{"id":2813,"date":"2021-12-20T14:51:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T14:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=2813"},"modified":"2022-09-15T23:56:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T23:56:17","slug":"the-great-war-begins","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/the-great-war-begins\/","title":{"raw":"The Great War Begins","rendered":"The Great War Begins"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Explain the primary causes of World War I in terms of international relations and politics<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_23_01_Timeline\" class=\"timeline\"><\/figure>\r\n<section id=\"eip-idm12773264\" data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">War Erupts in Europe<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3262\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"248\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05174438\/1024px-DC-1914-27-d-Sarajevo-cropped.jpeg\"><img class=\"wp-image-3262 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05174438\/1024px-DC-1914-27-d-Sarajevo-cropped-248x300.jpeg\" alt=\"The first page of the edition of the Domenica del Corriere, an Italian paper, with a drawing by Achille Beltrame depicting Gavrilo Princip killing Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo.\" width=\"248\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. An illustration from an Italian newspaper depicting the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria by\u00a0Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo.[\/caption]\r\n<p id=\"eip-idm29993824\">When Serbian-Slavic nationalists assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on June 29, 1914, the underlying forces that led to World War I had already long been in motion and seemed, at first, to have little to do with the United States. At the time, the events that pushed Europe from ongoing tensions into war seemed very far away from U.S. interests. For nearly a century, European nations had negotiated a series of mutual defense alliance treaties to secure themselves against their imperialistic rivals. Among the largest European powers, the <strong>Triple Entente<\/strong> included an alliance of France, Great Britain, and Russia. Opposite them, the <strong>Central Powers<\/strong>, also known as the Triple Alliance, included Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and initially Italy. To complicate matters, a series of \u201cside treaties\u201d also required the larger European powers to protect several smaller ones should war break out.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"eip-idp20065520\">At the same time that European nations committed each other to defense pacts, they jockeyed for power over empires abroad and invested heavily in large, modern militaries. Dreams of empire and military supremacy fueled an era of nationalism that was particularly pronounced in the newer nations of Germany and Italy but also provoked <strong>separatist movements<\/strong> among various European populations who were resentful of being ruled by foreign powers. In Bosnia\u2019s capital of Sarajevo, Serbian citizen Gavrilo Princip and his accomplices assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in their fight for a Slavic nation independent from Austro-Hungarian rule. When Serbia failed to accede to Austro-Hungarian demands in the wake of the Archduke\u2019s murder, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia with the confidence that it had the backing of Germany,\u00a0which had united in 1871 and had begun posturing itself as an imperial power on the world stage soon after.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Separatist Movements<\/h3>\r\nMost historians agree that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo was the spark that ignited World War I. However, it can be difficult to understand why the murder of an Austrian Archduke in Eastern Europe by a Serbian citizen could be the cause of a war that swept over almost every nation in Europe and came to involve the U.S. To understand how this happened, it is important to examine the nature of European Imperialism and separatist movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.\r\n\r\nThe Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and German Empires ruled vast areas of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East in the early 20th century. The British Isles also ruled over colonies in parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. These massive Empires were holdovers from the pre-Industrial world where nations would compete against one another to acquire new territories, populations, and resources. The effect of this was that millions of people around the world lived under the rule of governments or monarchs who were often oppressive and authoritarian. When imperial powers conquered and annexed new territories, the local populace sometimes became the target of violence and ethnic cleansing. There were many examples of religious persecution, forced deportations or relocations, ethnic cleansing, and other atrocities.\u00a0The responses from local populations were varied, but many areas developed strong independence movements whose goal was to politically, socially, and militarily free themselves from their imperial rulers. Most used paramilitary tactics, guerrilla warfare, and terrorism to achieve their goal.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3261\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"578\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05173652\/Map_Europe_alliances_1914-en.svg_.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-3261\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05173652\/Map_Europe_alliances_1914-en.svg_.png\" alt=\"Map of European alliances prior to WWI. \" width=\"578\" height=\"342\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. Map of military alliances in 1914.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSeparatist movements against the <strong>Austro-Hungarian Empire<\/strong> developed mostly in the Balkan region (southeastern Europe) with the goal of breaking Austro-Hungarian rule and establishing a united Slavic nation. After World War I, these pan-Slavic movements succeeded in establishing the country of Yugoslavia, which included modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia (though Yugoslavia dissolved in 1991 when Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence). Other separatist movements against the Austro-Hungarian Empire developed in present-day Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic.\r\n\r\n<strong>The Ottoman Empire<\/strong> dealt with its own separatist movements in present-day Albania, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Bosnia. In the wake of World War I, a movement for Turkish independence took power in the weakened Ottoman Empire, officially dissolving it and creating the Turkish Republic in 1923.\r\n\r\n<strong>The British Empire\u00a0<\/strong>has dealt with some of the most prominent separatist movements in history, including the American Revolution and The Troubles conflict with Northern Ireland. Approximately 65 countries have won their independence from Britain, with most becoming independent shortly after World War II.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3263\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"594\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05175136\/British_Empire_1921.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-3263 \" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05175136\/British_Empire_1921.png\" alt=\"World map showing British control of Canada, much of Africa, India, Australia, and many other regions.\" width=\"594\" height=\"261\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. The British Empire at its height in 1921.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAt the start of World War I, the <strong>German Empire\u00a0<\/strong>encompassed all of present-day Germany, plus parts of France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. The German Empire also held overseas territory in China, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. While Germany was punitively stripped of this territory due to its participation in World Wars I and II, and not strictly because of separatist insurrections, many former German territories were able to press the Allies for their independence after being removed from the German Empire.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3266\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"576\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05201125\/German_colonial.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-3266 \" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05201125\/German_colonial.png\" alt=\"World map showing Germany and its colonial possessions in 1914.\" width=\"576\" height=\"253\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. The German Empire and its colonial possessions in 1914. The red circles show some small colonial possessions, such as the Chinese trading city of Tianjin.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe idea of <strong>self-determination,\u00a0<\/strong>where independent, sovereign nations are formed from voluntary associations of ethnic, linguistic, religious, or cultural groups, was a key tenet of Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points, which were Wilson's principles for peace following WWI. The 20th-century trend toward self-determination was often driven by separatist movements that developed within broader histories of decolonization and shifting balances of power.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nAs the German Empire extended its reach at the end of the nineteenth century, skilled diplomats maneuvered this disruption of traditional powers and influences into several decades of European peace. In Germany, however, a new ambitious monarch would complicate these years of tactful diplomacy. Wilhelm II rose to the German throne in 1888. He admired the British Empire of his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and envied the Royal Navy of Great Britain so much that he attempted to build a rival German navy capable of establishing colonies around the globe. Though the British viewed the prospect of a German navy as a strategic threat, Wilhelm II pressed Germany\u2019s case for access to colonies and symbols of status suitable for a world power. Wilhelm\u2019s ambitions and Germany\u2019s subsequent rise produced a new system of alliances as rival nations warily observed Germany\u2019s territorial aspirations. Austro-Hungarian expansion in Europe worried Russia's Tsar Nicholas II, who saw himself and his nation as the historic guarantor of the Slavic nations in the Balkans and as a competitor for territories governed by the Central Asian Ottoman Empire.\r\n\r\nAustria-Hungary's declaration against Serbia, in turn, brought Russia into the conflict, due to a treaty in which they had agreed to defend Serbia. Germany followed suit by declaring war on Russia, fearing that Russia and France would seize this opportunity to move against Germany if it did not take the offensive.\u00a0Germany then planned to take advantage of sluggish Russian mobilization by focusing the German army on France. Germany's leaders recycled earlier military tactics and activated the <strong>Schlieffen Plan<\/strong>, which rapidly moved German armies by rail to march through Belgium and into France. However, this violation of Belgian neutrality ensured that Great Britain entered the war against Germany. On August 4, 1914, Great Britain declared war on Germany for failing to respect Belgium's neutrality. Soon after, the Ottoman Empire attacked Russia on the Black Sea. By the end of October 1914, a complex structure of mutual treaties had become operational through a chain reaction of events. Abruptly, it seemed as if Europe's tangled alliances had dragged the entire world into war.\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>WATCH IT<\/h3>\r\nThis video will help you understand the incredibly complex web of alliances, treaties, attacks, and events that triggered World War I.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_pFCpKtwCkI[\/embed]\r\n\r\nYou can view the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/course-building.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/US+history+II\/WhoStartedWorldWarICrashCourseWorldHistory210.