-
Period: to
Growing Militarization (Cause)
Willhelm ll said in 1898,“Our future lies upon the ocean.”Once this was said,everyone increasing their armed forces, beginning the arms race.The arms race in where each country tried to build a much bigger and better military machine than their enemy." Just in Europe alone from 1870-1914,military spending powers increased by 300% and all major nations except Britain brought all men over 18 to serve a minimum period in one of their country's armed services. -
Period: to
Alliance System Building (Cause)
From 1900 to 1914 Britain, France, Europe, and Germany started building an alliance system. Europe began to increase the size of their armed forces because they were not comfortable with other countries. Britain and France were afraid of the Kaiser’s ambition to build a bigger German empire because Germany would have to attack and take other European countries. If there was going to be a war, the countries would need allies. This then turned into an armed race. -
Period: to
Trench Warfare
Many countries in war dug trenches.Trenches had sandbags to protect soldiers from getting shot.They used the old tactics to create new technologies like these so that they could stay alive and so they wouldn’t be defeated.They lived under horrible living conditions;many flooded and it was cold.Many soldiers died or were wounded in the trenches since some got trench foot.Trench foot was from standing in wet and cold mud and water all day and their feet would become infected and some lost a leg. -
Period: to
Entry of the US-Zimmerman Telegram and the Sinking of Lusitania
The US declared war against Germany because they violated the pledge of unrestricted warfare & attacked a civilian ship,the Lusitania(a British ship with American passengers). Germany had a campaign of unrestricted war.US also declared war on Austria-Hungary.The British found a telegram that promised the Mexicans that Germany would help recover their land if they would have war on the US.This would distract the US from Germany,but Mexico had just had a civil war and didn't help Germany. -
Growing Balkan Nationalism/ Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
As Franz Ferdinand (heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary) and his wife experienced 2 murder attempts.Gavrilo Princip (part of the Black Hand) shot Franz and his wife.He wanted to kill Ferdinand because he opposed the Austria-Hungary government and wanted to kill the people who liked nationalism. Princip didn't like nationalism. Ferdinand was assassinated because of Serbia’s lack of freedom (nationalism).The Serbian nationalism started WWI because this act set off the alliances which caused WWI. -
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917
The Bolsheviks were a revolutionary party that was formed by Lenin who wanted to increase Bolshevik support within the Soviets;the slogan created was “peace,bread,&land.”Lenin saw the the Russians wanted peace, said they could solve the food shortages and gave peasants land so they could remain neutral when he came to power.The Feb. Rev. started and Provisional gov't overthrew it and in the Oct. Rev., the Bolsheviks overthrew Provisional gov't.The revolution was important in the Balkan states. -
Period: to
Rise of Fascism of Italy, Germany, Japan
As the people of Germany & Italy became unemployed and the economy decreased, they wanted new in the government.Fascism is a dictatorship that focuses on nationalism. Hitler promised to overturn the economy crisis and treaty of Versailles. Mussolini did the same so people would vote for him in Italy and was part of a fascist party. Hirohito (Japan) also practice fascism. Some of these people were not very good leaders and did not do all that the had promised to do for their country like Hitler. -
Treaty of Versailles & Treatment of Germany
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed after WW1 at the Versailles Palace in 1919.The most important people involved were David Lloyd George of Britain,Georges Clemenceau of France, and Woodrow Wilson of the US.David George wanted to make Germany pay and didn’t want it to convert to communism. Clemeceau believed Germany should be brought to its knees. Wilson wanted Germany to be isolated so the US could focus on itself and wanted the US input into Europe to be kept to a minimum. -
Period: to
League of Nations
The League of Nations wanted to make sure that there was international peace and that war would not break out again and to bring stability into the world.Although, Woodrow Wilson’s goal was to have peace throughout the world, the US did not join in the League of Nations.This did not work because some people would start war and there would always be war throughout the world. Also, no one knew what the consequences would be if they break the rules.The United Nations replaced the league of nations. -
Stalin coming to power in Russia
Stalin was a supreme ruler of the Soviet Union and this caused a regime of terror which resulted in death and pain of millions. Stalin began to gain power in Russia and gained leadership of Russia in 1929.Both Stalin and Trotsky wanted Lenin’s place of leadership, but Stalin ended up taking over Russia instead of Trotsky by the communist party. -
Period: to
Great Depression of 1930
When the Great Depression started,unemployment in Britain rose to 2.5 million. Hence, the root of an economic depression is a reduction in spending.The Wall Street cash put the USA in depression because people did not loan to other countries and put up custom barriers to stop imports have foreign goods. The worst were areas of heavy industry like N. Ireland, Scotland, Wales,and N. England.New industries such as chemicals, electrical goods,and cars had been developed in this time -
Period: to
Fall of France
As the French were watching the Maginot Line (a line of armed trenches and walls), facing Germany, waiting for the Germans to invade them from the East, Hitler used blitzkrieg to invade France by coming up behind them and attacking them by surprise. France was called Vichy France. Germany had successfully taken over 6 countries in less than 100 days, one of them was France; this ended with the Fal of France. The French finally fell when they signed truce with Germany. -
Period: to
U-Boats and Unrestricted Warfare
