Content Overview
Unit 7: c. 1900-Present
World War 1
Causes of the War
The MAIN Causes
Militarism
European nations kept competing with each other by making larger weapons
Alliances
Europe had 2 main alliances (Triple Alliance & Triple Entente). A small rivalry between 2 nations would lead to a huge war between each nation's alliances
Imperialism
European nations competed for colonies abroad. The main rivalries were between Germany and Britain/France
Nationalism
European nations had huge popular nationalist sentiment → The people would cheer on their nation to win the war without dropping out
The 2 Alliances
Triple Alliance
(Central Powers)
Triple Entente
(Allies)
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Italy
Britain
France
Russia
The Start of the War
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was visiting Sarajevo (in his Serbian province)
Gavrilo Princip, member of Serbian independence terrorist group, shot Ferdinand
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia after Serbia refused to allow Austria-Hungary to investigate the crime
Britain declared war on Germany
Germany joined the war as it was Austria-Hungary's ally & declared war on Russia & France
Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary to protect the Serbs
The Middle of the War
German Battle on Western Front (with France)
Germany moved westward through Belgium to attack France
France stopped Germany at River Marne
Battle was a stalemate for 4 years due to trench warfare
German Battle on Eastern Front (with Russia)
Germans attacked Russia
Russia was so devastated from the war, and this allowed it to have an internal communist revolution (1917)
Russia's new communist government withdrew from the war in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)
Japan's Entry into the War
Germany had a small presence in East Asia, where it controlled the Shandong peninsula in China
Germany was distracted with WW1 in Europe, so Japan could take over German possessions in East Asia to expand its influence there
Japan declared war on Germany (on the side of the Allies) in August 1914
The End of the War
Why did the US Join the War?
German U-boats sunk many ships
German submarines sunk a lot of American ships, especially the British ship Lusitania in 1915 with 128 US citizens on board
US gave loans to Allies
US gave many loans to the Allies (especially Britain & France), so it only made sense for the Allies to win
Zimmerman Telegram
Germany asked Mexico to join WW1. In exchange, Germany would give Mexico the territories lost to US in the Mexican-American War (1846-48)
Allies' Lack of Troops
Russia withdrew from WW1 in mid-1917 (officially in 1918) → Germany could focus all troops on Western front → US needed to supply troops to Western front
On April 6, 1917, the US joined World War 1 on the side of the Allies (with Britain & France)
End of the War
At the beginning of the war (Aug 1914), Britain imposed a naval blockade on Germany
With US troops helping the Allies, Germany didn't have enough resources to attack the Allies (and the naval blockade was also depleting its resources)
The Central Powers surrendered to the Allies (Nov 11, 1918)