Chapter 2

Question 1

Cause WW1

Answer 1

“The causes of World War I have been endlessly debated, but it perhaps suffice to say that if states are divided into hostile alliance systems are engaged in an arms race, as the European powers were, then war is likely” (Grant, 2009, p. 268).

Question 2

Germany constitution WW1

Answer 2

-Otto von Bismarck and William I had orchestrated the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia by winning 3 successive wars between 1864 and 1871 (against Denmark, Austria and France).
They created a powerful, modern and prosperous German Reich/Empire. This unified Germany seemed menacing for the rest of Europe.

Question 3

Bismarck relationship to other countries

Answer 3

• However, Bismarck also felt insecure. He was afraid that other European powers resented his new empire and they would form an anti-German military alliance.
• In fact, many historians see the two world wars like interconnected efforts by the French, Russians and British to resist Germany’s attempts to dominate Europe (Morrow, 2011).
• Bismarck no longer wished to provoke wars. Germany was in a hegemonic position so peace would allow his country to remain the most powerful country in Europe.
• His main concern was France. He wanted to make sure that France would be isolated because it was still a serious threat for Germany if it could find military allies.

Question 4

Bismarck reaction to this feeling of insecurity - strategy and name

Answer 4

• Bismarck created what is known as the Bismarckian system. He knew that the only way the French could get their revenge was by finding allies to defeat Germany.
• To isolate France, Bismarck improved his relations with Austria-Hungary in 1879 and established an alliance with Italy.
• This led to the formation of the Triple Alliance in 1882 (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy).
• The only missing piece was Russia. Bismarck was afraid that Germany could eventually face attacks on two fronts, if the Russians made a pact with the French

Question 5

What stoped Bismarck from created his super solid alliance

Answer 5

• But in 1890, William I died. Hence, Germany had a new Kaiser/Emperor, William II. He was “an intelligent egomaniac with a bad temper” (Hallcock, 2013, p.25).
• Germany’s new ruler did not think that it was a good idea to seek the friendship of Russia so he fired Bismarck.
• Russia was an enemy of Austria-Hungary and William II did not want to jeopardize the existing alliance with the Austrians

Question 6

Consequnce of the new german alliance

Answer 6

-This allowed a Franco-Russian rapprochement in 1894. Their goal common was to limit Germany’s expansion.

Question 7

Were alliances german only political move

Answer 7

• In the meantime, William II also worked tirelessly to create a German colonial empire despite Bismarck’s belief that this was a waste of time and money.
• William II started to mount a challenge against Great Britain’s naval and imperial dominance.

Question 8

Consequence of the expanse of Germany’s colonial empire

Answer 8

• The Germans were quickly improving their navy and they started to acquire colonies in Africa such Cameroon, Togo, Namibia and Tanzania.
• The rise of Germany as an imperial and naval power annoyed the British: “Anglo-German rivalry over naval supremacy, or at least Britain’s perception that Germany threatened its long-standing dominance of the oceans, was a key factor in creating hostility between the two states before the war.” (Grayzel, 2013, p. 19).
• In 1907, the British joined the French and the Russians to make the Triple Entente.

Question 9

Conclusion alliances b4 war

Answer 9

• The new German emperor, William II, had failed to continue the isolation of France that had been an obsession for Bismarck.
• William II had surrounded the powerful German empire that he inherited with enemies. He did exactly what Bismarck had tried to avoid.
• Europe was becoming dangerously polarized in two rival alliances: “The tragedy of Bismarck is that he constructed a delicate balance of European powers that could not be maintained without himself as the master juggler” (Roskin, 2013, p.29).
• Therefore, all the main European powers were polarized in two camps and militarism was on the rise. The number of soldiers increased by 1,000 percent during the 25 years before the Great War (Druiker & Momani, 2007).

Question 10

Definition of Militarism

Answer 10

Definition of Militarism: “a policy of aggressive military preparedness; in particular, the large armies based on mass conscription and complex, inflexible plans for mobilization that European nations had before World War I” (Spielvogel, 2005, p.588).

Question 11

consequence context of militarim

Answer 11

• In this context, any minor incident could trigger a major conflict: “it often takes only a spark to set off a firestorm” (Duiker & Momani, 2007, p.46).
• European rulers believed that their alliances were indispensable and they were ready to take foolish risks to respect their commitments to their military allies.

