The First World War

Structure of the Chapter

Causes for the First World War
Division of Europe into two hostile groups Imperialistic Rivalries Race of Armaments No effective Machinery for the Preservation of Peace Narrow Nationalism and aggressive Nationalism Negative Role of the Press System of secret Alliances Balkan Crisis Germanys Desire to be the World Power Character of Emperor Kaiser William Immediate Cause- Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand or Sarajevo Crisis

Consequences of the First World War

Changed the political map of the world

Treaty of Versailles June 28, 1919

Terms of the treaty

Gave impetus to nationalism End of European Supremacy Strengthening of Freedom Movement New Weapons of Destruction Loss of Life Economic Losses Boosted Scientific Progress Gave a blow to Racialism Promoted Internationalism The League of Nations Aims and objectives of the League of Nations

Division of Europe into two hostile groups

By the end of early 20th century Europe was divided into two hostile campsTriple Alliance (Central Powers ) It included Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy Triple Entete (Allied Powers) It included France, Russia and England. Japan joined later.

Imperialistic Rivalries
By the end of the 19th century, England and France had build up a huge colonial empire in Asia and Africa. Other countries like Germany, Russia and Japan also intended to increase their influence and create there colonies in Asia and Africa as these colonies were essential for their wealth, power and prestige. This led to a clash of interests among these countries and War became inevitable.

Race of Armaments
Every major power began stockpiling of armaments in the name of self defense and preservation of peace. Germany left behind France and Britain in iron and steel and many manufactures, it also mad the Imperator the Worlds largest ship of that time. This led to a fierce competition among the European countries and gave rise to the race of armaments.

Battleships were being stockpiled by European nations, Japan, and America in the late 19th and early 20th century

No effective Machinery for the Preservation of Peace There was total disorder in the international sphere, due to lack of an effective machinery to enforce the law among nations. The first Hague conference met in 1899 at the initiation of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia where 26 nations were proposed that the nations should decide not to increase their armies or their war budgets for five years. The conference failed because of Germanys opposition to the proposal.

Narrow Nationalism and aggressive Nationalism Narrow Nationalism or Aggressive Nationalism- The love of ones own country demanded the hatred of the other. Each nation thought about its own national interests and did not care for the interest of the other nations. Nationalism led to the creation of two new powersItaly and Germany.

Negative Role of the Press Inspired by aggressive nationalism, the newspaper in all the countries reported events in such a way that exited people and made the peaceful settlement of disputes seem impossible. Their hostile propaganda created an atmosphere of doubt, distrust and tension which proved harmful to world peace.

System of Secret Alliances

The two hostile camps in Europe were bound by various secret alliances. This secret diplomacy gave rise to the feeling of mutual suspicion, distrust and hatred.

Balkan Crisis

Balkan Crisis
The Balkan was a region comprising resent day Romania, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro. A large part of the Balkan Peninsula was under the control of Turkish Empire. After the fall of the Turkish Empire, a number of small countries emerged in the Balkan peninsula.

Balkan Crisis
These countries were jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expanse of the others. Matters were further complicated when the major powers like Russia, Germany, England, and AustriaHungary came into scene. The contest among these major powers for the control of Balkan Peninsula led to a series of wars in the region and finally the First World War.

Germanys Desire to be the World Power Germany, after the death of Bismarck in 1890, began to aspire to become the world power.

She set her eyes on World dominance.

The German Emperor Kaiser William II was highly ambitious and short tempered. He believed in the policy of supremacy of the world or extermination. He opposed every country openly and made many of his friends and supporters as his enemies. It was Kaiser Williams imperialistic ambitions which resulted in the formation of Triple Entete by his opponents namely, France, England and Russia and drove Europe to the threshold of war.

Immediate Cause- Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand or Sarajevo Crisis

Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria Hungary was assassinated at Serajevo, capital of Bosnia on June 28,1914. The assassination was organised by a secret society called Black Hand or Union of Death formed by extremist Serbian nationalists whose aim was to unite all Serbians into a single Serbian State.

 Britain, France and the USA launched a military offensive in July 1918 and Germany and her allies began to collapse. Germany became a republic and new government signed peace agreement on Nov 11 1918 and the war was over.

