including supplies
• Battle of Verdun (Feb.-Dec.) FR vs. GE
• Battle of the Somme (Mar.-Oct.) Sideshow of Verdun, BR. vs. GE
• Battle of Second Ypres (Apr.-Dec.) FR/BR/BE vs. GE
• Race to the sea
• Decisions: Leaders are all fired and replaced
• Win war by ANY MEANS NECESSARY
• Battlefield tactics shift
• The Year of Unspeakable Suffering - 1917
• RU and IT drop out- civil war in Russia, Italy generally sucks
• Germany got smart.
• Homefront is only now feeling the war
• put it off as long as possible
• The End - 1918
• Germany ends the war
• Scared of US involvement
• Zimmerman Telegram... oops.
• War was pretty much already decided
• US had the potential to utterly wreck GE, too much to lose
• Kaiserschlact- Emperor's Battle - March 1918
• 6 attack points, 12 battles
• Double envelopement (attack from front and back, like a smothering blanket)
• German military and industrial leaders sold out the army and people
• "save resources for another day"
• Intentionally LOST
• NO ONE WON
• Dolschtuss Legend, or "stabbed in the back" legend
• GE's "We could have won" mantra
• Weimar Republic accepted conditional surrender or armistice
• Peace Settlements
• Traditional Operations (old war style)
• All sides attend
• Neutral ground and moderator, usually Switzerland
• Negotiate together
• Sign treaty to law
• Solve the conflict so it NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN
• 1919, or Paris Peace Conference
• GE, RU and CP not in attendance
• In Paris, which was not neutral
• Dictated treaty
• Accept or else
• Fueled another war (three guesses which)
• Lacked power of enforcement
• Important things
• Italy
• Sent Vittitorio Orlando, AKA "The Walrus"
• Mare Nostrum, cared only for land gains
• Goal: Irredenta (regain glory of Roman days)
• Wanted some Balkans and the Med
• Didn't get it because they were irrelevant
• Mussolini steps in at the sidelines to gain power
• US payed Italy cash to sign treaty
• Germany
• Not allowed to negotiate terms of treaty
• Forced to sign Treaty of Versailles
• Weimar Republic signed, but collapsed due to the horrible terms of the treaty
• Territorial Terms: Land LOST
• Alsace Lorraine to France
• PRUSSIA lost to Poland
• Poland took second largest port of Danzig
• Lost African and Asian colonies to Britain
• Sudentenland to Czechoslovakia
• Had GE's best coal mines
• Occupation of the Rhineland by France
• Which were GE's industrial centres
• Military Terms
• Rhineland is demilitarized
• From 3.2 mil soldiers to 150,000 to be used in defense only
• Navy is dismantled
• Personal arms reduced to 250,000
• impossible to regulate
• No conscription
• All military commissions to be controlled by Allies
• Confiscation of all military ecquipment
• Yard sale with no price tags- free for all
• Control of all transport infrastructure delegated to Allies
• Economic Terms
• All foreign trade to be regulated by Allies
• "Reparations" (traditional) Article 232
• Indemnities- Fault Payments
• 232 billion in total reparations
• 33 billion per years after initial payment
• 500 million marks in gold bullion- initial payment
• tanks economy, removed gold standard
• CAUSES GREAT DEPRESSION
• War Guilt Clause
• Article 231
• GERMANY is the only one responsible
• All of Versailles terms are possible due to this clause
• Association Clause
• No more alliances for Germany
• Especially not to Austria
• League of Nations
• Articles 1-26 establish League
• 27 says Germany cannot be a member
• France runs the league, US created it
• No enforcement to preserve Balance of Power
• Establishes New World Order