Question 12

elemt déclencheur WW1

Answer 12

-The flame that ignited the conflagration was the assassination Franz Ferdinand, the Austrian archduke and the heir to the Austrian crown (it took place June 28, 1914. He avoided a bomb, a few hours before he was shot).

Question 13

Assasination FF who what where when

Answer 13

-Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, were murdered by Gavrilo Princip, a member Black Hand; at the end of a visit to Sarajevo, a Bosnian city that had be taken by the Austrian back in 1908 (the Black Hand was terrorists/nationalists organization that wanted free Bosnia from the Austrians so it could join Serbia instead. It was part their plan to create a Slavic nation, in the Balkans).

Question 14

Assasination FF consequences

Answer 14

• The assassination gave an excuse for the Austrians to attack Serbia. The Austrians began by making a harsh ultimatum that included 10 unreasonable requests that would have basically allowed them to control Serbia’s government and media.
• The Germans reassured their Austrian allies that they would support them if the Russians would assist Serbia.

Question 15

WW1 beggining

Answer 15

• In July 1914, Russia mobilized troops to attack the Austrians. This was seen as an act of war. The system of competing alliances swung into action.
• Within one month (August, 1914) all the major powers of Europe declared war to each other except for Italy (Triple Entente vs. Triple Alliance).
• The Italians promised to aid their allies in case on an attack. They accused the Germans and the Austrians of being the aggressors so they had no obligations towards them (Italy eventually fought against Austria-Hungary. The countries of the Triple Entente promise that Italy’s contribution would be rewarded with a part of Austria-Hungary at the end of the war).

Question 16

How did peeps excpect WW1 2 go

Answer 16

• When the war started during the summer of 1914, both sides were confident that they would be victorious before the end of 1914 (they were wrong. Exactly Five years elapsed between the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles the marked the end of the war).
• The naïve officers, nationalist political leaders and the gullible hoi polloi honestly taught that the soldiers would be back for Christmas: “the anticipation of carnage was delightful to something like ninety percent of the population” Bertand Russell, British philosopher, 1914.

Question 17

western front name strat

Answer 17

• On the western front (Germany vs. France and Great Britain), the German strategy was to quickly invade France by going through neutral Belgium.
• This was the Schlieffen Plan (Alfred von Schlieffen had actually retired back in 1905 after developing this invasion plan).

Question 18

how did invasion through Belgium work

Answer 18

• The war started well for the Germans. They quickly invaded Belgium at the end of the summer of 1914 after the Belgians refused to let Germans troops pass through their country.
• By September 1914, an army of 2 million German soldiers was already at the doorstep of Paris, the capital of France.
• The harsh treatment of the Belgians by the German troops urged the French population to do anything possible to avoid having to endure the humiliating fate of their Belgian neighbors.
• The initial momentum of the Germans was stopped by Joseph Joffre’s French troops at the Battle of the Marne (i.e., the Miracle of the Marne). The French used 2,000 Parisian taxi cabs to transport as many soldiers as possible to the battlefield (the contribution of the taxi driver was greatly exaggerated since they only transported a few thousand soldiers).

Question 19

Battle of the Marne (i.e., the Miracle of the Marne) and consequences

Answer 19

• This battle caused about 500,000 deaths in 4 days of fighting. It was very important since it ended the Schlieffen Plan and Paris remained under French control.
• Many German officers were fired because of this failure because the Germans did not have the resources to win a very long war on two fronts.
• The Schlieffen Plan had to work to perfection because the emperor William II wanted to “Have Paris for lunch and St. Petersburg (Russia) for dinner”. The defeat of the Marne forced the Germans to readjust their game plan.

Question 20

what type of war far entered after Battel of Marne

Answer 20

• The conflict was at a stalemate in October, 1914. Both sides dug 475 miles of parallel trenches stretched across northeastern France and protect their positions and prevented flaking maneuvers (the trenches went from the English Channel to the French border with Switzerland).
• What had been a fast passed war of movement was now war of attrition in the fall of 1914.
• Frontal assaults were extremely deadly so both sides had to settle for a defensive war when they saw that all attempts to make breakthroughs would lead their troops to be slaughtered.

