Europe Before World War I

1
Europe Before World War I
2
Causes of World War I

• Secret and Entangling Alliances
• Triple Entente
• Triple Alliance
• Nationalism
• Extreme-Militaristic
• Self-Determination
• Imperialism
• Competition for resources
• Geo-political concerns
• Industrialization
• arms race

3
Causes Continued

• Assassination of the Archduke
• Ultimatums
• Mobilization
• A self-fulfilling prophecy

4
Home by Christmas?

• The Schleiffen Plan
• Invading neutral Belgium
• England to the rescue
• Germany almost succeeds
• Stalemate and the Western Front
• Modern weapons v. Old ideals
• Trench Warfare
• Stalemate

5
Modern Warfare

• Machine guns 600rnds per minute
• Long-range accurate artillery
• The war in the air
• Chemical warfare
• Tanks
• U-boats

6
Americas (Not-so) Neutrality

• George Washington once urged the U.S. To avoid
  entangling alliances in Europe
• Wilson elected on a pledge to keep America out of
  the war
• Divided loyalties
• Propaganda
• 5/7/1915 the Lusitania was sunk.
• Banks had loaned 1.5bil to the allies
• The Zimmerman note
• Wilson declares war on Germany in April 1917
• American doughboys made the difference in the
  summer of 1918 at the battle of Château-Thierry
• Armistice day 11/11/1918

7
A Just Peace?

• The Big 4
• Georges Clemenceau
• Lloyd George
• Vitorio Orlando
• Woodrow Wilson
• Fourteen Points
• Self-determination
• Peace without victory
• Disarmament
• Fair treatment of colonial peoples
• The League of Nations

8
An Unjust Peace

• Obstacles
• France and Britain wanted to punish Germany
• Self-determination would not please everyone
• Secret treaties
• Treaty of Versailles June 1919
• Return of Alsace-Lorraine
• The Polish Corridor
• Demilitarized zones
• Reparations 33 billion
• New States
• Czechoslovakia
• Yugoslavia
• Hungary and Austria divided
• The Ottoman Empire reduced to Turkey

9
The League of Nations

• Voluntary Participation
• Little enforcement power left it unable to
  resolve disputes
• The U.S. Senate rejects participation ushering in
  an era of isolationism