User:BrickIsGone/sandbox
| World War I | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
Allied Powers:
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Central Powers:
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Georges Clemenceau George V Nicholas II Victor Emmanuel III Yoshihito Woodrow Wilson |
 Wilhelm II Franz Joseph I # Charles I Mehmed V # Mehmed VI Ferdinand I | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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World War I[b] or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East, as well as in parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare; the widespread use of artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of tanks and aircraft. World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded, plus some 10 million civilian dead from causes including genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.
The causes of World War I included the rise of Germany and decline of the Ottoman Empire, which disturbed the long-standing balance of power in Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered by industrialisation and imperialism. Growing tensions between the great powers and in the Balkans reached a breaking point on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and declared war on 28 July. After Russia mobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia and France, who had an alliance. The United Kingdom entered after Germany invaded Belgium, whose neutrality it guaranteed, and the Ottomans joined the Central Powers in November. Germany's strategy in 1914 was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east, but its advance was halted in September, and by the end of the year the Western Front consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and others joined in from 1915 onward.
In April 1917, the United States entered the war on the Allied side following Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against Atlantic shipping. Later that year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian October Revolution, and Soviet Russia signed an armistice with the Central Powers in December, followed by a separate peace in March 1918. That month, Germany launched an offensive in the west, which despite initial successes left the German Army exhausted and demoralised. A successful Allied counter-offensive from August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing a revolution at home, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918.
The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably the Treaty of Versailles, by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large war reparations to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in the creation of new independent states, including Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the interwar period contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Names
[edit]Before World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War.[1] In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself".[2] In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."[3] Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as "the war to end war" and it was also described as "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life.[4] The first recorded use of the term First World War was in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel who stated, "There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word."[5]
Background
[edit]Political and military alliances
[edit]
For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuous balance of power, known as the Concert of Europe.[6] After 1848, this was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, New Imperialism, and the rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War allowed Bismarck to consolidate a German Empire. Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was to avenge this defeat,[7] but by the early 1890s, this had switched to the expansion of the French colonial empire.[8]
In 1873, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors, which included Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. After the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in the Balkans, an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest. Germany and Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879 Dual Alliance, which became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.[9] For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up the Reinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary.[10]
For Bismarck, peace with Russia was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire by Wilhelm II. The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his new Chancellor, Leo von Caprivi.[11] This gave France an opening to agree the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, which was then followed by the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain. The Triple Entente was completed by the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention. While not formal alliances, by settling long-standing colonial disputes in Asia and Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became a possibility.[12] This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911 Agadir Crisis.[13]
Arms race
[edit]
German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz sought to use this growth to build an Imperial German Navy, that could compete with the British Royal Navy.[14] This policy was based on the work of US naval author Alfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that possession of a blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel.[15]
However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to a change in policy and an Anglo-German naval arms race began.[16] Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 gave the British a technological advantage.[14] Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to the Rüstungswende or 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army.[17]
This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent 1905 Russian Revolution. Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions.[18] Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia, the threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by the Balkan powers and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms.[19]
Conflicts in the Balkans
[edit]
The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. While Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russia considered itself the protector of [[Kingdom of Serbi
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Braybon 2004, p. 8.
- ^ "The Great War". The Independent. 17 August 1914. p. 228. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
- ^ "great, adj., adv., and n". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ "The war to end all wars". BBC News. 10 November 1998. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
- ^ Shapiro & Epstein 2006, p. 329.
- ^ Clark 2013, pp. 121–152.
- ^ Zeldin 1977, p. 117.
- ^ Bertrand Joly, "La France et la Revanche (1871–1914)", Revue d'Histoire Moderne & Contemporaine. 1999, vol. 46-2, pp. 325–347 [1] Archived 27 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Keegan 1998, p. 52.
- ^ Medlicott 1945, pp. 66–70.
- ^ Keenan 1986, p. 20.
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 15.
- ^ Fay 1930, pp. 290–293.
- ^ a b Willmott 2003, p. 21.
- ^ Herwig 1988, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Moll & Luebbert 1980, pp. 153–185.
- ^ Stevenson 2016, p. 45.
- ^ Crisp 1976, pp. 174–196.
- ^ Stevenson 2016, p. 42.