Question 21

was this type of warfare effective (trenches)

Answer 21

• Nobody was able to make significant progress for 4 years. The German war veteran and novelist describes the maddening conditions of life in the trenches in the classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front.
• Fritz Franke, a German soldier, described trench warfare more concisely when he wrote to his family in November, 1914: “Every foot of ground contested; and everywhere bodies - rows of them!”

Question 22

no man’s land

Answer 22

• All attempts to advance in the “no man’s land” were deadly; the officers did not know how to dislodge opponents from their entrenchments (the distance between trenches could be as short as 100 yards. It was actually possible to dig tunnels to reach the other trench. Officers did not want the trenches to be comfortable to make sure that soldiers would want to get out).
• The European military officers had all been trained to fight wars of movement that characterized conflicts of the 18th and19th Centuries.
• They were surprised by modern weapons such as machine-guns, grenades, flame-throwers, and land-mines that made it almost impossible to break the enemy lines with traditional strategies.

Question 23

battles WW1 proving trench is tough

Answer 23

Even the massive effort of the Germans to take the town of Verdun ended in failure. Verdun became a symbol of French courage and of the Germans inability to get a major victory (the Germans fired over 1 million artillery shells on the French during the battle longest battle of the war. The British and the French had a similar failure at the Battle of the Somme that was also fought in 1916).

Question 24

German “tech”

Answer 24

-The Germans tried to use planes and poison gas to get the French and British out of their trenches but the gases frequently turned against them (chlorine gases contributed to the German victory at the Battle of Ypres, but Canadian soldiers managed to avenge the defeat of their French allies. They used handkerchiefs that were soaked in mud and urine to cover their face).

Question 25

eastrern front begin of war

Answer 25

• Things were moving at a quicker pace on the eastern front. It was due to the problems of the Russian army.
• The Russians had been able to get early victories over Austria-Hungary. But they made a mistake by entering eastern Germany.
• This forced the Germans led by Paul von Hindenburg to get involved on the eastern front before they could achieve victory on the western front.

Question 26

How did Russia match up to Germany

Answer 26

• The weaknesses of the Russian army were quickly exposed by the Germans (something that the Austrians were too inept to do).
• The Russians had plenty of manpower, but their soldiers were poorly-equipped and they were the victims of the poor leadership of their officers and their Czar, Nicholas II.
• The Russian army had every conceivable problem except a shortage of soldiers.

-In 1915, the Russian army had already lost 2, 5 million soldiers who were dead, captive or severely injured.

Question 27

Battle russian went pertictaculartly poorly

Answer 27

-The Battle of Tennenberg, in eastern Germany, was particularly catastrophic for the Russian army (it led Samsonov, the Russian general responsible for this defeat, to commit suicide).

Question 28

Russian army dope or nope ?

Answer 28

russian army biggest WW1,

- bad equipment, leadership, motivation and training

Question 29

Italians later implication in the war

Answer 29

• However, Germany and Austria-Hungary had lost the support of Italy, their original partner in the Triple Alliance (Italy actually tried to help the Triple Entente but Italian troops performed very poorly against the Austrians and the Germans).
• Mussilini fought here as well led to leave communist party

Question 30

Triple Alliance reaction to itlay jumping into the war against Austria-Hungary

Answer 30

-The Germans and Austrians compensated by adding the Ottoman Empire to their side.

Question 31

Triple Entente reaction to Ottaman empire

Answer 31

• In April 1915, the British tried to quickly crush the Ottoman Empire.
• They failed because of their spectacular debacle at the Battle of Gallipolli (in the Dardanelles).
• The British’s poorly planned naval attack failed to open the way for the British infantry but the soldiers were sent anyway. They were massacred by entrenched Ottoman troops that were waiting for them on the coast.
• Winston Churchill was severely blamed for the poor planning of the British offensive. This led him to a depression and it temporarily halted his ascent as a rising star in British politics (the British tried to get Gallipoli for 8 months. They failed and lost 250,000 soldiers in the process).

Question 32

who was credited win battle of gallipoli

Answer 32

-On the other hand, Mustafa Kemal received most of the credit for the victory and he became a hero for the Turks of the Ottoman Empire (Kemal became the most influential politician in the history of modern Turkey).

Question 33

who eventually took down ottoman empire

Answer 33

-It was Thomas Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), a young British officer, who would eventually cause the demise of the Ottoman Empire by convincing the Arabs to revolt against their Turkish overlords with the assistance of the British.