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transcript for \u201cWho Started World War I: Crash Course World History 210\u201d here (opens in new window)<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>The M.A.I.N. Causes of the GReat War<\/h3>\r\nOne helpful mnemonic for remembering the causes of WWI is M.A.I.N: militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Can you think of ways each of these concepts contributed to the outbreak of war? Jot down your guesses in the space below and then click the \"Show Answer\" button to see the definition of each term, its classification as a long or short-term cause, and specifics for why each term led to war.\r\n\r\n<strong>Militarism<\/strong>:\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"3\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[reveal-answer q=\"549072\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"549072\"]<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Militarism is the\u00a0glorification of one\u2019s military. Also the belief of a nation or its people to build and maintain a strong military, with the intention to use it whenever it is felt necessary. Militarism was a long-term cause of the war; due to the length of time it takes a country to build its military to the strength necessary to wage a major war.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Specifics<\/strong>:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Germany: Stemming from the invasion of German-speaking peoples' lands near the Rhine River by Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian War, Otto von Bismarck made it his goal to keep the unified German State prepared to defend itself against France. He felt that it was necessary to keep France isolated and weak at all costs.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">France: Understanding that Germany was building a large military, saw it as a necessity to in turn build a large military to protect themselves against the Germans. Thus, these two nations were building massive military strength to use against each other.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Great Britain: The Germans were also threatening the British by building a large Navy, making the British feel insecure about their place amongst the world\u2019s elite navies for the first time in nearly a hundred years. Thus, the British would have to respond to this growing threat as well, by building a larger navy.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Though these were not the only countries building and perfecting their arsenal, they were the most significant prior to the outbreak of WWI. It did not take long for these countries to find a reason to use their militaries against each other in an attempt to prove who is superior.[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n<strong>Alliances<\/strong>:\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"3\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"321165\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"321165\"]\r\n\r\nAn alliance is an agreement between two or more countries to work together for the benefit of each country.\u00a0Due to the secret alliances negotiated between nations, it is inevitable that a disagreement between two nations will lead to the involvement of many nations, who have secretly agreed to help one another. These alliances take time to develop; thus, they are a long-term cause.\r\n\r\n<strong>Specifics<\/strong>:\u00a0The two major alliances that developed prior to WWI were the <strong>Triple Entente<\/strong> (Allies) and the <strong>Triple Alliance<\/strong> (Central Powers). The Triple Entente consisted of Great Britain, France and Russia. This alliance was created in an effort to counter the Triple Alliance, which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.\r\n\r\nAt the beginning of the war, the Triple Alliance will become known as the Central Powers and will not include Italy. Italy found that it was in their best interest to wait and see what unfolds during the war; thus, allowing them to further their growth as a nation.\r\n\r\nThe Central Powers would eventually consist of Austro-Hungary (1914), the German Empire (1914), the Ottoman Empire (1914), and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (1915). The Triple Entente would become known as the Allied Powers and would grow considerably, consisting of the Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of Serbia, the French Third Republic, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Empire of Japan, the United States, the Portuguese Republic, the Kingdom of Romania, the Kingdom of Greece and many others who lent military and financial aid.[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<strong>Imperialism<\/strong>:\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"3\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[reveal-answer q=\"619044\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"619044\"]<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"id4871180\">Imperialism is the domination by one country over another in terms of the political, economic, or cultural life of the dominated country or region. Imperialism also takes time to develop in terms of establishing the dominance needed to secure another nation\/county. Therefore, imperialism is seen as a long-term cause of WWI.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"id1171300921109\"><strong data-effect=\"bold\">Specifics:\u00a0<\/strong>Many nations from around the globe were competing for control of colonies in order to gain land, resources, and influence. Specifically, Germany was attempting to control lands in Africa, a place where Britain and France were already established. In 1905 and 1911 Germany was attempting to keep France from imposing a protectorate on Morocco. As a result, Britain and France became closer allies in the conflict against Germany. Britain and France quickly found that by keeping Germany out of Africa, the Germans would not be able to build themselves into a threatening power.<\/p>\r\n[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<strong>Nationalism:<\/strong>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"3\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"672945\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"672945\"]Nationalism is extreme pride in one\u2019s nations or state, often seen by the use of flags, national anthems, and other signature items. Nationalism is a long-term cause of WWI. As with many of the other causes, nationalism takes time to develop. People are not born with the love of their country and land instilled within them; instead, they must learn to love it. This requires a longer period of time to complete; thus, it is a long-term cause.