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Growing Militarization
Between 1870 and 1914, militarization began to grow. Many countries began hugely increasing the number of soldiers and spent millions of dollars to improve their military strategies and weapons. Some countries went to drastic measures to enlarge their armies; Britain “brought in conscription” which made any male over the age of 18 be forced to serve a minimum period in at least one of their country’s armed forces. And when conflict came around, countries were all for war. -
Period: to
WW1-WW2
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Alliance System Building
When Austria-Hungary (with Germany as an ally) declares war on Serbia, Russia helps out Serbia with its armed forces while Germany declares war on Russia and France (who is Russia’s ally) to make it harder on Austria-Hungary. On August 4th, 1914, Germany declares war on neutral Belgium, as a result Britain declares war on Germany. But the (France, Britain, and Russia) Triple Entente surrounded Germany and made them nervous they would lose. Tension continued to grow and WWI soon erupted. -
Growing Balkan Nationalism/Assassination of Franz Ferdinand (cause)
W/ the help of Serbia, who provided guns, ammunition, and training, G. Princip and 6 other shot & killed Franz Ferdinand & his wife. This causes the Emperor, his father, to declare war on Serbia. *The Balkan States didn’t want to be ruled by any other country; They revolted & defeated Turkey; However, Turkey still had much power in the Balkans. The Balkans thought they were capable to govern they were capable to govern themselves (nationalism) & fought for their indpendance- helped start WW1. -
Period: to
WW1-WW2
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Trench Warfare
On September 15th, 1914 the first trenches were dug on the Western front. The trenches were where the soldiers waited on the frontline of war. Although, many of the people in the trenches died of sickness from rats and human feces, being buried alive when bombs went off close by and caused them to be buried alive, and sharply aimed bullets. (Over 200,000 men were killed.) -
U-Boats and Unrestriced Warfare
On February 4th, 1915, Germany creates a submarine blockade of Great Britain which caused any ship approaching England to become a target. The American ships were supposed to be off limits to any association with the war because they were only merchant ships But when the Germans found out there were war supplies on the ships that were being taken to the British, they attacked the ships so Britain would be weakened because their supply line was slowly taken away. -
Entry of the US- sinking of the Lusitania
On May 7th, 1915 the Lusitania was sunk by German U-Boats killing 1,198 civilians. Because of this even, the americans no longer remained neutral during World War I. The ship was not supposed to be fired at but was anyways. -
Entry of the US- Zimmermann Telegram
On January 19, 1917, Britain informed the US that a secret telegram had been intercepted. The telegram was sent by Germany to Mexico saying if they declared war on the US, they would have Germany as an ally. On April 6th, 1917, the US declared war on Germany and its allies as a result of the telegram. -
Bolshevik Rev. of 1917: The Bolsheviks were a group (led by a man called Lenin who believed that Russia was in the need for a Revolution) who believed that society would run on Communism where everyone is equal.
In February of 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the Tsar but were still pretty weak; but they still became the government by the end of 1917. The Soviet leaders wanted the conflict between Russia and Germany to be resolved peacefully but it was looked at as unrealistic; Allies nor Germany would never agree with the process which is how Bolshevik Revolution helped cause WWI. Russia left WWI because of the Bolsheviks; they listened to the people complaining about how many people had died in the war. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was a document whose purpose was to make sure war never broke out again. The League was created after the Americans entered WWI in 1917; They were horrified by how many people were being killed and what was supposed to be a “civilized part of the world”. They thought the only way to avoid a repeat of such slaughter was to pretty much ban war in general. But obviously, war still goes on today and the League of Nations failed. -
Treaty of Versailles and the Treatment of Germany
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed after WWI had ended on June 28th, 1919. The treaty was thought to be too harsh towards the Germans (mainly by the British) and caused the rise of the Nazis and the Third Reich and the outbreak of World War II. The treaty took away about 13.5% of Germany’s territory in 1914 and all oversea possessions and Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, and Belgium was expanded in the east and the former German border areas of Eupen and Malmedy. Other ter -
Great Depression
In October of 1929, the US economy crashed (The Great Depression/Wall Street Crash) and turned to other countries for loans and stopped the imports of foreign goods. Britain cut the pay of government workers and public works to fund new industries (shipping and electricity). By doing this, Britain was better off when WW2 rolled around. In countries such as Germany, Italy, and Japan, turned to more aggressive solutions using their Millary basically became the government. -
Rise of Fascism in Italy (Mussolini), Germany (Hitler), and Japan (Hirohito): Fascism: a form of dictatorship that promotes nationalism and rejected Socialism and Democracy;taking away freedom from others is fascist.