Question 34

Lawrence of Arabia

Answer 34

• Lawrence was a young and shy intellectual who had worked for the British Museum before the war. He had been judged physically unfit for military service but his limitless knowledge of the languages and cultures of the Middle East allowed him to serve once the British started to fight the Ottoman Empire.
• This seemingly quiet young man became one of the most mysterious and unlikely hero in the annals of modern warfare when he helped the Arab rebel against the Turks who governed the Ottoman Empire since the 15th Century.

Question 35

Thomas Lawrence tactic

Answer 35

-Lawrence and the Arab rebels destroyed railroads and their successful efforts to overtake strategic cities such as Aqaba and Damascus really undermined the war effort of the Ottoman Empire.

Question 36

the “first” genocide

Answer 36

• In the meantime, the Turks organized a genocide against the Armenians, another ethnic minority within the Ottoman Empire.
• The Armenians were the first victims of genocide in the 20th Century (the Armenians had been the victim of increasingly intense persecution from the Ottoman authorities since the end of the 19th century. The word genocide did not even exist back then. It was first used in 1944 by Rapahel Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer).
• In the meantime, the Turks organized a genocide against the Armenians, another ethnic minority within the Ottoman Empire.
• The Armenians were the first victims of genocide in the 20th Century (the Armenians had been the victim of increasingly intense persecution from the Ottoman authorities since the end of the 19th century. The word genocide did not even exist back then. It was first used in 1944 by Rapahel Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer).

-They were forcibly removed to the Syrian Desert. Approximately 1 million Armenians died during this removal. This represented about 65 percent of the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. They died of cruel treatment, starvation or illnesses such as cholera.

Question 37

international reactions to the armenian genocide

Answer 37

• These drastic measures against the Armenians were so cruel that they were denounced even by the Germans who were allies of the Ottoman Empire but there is nothing that foreign powers could do to protect the Armenians due to the ongoing war in Europe.
• Henry Morgenthau (1918), the American Ambassador to Ottoman Empire, described the horrible fate of a large group of Armenians who had been forced out of their villages: “Out of the combined convoy of 18,000 souls just 150 women and children reached their destination. A few of the rest, the most attractive, were still living as captives to the Kurds and Turks; all the rest were dead”.

Question 38

Rusian Revolution intro

Answer 38

• The Russian Revolution was a major turning point for the history of Russia and WWI (in 1917, Russia experienced two revolutions; one in February and one in October).
• Nicholas II, was the only European political leader that was involved in planning the war strategy of his army. He was hoping that he could gain more power and popularity by leading Russian troops in combat. Unfortunately, the war was a fiasco for Russia.

Question 39

what was the power dynamics in russian like in the beginning of the 1900s

Answer 39

• Before the War, the czarist regime of Nicholas II had brutally repressed an insurrection back in 1905.
• This led to substantial reforms that were grudgingly approved by Nicholas II such as the creation of the Duma, an elected assembly. However, Nicholas II was still unwilling to change. He was stuck in the past and he refused to take advise from the Duma.
• While Nicholas II was focusing on the war, he left domestic affairs in the hands of his wife, Alexandra (czarina).
• But the czarina was not concerned by her role as “the mother” of all Russians.
• Her attention was focused exclusively on her hemophilic son, Alexis, the czarevitch (i.e., the heir to the throne).
• The only person who seemed capable of helping Alexis was Rasputin, an enigmatic Siberian healer (his name means the debauched one. He was also illiterate and he washed himself only once a month).
• Many Russians complained that Rasputin had so much influence on Alexandra that he was the de facto ruler of Russia.

Question 40

was Raputin able to live laugh love in these conditions

Answer 40

-Rasputin made powerful enemies because of this. He was murdered in 1916. He had worsened the perception that the Nicholas II and his wife had poor judgement and were incompetents.

Question 41

were russians mcloving it in 1917

Answer 41

• In 1917, the autocratic Czarist regime was more unpopular than ever and its authority was breaking down.
• Soldiers were deserting and killing officers. Peasants were starving and urban workers were going on strike.
• “Nicholas II, was a well-meaning politically blind incompetent possessed by a dangerous nostalgia-reinforced by his wife Alexandra… Their concern for the hemophiliac heir apparent led them into a deadly path of withdrawal from reality” (Howard and Louis, 2002, p. 117).
• In March 1917, a massive manifestation of more than 300,000 protesters was organized in Petrograd.