\r\n<p id=\"id1171297940537\"><strong data-effect=\"bold\">Specifics:\u00a0<\/strong>Germany was extremely proud of the military power that it had become after the Franco-Prussian War. As a newly unified nation after January of 1871, the Germans felt nearly unstoppable as a world power. The French on the other hand had been embarrassed by the Germans and found it necessary to regain their pride. These feelings of resentment led to the massive militarism between these two nations.<\/p>\r\nAlso with the growth of Pan-Slavism or the unification of all Slavic peoples, protected by Russia, the areas around Serbia became unstable. The Serbians wanted to create their own independent Slavic state supported by the Russians. This led to what we call the \u201cBalkan Powder Keg\u201d or an area in the Balkans that only needed a minor issue to explode into a full-scale war.\r\n\r\n[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\nYou can even rearrange the letters from MAIN to M.A.N.I.A. if you want to add in one more A for \"Assassination,\" which was the final short-term impetus for the war.\r\n\r\n<strong>Assassination<\/strong>:\r\n\r\n[practice-area rows=\"3\"][\/practice-area]\r\n\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"756556\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"756556\"]\r\n<p id=\"id1171299342007\">Assassination, the deliberate murder of a high-ranking government official, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a short-term cause of the war.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"id1171300076280\"><strong data-effect=\"bold\">Specifics:\u00a0<\/strong>Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was a member of the \u201cBlack Hand\u201d, a Serbian nationalist group. Archduke Ferdinand was next in line for the Austrian throne; it was a huge shock to his uncle Franz Joseph.<\/p>\r\nUpon hearing of the assassination, Franz Joseph still did not want war; however, the government in Vienna did. Joseph was required to deliver the Serbians a harsh ultimatum in order to avoid war. The Serbians refused to meet all the demands; thus, Austria and Serbia went to war. On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war; the Russians quickly declared war on Germany after they agreed to help Austria with all of the supplies and soldiers that they needed. Thus, the tangle of alliances started to take hold, bringing many countries into a fight they otherwise would have avoided.\r\n\r\n[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/55e3afe2-931a-4cc0-88d6-05834494b47b\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"color: #077fab; font-size: 1.15em; font-weight: 600;\">Total, Industrial Warfare<\/span>\r\n<p id=\"eip-idp160479264\">The Great War was unlike any war that came before it. Whereas in previous European conflicts, troops typically faced each other on open battlefields,\u00a0often on horseback,\u00a0and used weapons like swords, muskets, and canons, World War I saw new military technologies that turned war into a conflict of prolonged\u00a0<strong>industrial warfare <\/strong>that often settled agonizingly into static<strong>\u00a0trench warfare<\/strong>. Both sides used new artillery, tanks, airplanes, machine guns, barbed wire, and, eventually, poison gas: weapons that strengthened defenses and turned offensives into barbarous sacrifices of thousands of lives with minimal territorial advances in return. By the end of the war, the total military death toll was ten million, as well as another million civilian deaths attributed to military action, and another six million civilian deaths caused by famine, disease, or other factors.\u00a0World War I was also the first large-scale example of\u00a0<strong>total war,\u00a0<\/strong>a term coined by later historians, which refers to warfare that includes any and all\u00a0civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as\u00a0legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over\u00a0non-combatant\u00a0needs. Total war involves propaganda, mass conscription, unrestricted use of technology and weapons, and the targeting of civilian population centers in order to demoralize the enemy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2>Unrestricted Submarine Warfare<\/h2>\r\n<p id=\"eip-idp141068016\">One terrifying new piece of technological warfare was the German\u00a0<strong>U-boat\u00a0<\/strong>(short for the German\u00a0\"<em data-effect=\"italics\">unterseeboot,\" <\/em>meaning \u201cundersea boat\u201d), more commonly known as a submarine. By early 1915, in an effort to break the British naval blockade of Germany and turn the tide of the war, the Germans dispatched a fleet of U-boats around Great Britain to attack both merchant and military ships, a tactic known as <strong>unrestricted submarine warfare<\/strong>. The U-boats acted in direct violation of international law, attacking without warning from beneath the water instead of surfacing and permitting the surrender of civilians or crew. By 1918, German U-boats had sunk nearly five thousand vessels.<\/p>\r\nOf greatest historical note was the attack on the British passenger ship\u00a0<strong><em>RMS<\/em> <em data-effect=\"italics\">Lusitania<\/em>,<\/strong> on its way from New York to Liverpool on May 7, 1915. The German Embassy in the United States had announced that this ship would be subject to attack for its alleged cargo of ammunition, an accusation that was later substantiated. Nonetheless, almost 1,200 civilians died in the attack, including 128 Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania horrified the world, galvanizing support in England and beyond for the war. This provocation, more than any other event, would test President Wilson\u2019s desire to stay out of what had been a largely European conflict.