The World At War Causes of World War

The World At War

Causes of World War I • Militarism: – Imperialism and nationalism led to increased production of goods and economic stability in these countries, which resulted in an arms race. The aggressive attitude of this policy drove them into producing more weaponry, such as strong navies and armored vehicles. • Alliance System: – The alliances of Europe were formed for protection against each other. However, the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and Great Britain) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria. Hungary, and Italy) very quickly took aggressive postures towards one another. This is due in large part to the lack of any global organization designed to promote peace among the nations of the world.

Causes of World War I • Imperialism: – European countries divided up Africa and Asia to strengthen the political and economic power of the mother country. This resulted in competition among European countries. • Nationalism: – Nationalism was both a uniting force and a divisive one. It resulted in Germany and Italy uniting into strong nations, and also caused the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary.

Causes of World War I • The Spark – In 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand his wife were visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Gavrilo Princip, of the Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand, assassinated the Archduke and his wife. Austria-Hungary made threats to Serbia, whom they blamed for the assassination. Russia supported Serbia, and readied their military for war. Germany declared war on Russia, and on France, Russia's ally. Germany then invaded Belgium as a prelude to invading France. This resulted in Great Britain declaring war on Germany, which was the start of World War I.

Aspects of World War I • Most of World War I was a stalemate. Entrenched positions on both sides were only able to move a few miles in a battle that lasted the better part of a year. The conditions of trench warfare were brutal; trench-foot, disease, lice, and inadequate supplies made fighting difficult.

Aspects of World War I New Technology Invention Description Machine Gun Allowed troops to fire multiple rounds of ammunition before reloading. Tank Armored vehicle that was used for troop protection and later had a large gun attached. Airplane First used for scouting enemy troop movement, these were also involved in “dogfights. ” Submarine This submersible boat allowed the Germans to bomb unsuspecting ships. Poison Gas Often referred to as Mustard Gas, this heavy neurotoxin was deadly in trench warfare.

The Aftermath and its Impact on Subsequent Events The Big Four David Lloyd Georges Clemenceau Leader of Great Britain Leader of France Vittorio Orlando Woodrow Wilson Leader of Italy Leader of United States

The Aftermath and its Impact on Subsequent Events • Accomplishments – Treaty of Versailles: Ended World War I. It was extremely unfair to Germany, forcing them to accept all of the blame for the war. It is a major cause of World War II. – 14 Points Speech: An address given to the United States’ Congress by President Woodrow Wilson concerning the end of World War I and the treatment of all concerned with the war. The speech outlines the League of Nations and the ideas of self determination for different ethnic groups.

The Aftermath and its Impact on Subsequent Events • Accomplishments Cont… – League of Nations : A multinational peace keeping organization which began as an idea of United States President Woodrow Wilson following the first World War. • The Treaty of Versailles created a League with over 40 different countries joining. • The United States was not one of them. • The League of Nations was to be an international body that would settle future problems through negotiations instead of warfare. • The member nations were to work cooperatively through economic and military means to enforce its decisions. • However, since the United States did not join, the League never achieved its intentions. • While the League did attempt to halt the aggressiveness of Hitler's Germany, their inherent weakness prevented them from stopping World War II.

Results • The Treaty of Versailles was more about revenge, than it was about forging a lasting peace. Germany was forced to accept total responsibility for the start of the war. They also were forced to pay huge reparations, and give over vast amounts of territory. The start of World War II is a direct result of the harsh treatment of Germany after World War I.

RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS

Political Conflict in Russia The struggle of the common people in Russia at the turn of the 20 th century resulted in a conflict that reshaped the history of that century. Early in his reign, Czar Nicholas II was resisting pressure to reform his country with modernization. This created a volatile situation that would eventually be his undoing. Terrible living and working conditions and the embarrassing loss to Japan in the Russo. Japanese War of 1904 -1905 resulted in massive riots throughout Russia. The czar responded by ordering troops to fire into crowds. The events leading up to and including these massacres are known as the 1905 Revolution.

Political Conflict in Russia • Grigori Rasputin – The infamous advisor to Czar Nicholas II’s family. Rasputin was a peasant, healer who was brought to the palace to heal young Alexis (heir) of hemophilia. Rasputin used his influence to bring down the royal family and anger the public.

1917 Russia • March Revolution – Causes • Losses in World War I • Duma relatively weak • Terrible living & working conditions – Goals • Overthrow the Czar • Gain Rights – Results • Czar loses power • Russia has a Provisional Government • November Revolution – Causes • Kerenskii, chose to stay in World War I. • Economy is devastated. – Goals • Remove Provisional Government. – Results • Bolsheviks come to power. • Russian Civil War – Reds V. Whites

1917 Russia • Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 -1924) – Russian revolutionary leader and political theorist. He was the first leader of the new communist government of Soviet Russia. Later, he was also the first leader of the Soviet Union, which was composed of most of the republics of the former Russian Empire. – Lenin promised "bread, peace, and land" to the working class of Russia, but used secret police and brutality to create a oneparty government where the Communist Party, and not the people, had the ultimate power.

Communist Russia • Bolsheviks – Early name of communists during the Russian Revolution of 1917, also known as the “Reds. ” • Trotsky – Founder of the Red Army, he lead a failed struggle against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920 s. Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union. He continued in exile to oppose Stalin and was eventually assassinated in Mexico. • Stalin – The General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party from 1922 until 1953. Known for his brutality in dealing with opponents and his failed policies of collectivism that caused widespread famine across the Soviet Union.

Communist Russia • The Great Purge – Stalin setup a totalitarian state where his one party government attempted to control every aspect of their people's lives. In the late 1920 s, he started a policy called Russification, which was to transform the various ethnic groups in the Soviet Union into good Russians. This policy promoted Russian language, culture, and history above all others. He forbade the use other cultural practices and languages, and often denied non Russians many basic human rights. During the late 1930 s, Stalin set out to eliminate all opposition to his rule. He imprisoned or executed millions of people, many of them prominent figures from the ethnic republics. As a result, many ethnic groups were denied their freedom, culture, and religion until the collapse of the Soviet union in the early 1990 s.