Question 42

End of the Romanov dynasty

Answer 42

• The soldiers and policemen refused to obey orders to fire on the crowd. Some even joined the protests against the Czar.
• The Russians turned to the Duma for leadership and Nicholas II abdicated.
• This marked the end of the Romanov dynasty (Nicholas II abdicated to his brother, Michael, who immediately refused. Nicholas II had become such a pariah that he was not even allowed to take his family to live safely in exile in Great Britain, a military ally of Russia).

Question 43

new leaderhsip in russia

Answer 43

-Russia was now in the hands of a provisional government that was eventually led by Aleksandr Kerensky. He faced a major challenge. He had to rule a large country involved a war and replace the Romanovs who had ruled Russia for over 3 centuries.

Question 44

Kerensky political views

Answer 44

• Kerensky was a moderate socialist. His government would last for only 8 months (his cabinet was constantly reshuffled).
• Kerensky gave many things to his fellow Russians. He guaranteed basic human rights such equality before the law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to unionize and to go on strike.
• But Kerensky did not want to give them peace. Moreover, his government was unable to stop inflation.

Question 45

did the Russians feel like Krensky was doing a good job

Answer 45

• Kerensky felt obligated to his allies. Furthermore, convincing the Germans and Austrians to stop the war would not be cheap since Russian was losing badly in 1917.
• main prob still too into alliances was in the mindset of keeping allies at all costs
• Kerensky’s failure to improve the living conditions of the Russians allowed the rise of radical groups of socialists such as the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks (The Mensheviks were opposed to the violent revolution that was desired by the Bolsheviks).

Question 46

Lenin opninions

Answer 46

• Lenin argued that imperialism was the final stage of capitalism and that it was the cause of the war.
• He urged the workers (i.e., proletariat) from around the world to overthrow their capitalist governments if they hoped to end the war.

Question 47

How did germany use Lenin

Answer 47

• But many of the most extreme socialist agitators had been forced out of Russia by Nicholas II.
• That was the case of Vladimir Lenin (he was in Zurich, Switzerland) and Leon Trotsky (he was New York City).
• William II, the German Kaiser, decided to use Lenin to exacerbate the instability in Russia and hopefully disrupt the Russian war effort (Lenin took a secret train back to Russia with the protection of German troops).

Question 48

Kerensky politocal opinions

Answer 48

-Once in Russia, in April 1917, Lenin started to incite the crowds and the Bolsheviks to overthrow Kerensky’s provisional government:
“The government is tottering. We must deal it the death blow at any cost. To delay action is the same as death.” Lenin, 1917.
-Lenin wanted to eliminate the provisional government of Kerensky. He hoped replace it with a strong Socialist Party led by him.

• Creating a new coalitions government with other political parties was not an option for radicals like Lenin. He did not want to share power and make compromises. He wanted to total control over the economy through owning the means of production (i.e., the farmlands and the manufactures or Russia).
• Lenin also promised bread and peace to his fellow Russians. With him in power the poor peasants would control the land and manufacture workers would run their factories themselves.

Question 49

Kerensky peace out

Answer 49

• As a result, the Bolsheviks became popular in the main cities of Russia and they organized a successful coup in early November of 1917 (October on the Russian calendar).
• Their takeover of Petrograd was almost free of violence because the army refused to obey Kerensky.
• Power was lying on the streets of Russia’s capital and the Bolsheviks managed to pick it up (taking the rest of Russia was much more difficult for the Bolsheviks).

Question 50

The war and Lenin (WW1)

Answer 50

• Lenin kept his promise to take Russia out of the war. He signed a punitive peace treaty with the Germans in March, 1918.
• To obtain peace he had to agree to atrophy the Russian territory by giving a large part of western Russia to the Germans (this was the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Russia lost about 25 percent of its territory and 30 percent of its population to have peace with Germany. The lost territories included Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These valuable territories had plenty of coal and good farmlands. Germany lost these territories one year later when it lost the war but Russia did not get them back).

Question 51

Lenin and Nicholas II

Answer 51

-Lenin also quickly took his revenge on Nicholas II who had failed to move to Great Britain. Nicholas II was sent to the Ural mountains, where he was executed with the rest of his family in 1918 (it was sweet revenge for Lenin since Nicholas II had ordered the execution of his brother).

