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Unit.4, Imperialism, First World War - Coggle Diagram
Unit.4
five separate treaties
: :
● prohibition of heavy artillery, planes and submarines
● payment of huge economic reparations
● reduction of its territories: Alsace-Lorraine were given back to France and irs
colonies divided between them
● demilitarization of the region of the Rhineland (on the French border)
● division of its eastern territories into two parts in order to give Poland access
to the sea
War economy: During the years the war lasted, the economy was focused, in the industrial
sector, in the production of military equipment and supplies: weapons, cannons,
planes and uniforms. This way, agricultural and consumer goods production
decreased because there weren't enough laborers so it was very common to suffer
from shortages of some products and the increase of the prices.
Society during the war: Most young men were conscripted or recruited into the armed forces, so
women had to leave the home to fill the positions the men had left: for the first time,
women were allowed to do jobs in economic sectors that had previously only been
done by men, such as in industry, transport and offices.
Peace settlement: The US President, Woodrow Wilson proposed the Fourteen Points: based on
creating a League of Nations, establishment of democratic states, freedom of trade
and respect for a nation's right to self-determination...but they were rejected by the
Allied countries.
Imperialism
Causes
Political causes: In some countries, the colonial expansion brought back the lost prestige:
owning more territories made European rulers regain the support of the
inhabitants of their country after the economic crisis.
Economic causes: As European markets were flooded, the colonies were new territories to invest
in during the Second Industrial Revolution: they established factories, they
obtained cheap and rich raw materials,
Ideological and cultural causes: European people used the racial superiority of the white population as a way
of justifying the occupation of the underdeveloped territories. For them, white
people had the right and duty to civilize the underdeveloped countries,
inhabited by barbarians, sauvages and primitive human beings.
Demographic causes:European population grew from 300 to 450 million people from 1850 to 1900,
which provoked an overpopulation that needed a way out to avoid
unemployment, hunger and misery.
Scientific causes: Colonialism was seen as a way of having a greater knowledge of the world,
inspired by curiosity or adventure present in the literature of the moment, as
Jules Verne’s novels.
Cosecuences
Geographic consequences: changes in maps, as new artificial borders
were created, mixing and separating tribes, which created multiple
conflicts
Demographic consequences:population increased thanks to the
medical improvements, so mortality decreased and the natality rates
continued being high.
Political consequences:colonialism created a dependence of the
colonies from the metropoli. In addition, they were never prepared to
establish democratic systems or ideas
Economic consequences: the exploitation of their natural resources
altered the natural landscapes.
Cultural consequences: colonies suffered a process of acculturation:
they lost their identity, language, culture, traditions or religions in
exchange of adopting the European ones.
Social consequences: racial segregation was one of the most important
consequences.
First World War
Causes of the War
The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire competed for control
of the Balkans.
Great Britain saw the supremacy of its merchant navy threatened when the
German Empire,constructed a large fleet of merchant ships
France wanted to recover the region of Alsace-Lorraine (lost to the German
Empire after the Franco-Prussian War).
Trench warfare (1915–16)
The Western Front between Germany and the Allies established and as they
could not advance, both sides focused on defending their positions.
The end of the war and the Armistice (1918)
The help of the American troops and weapons allowed the Allied forces to
advance on the Western Front (the Second Battle of the Marne). Exhaustion and an
ever-increasing lack of resources drove the Central Powers to seek peace. Kaiser
Wilhelm II abdicated, and on 11 November 1918, the Armistice was signed
Incorporation and withdrawal of allies (1917)
In 1917, the United States decided to join the war on the side of the Allies
because German submarines had sunk neutral merchant ships. On 1 January 1917,
Germany had initiated submarine attacks, endangering the American merchant fleet
that supplied Britain and France.
Phases of the War
Initial German offensives (1914)
During this phase of the war, Germany put the Schlieffen Plan into effect. This
consisted of launching a rapid offensive on the Western Front, invading Belgium (a
neutral country) and the north of France with the aim of reaching Paris. Once France
was defeated, German troops advanced on the Eastern Front to fight the Russians.
The Allies: Serbia was allied with the Triple Entente (France, Great Britain
and the Russian Empire). Later, they were joined by Belgium, Japan, Italy, Romania,
the United States, Greece, Portugal, China, and various Latin American republics.
The Central Powers: the Austro-Hungarian Empire allied with the German
and Ottoman empires and they were joined by Bulgaria.