... PREHISTORY
..... HIGH IMPERIALISM, increasing competition among the Industrialised Powers for colonies and markets
..... The powers engaged in a policy of armament (Germany building up a powerful fleet, Britain building ships to preserve it's
superiority on the seas)
..... Nationalism (existing national states seeking territorial expansion (IRREDENTA: Italy, Romania; Serbian claims on Bosnia);
oppressed nations hoping for independence (Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czechs, Latvians, Slovaks)
..... Systems of Alliances prepared the stage
..... Last attempt to break up constellation facing each other in war : HALDANE MISSION fails
... CHAIN OF EVENTS LEADING TO WORLD WAR I
..... Assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo (Bosnia) July 28th 1914
..... Austria-Hungary
declares War on Serbia
August 28th 1914
..... Russia mobilizes;
Germany declares war on Russia (Aug. 1st) and on France (August 3rd)
..... In order to circumvent France's border fortifications, German troops invade
Belgium, in breach of
the country's neutrality (SCHLIEFFEN
PLAN)
..... On August 4th, Britain declares
war on Germany
... IMPACT OF WAR
..... Stalemate unexpected, burden on finances and economy enormous; war credits, war bonds,
WAR ECONOMY (planned distribution of
scarce, critical materials, coupons, Women
employed in workforce to replace men)
..... Losses in men enormous
..... belligerents pursue active diplomacy to gain allies ;
Ottoman Empire, Japan,
Bulgaria,
Italy,
Rumania, Hejaz Arabs join the war
..... troops from the colonies
were brought in to fight in the trenches
..... shortage of food causes malnutrition, famine; situation turns more and more desparate
... SIGNS OF EXHAUSTION
..... Russia : FEBRUARY REVOLUTION,
Duma takes over, Menzhevik Government (Kerensky) continues war
..... LENIN in secret agreement with Germany returned from Swiss exile, with secret German credit, propagates Bolzhevik revolution, end to war
..... ZIMMERMANN TELEGRAM : Germany explores possibility of peace
... FINAL STAGE OF THE WAR
..... successes of ARAB REVOLT,
of British Expeditionary Corps in Mesopotamia
..... OCTOBER REVOLUTION;
Russian front crumbles; Russian CIVIL WAR begins
..... US enters war
..... nations within the Russian Empire unilaterally declare independence : (Russian)
Poland,
Finland,
Estonia,
Lithuania, the Baltics etc.
..... PEACE OF BREST-LITOVSK :
Russia (Lenin) has to accept huge territorial cessions
..... German troops freed in the east, thrown into a last effort offensive to force victory in the west (SPRING OFFENSIVE)
..... Offensive stopped; Central Powers exhausted, last trump played out
..... October : Central Powers pushed back on all fronts; one by one, Central Powers request ARMISTICE (Germany : Nov. 11th)
... PEACE CONDITIONS
..... US President Wilson's FOURTEEN POINTS
..... PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE - Versailles (Germany), St. Germain en Laye (Austria), Trianon (Hungary), Neuilly (Bulgaria), Sevres (Turkey)
..... Imperial Governments blamed for war; negotiations only with Republican administrations; Emperors/Sultan abdicate; Empires disintegrate
..... Germany compelled to accept SOLE RESPONSIBILITY for the war; this, more than all other conditions, creates rejection of Peace
conditions in Germany (dictated peace)
..... German colonies confiscated, mandated to occupants
..... Areas of mixed population separated from Germany/Austria/Hungary, future to be decided by PLEBISCITES
..... Successor states of Central Powers made responsible for damage, have to pay huge REPARATIONS
..... Successor states have to drastically reduce armies, navies
... CONSEQUENCES
..... Revolution spreads to Germany, Hungary, but only short-lived
..... In most countries LABOUR MOVEMENT SPLITS in communist and socialist/social democratic parties/organizations
..... USSR established
..... Newly independent nations in Eastern Central Europe : BORDER CONFLICTS
..... The IRISH claim independence from Britain
..... INFLATION
..... in most countries WOMEN given RIGHT TO VOTE
..... New Republics : many parties represented in parliament, formation of government, compromise policy difficult
..... Economy has to transform from planned wartime economy to peacetime free market economy
..... returning soldiers face unemployment; many join MILITIAS (mostly politically on the extreme right) : Germany, Italy, Austria etc., STREET
FIGHTING; threaten the rule of law and order in new republics
..... Full-scale war POLAND-RSFSR, TURKEY-GREECE
..... Western Europe : Reconstruction, repayment of huge war debt take decades
This page is part of World History at KMLA Last revised on June 15th 2000