Question 52

Russian civil war

Answer 52

• Peace did not return to Russia instantly. The Bolsheviks (Red Army) were not supported by all Russians.
• Their opponents were simply known as the Whites (Lenin also created the Cheka to “deal” with dissenters).
• The Whites were poorly organized even if they obtained foreign support from the USA, France, Japan and Great Britain. This allowed the Bolsheviks to gain the popular support of the average Russians because they were able to claim that they defended the Russian soil against foreign invaders.
• It gave the definitive edge to the Bolsheviks who were able to hold on to power.
• This Russian civil war lasted until 1921 and caused approximately 3 million deaths.
• In 1922, Russia became the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).
• Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution, became the leader of the first communist country in the world.

Question 53

president america years before war

Answer 53

-Woodrow Wilson was the American president between 1913 and 1920. As a wise politician he remained neutral in the early years of World War I (he was a democrat and he’s still the only president who had a Ph. D.).

Question 54

why america calm early years ww1

Answer 54

• Wilson had to run for reelection in 1916 (his republican adversary, Charles Evans Hughes was a serious opponent. The Germans and the Irish immigrants in the United States both hated the British so he could not afford to offend these voters).
• Wilson was also limited by the state of his army (he only had 250, 000 soldiers. The USA had a smaller army than Serbia in 1916).
• Wilson got reelected in 1916, by presenting himself as a man of peace. “He kept us out the war” was actually one the slogans of his campaign.

Question 55

how were the economic and polotical policies regarding WW1 different in the USA ?

Answer 55

• But the reelected president was starting to look like he was out of touch with reality.
• The American bankers and manufactures had taken the side of the British and the French. Ships full of American-made weapons and goods such as cotton, steel, beef and wheat kept entering in British ports.

Question 56

how did the germans feel about this “non-involvement” from the US

Answer 56

• So the German U-boats (submarines) tried to sink all the American ships on the Atlantic. They argued that the United States was not really a neutral country since it had commerical ships in a war zone.
• The Germans even caused damage on American soil when they provoked an explosion of ammunition that was supposed to be sent to the British and the France. This caused approximately 100 deaths in the New York City harbor.

Question 57

did the german attacks on us goods continue? how did the us population feel about these germans attacks

Answer 57

-In 1915, Wilson had convinced the Germans to stop using this tactic, after the tragedy of the Lusitania, a British luxury liner (it caused the death of 128 Americans. The majority of Americans still did not want to declare war against Germany. Wilson was even blamed for being too severe towards Germany).

Question 58

did this tenuous geman us peace last long ?

Answer 58

• In the winter of 1917, the Germans had no choice to resume their bombing of American ships on the Atlantic; the Germans declared unrestricted submarine warfare in the winter of 1917 (500 American ships were sunk that year).
• The strategy of the Germans was that they could quickly end the war before the Americans could start sending troops (the Americans only had 15,000 soldiers that had sufficient training to fight in Europe at the beginning of 1917).

Question 59

werr all these german attacks enough to convince the us and go to war

Answer 59

-But despite the fact that the Germans resumed their attacks many American politicians and citizens still doubted that it was necessary to enter the war.

Question 60

last straw us WW1

Answer 60

• The last straw was the Zimmerman telegram (Zimmerman was the German foreign minister). This coded German message urged Mexico to attack the United States.
• It stated that the Germans were willing to help the Mexicans regained territories that had been conquered by the United States during the 19th Century (i.e., Arizona, New Mexico and Texas).

Question 61

when did the us fianlly declare war

Answer 61

• Congress declared war on Germany on April 6th, 1917 but the first American soldiers arrived in Europe only 6 months later (but the Americans were sending 250,000 soldiers/doughboys per month by the end of the war. Canada sent around 625,000 troops despite the demonstration against conscription in Quebec City and Montreal).
• The American government invested massively to convince young Americans to join the military and for others to buy government bonds to finance the war effort.

Question 62

pivotal year WW1

Answer 62

-The end of American neutrality and the pullout of Russia changed the dynamic of the war. Thus, 1917 was undoubtedly the pivotal year in the history of World War I.

