World War I & its aftermath

July 28th 1914 – November 11th 1918

The Stage is Set
Causes of WWI:
2. Nationalism

3. Imperial Rivalries

4. Militarism

5. A tangle of alliances
2) Imperial Rivalries
 Germany was becoming a superpower
 Britain felt threatened
 France & Germany clashed over territories
 France and Britain grew closer…

…By 1914 Europe was “an open powder keg waiting for a
spark to ignite it.”
Tangle of Alliances
 Alliances formed out
of fear and distrust…!
 The Central Powers
 Germany, Austria-
Hungary & Italy
 The Allies
 UK, France, Russia
(plus France, Canada,
Belgium, NZ,
Australia, Japan, U.S
& a few more…)
Militarism & Nationalism
 European leaders
glorified war
 Social Darwinism
 “Only the strong
survive!”
 Arms Race
 Britain vs. Germany
The Guns of August
 Archduke Franz Ferdinand
 Successor to Austrian throne
 Visited Sarajevo, Bosnia
 Black Hand Terrorist Group (Serbian)
 Angered over Ferdinand’s visit, because
Austria was refusing to give up Bosnia
 Decided to assassinate him in protest…!
“The Spark”
 On June 28, 1914
Franz Ferdinand &
wife (Austrian) were
assassinated..
 Peace unravelled..
 Austria gave Serbia
ultimatum, to leave
their territory of Bosnia
etc etc but…
 Serbia refused, so…

WW1 BEGINS
World War I Begins
 Austria was MAD.
War was declared.
Germany attacked
first (Germany are
allied with Austria)
 Both sides
(Germany/Austria vs. the
Allies – Russia, France &
Britain) settled down for a
long war
A New Kind of Conflict
 Trench warfare
 Thousands of miles
dug
 In between called
“No Man’s Land”
 Over the top!
 Both sides ordered
suicidal charges
 Millions sacrificed
A war of machines
 New weaponry added
to death toll:
 Planes
 Tanks
 Submarines
 Machine guns
 Poison Gas
A Stalemate
 By 1917 Europe was tired of war
 Russia overthrew their monarchy
 Pulled out of the war
 Allies on the brink of losing
Winning the War
 The U.S. joined war
 Germany made one
final push (1918)
 Attack failed
 Kaiser Wilhelm II
stepped down
 Germany asked for
peace
Treaty of Versailles
 Germany (who lost 2.5 million people in
the war) was ordered to sign Treaty of
Versailles which meant they:
 Had to accept full blame for the war
 Had to pay $30 million
 Could not have a military presence
 Had to give up a lot of their land
The Damage of the “Great” War

 3 ½ years long
 70 million military personnel involved
 16 million deaths (6.7 million of these
were civilians, and mostly from famine)
 8 million POWs
 21 million wounded