World War I: Causes, Conflicts, and Consequences

World War I: Overview

• World War I, or the Great War, was a global conflict between the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers from 1914 to 1918.
• The war took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East, with parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific also involved.
• Trench warfare, artillery, machine guns, chemical weapons, tanks, and aircraft heavily characterized the war.
• It was one of history's deadliest conflicts, with approximately 10 million military deaths, over 20 million wounded, and about 10 million civilian deaths, including genocide.
• The Spanish flu was deadly, partly attributed to the movement of large numbers of people.
• The Allied Powers secured victory, significantly changing the territorial boundaries of Europe.
• The Ottoman Empire was partitioned, Austria-Hungary dissolved, and German colonies transferred, establishing new countries like Poland, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.

Causes of World War I

• Causes included the rise of Germany, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, economic competition, and imperialism disrupted Europe’s balance of power.
• Tensions in the Balkans reached a critical point on June 28, 1914, when Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28 after holding it responsible.
• Germany declared war on Russia and France after Russia mobilized; the United Kingdom entered after Germany invaded Belgium.
• The Ottomans joined the Central Powers in November 1914.
• Germany's initial strategy was to quickly defeat France then focus on the Eastern Front but faced a halt by September, leading to a long Western Front.
• Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece joined the conflict from 1915 onward.

Key Battles and Events

• Major battles like Verdun, the Somme, and Passchendaele failed to break the Western Front stalemate.
• The United States joined the Allies in April 1917 after Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare.
• The Bolsheviks seized power in Russia later in 1917, leading to Soviet Russia signing an armistice with the Central Powers in December.
• Germany launched a spring 1918 offensive, but it exhausted and demoralized the German Army.
• The Allied Hundred Days Offensive caused a collapse of the German front line from August 1918 and onward.
• Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary signed armistices with the Allies by early November.
• Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9, and the war ended with the Armistice of November 11, 1918.

Aftermath and Treaties

• The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, including the Treaty of Versailles.
• Germany lost territories, was disarmed, and had to pay large war reparations.
• The Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires dissolved, leading to new independent states.
• The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace but failed to manage instability, contributing to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

Pre-War Political and Military Alliances

• The major European powers maintained a balance of power known as the Concert of Europe for much of the 19th century.
• Britain’s withdrawal into "splendid isolation", the decline of the Ottoman Empire, New Imperialism, and the rise of Prussia challenged the balance of power.
• Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors in 1873, including Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany.
• The 1879 Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.
• The Reinsurance Treaty in 1887 was a secret agreement for Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked.
• Wilhelm II's refusal to renew the Reinsurance Treaty led to the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894 and the Entente Cordiale with Britain in 1904.
• These developments were followed by the Anglo-Russian Convention in 1907, completing the Triple Entente.

The Arms Race

• German economic and industrial strength enabled Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz to build an Imperial German Navy to compete with the British Royal Navy.
• The launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 provided Britain with a technological advantage.
• This naval race diverted major resources and antagonized Britain.
• Germany shifted expenditure from the Navy to the Army in 1911 due to concern over Russia's recovery from the Russo-Japanese War.
• Military spending by major European powers increased by over 50% from 1908 to 1913.

Conflicts in the Balkans

• The years before 1914 were marked by crises in the Balkans, with powers seeking to benefit from the Ottoman decline.
• The 1908–1909 Bosnian Crisis occurred when Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878.
• The 1911–1912 Italo-Turkish War led to the formation of the Balkan League.
• The Balkan League overran most of the Ottoman territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913 First Balkan War.
• Disputes among victors sparked the Second Balkan War in 1913, resulting in Serbia and Greece feeling cheated of their "rightful gains".
• The Balkans became known as the "powder keg of Europe" due to this mix of resentment, nationalism, and insecurity.

Sarajevo Assassination

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria visited Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, where he was assassinated by Bosnian Serbs and a Bosniak.
• Supplied with arms from the Serbian Black Hand intelligence organization, they hoped to free Bosnia from Austrian rule.
• Gavrilo Princip fatally wounded Ferdinand and his wife Sophie after an initial failed assassination attempt.
• The assassination had a significant impact, described as a "9/11 effect" that transformed Vienna's political chemistry.

July Crisis

• The assassination started the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic maneuvering between major powers.
• Austrian officials sought to end Serbian interference in Bosnia, viewing war as the best way to achieve it.
• Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia on July 23 with intentionally unacceptable demands as an excuse for hostilities.
• Serbia accepted all terms except those allowing Austrian representatives to suppress subversive elements inside Serbia.
• Austria broke off diplomatic relations, ordered partial mobilization, and declared war on Serbia on July 28, beginning shelling of Belgrade.
• Russia ordered general mobilization on July 30 in support of Serbia.
• Germany issued an ultimatum to Russia to cease war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary.
• Germany declared war on France on August 3 and demanded free passage across Belgium, which was refused.
• Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding they withdraw from Belgium.
• On August 4, Germany invaded Belgium, and Britain declared war.