U-boats (like submarines) were a great technology to countries fighting in WWI.The Germans were one of the first to use these boats in war and their uboats made a major impact on WWI, making US join the war.The u-boats had torpedoes in them, making the Germans become more powerful because the torpedoes could sink their Allies ships. The Germans were preventing merchant ships to trade,by hitting them with torpedoes.The unrestricted uboats made an impact in the war since they helped the military. -
Period: to
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was between the nationalists (Franco) and republicans of Spain.The nationalists received help from Italy& Germany and the republicans had help from the Soviet Union.Spain’s government was a corrupt monarchy and Alfonso XIII was king. When the depression came, there was an increase in unemployment.Many of the army officials tried to overthrow the government.The nationalists seemed to be more successful in the war. The Republicans surrendered because their army had collapsed. -
Period: to
German Invasion of Austria, Sudetenland/Czechoslovakia, Rhineland
Germany took over many countries, resulting in WW2. Hitler wanted to expand the German nation by taking over Austria (his home country) and German speaking areas. Anschluss was a political union of Austria with Germany; 99 percent of Austria wanted the union with Germany. Austria was annexed in 1938 by the Germany. Hitler also wanted to control Rhineland because it was demilitarized. Sudentenland was ceded to Germany and Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia since it shared a border with Austria. -
Period: to
German Invasion of Poland
The invasion was started by 62 German divisions & 1300 aircraft invading Poland.Hitler thought that the invasion would lead to a short victorious war because this was the first deployment of the world’s first armoured corps and the prime ministers were weak. Hitler moved the date up, but it was cancelled because Italy was not ready for war yet.Once the invasion started 2 major German armies invaded Poland (from Prussia) in the north and Slovakia in the south.German expansion started WW2. -
Period: to
Evacuation of Dunkirk
With France occupied by Germany, the Allied forces needed to get out, so that is why it’s called this.British and French armies were on the beaches of Dunkirk when the German Army had trapped them. Due to its shallow slope, the British and French could not get out with large boats, so they used about 800 small boats to “free” the soldiers. For some unknown reason, Hitler did not attack their army. Hundreds of thousands were saved and many consider it a miracle. -
Period: to
Battle of Britain
This was between the German airforce (Luftwaffe) and the British Royal air force.The Battle was fought after the fall of France. After the Germans had attacked the French, Britain tried to help the French. The Germans needed to control the English Channel so they could invade Britain. Although Britain had RADAR and was better than the Germans, the Germans were doing well, until they just gave up and saw that they wouldn’t win. This battle was mostly fought in the air and was fought using bombs. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was on December 7, 1941. When the Japanese suddenly attacked the US naval forces, they came into the war. The Japanese declared war on Britain and the US. The US entrance turned the war into the Allies favor. The Japanese bombed the American ships in Hawaii, and Congress declared war on Japan 3 days later. -
Battle of Midway/ Guadalcanal
The Battle of Midway was between the Japanese and the US. Yamamoto (from Japan) wanted to destroy the American carrier fleet and tried to trick them by attacking Midway island. He made his plans by radio, so the US figured them out.The US had destroyed Japan’s naval strength.The Battle of Guadalcanal was after;the US wanted to capture the pacific islands(Guadalcanal) and the battle was between US and Japan.The US wanted to use it to protect Australia.The US won both wars even though it was hard -
Period: to
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad took place in the city of Stalingrad, named after Stalin. Some historians say that Hitler wanted to take it over because he didn’t like Stalin. This is considered one of the greatest battles of great patriotic war. The city was Russia’s main communication and manufacturing. Hitler wanted to secure the oil fields in Caucasus. The Germans lost that battle and it was because they didn't have “enough manpower to cope with the Russian advance.” -
D-Day
D-Day was the start of the invasion of Normandy that Germany controlled and the British, Americans, and Canadian troops. D-day was postponed due to bad weather, but when the Americans, British and Canadians attacked and fought the Germans because the allies wanted to liberate Western Europe. Soon the Germans had few troops to win and stopped. D-day was the turning point in which the Germans would start to loose and the Allies would win. -
Period: to
Bombing of Tokyo
The bombing of Tokyo was done by firebombs on Japan’s capital by the US. The fire raids were ordered by General LeMay and were supposed to wear down the Japanese spirit of making any possible invasion and force surrender. The US dropped 2,000 tons of bombs on Tokyo over 48 hours, killing 80,000 - 130,000 innocent people. Much of their land was also destroyed. -
Period: to
V-E Day
V-E Day is also known as Victory Day in Europe. A document of surrender was signed on the 7th of May and on May 8, 1945, most of the country celebrated the victory since this was the end of Hitler’s war and the end of suffering across the world. Many soldiers were glad to have peace and many were glad that they could say “I survived.” -
Period: to
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was when the US dropped an atomic bomb on these two cities. This was the first atomic bomb dropped and many did not know what the results would be. Ninety percent of city was wiped out. This bomb killed thousands and thousands of people and destroyed a lot of the land. After the bombing, Japan decided to surrender on August 15. -
Period: to
V-J Day
V-J Day is known as the Victory Day in Japan. This is when Japan surrendered to the Allies and when General Koiso (Japan’s administration) signed the document on September 2. Although the Japanese did not surrender until September 2, the Allies had already started celebrating on August 15th. This meant that the war with Japan was over and there would be some peace.