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Militarism World War 1 around the world.
Beginning in 1900 the European powers started to militarize their countries. What was noticeable was not only did the militaries grow larger in numbers but they also gained influence politically. The military in Germany would tower over the civilian government. During this time period they were called "a State within a State" showing how individual they had grown. In the United states as well the whole of America's industrial might was geared towards the war effort, competing with the others. -
Triple Entente/Triple Alliance
Germany created an alliance with Austria-Hungary as central European powers which was the Dual alliance. Then Italy joined in and it was now called the Triple Alliance. Germany and Austro-Hungary agreed to help Italy if a war with France ever broke out. On the other side was Britain, France, and Russia making the Triple Entente. This alliance was not good because these nations didn't necessarily like each other as well as being separated by water and large amounts of land. This started in 1879. -
Assasination of Franz Ferdinand
This event marked the beginning of World War 1. The Black Hand, an early terrorist group, assassinated the archduke. The Balkan Islands were fighting for their independence but they were stuck in between all of the European powers. This action caused the tensions to bubble over and the war began. -
Germany's blank check to Austria-Hungary
When Franz Ferdinand was assassinated Austria-Hungary reached out to Germany. The Kaiser reacted with a weird amount of decisiveness and promised support. It was called a blank check because whenever they needed help all they had to was ask. The Kaiser included that even if Russia tried to intervene, they would still back the Austro-Hungarians. -
Imperialism
Imperialism played a big part because this war was all about resources. All the powers that were in the war had colonies. They achieved the colonies through imperialism. Less so with America because all of our power is within our country. Also the punishment after the war for Germany included stripping them of their colonies. -
Nationalism
During times of war nations are drawn together. That feeling that brings people together like that is called nationalism. It is an us versus them mentality that helps people support their country during war. The United States has always had a huge sense of pride for themselves and that definitely is shown when the US is pitted against other countries. -
World War 1 begins
The war was really started by the assassination in Sarajevo by the black hand. It caused Austria-Hungary to put out their ultimatum. Britain had a blockade in an attempt to cut off Germany. Germany retaliated with unrestricted submarine warfare. Little things like this eventually lead to the all out war where millions died in Europe. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
During the early stages of World War 1 a big problem was the unrestricted submarine warfare employed by the Germans. The German U-boats would move around undetected and sneak attack any ship they came across. One ship that was sunk was the Lusitania, and it was just a passenger ship. Not military at all. This caused America to step into the war. -
Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman Telegram was a message sent from the German foreign ambassador, Arthur Zimmerman, to the Mexican government proposing a military alliance against the United States. The idea was for the Mexicans to slow the Americans down until Germany was ready to fight them. The telegram was intercepted by the Americans and it was the final straw before stepping into the war. -
Germany Resumes unrestricted warfare
On this day, in a meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm, the military tried to convince him to allow the submarines to attack in British waters again. Against the advice of his government, he supported them and the unrestricted submarine warfare began again. -
United States enters the war
The US during the time was a huge threat because of its industrial might. When all of America and all of the Americans were focused on the war, all of the achievements and advancements made were incredible. Radio and radar started coming out although not completely useful until World War 2. When the US entered the war it also encouraged the other Allied powers who were tired after years of this deadly war. -
Effects of World War 1
World War 1 showed everyone a lot about the world. First, America was now definitely a world power. Other changes also occurred. Europe was split and new countries were formed. Germany was made smaller and stripped of all her colonies. Also they were forced to make war reparations including a downsizing of their army. After the Treaty of Versailles, Germany resembled a puppy. Things like this caused World War 2 -
The Young Plan and the Dawes Plan
Both of these were plans by the Allies to attempt and collect their war reparations from Germany. To do this they instated the Weimar Republic in Germany and then forced them to pay the reparations. This caused the Republic to look weak to the Germans and eventually their overthrow. -
The Great Depression
After the war, in the US, there was something called the Gilded Age. During this time people had expensive things as everyday necessities. They could afford these things with credit. Everything was bought with credit until eventually the economy crashed. That coupled with the crash of the stock market caused the Great Depression. -
Rise of Hitler
Hitler fought in World War 1 and saw his beloved country defeated. This caused an anger in him that was only intensified by the weakness of the Weimar Republic. He wanted to restore Germany to its former glory and with the economy leaving millions in poverty, it was not hard for people to follow him. He was a good speaker who could get people fired up about the problems facing the motherland mostly caused by the Allied powers, which brought about World War 2 -
The Treaty Of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was meant to keep Germany from ever becoming that powerful again but what really happened was many problems were just pushed away and Germany was isolated. The German people could never recover from the war because of the war reparations that they had to pay as well as their economy collapsing. Their money was worth almost nothing. Some people even used it for burning material.