Serbian Campaign

• Austria and Serbia conflicted at the battles of the Cer and Kolubara from August 12, 1914.
• Austrian attacks were repulsed, forcing Austria to keep sizable forces on the Serbian front.
• Serbia’s victory in has been called one of the major upset victories.
• Anti-aircraft warfare and medical evacuation were first used in this campaign in 1915.

German Offensive in Belgium and France

• The Schlieffen Plan called for 80% of the German Army to be located on the Western Front in an offensive through Belgium and the Netherlands.
• Alfred von Schlieffen estimated this would take six weeks, after which the army would transfer east and defeat the Russians.
• Helmuth von Moltke the Younger modified the plan, keeping 70% of German forces in the west on the right wing.
• Moltke also cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, threatening the plan’s viability if there were any delays to the schedule of the German invasion of France.
• The Allied left retreated, and the French offensive failed.
• The French counter-attack reinforced by British forces pushed the German army back 40 to 80 km.

Asia and the Pacific

• New Zealand occupied German Samoa on August 30, 1914, and an Australian force landed on New Britain on September 11.
• Japan declared war on Germany and seized territories in the Pacific and German Treaty ports on the Chinese Shandong peninsula at Tsingtao.
• Allied forces seized all German territories in the Pacific within a few months.

African Campaigns

• British, French, and German colonial forces clashed in Africa; German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa.
• Led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German colonial forces in German East Africa fought a guerrilla warfare campaign, surrendering after the armistice.

Indian Support for the Allies

• Germany attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage.
• The outbreak of war saw a reduction in nationalist activity, with leaders believing support would hasten Indian Home Rule.
• Millions of Indian soldiers and laborers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
• The failure to grant self-government bred disillusionment, leading to the campaign for full independence led by Mahatma Gandhi.

Western Front: Trench Warfare

• Pre-war military tactics proved obsolete against technological advances that helped enhance the strong defensive systems of the trenches and barbed wire.
• Both sides tried to break the stalemate with scientific and technological advances, like gas warfare and tanks.
• Germany used chlorine gas for the first time at the Second Battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915, a violation of the Hague Convention.
• The attack at Verdun began in February 1916, lasting until December 1916 and becoming a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice, although the battle saw equally horrendous losses on both sides.
• The Anglo-French offensive at the Somme from July to November 1916, with the opening day being the bloodiest in British Army history, was a major blow to the Allies.

Naval Warfare

• German cruisers scattered across the globe attacked Allied merchant shipping, with SMS Emden having a substantial impact.
• Britain began a naval blockade of Germany, cutting off vital supplies but violating international law.
• The Battle of Jutland in May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships but was indecisive.
• German U-boats attempted to sever supply lines between North America and Britain.
• After the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners.
• In early 1917, Germany adopted unrestricted submarine warfare, realizing the Americans would enter the war.
• The U-boat threat lessened in 1917 when merchant ships began traveling in convoys escorted by destroyers.
• World War I saw the first use of aircraft carriers, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a raid.

Southern Theatres: War in the Balkans

• Austria-Hungary used only one-third of its army to attack Serbia but suffered heavy losses.
• Bulgaria joined the attack in 1915, resulting in Serbia’s conquest and division between Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria.
• A Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to pressure its government to declare war against the Central Powers.
• The Macedonian front stabilized after French and Serbian forces retook limited areas.

Ottoman Empire

• The Ottomans threatened Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India via the Suez Canal.
• The Empire conducted ethnic cleansing of the Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians by capitalizing on the European powers' preoccupation with the war.
• The British and French opened the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian (1914) campaigns.
• Russian armies generally had success in the Caucasus campaign, driving the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus.
• The Arab Revolt, started in June 1916, led by Sharif Hussein, and resulted in the Ottoman surrender of Damascus.
• Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted to 650,000 men.
• Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000.

Italian Front

• Though Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, it remained neutral until 1915 when it joined the Triple Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary.
• The pre-1914 Italian army had deficiencies, but they had been remedied by 1915, though inadequately for the Treaty of London.
• Italian pre-war strategy and tactics exacerbated the difficulty that came with fighting high in the Alps and Dolomites.
• Italian combat deaths totaled around 548,000 by the war’s end.
• Austria-Hungary’s forces counterattacked in Asiago in 1916, being pushed back again by Italian forces around Tyrol.
• A combined Austro-German force won a major victory at Caporetto in 1917, but a second Austrian offensive was then repulsed in June 1918.

Eastern Front

• Early plans involved advancing into Austrian Galicia and East Prussia.
• Russian attacks into Galicia were largely successful.
• Speed of mobilization without heavy equipment led to defeats in East Prussia at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914.
• June 1916 Brusilov offensive strained supply lines, leading to under-exploitation of the victory, while fatally weakening Austrian and Russian armies and increasing disillusion.