Question 63

how 1917 change tide war (strong points triple entente)

Answer 63

• The Germans and the Austrians could focus on the western front but the arrival of the American soldiers to support the French and the British gave a sense of urgency to the German commander, General Ludendorff.
• “the American forces’ greatest contribution lay in its effect on the German High Command…the rapidly increasing numbers of American soldiers made it clear that Germany could not win a prolonged war” (Morrow, 2011, p. 21).
• The fact that the British also started to use tanks also forced the Germans to get out their trenches.

Question 64

German problems

Answer 64

• The German authorities desperately needed more metal to produce new weapons so the war had to end soon (the German army even requisitioned water pipes from German houses and bells from Churches to make weapons).
• The Germans also failed to effectively use the working potential of German women. On the other hand, the women of France and Great Britain were urged to compensate the loss of male workers in manufactures.
• Germany was also running out of food. Excessive rationing of essential goods caused 400,000 civilian deaths. Hunger was an enormous problem for Germans during World War I.

Question 65

With all these problems in Germany how was she faring on the military fronts

Answer 65

• On the battlefields of France and Belgium, the Germans were unable to find military success so their situation was increasingly desperate.
• Canadian troops played a major role in defeating the Germans in key battles of 1917 such as Argonne Forest, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.

Question 66

end of WW1 (events)

Answer 66

-By November 1918, General Hindenburg pressured William II (Germany) to resign. His ally, Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary, also realized that his cause was lost and he abdicated.

• The pressure of the war was too intense for the shaky foundations of their increasingly unpopular authoritarian governments.
• The Germans and Austrians were losing too many soldiers, they did not have the material resources to produce more weapons, the population was getting restless and their military alliance was crumbling (The Germans felt that the Austrians were useless and the Austrians felt that the Germans were arrogant. The Ottoman Empire was also collapsing because of the aforementioned Arab revolt).

-Moreover, their opponents did not want to negotiate with William II of Germany and Karl of Austria-Hungary. Hence, these autocrats abdicated on November 11th, 1918. The armistice was signed in a train wagon of Compiègne, France on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

Question 67

end of WW1 was also enf of four …?

Answer 67

-World War I is responsible for ending four long-established dynasties: the Romanovs (Russia), the Habsburgs (Austria-Hungary), the Ottoman dynasty (Ottoman Empire) and the Hohenzollerns (Germany).

Question 68

end WW1 consequences

Answer 68

• Germany, Austria and the Ottoman Empire all became republics and they lost a lot of territories.
• The war was over. Europe had to be reorganized. That task would be done in Paris by the winning countries (i.e., USA, France, Great Britain, Italy…).

Question 69

treaty of versails goal

Answer 69

“We were preparing not peace only, but eternal peace… we were bent on doing great permanent and noble things.” Harold Nicholson, a British delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, 1933.

Question 70

how did the population feel at the end of WW1

Answer 70

• The Great War (World War I) had caused the death of approximately 15 million people (Grant, 2009) and many others had been injured or traumatized. Most of the victims were from Germany, Russia, France and Austria-Hungary.
• The majority of the victims were soldiers. The Great War was still a Total War. Many citizens had to endure hunger, bombardment and even genocide.
• It was a total war that had affected most families and nobody was eager to go back to war.

Question 71

did all winning countries agree on their vision for the post WW1 world

Answer 71

-The problem was that the winners had very different plans for post-war Europe when they gathered in Paris Peace Conference. The British wanted funds to pay for the war damages, the French wanted to weaken Germany, and the United States wanted a long-term peace.

Question 72

president Wilson at Versailles

Answer 72

• President Wilson received a hero’s welcome from the French public. Wilson wanted peace with reconciliation.
• He arrived with the firm idea that he had to create the League of Nations. It would be a forum of discussion where countries could discuss their differences to prevent wars.
• It was part of Wilson’s Fourteen Points to promote a more prosperous and safer world.
• He also hoped that there could be free trade and a reduction of the sizes of armies around the world.

Question 73

Clemenceau à versailles

Answer 73

• On the other hand, Georges Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister, really wanted territory and the weakening of Germany. He also wanted money for the reconstruction of northern France.
• Clemenceau even mocked Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Wilson’s desire for everlasting peace was irrelevant because it was not realistic according to Clemenceau. He was very offended when Wilson refused his invitation to visit the trenches and destroyed villages in northern France.
• Clemenceau’s main concern was the security of France. He distrusted the Germans. Not punishing them would be foolish.
• He wanted to make sure that Germany would be too weak to attack France again, because Germany in defeat was still stronger than a victorious France. Germans held parades for returning soldiers. They had not realized that they had been defeated when they signed the armistice.