Italy started the first fascist movement. Mussolini helped promote the Nationalist during the Spanish Civil War by sending thousands of troops and weapons. When Adolf Hitler came to power, he promoted that the Jewish population was all wrong. So in order to “perfect” his society, he took away the Jew's Freedom, and committed genocide wirh the Jews. Emperor Hirohito was trying to make Japan stonger by taunting other countries w/ war and was responsible for the attack of Pearl Harbor. -
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
In 1936, the Spanish army rebelled and forced the Republican party from power. The Russian leader, Stalin, helped the Republicans by selling only enough supplies to get them by. Germany’s and Italy’s fascist leaders (Hitler and Mussolini) aided the Nationalist by sending thousands of their troops and weapons to Spain. By doing this, they believed that it would send a powerful messageto the rest of the world that fascist countries were in control. -
German invasion of Austria, Sudetenland/ Czechoslovakia, Rhineland
Hitler wanted all German-speaking nations in Europe to become one nation of Germany. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Austria and Germany were forbidden to unify; When the Austrian Chancellor found out Hitler was trying to gain control over Austria, he banned the Nazi party. In 1934, Hitler tried to overthrow the Austrian Gov., failed, and later gained control on 3/12/1938. By 1939, Hitler convinced his followers that Czec. was incapable to run their own gov. and got complete control. -
German invasion of Poland ( why this led to WW2)
On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany (led by Hitler) opened fire on the Poland w/ over 2000 tanks, 1000 planes, and heavy shelling and bombing.The broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a huge attack. By the end of the month, on the 27 of Sept., Poland surrendered to the Germans. (This became the first military engagement of WW2.) Nazi Germany occupied the remainder of Poland when it invaded the Soviet Union in June 1945. -
Fall of France
On may 10th,1940, nine months after Britain and France declared war on Germany, Germany invaded France (along with some of the lower countries such as the Netherlands) and interrupted the “Phoney War” (period of time where there was only tense anticipation). Soon, Germany and its allies broke through France resistance and their government fell; On June 22, and armistice with Germany was signed. -
Evacuation of Dunkirk
Evacuation of Dunkirk was a process that got every last soldier who were trapped by the German Army back to their home. The evacuation lasted about ten days and sadly, some of the soldiers died on their way home from starvation and exhaustion. Led by Lord Gort, the evacuation freed about 558,000 troops and transported them back to England. Once in England, the soldiers were fed and put onto trains to take them home. (May 26-June 3) -
Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain was when the German air force’s tried to overthrow the RAF (British Armed forces). This was a battle fought completely in air. The battle lasted from July-October 1940. Germany failed to defeat Britain (giving Britain confidence in what was to come) making the Battle of Britain the turning point of WW2. By October 17 (when Hitler “postponed” the war) 1733 german aircrafts and 915 British fighters were destroyed. -
Stalin coming to power in Russia (how was he different from Lenin?)
Unlike Lenin, Stalin was very harsh; Stalin would send anyone who questioned or disagreed with his policies to concentration camps called “gulag”. He cared more about modernizing technology for Russia and the growth of his army and did not care much about his people (Lenin did care about his people more than anything.) Stalin wanted to modernize Russia, supply farmers w/ machines (tractors), and strengthen the Russian Military. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan naval and air force brought the US into WW2 by surprising the US and bombing Pearl Harbor (US Naval base in Hawaii) and declared war on Britain and the US. Six battleships were destroyed, 112 vessels were sunk or damaged, and 164 aircraft were destroyed. Only three US aircraft carriers, usually stationed at Pearl Harbor but assigned elsewhere on the day, were saved. -
Midway/ Guadlacanal (Pacific) 4-7
June 4-7, 1942 a battle was fought close the the US base at Midway atoll between Japan and the US. Japan was trying to take over the two small islands and make it into their own airbase. They thought it would be easy, but the US turned around and destroyed four of Japan’s aircraft carriers weakening Japan greatly and lost. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In the battle of Stalingrad, Germany was beaten once again by the Russians. It was this battle that set the German army in full retreat.The battle was in September of 1942. On Feb. 2nd, 1943, Germany surrendered to Russia; the temperature had dropped below zero, food was sparse, ammunition was running out quickly, and 91,000 Germans were taken prisoner. -
D-Day (western)
On June 6th, 1944, Britain and the US bombed Germany. They did it differently, though. They took “shifts”; Britain bombed during the night while the US bombed germany during the day. By time night came on the first day, three British, one Canadian, and three American infantry divisions, plus three airborne divisions, had a firm hold on Germany. -
Bombing of Tokyo
On March 10, 1945, 300 US air crafts dropped over 2,000 tons of bombs on Tokyo, Japan. The firebombing against Tokyo was the first major bombing operation against Japan. As a result of the bombing, over ten square miles of Tokyo was completely destroyed, about 250,000 building were now dust, and over 100,000 people were killed by firebombing or carbon monoxide. -
V-E Day
May 8th, 1945 was the “Victory in Europe” (VE) Day, the world celebrated the end of HItler’s war; Germany had finally surrendered. Technically the document marking the end was signed on May 7th, but due to American wishes, the celebration was moved to the next day. -
Bombing of Hiroshima Nagasaki
On August 6th,1945 the US dropped the “Little Boy” (a 8,900 lbs uranium bomb) on Hiroshima. Only 141 lbs of the the uranium bomb went off but the impact was huge, 1.5 lbs of that was converted into energy that instantly killed nearly 70,000 out of 250,000 people JUST by radiation and another 70,000 dying of injuries and radiation exposure after the war (by 1950). -
V-J day
Japan played a big part in the war; They attacked Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong and the Philippines. The US dropped the first ever atomic weapon on the city of Hiroshima. VJ Day marked the end of the battle with Japan and World War Two. On Aug. 15 Japan surrendered and on Sept. 2, the actual peace doc. was signed.
