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Unit Nine
Western Civilization
ORIGINS
OF WORLD WAR ONE2b
ESSENTIAL
QUESTIONS:
1. GROWTH OF THE NATION-STATE: How has the rise of the Nation as a
political,
economic,
social and cultural institution influenced world events?
2. WARFARE:
How has the nature of War and Peace impacted world history?
3. HISTORIOGRAPHY: How has the course of time impacted the changing views of
history and historical events?
OVERVIEW:
The
original name for World War One, given during the war, was “The Great War”.
Now, ninety years later, it seems still the most appropriate name for
the war. It was not the most costly
war, and more people would be killed in the Second World War, but it if we
define “great” as large, distinguished, and important, it clearly deserves the
title The Great War. It was the last
war whose start was celebrated so boisterously by so many and socially diverse
sectors of the population of Europe.
Most came to be sorry for those celebrations, as the horror of the war
became more and more apparent. Most
felt the war would be over by Christmas; four years later an end seemed
anything but certain. It was a war that
was fought with a ferocity and horror that surprises us even today, yet during
the first Christmas on the Western Front both sides stopped fighting to
celebrate the holiday. Three royal
houses of Europe, and ten million men of all social classes, would be consumed
by the war. Many of the survivors from
both sides would be impacted long after the end of the war. The war was to cast a shadow upon the world
even to this day. So, as we look at it
in these many ways, it was truly The Great War!!
On July 25,
Kaiser Wilhelm II cancelled his summer vacation and returned aboard his yacht
to Germany. He was called back because
the crisis of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June
28, 1914, was now beginning to get out of hand. When he left on his vacation
the crisis was thought to be a minor one that would quickly blow over. His first words to his Chancellor were, "How
did it all happen?"
When he left for vacation he seemed sure that the crisis had been
resolved, even if the end result would be another small Balkan war. But upon his return, he like many of the
other leaders of Europe was no longer sure of the speed or direction of the
crisis. Nonetheless, their worries of a
possible war were countered by their feelings of national confidence and
pride. The vast majority of the
leadership could not fathom the horror and destruction this war would lead to, nor
could they believe that any of their actions might lead to war. How could such a minor crisis have resulted
in such a devastating war? It is a
question that troubled the leaders of the time and still concerns us today.
The heart of this unit will be an
investigation of how the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand would lead in
a month to the start of this war. We
will spend time on the diplomatic responses that led to the declarations of
war. And since most of you have covered
this war in at least two other classes, we shall then move very quickly through
the events of the war, and the aftermath of that war.
CONTENT QUESTIONS:
1. What caused the "New Imperialism"?
2. What were the causes of World War I?
3. How did diplomacy fail after the assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand?
4. Which countries were responsible for the First World War?
5. How was the First World War fought?
6. What were the terms and the consequences of the Versailles
Treaty?
KEY TERMS:
Boer war Union of South Africa
Dual Alliance of 1879 Three Emperors’
League
Tsar
Nicholas II Kaiser Wilhelm II
Black
Hand Pan
Slavic Nationalism
Wiesner Report Austrian Ultimatum
Sarajevo
Assassination Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Triple Alliance Triple Entente
Balkan Wars Moroccan Crises
Schlieffen Plan Lord Edward Grey
David Lloyd George George Clemenceau
Battle of the Marne Central
Powers
Battle of Tannenberg Battle of Verdun
Dardanelles
campaign Gallipoli
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Battle of the Somme
Paul von Hindenburg Schlieffen
plan
General Petain General von Moltke
Passchendaele German
Offensive of 1918
Armistice Allied
Offensive of 1918
Field Marshall Haig Field Marshall
Joseph Joffre
Battle of Jutland Trench warfare
Balfour
Note Belgium
Fourteen Points League of Nations
Polish Corridor War Guilt
Clause
Peace of Paris
Versailles Treaty
Alsace
and Lorraine “Irredenta”
TIME LINE:
1870 Franco-Prussian War.
Revolution
in France; Napoleon III flees France: Third Republic declared
German
Empire proclaimed with William I(Wilhelm I) as German Emperor.
1873 Three Emperors'
League formed
1875 Russo-Turkish War
1878 Congress of Berlin
1879 Dual Alliance between
Germany and Austria
1881 Three Emperors'
League renewed
1882 Italy joins Germany
and Austria to form Triple Alliance
1888 William II (Wilhelm
II) becomes Kaiser
1890 Bismarck dismissed as
Chancellor
1894 Franco-Russian
Alliance
1898 Germany begins
building battleship navy
1902 Britain allies with
Japan
1904 Entente Cordiale
unites England and France
1905 Schlieffen plan
created by German General Staff
1904-5 Russo-Japanese war
1905 Revolution of 1905 in
Russia
Black Sunday
First
Moroccan crisis
1907 Britain joins Russia
forming Triple Entente
1908-9 Bosnian crisis
1911 Second Moroccan
crisis
Italy
attacks Turkey
1912-13 First and Second Balkan
Wars
June 28,
1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir
to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire is Assassinated in Sarajevo Assassins
Princip and Cabrinovic are taken into custody.
June 29, 1914 Belgrade wires its condolences to Vienna.
Austrian Foreign Minister Count Leopold von Berchtold's
initial stance is
one of moderation; jails all suspected
terrorists, and dissolve extremist
groups.
Austrian army Chief of Staff General Conrad von Hotzendorff
wants invasion but needs sixteen days to
mobilize his troops.