Question 74

David Lloyd George at versailles

Answer 74

• The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, also wanted to punish the Germans by imposing the payment of war reparations. He also wanted to weaken the German navy and dismantle the German colonial empire.
• He considered that the Germans were responsible for war and that they had to pay. His anger was more restrained than Clemenceau. The British did not want to hurt Germany’s economy and army excessively because the British were afraid that the new communist government of Russia was going to become more dangerous than Germany.

Question 75

with all these conflciting opinions of did the peace treaty go

Answer 75

-The Treaty of Versailles was finally a botched peace agreement.

Question 76

Germans at versailles

Answer 76

• The Germans were excluded from the negotiations so it was a dictated peace (diktat).
• It offended the Germans who were forced to admit that they were guilty for starting the war (but the Germans had been equally harsh when the Russians asked for peace a year earlier).

Question 77

treaty of Versailles 5 clauses

Answer 77

• The harsh Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany had to do the following:
  (1) give Alsace and Lorraine back to France.
  (2) give parts of its land for the formation of Poland.
  (3) accept the foreign occupation of the Rhineland, a region of Germany that’s on the French border.
  (4) terminate their nascent air force (the Luftwaffe) and limit the size of its army and navy. It also had to abandon its five African colonies (they were shared between Great Britain, France and Belgium).
  (5) pay massive reparation (i.e., 226 billion Reichmarks or $30 billion) for its alleged wartime aggression and to compensate the damages they had done during the war (the Germans paid only 17 billion deutschmarks between 1919 and 1931. They only finished their repayments only in 2010!!!).

Question 78

what happended to Austria-Hungary

Answer 78

• Another treaty was done in St. Germain, France. It was there that Austria-Hungary, a multiethnic empire, was dismantled.
• The Austrians were forced to give South Tyrol to Italy and Transylvania was given to Romania. They also recognized the independence Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Question 79

us reactions to the treaty

Answer 79

• Other people were also dissatisfied by this treaty, the Republican-dominated American senate did not vote for it (they disagreed with Wilson’s idealism. Wilson caught the Spanish flu when he returned from Paris and he did not defend the treaty).
• The Americans wanted to go back to their old isolationist ways and they did not even join the League of Nations.
• The punitive nature of the treaty ended the peace process in a climate of general distrust.

Question 80

positives WW1

Answer 80

• On the other hand, there was still positive news. Europe had never been as democratic as it was in 1919.
• But new democratic nations such as Czechoslovakia and Poland were very weak militarily and they did not have strong democratic traditions.
• Their survival depended on the temporary decline of Germany and Russia.
• The women of Western countries also had more political rights.
• They obtained the right to vote in countries such as Canada, Great Britain, Germany and the United States (a right that the women of New Zealand had acquired way back in 1893. But the French women waited until the 1940s).

Question 81

women after WW1

Answer 81

• The women of Western countries also had more political rights.
• They obtained the right to vote in countries such as Canada, Great Britain, Germany and the United States (a right that the women of New Zealand had acquired way back in 1893. But the French women waited until the 1940s).
• However, most of the women who entered the workforce during the war had to give their jobs back to returning soldiers.

Question 82

other event than WW1 20th century

Answer 82

• It is also important to note that WWI, was not the deadliest event of the early 20th Century.
• This title goes to the influenza (Spanish flu) pandemic of 1918-1919. It was a global crisis that was spread internationally by travelling soldiers (Spain was blamed by the media for this health crisis but it actually began on a farm in Kansas).
• For many victims, their flu turned into pneumonia. This epidemic killed at least 25 million people (about 50,000 in Canada and 600,000 in the United States).

Question 83

how bad was in fulenza

Answer 83

-This epidemic is definitively an underrated event of the 20th Century. Even celebrities such as Walt Disney, President Woodrow Wilson and Mahatma Gandhi were infected during this epidemic.

Question 84

influenza v hockey

Answer 84

• The Influenza epidemic even affected the Montreal Canadiens. One player died of this epidemic and may of his teammates were ill during the playoffs.
• It forced the nascent National Hockey League (NHL) to cancel the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals between Montreal and Seattle (this was the only year when the Stanley Cup was not awarded before the lockout that forced the cancellation of the 2005 playoffs).