 27 countries including the victorious powers and the allies met in a conference in Paris in 1919. Woodrow Wilson, President of the US, Lloyd George, Prime minister of Britain and George Clemenceau, Prime minister of France decided the peace treaties. As a result of the discussion at this conference on June 28, 1919 The Treaty of Versailles was signed between Allies and Germany. It ended the war. The basis of the treatys negotiations was the American President Wilsons Fourteen Points.

 Following were the main points of the treaty of Versailles1. The treaty declared Germany guilty of aggression. 2. Germany was required to pay for the loss and damage suffered by the allies during the war. The amount of reparation was fixed at 33 billion dollars. 3. The area of the Rhine Valley was to be demilitarized and the German territory west of Rhine was to be occupied by Allied Troops for 15 years. 4. Germany lost Alsace Lorraine to France; Eupen-etMalmedy to Belgium, Schleswig to Denmark. Danzig became a free port in Polish territory. 5. Germany ceded parts of her pre War territory to Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia and France.

6. The coal mines in the German area called Saar were ceded to France for 15 years and the area was to be governed by the League of Nations. 7. Germany lost all her colonies to victorious Allies- Britain, Belgium, South Africa and Portugal. 8. German colonies in the Pacific and the areas under her control in China were given to Japan in spite of China being allied with Allies during the war. 9. German army was restricted to 1,00,000 soldiers and the navy was limited to 15000 men and 24 ships. The air force and submarines were banned. 10.The treaty affirmed the complete independence of Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. 11. The agreement of the League of Nation was added to the Treaty of Versailles.

Changed the political map of the world

Three Ruling Dynasties were destroyed- the Romanov in Russia, the Hohenzollern in Germany and the Hapsburg in Austria Hungary. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Austria and Hungary emerged as independent states. Thus the War changed the political map of the world and led to the development of democracy in Europe.

Gave impetus to nationalism

Empires having different cultures were dissolved and independent states having distinct cultures emerged after the War. Under the impulse of nationalism Alsace-Lorraine was restored to France and Schleswig-Holstein was restored to Denmark.

End of European Supremacy

Economically and Militarily, Europe lost its supremacy and United States suppressed Europe to emerge as a World Power.

Strengthening of Freedom Movement

The period after war also saw the strengthening of the freedom movements in Asia and Africa. The allied propaganda during the war to defend democracy, and the participation of Asian and African Soldiers in the battles in Europe helped in arousing the people of Asia and Africa.

New Weapons of Destruction

The machine gun, liquid fire, aircrafts for bombarding were new weapons used in the war. British used the tanks and Germany used submarines called U-boas on a large scale.

Loss of Life

The total number total number of people killed and dead in the war are estimated at about nine million. Several million became invalids. The air raids, epidemics and famines killed many more among the civilian populations.

Economic Losses

The war drained the wealth of both the sides. The economy of many countries was shattered after the war. Which gave rise to many serious social and economic problems.

Boosted Scientific Progress

The necessities of the war led to the improvement in ships, submarines, airplanes etc. the scientific inventions also contributed to grater industrial and agricultural process.

Gave a blow to Racialism

Before the war, Europeans used to consider themselves racially superior to Asians and Africans. However during the war they had to give up this feeling and fought shoulder to shoulder with them. AS a result, the feeling of racialism slowly subsided.

Promoted Internationalism

During the War, different nations came in close contact with each other through various pacts and alliances. This relationship continued even after the War and greatly contributed to the development of international peace.

The League of Nations

 One of the most important features of the First World War was the creation of the League of Nations. US President Wilsons 14 points included the creation of an international organization for the preservation of peace and to guarantee the independence of all the states. Thus, the League of Nations was created as a world organization of all independent states in 1920.

 The aims and objectives of the League of Nations were as follows1. All the states of the world were prohibited from entering into any secret treaties and alliances. 2. The member States were not supposed to maintain huge armies, warships and destructive armaments. 3. All states were to respect each others independence. 4. All states were to refer their mutual disputes, if any, to the League of Nations for a peaceful settlement. 5. The member states were to take necessary action as directed by the League against any state which tried to disturb world peace and order. 6. Apart from political functions, the League of Nations was supposed to promote cultural, social and economic cooperation among the member-States.

 The hopes of having a truly world organization devoted to the preservation of peace and independence of nations were, however not realized with the formation of the League of Nations. The rise of dictatorship in Italy and Germany led to the weakening of the League of Nations and it failed in its basic object of maintaining peace in the world. Unfortunately the League came to an end as Hitler committed aggression on Poland which began the World War II.