\r\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_23_01_Remember\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"585\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203026\/CNX_History_23_01_Remember.jpg\" alt=\"Drawing (a) depicts the destruction of the Lusitania. A British recruiting poster (b) reads \u201cREMEMBER THE LUSITANIA. THE JURY\u2019S VERDICT SAYS: \u2018We find that the said deceased died from their prolonged immersion and exhaustion in the sea eight miles south-southwest of the Old Head of Kinsale on Friday, May 7th, 1915, owing to the sinking of the R.M.S. \u2018Lusitania\u2019 by a torpedo fired without warning from a German submarine. That this appalling crime was contrary to international law and the conventions of all civilized nations, and we therefore charge the officers of the said submarine and the Emperor and Government of Germany, under whose orders they acted, with the crime of wilful and wholesale murder before the tribunal of the civilized world.\u2019 IT IS YOUR DUTY TO TAKE UP THE SWORD OF JUSTICE TO AVENGE THIS DEVIL'S WORK. ENLIST TO-DAY.\u201d\" width=\"585\" height=\"282\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. The torpedoing and sinking of the Lusitania, depicted in the English drawing above (a), resulted in the death of over twelve hundred civilians and was an international incident that shifted American sentiment regarding a potential role in the war, as illustrated in a British recruiting poster (b).[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<h2>The U.S. Military on the Eve of WWI<\/h2>\r\nA foreign policy of neutrality reflected America\u2019s inward-looking focus on the construction and management of its new industrial economy (built in large part with foreign capital). The federal government possessed limited diplomatic tools with which to engage in international struggles for world power. America\u2019s small and increasingly antiquated military precluded forceful coercion and left American diplomats to persuade by reason, appeals to justice, or economic coercion. But in the 1880s, as America embarked upon a project of empire, Congress authorized the construction of a modern navy. The army nevertheless remained small and underfunded compared to the armies of many industrializing nations.\r\n\r\nAfter the turn of the century, the army and navy faced a great deal of organizational uncertainty. New technologies\u2014airplanes, motor vehicles, submarines, modern artillery\u2014stressed the capability of army and navy personnel to effectively procure and use them. The nation\u2019s army could police Native Americans in the West and garrison recent overseas acquisitions, but it could not sustain a full-blown conflict of any size. The Davis Act of 1908 and the <strong>National Defense Act of 1916<\/strong> inaugurated the rise of the modern versions of the National Guard and military reserve. A system of state-administered units available for local emergencies that received conditional federal funding could be activated for use in international wars. The National Guard program encompassed individual units separated by state borders. The program supplied summer training for college students as a reserve officer corps. Federal and state governments now had a long-term strategic reserve of trained soldiers and sailors.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/4e4c9c5c-ff82-4b22-b665-461a5f9dfea7\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>Central Powers: <\/strong>the alliance of Germany, Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, which formed the other belligerent side in WWI against the Triple Entente and its allies\r\n\r\n<strong>industrial warfare:\u00a0<\/strong>the use of large-scale, industrial production of munitions, vehicles, and artillery, combined with industrial transportation methods like trains and vehicles, and the use of industrial technology to develop new, more destructive weapons like poison gas or nuclear bombs\r\n\r\n<strong>National Defense Act of 1916:\u00a0<\/strong>U.S. legislation passed to expand the role of the National Guard, enlarge the Army, establish an Army Aviation Branch, and establish contracts with civilian industries to produce war materials like gunpowder and ammunition\r\n\r\n<strong><em>RMS Lusitania<\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong>a British merchant ship alleged to be carrying munitions from the U.S. to England. The Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, killing 128 American passengers and turning public opinion in the U.S. firmly against Germany and its allies\r\n\r\n<strong>Schlieffen Plan:\u00a0<\/strong>Germany's military strategy to invade France through Belgium and the Netherlands, rather than across their common border\r\n\r\n<strong>separatist movements: <\/strong>as European imperialism ramped up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, movements grew in some of these colonial territories which hoped to oust imperial powers and establish independent nations based on ethnic, religious, or linguistic communities. Examples include Ireland, the Slavic-Baltic States, and Greece.\r\n\r\n<strong>total war:\u00a0<\/strong>a war that is unrestricted in terms of types of weapons used, targeting of civilian infrastructure or populations, and the involvement of all segments of the population in the war effort\r\n\r\n<strong>trench warfare:\u00a0<\/strong>a fighting strategy wherein opposing armies dig trenches to shelter from gunfire and artillery, then periodically try to seize the trenches of the opposing army and drive them out, thereby gaining territory only a few hundred yards at a time and at a terrible cost\r\n\r\n<strong>Triple Entente: <\/strong>the alliance of Great Britain, France, and Russia which formed one of the primary groups of belligerents in WWI\r\n\r\n<strong>u-Boat:\u00a0<\/strong>short for \"<em>unterseeboot<\/em>;\" a German submarine\r\n\r\n<strong>unrestricted submarine warfare:\u00a0<\/strong>the use of submarines to destroy military or merchant ships without warning and without giving the opportunity to surrender\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Explain the primary causes of World War I in terms of international relations and politics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_23_01_Timeline\" class=\"timeline\"><\/figure>\n<section id=\"eip-idm12773264\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">War Erupts in Europe<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_3262\" style=\"width: 258px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05174438\/1024px-DC-1914-27-d-Sarajevo-cropped.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3262\" class=\"wp-image-3262 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05174438\/1024px-DC-1914-27-d-Sarajevo-cropped-248x300.jpeg\" alt=\"The first page of the edition of the Domenica del Corriere, an Italian paper, with a drawing by Achille Beltrame depicting Gavrilo Princip killing Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo.\" width=\"248\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3262\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. An illustration from an Italian newspaper depicting the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria by\u00a0Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"eip-idm29993824\">When Serbian-Slavic nationalists assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on June 29, 1914, the underlying forces that led to World War I had already long been in motion and seemed, at first, to have little to do with the United States. At the time, the events that pushed Europe from ongoing tensions into war seemed very far away from U.S. interests. For nearly a century, European nations had negotiated a series of mutual defense alliance treaties to secure themselves against their imperialistic rivals. Among the largest European powers, the <strong>Triple Entente<\/strong> included an alliance of France, Great Britain, and Russia. Opposite them, the <strong>Central Powers<\/strong>, also known as the Triple Alliance, included Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and initially Italy. To complicate matters, a series of \u201cside treaties\u201d also required the larger European powers to protect several smaller ones should war break out.<\/p>\n<p id=\"eip-idp20065520\">At the same time that European nations committed each other to defense pacts, they jockeyed for power over empires abroad and invested heavily in large, modern militaries. Dreams of empire and military supremacy fueled an era of nationalism that was particularly pronounced in the newer nations of Germany and Italy but also provoked <strong>separatist movements<\/strong> among various European populations who were resentful of being ruled by foreign powers. In Bosnia\u2019s capital of Sarajevo, Serbian citizen Gavrilo Princip and his accomplices assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in their fight for a Slavic nation independent from Austro-Hungarian rule. When Serbia failed to accede to Austro-Hungarian demands in the wake of the Archduke\u2019s murder, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia with the confidence that it had the backing of Germany,\u00a0which had united in 1871 and had begun posturing itself as an imperial power on the world stage soon after.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Separatist Movements<\/h3>\n<p>Most historians agree that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo was the spark that ignited World War I. However, it can be difficult to understand why the murder of an Austrian Archduke in Eastern Europe by a Serbian citizen could be the cause of a war that swept over almost every nation in Europe and came to involve the U.S. To understand how this happened, it is important to examine the nature of European Imperialism and separatist movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and German Empires ruled vast areas of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East in the early 20th century. The British Isles also ruled over colonies in parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. These massive Empires were holdovers from the pre-Industrial world where nations would compete against one another to acquire new territories, populations, and resources. The effect of this was that millions of people around the world lived under the rule of governments or monarchs who were often oppressive and authoritarian. When imperial powers conquered and annexed new territories, the local populace sometimes became the target of violence and ethnic cleansing. There were many examples of religious persecution, forced deportations or relocations, ethnic cleansing, and other atrocities.\u00a0The responses from local populations were varied, but many areas developed strong independence movements whose goal was to politically, socially, and militarily free themselves from their imperial rulers. Most used paramilitary tactics, guerrilla warfare, and terrorism to achieve their goal.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3261\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05173652\/Map_Europe_alliances_1914-en.svg_.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3261\" class=\"wp-image-3261\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05173652\/Map_Europe_alliances_1914-en.svg_.png\" alt=\"Map of European alliances prior to WWI.\" width=\"578\" height=\"342\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3261\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. Map of military alliances in 1914.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Separatist movements against the <strong>Austro-Hungarian Empire<\/strong> developed mostly in the Balkan region (southeastern Europe) with the goal of breaking Austro-Hungarian rule and establishing a united Slavic nation. After World War I, these pan-Slavic movements succeeded in establishing the country of Yugoslavia, which included modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia (though Yugoslavia dissolved in 1991 when Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence). Other separatist movements against the Austro-Hungarian Empire developed in present-day Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Ottoman Empire<\/strong> dealt with its own separatist movements in present-day Albania, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Bosnia. In the wake of World War I, a movement for Turkish independence took power in the weakened Ottoman Empire, officially dissolving it and creating the Turkish Republic in 1923.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The British Empire\u00a0<\/strong>has dealt with some of the most prominent separatist movements in history, including the American Revolution and The Troubles conflict with Northern Ireland. Approximately 65 countries have won their independence from Britain, with most becoming independent shortly after World War II.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3263\" style=\"width: 604px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05175136\/British_Empire_1921.