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Age of Imperialism
The definition of Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization and uses of military force. Many European countries adopted Imperialism as their main form of expansion starting in the 1870s. The Great War probably would not have come about had it not been for Imperialistic alliances. -
Nationalism
Nationalism took the pre-war European nations by storm in the early 1900's. Nationalism is an extreme feeling of loyalty and patriotism to one's country, the very tinderbox for war. Leading up to The Great War, many countries strongly believed in their cultural/military superiority. A major example of Nationalism in the pre-war era was Germany's newfound nationalism, which emerged from the unification of Germany in 1871. This also caused Germany to become resentful of the British Empire. -
Rising Militarism in Europe
Militarism is the melding of military personnel and ideas into civilian life and government. Militarism was seen as national strength. Government spending on purchasing new weaponry and increasing military numbers greatly increased. Due to pressure and other factors, European military spending sky-rocketed in 1900-1914. The US spending also increased from $189.5m in 1908 to $244.6m in 1913 gradually spending more each year. -
Alliances
As militarism and tensions rise, the major powers in Europe had scooted themselves into two major alliances. The alliances were a web of treaties and deals and ententes that were established before 1914 One of the alliances formed was The Triple Alliance. The Triple Alliance became the base layer for the Central Powers, which would later become one of the major alliances blocs in Europe. -
Archduke Franz Assasinated
The assassination of Franz-Ferdinand was the spark in the tinder to a domino effect leading to war. Austria-Hungary (AH) along with many other countries blamed the Serbian government in hopes that it would justify nationalistic feuds once and for all. It had the opposite effect as on July 28 AH declared war on Serbia, and thus all the alliances fell from peace into a time of war. In the same week, Russia, Belgium, France, GB and Serbian had united against AH and War was imminent. -
Germany's blank check to Austria-Hungary
July 5th, 1914 was the day Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who was pushed by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, "wrote the blank check" of unconditional support Austria-Hungary's punitive action towards Serbia. The cost of this was war with Russia, whom at the time was allied with France and GB. What started as a small conflict between the Serbs and Austro-Hungary would soon blow up into an all inclusive European war. -
The Great War Begins
With Franz Ferdinand dead and Germany's unconditional alliance to the Austro-Hungary. Germany first declares war on Russia. France quickly mobilizes to support Russia. Two days later Germany declares war on France and another day later Belgium. The next day GB declares war on Germany the same day the U.S. proclaims neutrality -
The Sinking of the Lusitana
The Sinking of the RMS Lusitania was one of the first German atrocities that pushed the US into war. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat was patrolling the coast of Ireland and came across the allied civilian ship, the RMS Lusitania. The U-boat made the decision to fire a torpedo causes the ship sink in 18 minutes, killing over 1000 passengers, 128 of which were Americans. This contributed to anti-German propaganda in the US and Great Britain. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman Telegram, was one of the biggest factors in pushing the US into war. In January 1917, the British intercepted a telegram headed to Mexico. The note offered a deal that Mexico would regain US territory previously lost in the US Mexico war, in exchange for an alliance with Germany. Unfortunately Mexico really had no intention of going to war the the US and since the note was intercepted it pushed the US even closer to joining the war. -
Germany's Resumption of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare made its debut in The Great War early on. Germany declared the waters around the British Isles a war zone. Because of this all merchant and civilian ships were subject to attack. After the Sinking of the Lusitania, in September the German government nearly suspended U-boat warfare due to pressure by the US and other countries. But German navy commanders were certain that U-boats were essential to victory. The government was convinced aswell and resumed sub warfare. -
US Entry into WWI
After all the pressure and tension from the Allies to join in the war, on April 6th, 1917 the US Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war on Germany. Following, the US House of Representatives supports the vote 373 to 50. The US entered the war, 22 days later the first 14,000 boots on the ground arrived in France to begin combat training. The war had been at a stalemate for 4 years leading up to US involvement. The entry of the US with well equipped forces tipped the scales for the Allied victory. -
Effects of WWI
The Great War shook the foundation of the world at the time, permanently changing previously fundamental factors of politics, economy and culture. Causing over 15m casualties on both sides. Politically, borders became more stagnant as Empires began to decline. The economy was strained by mass spending and inflation. Technology had a boom in innovation. The biggest change of all was the recognized need for the League of Nations. Which would forever change foreign affairs and feuds. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. Germany signed the treaty which contracted them to pay 6,600m euros in reparations for damages done. Germany also lost land and was painted as the villain in the war. Germany's military was drastically reduced to a maximum of 100k, which is only slightly larger than a police force a country of that size. Finally, Germany was not eligible to join the league of national and the economy crumbled. This nearly crushed the nationalism in Germany. -
The Great Depresion
The Great Depression begun October 29, 1929 and lasted all the way through 1939. It was caused by the stock market crash when Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped equity value 25% in four days. This made the company lost over $30 in value, which is far more than the total cost of the Great War. The crash was caused by investors in the company panic selling shares after a dip, causing a major void in margins. This threw the US and the rest of the world in to the Great Depression. -
The Dawes Plan and Young Plan
The world now in economic crisis, and Germany's absurd debt not helping two plans were hatched to solve the issue. The Dawes plan was for the US to give money to Germany, have the money paid back to France eventually and then from France the money would cycle back for previous debts. The Young plan thought the right idea would be to reduce pressure on Germany by slashing their debt by 3/4 and to have payments be annual and scale each year. Although this plan may have worked Germany felt degraded -
Hitler's Rise
Hitler's rise to power was at the time consummated but did not summit on January 30th, 1933. After months of discussion and inter-state conflict, the current president of Germany, Paul Von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as the chancellor of Germany. Although the government was dominated by conservatives at the time, Hitler had built up a cult like following which carried him through the political ranks and slowly re-instilled nationalism into the German population.
