HISTORY 395HISTORY OF THE FIRST

WORLD WARDr. Nancy Fitch

Summer 2008

Maps Used in the PowerPoints

• Unless otherwise noted all of the maps are from:

• Martin Gilbert, Atlas of World War I: The Complete History (New York: Oxford

University Press, 1994)

Europe on the Eve of World War I

• Cultural Climate in Europe:– Intense Nationalism, especially in the

Austria-Hungarian Empire– Social Darwinism – the idea that competition

to promote the superior race good– Yellow Journalism – wars sell newspapers– Arms Race – who has the biggest guns, the

most battleships– Imperial Competition – planting flags in

Africa, Asia, and the Asian Pacific

The Great Game in Central Asia

• India British• Egypt – British for all

intents and purposes• Russia and Britain

divided Persia into sphere’s of influence in 1907

• Britain and Russia controlled oil in area

• Ottoman Empire center of ongoing competition

EUROPEAN FEARS AND AIMS BEFORE 1914

• Russia – protect Christians in Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire

• Russia – Warm water port• Germany – Desire for territory

in East• France – Alsace and Lorraine• Eastern and Central European

ethnic groups – their own relatively homogenous states

• Italy – territory within the Austria-Hungarian Empire

• All landlocked states – ports, access to the sea for military and economic reasons

War Breaks Out in July- August 1914

• Secret Alliance Systems– Austria declares war on

Serbia– Serbia calls on Russia– Austria calls on German– Russia calls on France– Germany violates Belgian

neutrality, provoking England

MAJOR COMBATTANTS IN 1914

• The Central Powers– Austria-Hungary– Germany– Ottoman Empire (later

in 1914)• The “Entente”

Powers– Russia– France– Great Britain– Italy (1915)– The United States

(1917)

The Generals’ Plans

• The Schlieffen Plan

• Plan 17

The Limits of von Schlieffen’s Plan

• German Generals from Alfred von Schlieffen to Helmut von Moltke had doubts Schlieffen Plan would work– Suggested Germans abandon Alsace and significant

part of East Prussia– Supplies threatened if had to lay siege at any of the

forts in Belgium and France – attack must be rapid– Germany greatly outnumbered in terms of

uniformed, trained soldiers• France – Peacetime draft• Great Britain – Voluntary Army• Germany, Austria-Hungary – small peacetime armies

German Hopes: Time and Big Guns

• Big Bertha – – Named for Bertha

Krupp von Bohlen– 420 mm howitzer– Transported in

pieces and assembled in place

– Devastating in Belgium, less successful in other battles – vulnerable when entente powers knew where they were

French Big Guns

• Soixante quinze (75 mm gun

• First hydraulic dual recoil mechanism

• Could fire 20-30 rounds per minute

• Terrific except maximum angle of fire 16 degrees

More French Guns

• French 155 mm long gun– No recoil mechanism– Accurate indirect fire

impossible– Heavy and range was

much shorter than German guns

German Big Guns

• German 105 mm howitzer– Hydraulic mechanism

beneath barrel– Light and portable– Angle of fire 45

degrees– Entente powers had

no comparable weapon

Other German Big Guns

• Top: German 150 mm howitzer– Had hydraulic recoil– Allowed Germany to

dominate battlefield in early years of war

• Bottom: German 220 mm howitzer– Big but portable– ¼ of Germany’s heavy

weapons– Maybe the best of the big

guns

Von Schlieffen’s Plan in action

War on the Eastern Front

• Russia Mobilizes faster than expected

• German Railroads as integral to Schlieffen’s strategy

• Early use weakens Right Wing

• Germany wins early battles at Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes

• Battle of Lödz

Battle of the Marne

• Germans closing to within 23 miles of Paris

• Paris aerial reconnaisance detects weak right wing – departing from Schlieffen Plan gives Entente their opportunity

• Germans retreat and dig in for long stalemate