File:Chap 13.3 Outline – The World At War.doc

Chap 13.3 Outline – The World At War - Western Civ Homework 5/10/2006 -Plaz 21:10, 10 May 2006 (EDT)

1. Intro - The War Expands
   1. By 1915, it appeared that a swift victory had eluded the warring, European nations
   2. The war was going to be a long, grim, drawn-out affair.
   3. Both sides looked for new allies to help them win.
   4. Also, they looked for new fronts to gain an advantage.
2. Italy joined on the side of the Allies in April 1915
3. The Ottoman Empire
   1. Gallipoli campaign
      1. The Allies wanted to attack an Ottoman region known as the Dardanelles, so they could:
         1. take Constantinople
         2. defeat the Turks
         3. open a supply line to Russia
         4. possibly- get into Austria through the Danube River
      2. This front started in Feb. 1915
      3. Known as the Gallipoli campaign
      4. British, Australian, New Zealand, and French troops attacked Gallipoli Peninsula
      5. Turkish Troops, some commanded by German officials, defended
      6. Soon turned into another stalemate with trenched
      7. In December 1915, Allies left after 250,000 casualties.
   2. Still, Allies determined to topple Ottoman Empire
   3. In southwest Asia, British helped Arab nationalist rise up against Turkish rulers
      1. On solider that helped a lot was T.E. Lawrence aka. Lawrence of Arabia
      2. Led guerilla raids against Turks
   4. With help of Arabs, Allies got Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Damascus
4. In parts of Asia and Africa, Germany’s colonies were threatened
   1. Japan quickly took Germany’s positions in China and the Pacific Islands.
   2. English and French troops attacked German’s colonies in Africa and got three.
5. In Asia and Africa, British and French got help for the Allies. Help (troops and labors: brought supplies to the lines) came from:
   1. 1. India
      2. South Africa
      3. Senegal
      4. Egypt
      5. Algeria
      6. Indonesia
   2. Many volunteered because they hoped their services would be repaid with independence.
   3. In India: Mohandas Gandhi supported the war and helped Britain in their “Hour of need”
6. United States Enters
   1. In 1917, Germans intensified submarine warfare
   2. Failed crops and British blockades made it hard on Germans
   3. In Jan. 1917 Germans announced unrestricted submarine warfare, or that they would attack any ship for any reason
      1. On May 7, 1915 a u-boat sunk British passenger ship Lusitania that was carrying 1,198 passengers including 128 Americans.
      2. The Germans claimed it was carrying ammunition (It was)
      3. America was outraged
      4. President Woodrow Wilson sent strong letter to Germans
      5. After two more attacks, Germans backed down
      6. However, in 1917, they started again because they hoped they could get the US involved in the war.
      7. They though the blockade would hurt Britain before the USA could mobilize
      8. Ignoring warnings, Germans sank three US ships
   4. Zimmermann Note
      1. In Feb. 1917 the British intercepted a telegram from Germans to Mexicans promising Mexico would get its land back (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona) that it lost to the US before.
      2. This sparked the war
   5. Common Ties
      1. Also, before this, many Americans supported the British due to its common language and law system
      2. Also their were reports (both true and false) of German war atrocities
      3. Our economic ties were stronger with Allies then Central Powers
   6. On April 2, 1917 the US joined the war on the Allied side
7. Total War
   1. In the 3 years before the US joined, the war was turning into a Total War; or a war which the countries involved change all aspects of their society to support the war
   2. Mostly Britain, Germany, Austria, Russia, and France
   3. The wartime gov. took control of economy
      1. Factories were told how much and of what to produce
         1. Bike factories turned into munitions and tank factories, etc.
      2. Almost every citizen was put to work
         1. Almost no unemployment
         2. Foreign workers sought
   4. Rationing started – people could only buy certain amounts of items needed for war
   5. Anti-war activities were suppressed
      1. Sometimes even forcibly and even in democratic countries
      2. Propaganda (one-sided information) posters were turned out
   6. Woman were needed
      1. Thousands of woman replaced men in factories and offices
      2. Kept troops supplied
      3. Although most woman left the work force after the war, it changed the idea of what woman could do
8. Allies Win!
   1. When the US joined, the balance shifted, but before, Russia was weakening and would pull out
   2. Russia Withdraws
      1. Russia did not have the infrastructure to support war.
         1. They were mostly kept alive due to the vast amounts of soldiers they could send out to die
      2. By March 1917, civil unrest in Russia hit home.
      3. Czar Nicholas’s government was on the brink of collapse, when he quit on March 15, 1917.
      4. A provincial government was put up in it’s place
         1. They vowed to continue fighting
         2. But by 1917, 5.5 million Russians had been killed, wounded, or taken hostage
         3. The Russian army wouldn’t fight any longer.
      5. In November 1917, Communist Vladimir Iiyich Lenin sized power through a revolution
         1. He wanted to end the war
         2. He offered Germany a truce
         3. In March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended the war, but forced Russia to give up:
            1. Finland
            2. Poland
            3. Ukraine
            4. Estonia
            5. Latvia
            6. Lithuania
         4. After the war, the treaty was invalidated, but these countries became independent.
      6. Russia’s withdraw let Germany send all of its troops to the Western Front
      7. They made one strong push in March 1918
         1. More then 6000 cannons attacked France at once
         2. Germans crushed everything in their path, and made massive advances.
         3. By late May 1918, they were back to the Marne River, 40 miles from Paris
         4. But the Germans were weakened
      8. The Allies, with the help of fresh American troops could launch a counter attack with Marshal Ferdinand Foch
         1. The US soldiers sere inexperienced, but strong, and ready to fight - unlike the exhausted, meek French (the strong ones were mostly dead)
   3. In July 1918, at the Second Battle of the Marne, 350 Allied tanks and 2 million Americans pushed the Germans back
   4. The Central Powers begin to crumble
      1. First Bulgarians, then the Ottoman Empire surrendered
      2. In October 1918, a revolution in Austria-Hungary ended that empire.
      3. In Germany, soldiers mutinied and the public turned on Kaiser
      4. On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down and Germany became a republic
      5. On November 11, 1918, representatives from the new German government met with Marshal Foch in a railcar to sign an armistice or agreement to stop fighting
9. Leaders then gathered in Paris to make a shaky peace, that left countries feeling bitter and betrayed