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The First World War
The causes of the war
The First World War was fought between 1914 and 1918 and it was also known as the Great War
It was fought between various European countries and their African and Asian colonies, the United States, Japan, China and some Latin American republics
During the Armed Peace, various countries in Europe competed for control of certain areas that became sources of tension
The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire competed for control of the Balkans
Serbia was angry about the expansion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into the area due to the fact that is was a Balkan country
France wanted to recover the region of Alsace-Lorraine
It Lost it to the German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War
France also competed with Germany over the control of colonies such as Morocco, which created a two Moroccan crises
Great Britain saw the supremacy of its merchant navy threatened by Germany
Germany had become an economic power during the Second Industrial Revolution and they created a large fleet of merchant ships to control international trade
All of these tension made the European powers to continue spending on arms to increase their military capability and be prepared for war
Governments started to use press to influence the public opinion to be in favour of war. Although they were also some pacifist movements to avoid war, they all failed
On 28 June, 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in the Sarajevo by a young Bosnian Serb nationalist
the Austrian government blamed Serbia for the assassination and sent them an ultimatum, which was ignored and On 28 July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia
The Alliances of the First World War
After the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, two opposite sides formed based on the interests of each country and the alliances that existed before
The Central Powers
the Austro-Hungarian Empire allied with Germany, the ottoman Empire and Bulgaria
Italy promised to stay neutral when the war broke down, because of the pact it signed (with the Triple Alliance) to defend one of the other countries only in the case of an attack
The Allies
Serbia allied with the Triple Entente as well as Belgium, Japan, Italy, Romania, the United States, Greece, Portugal, China, and various Latin American republic that joined later to them
Although Italy promised to stay neutral, in 1915 it joined the Allies in order to recover Trieste and Istria, Italian territories that the Austrian-Hungarian Empire controlled
The four phases of the war
Initial German offensives (1914)
The Germans started the called Schlieffen Plan into effect
It consisted on launching a rapid offensive on the Western Front to invade Belgium, which was a neutral country and the north of France in order to reach Paris
Once with France defeated, German troops would advance on the Eastern Front to fight the Russians but the plan didn't succeed
the French and British armies stopped the advance of Germany at the First Battle of the Marne
At the same time, Japan occupied the German colonies in the Pacific and China
Trench warfare (1915–16)
Neither of the sides (the Allies and Germany) could advance so they focused on defending their positions and they built trenches
From the trenches they could defend themselves more easily using new weapons
They started to use new tactics to wear the enemy down for instance, attacking the same place continually (in Verdun by Germany and at the Somme by Great Britain)
They also started to use battleships and submarines (for example when in the Battle of Jutland, the British fleet defeated the German fleet
The end of the war and the Armistice (1918)
With the help of American troops and weapons the Allies managed to advance on the Western front (the Second Battle of the Marne)
The Increasing lack of resources and exhaustion led to the Central powers to seek for peace
The 11 of November of 1918, the Armistice was signed when Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated
Incorporation and withdrawal of allies (1917)
In 1917, when German submarines sunk neutral merchant ships, United States decided to join the war in the side of the Allies
The German attacks endangered the American merchant fleet that supplied Britain and France
Due to the political and social revolution in the Russian Empire, it withdraw from the war after signing the Peace of Brest-Litovs in the same year
The peace settlement
In January 1919, representatives of the victorious countries met at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)
They had to decide the peace conditions that would be imposed on the defeated countries
Before the Paris Peace Conference, in January 1918 the United States President Woodrow Wilson had proposed a peace agreement
However, the proposal was rejected by the Allies, that had been devastated during four years of war
France was the one that considered Germany to be responsible for the war and wanted it to pay for the damage it had caused
It was called the Fourteen Points and it was based on creating a League of Nations, the establishment of democratic states, freedom of trade and respect for a nation's right to self-determination
Its function was conditioned by problems such as the exclusion of the defeated countries and the absence of the United States
After the victorious countries met to negotiate in the conference, the Paris Peace Settlement was agreed on (1919–1920)
It consisted on Five separate treaties that were ratified by the Allied countries and then signed by each of the defeated countries
Germany-->Treaty of Versailles
It established very severe terms for Germany
The prohibition of heavy artillery, planes and submarines; payment of huge economic reparations; reduction of its territories, with the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France and the loss of the Sudetenland ; demilitarisation of the region of the Rhineland; and division of its eastern territories into two parts in order to give Poland access to the sea
The Treaty of Versailles was to become the source of future conflict, due to the humiliating conditions that the Germans thought it proposed
Hungary-->Treaty of Trianon
Bulgaria-->Treaty of Neuilly
Ottoman Empire-->Treaty of Sèvres
Austria-->Treaty of Saint Germain
Economy and Society during the war
The countries involved established a war economy, that was called like that because all economic activity was directed towards the war effort
Agricultural production and consumer goods
The production decreased because there weren't enough labourers and as a consequence, there were shortages of some products and prices increased
Governments
They intervened to control the distribution of basic goods
They started to ration the food and the black market started to develope
The industrial sector
They concentrated on the production of military equipment and supplies
People changed their customs and took on new jobs due to war
Young men were conscripted or recruited into the armed forces
Women had to leave the home to fill the positions the men had left
Women were allowed to do jobs in economic sectors that had previously only been done by men for the first time
Consequences of the First World War
Social and Economic consequences
Destruction of the cities
Transport networks, factories and agricultural land were damaged or destroyed in areas of combat and this, created a negative impact on the economy
Incorporation of women in the workplace
After the war, women wanted to demonstrate that that they were capable of doing the same jobs as men and they started to fight for the right to vote
Unfortunately, as they weren't enough jobs, many women had to return to the home once the fighting was over
Decrease in population
Because of all the victims of the war, including those that were injured, mutilated or disappeared, there was a drastic reduction in the available workforce and in birth rates
Loss of Europe's economic power
Due to material losses and loans from the United States during the war it became the world's leading economic power
Territorial consequences
Redistribution of the colonies
The peace treaties included the redistribution of the colonies belonging to the defeated countries between the victorious countries
The Allied powers were guaranteed industrial development as well as raw materials, workforce and markets
The new map of Europe
A new map of Europe was drawn up (the European Empires disappeared and new states were created)
From the German Empire
the German Republic, part of Czechoslovakia and part of Poland
From the Ottoman Empire
Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, part of Arabia and Palestine
From the Russian Empire
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland
Italy lost part of some of the territory in Yugoslavia, so in exchange, it received Trieste from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire
From the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia
The pre-war crises
In 1908
the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina which led to protests from the Serbians living in Bosnia and the anger of Russia towards Serbia
In 1911
Germany recognised Morocco as a French protectorate and in exchange, France ceded part of its Congo territories to Germany
In 1905
The German's tried to establish Morocco as its protectorate by keeping it out of France's control but failed
In 1912–13
Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire for the possession of its territories in the Balkans
Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro won the war, but, later they declared war on each other over the division of the territories
In 1913 the Treaty of Bucharest was signed in which Bulgaria was defeated and Serbia expanded its Balkan territories
This, provoked the hostility of Austria-Hungary because of its own interests