Romanian Participation

• Romania joined the Entente in the August 1916 Treaty of Bucharest.
• German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive captured Dobruja and Giurgiu, and Bucharest surrendered to the Central Powers in December 1916.
• August von Mackensen would fail to knock Romania out of the war, leading to the Romanian army remaining in the war and advancing.
• Romania signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers after the Russian revolution.

Central Powers Peace Overtures

• Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies in December 1916 after a brutal offensive, but it was rejected.
• President Woodrow Wilson attempted to intervene as a peacemaker, but Germany rebuffed it.
• The Allies sought restoration of damages, evacuation of territories, reparations, and a recognition of national principles.

Final Years of the War & Russian Revolution

• By the end of 1916, Russian casualties totaled nearly five million.
• In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas ordered the military to suppress strikes, causing a revolution.
• Revolutionaries set up the Petrograd Soviet, and Nicholas was forced to abdicate, leading to the Russian Provisional Government.
• Vladimir Lenin was ushered from Switzerland into Russia with German help, leading to the rise of the Bolshevik Party.
• December brought an armistice and followed on March 3, 1918, with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that ceded territories.

United States Enters the War

• The United States remained neutral until April 6, 1917, when Congress declared war on Germany.
• The German submarine offensive was the most significant factor.
• The US Navy joined the Grand Fleet and provided convoy escorts, with 2.8 million men drafted by the Selective Service Act of 1917.

Nivelle Offensive (April-May 1917)

• Robert Nivelle replaced Pétain and began planning a spring attack in Champagne, part of a joint operation.
• French made substantial gains on the attack, but persisted with frontal assaults at the Hindenburg Line and suffered heavy casualties.
• The Easter Rising in Dublin stirred unrest in the Allied world.
• German plans to send rifles to help spur rebellion in Britain failed after an intense reaction to the Easter Rising.
• The 21st Division refused orders to go into battle, initiating French Army mutinies.

Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1917–1918)

• The Egyptian Expeditionary Force’s advance halted at the First and Second Battles of Gaza.
• The campaign resumed when General Edmund Allenby's corps won the Battle of Beersheba.
• Two Ottoman armies were defeated at the Battle of Mughar then, and Jerusalem was captured following another Ottoman defeat.

German Offensive and Allied Counter-Offensive (March-November 1918)

• Allied strength grew between April and November 1918 while German strength fell.
• The Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia in December 1917, freeing German troops for the West.
• Germany commenced Operation Michael on March 21, 1918, achieving an advance of 60 kilometers, after which a lack of tanks halted the offensive.
• Allied troops liberated Belgium on their advance to the Hindenburg Line.
• The Supreme Army Command decided that armistice talks were inevitable on September 24.

Armistices and Capitulations

• Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, the Armistice of Salonica on September 29, 1918, after which the military situation facing Germany was hopeless.
• Austria-Hungary asked Italy for an armistice but the Italians continued advancing, leading to the Armistice of Villa Giusti.
• The Ottoman Empire capitulated, and signed the Armistice of Mudros on October 30.
• Germany moved towards surrender, with negotiations beginning with President Wilson, who demanded a constitutional monarchy.
• The German Revolution of 1918–1919 began at the end of October 1918, which led to the abdication of Wilhelm II, and German surrender.

Aftermath

• The German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires disappeared.
• Numerous nations regained independence, and new ones were created, after four dynasties had fallen.
• Formal war came to an end with treaties that marked peace in Europe across the territories of the Central Powers.
• The Treaty of Versailles officially marked peace across the Central Powers and aimed to create legal sanctions for Germany, while that country had the most land taken from it.
• Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states after the war that would soon take hold under Axis occupation.

National Identities

• Poland re-emerged as an independent country, and many areas were declared independent across the fallen empires.
• In Australia and New Zealand, the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' "Baptism of Fire".
• The aftermath of World War I saw Greece fight against Turkish nationalists, which eventually resulted in a massive population exchange and the Greek genocide.

Casualties

• Ranged approximately 40 million for both military and civilians
• Several million were killed, wounded and disabled.
• Diseases, exhaustion, and malnutrition spread throughout Europe
• Several million were killed from these plagues and natural events

War Crimes

• Gas was first used in Ypres
• 1.3 million casualties were reported due to the numerous attacks and deployments
• Hague Declaration clearly violated

Genocides by the Ottoman Empire

• Massacres of Ottoman Empire during its cleansing of Armenia
• International Association of Genocide Scholars estimates around 1.5 million were killed under the law given.

Military Attaches and War Correspondents

• Observers from major powers followed the course and were able to report on events.

Economic Effects

• Government share of GDP increased
• Many families were altered and women replaced men.

Support and Opposition of the War.

• Nationalists pushed for independence from the Austria-Hungary Empire and were supported by Yugoslavs
• A congress met in London April 1918 supported many territories and allies.
• Socialist parties initially began support then split, however some radical leaders continued to push forward.