Origins
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
June 28 1914: Serbian nationalist kills Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Alliance obligations drag all Great Powers in by August 1914
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
Outcomes
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
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 shifts from debtor to creditor
Wilson’s Fourteen Points, League of Nations, "collective security"
US Senate refuses to join League 1920, League weakened