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3263\" class=\"wp-image-3263\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05175136\/British_Empire_1921.png\" alt=\"World map showing British control of Canada, much of Africa, India, Australia, and many other regions.\" width=\"594\" height=\"261\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3263\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. The British Empire at its height in 1921.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At the start of World War I, the <strong>German Empire\u00a0<\/strong>encompassed all of present-day Germany, plus parts of France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. The German Empire also held overseas territory in China, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. While Germany was punitively stripped of this territory due to its participation in World Wars I and II, and not strictly because of separatist insurrections, many former German territories were able to press the Allies for their independence after being removed from the German Empire.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3266\" style=\"width: 586px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05201125\/German_colonial.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3266\" class=\"wp-image-3266\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/05201125\/German_colonial.png\" alt=\"World map showing Germany and its colonial possessions in 1914.\" width=\"576\" height=\"253\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3266\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. The German Empire and its colonial possessions in 1914. The red circles show some small colonial possessions, such as the Chinese trading city of Tianjin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The idea of <strong>self-determination,\u00a0<\/strong>where independent, sovereign nations are formed from voluntary associations of ethnic, linguistic, religious, or cultural groups, was a key tenet of Woodrow Wilson&#8217;s 14 Points, which were Wilson&#8217;s principles for peace following WWI. The 20th-century trend toward self-determination was often driven by separatist movements that developed within broader histories of decolonization and shifting balances of power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As the German Empire extended its reach at the end of the nineteenth century, skilled diplomats maneuvered this disruption of traditional powers and influences into several decades of European peace. In Germany, however, a new ambitious monarch would complicate these years of tactful diplomacy. Wilhelm II rose to the German throne in 1888. He admired the British Empire of his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and envied the Royal Navy of Great Britain so much that he attempted to build a rival German navy capable of establishing colonies around the globe. Though the British viewed the prospect of a German navy as a strategic threat, Wilhelm II pressed Germany\u2019s case for access to colonies and symbols of status suitable for a world power. Wilhelm\u2019s ambitions and Germany\u2019s subsequent rise produced a new system of alliances as rival nations warily observed Germany\u2019s territorial aspirations. Austro-Hungarian expansion in Europe worried Russia&#8217;s Tsar Nicholas II, who saw himself and his nation as the historic guarantor of the Slavic nations in the Balkans and as a competitor for territories governed by the Central Asian Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n<p>Austria-Hungary&#8217;s declaration against Serbia, in turn, brought Russia into the conflict, due to a treaty in which they had agreed to defend Serbia. Germany followed suit by declaring war on Russia, fearing that Russia and France would seize this opportunity to move against Germany if it did not take the offensive.\u00a0Germany then planned to take advantage of sluggish Russian mobilization by focusing the German army on France. Germany&#8217;s leaders recycled earlier military tactics and activated the <strong>Schlieffen Plan<\/strong>, which rapidly moved German armies by rail to march through Belgium and into France. However, this violation of Belgian neutrality ensured that Great Britain entered the war against Germany. On August 4, 1914, Great Britain declared war on Germany for failing to respect Belgium&#8217;s neutrality. Soon after, the Ottoman Empire attacked Russia on the Black Sea. By the end of October 1914, a complex structure of mutual treaties had become operational through a chain reaction of events. Abruptly, it seemed as if Europe&#8217;s tangled alliances had dragged the entire world into war.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>WATCH IT<\/h3>\n<p>This video will help you understand the incredibly complex web of alliances, treaties, attacks, and events that triggered World War I.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"Who Started World War I: Crash Course World History 210\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_pFCpKtwCkI?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can view the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/course-building.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/US+history+II\/WhoStartedWorldWarICrashCourseWorldHistory210.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transcript for \u201cWho Started World War I: Crash Course World History 210\u201d here (opens in new window)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>The M.A.I.N. Causes of the GReat War<\/h3>\n<p>One helpful mnemonic for remembering the causes of WWI is M.A.I.N: militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Can you think of ways each of these concepts contributed to the outbreak of war? Jot down your guesses in the space below and then click the &#8220;Show Answer&#8221; button to see the definition of each term, its classification as a long or short-term cause, and specifics for why each term led to war.