CHAPTER 27: WWI and the Russian Revolution

Setting the Stage for War

A. Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism

1. the glorification of armed strength or militarism necessary for nationalism and imperialism to succeed

2. mobilization resulted in order to defend interests, Dreadnought first modern battleship of Great Britain

B. System of Alliances

1. Triple Alliance secured by Bismarck, Germany/Austria-Hungary/Italy

2. Triple Entente response to competition for seas, Great Britain/Russia/France

C. The Balkan “Powder Keg”

1. Balkan Wars of 1912, 1913 raised tensions

2. Assassination at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914

a. Francis Ferdinand made ill-advised visit to Sarajevo, Assassinated by Bosnia student, Gavrilo Princip

3. Count Leopold von Berchtold received “blank check”

a. presented impossible ultimatum, Serbs conceded most points, Austrians still chose war

D. The Alliances’ Inevitable War

1. Germany put self in position of being forced to back Austrians; Russians forced to back Serbians

a. Alliances kicked into motion, Europe reached point of no return

2. Rapid chain of events brought on World War I

a. Surrounded, Germany had to move quickly, planned to crush France, move against Russia

b. Sent ultimata to Russia, France

c. Germany declared war on Russia, August 1

d. Britain responded with ultimatum, then war against Germany for violating Belgian neutrality

e. Italy remained neutral for 10 months, then switched sides

f. Japan, allied with Britain, declared war

g. Turks, fearing Russia’s intentions, joined Central Powers

World War I: A New Kind of War

A. The Beligerents

1. Central Powers = Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Ottoman Empire

2. Allied Powers = Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, U.S. – eventually 32 total countries

B. Innovations

1. Industrialized war: submarines, machine guns, airplanes, tanks

2. drafted instead of professional soldiers

3. Total War in scope and magnitude, a true global war

a. Allies had superior resources, money

b. Germans had superior armies, leadership

C. The First Two Years

1. Germans blocked at Battle of the Marne, trench war of attrition set in

2. British tried to force Dardanelles at Gallipoli, tried to knock Turks out/supply Russians

3. After two years, no victory in sight

E. Allied Fatigue and American Entry

1. U.S. declared neutrality in 1914

a. U.S. gave huge financial assistance to Allies

b. Allied propaganda convinced U.S. of their cause

2. Germans saw chance for victory by choking Britain

a. Announced unrestricted submarine warfare

b. Torpedoed Lusitania, 100 Americans killed

c. Zimmermann Note launched plot with Mexicans against U.S.

3. Wilson asked Congress to declare war, later called for sacrifices “to make the world safe for democracy”

The Russian Revolution

A. Lenin and the Bolsheviks

1. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov (Lenin) gravitated to radicalism in tsarist Russia

a. Exiled to Siberia for political activities

b. Joined Russian Social Democrats in exile in Switzerland, edited Iskra (Spark)

2. Adapted and augmented Marxist doctrines to apply to Russian conditions

3. Promoted new concepts at Social Democrats’ meeting in London, 1903

a. Advanced vanguard party, democratic centralism, dispute over party split Social Democrats into Mensheviks/Bolsheviks

5. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916), Lenin predicted that modern capitalist states would destroy themselves

a. States would engage in competition for markets, resources, capital, war

b. His elite party would then take advantage of the chaos to come to power

B. The First, “Spontaneous” 1917 Revolution

1. Costs of war set stage for revolution

a. Massive losses led to strikes, discontent

2. Revolution began spontaneously

a. Bread shortage occurred, causing more protests

3. Duma formed Provisional Government, socialists formed Soviet of Workers and Soldiers’ Deputies

a. Romanovs abdicated, Dual Power began

b. Menshevik-dominated Soviet had more support than Provisional Government, would not take power

C. The Second, “Bolshevik” Revolution of 1917

1. Lenin came from Swiss exile with German help, April 1917

a. Arrived in Petrograd, announced radical plan to stop war against Germany, start war against “social oppressors,” nationalize land

2. Conditions in Russia disintegrated

b. Economic system fell apart, troops deserted, peasants carried out land reform, workers began to take over factories

3. Bolsheviks remained disciplined, pragmatic, opportunistic

a. Slogan “Peace, Bread, Land” captured essence of crisis, easily took over

D. Power, Allied Intervention, Civil War

1. Bolsheviks ruled shattered state

2. Made peace with Germans in Brest-Litovsk Treaty, stripping large areas, many people from Russia

3. Civil war soon broke out

a. White forces/Allied intervention challenged Bolsheviks or Red Army

b. Lenin unleashed Cheka (harsh laws), Tsar and his family executed in July 1918

4. 1922 named Soviet Union or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The Terms of Peace and Creating a “New” Europe

A. Idealism and Realities

1. Wilson called for equitable settlements, terrible war made that impossible

a. Big Four, three vengeful Europeans and one idealistic American, dominated Paris talks

2. Wilson did not know about secret treaties

3. Wilson wanted Fourteen Points as basis for peace

a. Keystone was League of Nations

C. Redrawing German Boundaries

1. Diplomats weakened Germany

a. France retook Alsace-Lorraine

b. Denmark, Belgium, Poland also gained land

c. Polish Corridor a controversial element

D. The Mandate System and Reparations

1. Idealism and revenge dictated redistribution of German colonies, Mandate System set up

2. Article 231 laid war guilt, bill for war, on Germany

E. Evaluating the Peacemakers

1. Not as successful as those at Congress of Vienna

a. Faced more difficult task, but made mistakes

2. Europeans can be accused of shortsighted opportunism

a. America’s later isolation hurt any positive outcome

3. Given passions, difficulties, peace settlements probably as good as could be hoped

a. Left legacy of bitterness, disappointment

F. The Costs of the War

1. Survivors faced desperate economic situation

a. Borrowing had been used to pay war costs

b. Bills came due in continent with altered trading patterns, new boundaries, injuries

2. Beyond surface casualty figures, cannot gauge potential lost work of dead, psychological damage

a. Four empires crumbled, replaced by uncertain republics or dictatorships

b. Colonial world in disarray