July
2,1914 Emperor Franz Josef sends
letter to Kaiser Wilhelm II
thanking him
for
condolence
July 5 Germany
assures Austria of support "blank
check"
German
Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Jagow leaves for his honeymoon
in
Lucerne.
July 6 Kaiser departs for his annual North Sea
cruise
July 10 Austria sends Friedrich
von Wiesner to Sarajevo investigate assassination.
July 13 Wiesner wires his findings back to Berchtold:
Nothing has been
found
to implicate the Serbian government in the assassination.
Berchtold keeps the findings away from Franz
Josef
July 23, 6:00 PM Austria delivers ultimatum to Serbia - (48
hours to respond)
July 24 Russian high command begins secret
discussions to mobilize
July 25 Tsar discusses pre-mobilization and orders
partial mobilization intended
against Austria to begin July 26.
Russia
enters state of preparation for mobilization
July 25, 3:00 PM Serbia mobilizes
July 25, 5:55 PM Serbia accepts most of the Austrian
ultimatum
July 25, 7:23 PM Austria mobilizes
July 27 Germany refuses Lord Grey’s
invitation-France & Italy accept
France
partially mobilizes
July
28 Austria rejects
Serbian reply
Austria
declares war on Serbia at 11:00 AM
Russia
reorders partial mobilization intended for Austrian frontier
Austria-Hungary
declares war on Russia.
July 29 At 1:00 AM the Kaiser and
Czar Nicholas II begin the famous Willy-Nilly
correspondence
via telegram.
Tsar signs order for Russia’s
full mobilization then calls it off
Germany
demands Russia stop mobilization or Germany will follow
Russia’s
call for mobilization
July 30 The
Czar changes his mind for the third time:
Russia proclaims general
mobilization
July 31 Germany orders Russia to
demobilize in twelve hours
Germany
requests France remain neutral in German-Russo war
August 1,
4:45 PM France mobilizes.
August 1,
5:00 PM Germany mobilizes.
August 1,
6:00 PM Germany declares war on
Russia
August 2 Germany notifies Belgium of
its intent to march across its territory-
wants
reply in 12 hours.
Italy
declares neutrality.
August 3,
6:15 PM Germany declares war on
France
The Belgians
refuse the German army passage through their country
August 4 German army violates Belgian
neutrality as the Schlieffen
Plan activated.
The invasion of France is on.
Great
Britain declares war on Germany.
August 6 Austria declares war on
Russia
Serbia
declares war on Germany
August 10 France declares war on
Austria
August 23 Japan declares war on Germany
August
26-30 German
army, led by Erich
Ludendorff and Paul von
Hindenburg, achieves
its
greatest victory of the war on the Eastern front against Russia
at the
Battle of
Tannenberg.
September
5-10 First Battle of the Marne
halts German invasion in France.
September
15 First trenches
of the Western front are dug
December
25 Unofficial Christmas Truce
declared by soldiers on the Western Front
April,
1915 British troops land
at Gallipoli
1915 Armenian genocide
1916 Battle of Verdun
Battle
of Jutland
Battle
of the Somme
April, 1917 United States joins Triple
Entente
March, 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
German
Offensive in west
Nov 9,1918 Kaiser William abdicates
Nov 11, 1918 Armistice signed
January 18, 1919 Paris settlements to end the war begin
August 10, 1920 Last treaty signed
SOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH:
A.
Bibliography:
Berghahn,
Volker. Imperial Germany.(1994).
Brinton,
Crane. Anatomy of Revolution. (1957).
Fay,
Sidney B. The Origins of the World War. (1932).
Keynes,
John M. The Economic Consequences of the Peace. (1920).
Langer,
Walter L. European Alliances and Alignments, l870-l890. (1950).
Lederer,
Ivo J. The Versailles Settlement: Was it Foredoomed to Failure?. (1960).
Lee,
Dwight E. The Outbreak of the First World War. (1963).
Pflanze, O. Bismarck and the Development of Germany.
(1963).
Pinson,
K.S. Modern Germany. (1966).
Reed, John. Eastern Europe at War. (1994).
Remak,
Joachim.The Origins of World War I.(1967),
Remarque,
Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. (1929)
Schmitt, B
.E. Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. (1930)
Taylor, A.
J. P. The Struggle for Mastery of
Europe. (1954)
Tombs,
Robert. France 1814-1914.
(1996).
Tuchman,
Barbara. The Guns of August. (1962).
B.
Web Sites:
World War One – http://www.worldwar1.com/
World War One – http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/
World War One –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/index.shtml
World War One – http://www.firstworldwar.com/
Women and World war One - http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets4.html
Trenches and World War One –
http://www.worldwar1.com/reflib.htm
War at Sea - http://www.gwpda.org/naval/n0000000.htm
World War One – http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/
World War One and documents -
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww1.htm
World War One -
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/w1frm.htm
World War One and photographs - http://www.ww1photos.com/
World War One and propaganda -
http://www.ww1-propaganda-cards.com/
Tsarist Russia –
http://www.questia.com/popularSearches/tsarist_russia.jsp
Russia -
http://www-math.mit.edu/~igorvp/Russia/russia.html
Nationalism
- http://www.wisc.edu/nationalism/
France/Third Republic-
http://flagspot.net/flags/fr_third.html
The Treaty of Versailles -
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/text/versaillestreaty/vercontents.html
The Treaty of Versailles -
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/treaty_of_versailles.htm