Chapter 21

I. Beginning

A. The last veterans of World War I are dying.

1. disappointment that it wasn’t the “war to end all wars”

2. but now the major European states have ended centuries of hostility

B. The “Great War” (World War I) of 1914–1918 launched a new phase of world history.

1. it was “a European civil war with a global reach”

2. between 1914 and the end of WWII, Western Europe largely self-destructed

3. but Europe recovered surprisingly well between 1950 and 2000

a. but without its overseas empires

b. and without its position as the core of Western civilization

II. The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918

A. By 1900, Europeans, or people of European ancestry, controlled most other peoples of the world.

B. An Accident Waiting to Happen

1. modernization and Europe’s rise to global ascendancy had sharpened traditional rivalries between European states

2. both Italy and Germany unified ca. 1870

a. Germany’s unification in the context of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) had embittered French-German relations

b. rise of a powerful new Germany was a disruptive new element

3. by around 1900, the balance of power in Europe was shaped by two rival alliances

a. Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy)

b. Triple Entente (Russia, France, Britain)

c. these alliances turned a minor incident into WWI

4. June 28, 1914: a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne

a. Austria was determined to crush the nationalism movement

b. Serbia had Russia (and Russia’s allies) behind it

c. general war broke out by August 1914

5. factors that contributed to the outbreak and character of the war:

a. popular nationalism

i. freedom movements like that of Serbia

ii. intense nationalist competition between countries

iii. gave statesmen little room for compromise

iv. assured widespread popular support for starting war

b. industrialized militarism

i. military men had great prestige

ii. all states had standing armies

iii. all states but Britain relied on conscription

iv. arms race, especially in warships

v. all states had elaborate plans for what to do if war broke out

vi. large number of new weapons had been invented (tanks, submarines, airplanes, poison gas, machine guns, barbed wire)

vii. result: some 10 million people died in WWI, perhaps 20 million wounded

c. Europe’s colonial empires

i. funneled colonial troops and laborers into the war effort

ii. battles in Africa and South Pacific

iii. Japan (allied with Britain) took German possessions

iv. Ottoman Empire (allied with Germany) suffered intense military operations and an Arab revolt

v. the United States joined the war in 1917 when German submarines harmed U.S. shipping