Origins of WWI
Europe dominant since 1500: military, colonies, Industrial Revolution Italy & Germany unify ~1870, disrupt balance Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary Triple Entente: Russia, France, Britain Alliances meant for peace, turned local crisis into continental war
Trigger
June 28 1914: Serbian nationalist kills Archduke Franz Ferdinand Alliance obligations drag all Great Powers in by August 1914
Deeper Causes
Nationalism: public pressure, men rush to enlist Militarism: war plans, hair-trigger mentality, strike first New weapons: submarines, tanks, poison gas, machine guns ~10 million dead, twice that wounded
Global Scope
Colonial troops from Africa, India, China, Southeast Asia, Australia, Canada Japan takes German possessions in China/Pacific Ottoman Empire joins Germany’s side, Arab revolt US joins 1917 after submarine threat
Outcomes
Expected short war, 4+ years, German defeat Nov 1918 "Total war": full mobilization, government power expands "War socialism" in Germany, propaganda, women replace men in factories
Legacy
Casualties: disillusionment with Enlightenment values Social mobility, women's suffrage in Britain, US, Germany, Soviet Union "Flappers", new consumerism, radio, movies, Hollywood
Political Changes
German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian empires collapse
New states: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia ("national self-determination") Treaty of Versailles 1919: Germany loses colonies + 15% territory, heavy reparations, sole war guilt
Beyond Europe
Armenian Genocide: ~1 million killed/deported, precedent for Nazis Ottoman Empire ends, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Palestine as League of Nations mandates Conflicting British promises to Arabs and Jews, enduring Palestine conflict Colonial soldiers return with political awareness, less respect for rulers Britain promises India self-government Japan strengthened, Chinese nationalists radicalized
US Rise
US shifts from debtor to creditor Wilson’s Fourteen Points, League of Nations,
"collective security" US Senate refuses to join League 1920, League weakened