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Militarism<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"3\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q549072\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q549072\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">\n<p class=\"p1\">Militarism is the\u00a0glorification of one\u2019s military. Also the belief of a nation or its people to build and maintain a strong military, with the intention to use it whenever it is felt necessary. Militarism was a long-term cause of the war; due to the length of time it takes a country to build its military to the strength necessary to wage a major war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Specifics<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Germany: Stemming from the invasion of German-speaking peoples&#8217; lands near the Rhine River by Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian War, Otto von Bismarck made it his goal to keep the unified German State prepared to defend itself against France. He felt that it was necessary to keep France isolated and weak at all costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">France: Understanding that Germany was building a large military, saw it as a necessity to in turn build a large military to protect themselves against the Germans. Thus, these two nations were building massive military strength to use against each other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Great Britain: The Germans were also threatening the British by building a large Navy, making the British feel insecure about their place amongst the world\u2019s elite navies for the first time in nearly a hundred years. Thus, the British would have to respond to this growing threat as well, by building a larger navy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Though these were not the only countries building and perfecting their arsenal, they were the most significant prior to the outbreak of WWI. It did not take long for these countries to find a reason to use their militaries against each other in an attempt to prove who is superior.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Alliances<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"3\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q321165\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q321165\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">\n<p>An alliance is an agreement between two or more countries to work together for the benefit of each country.\u00a0Due to the secret alliances negotiated between nations, it is inevitable that a disagreement between two nations will lead to the involvement of many nations, who have secretly agreed to help one another. These alliances take time to develop; thus, they are a long-term cause.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Specifics<\/strong>:\u00a0The two major alliances that developed prior to WWI were the <strong>Triple Entente<\/strong> (Allies) and the <strong>Triple Alliance<\/strong> (Central Powers). The Triple Entente consisted of Great Britain, France and Russia. This alliance was created in an effort to counter the Triple Alliance, which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of the war, the Triple Alliance will become known as the Central Powers and will not include Italy. Italy found that it was in their best interest to wait and see what unfolds during the war; thus, allowing them to further their growth as a nation.<\/p>\n<p>The Central Powers would eventually consist of Austro-Hungary (1914), the German Empire (1914), the Ottoman Empire (1914), and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (1915). The Triple Entente would become known as the Allied Powers and would grow considerably, consisting of the Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of Serbia, the French Third Republic, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Empire of Japan, the United States, the Portuguese Republic, the Kingdom of Romania, the Kingdom of Greece and many others who lent military and financial aid.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Imperialism<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"3\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q619044\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q619044\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">\n<p id=\"id4871180\">Imperialism is the domination by one country over another in terms of the political, economic, or cultural life of the dominated country or region. Imperialism also takes time to develop in terms of establishing the dominance needed to secure another nation\/county. Therefore, imperialism is seen as a long-term cause of WWI.<\/p>\n<p id=\"id1171300921109\"><strong data-effect=\"bold\">Specifics:\u00a0<\/strong>Many nations from around the globe were competing for control of colonies in order to gain land, resources, and influence. Specifically, Germany was attempting to control lands in Africa, a place where Britain and France were already established. In 1905 and 1911 Germany was attempting to keep France from imposing a protectorate on Morocco. As a result, Britain and France became closer allies in the conflict against Germany. Britain and France quickly found that by keeping Germany out of Africa, the Germans would not be able to build themselves into a threatening power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Nationalism:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"3\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q672945\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q672945\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">Nationalism is extreme pride in one\u2019s nations or state, often seen by the use of flags, national anthems, and other signature items. Nationalism is a long-term cause of WWI. As with many of the other causes, nationalism takes time to develop. People are not born with the love of their country and land instilled within them; instead, they must learn to love it. This requires a longer period of time to complete; thus, it is a long-term cause.<\/p>\n<p id=\"id1171297940537\"><strong data-effect=\"bold\">Specifics:\u00a0<\/strong>Germany was extremely proud of the military power that it had become after the Franco-Prussian War. As a newly unified nation after January of 1871, the Germans felt nearly unstoppable as a world power. The French on the other hand had been embarrassed by the Germans and found it necessary to regain their pride. These feelings of resentment led to the massive militarism between these two nations.<\/p>\n<p>Also with the growth of Pan-Slavism or the unification of all Slavic peoples, protected by Russia, the areas around Serbia became unstable. The Serbians wanted to create their own independent Slavic state supported by the Russians. This led to what we call the \u201cBalkan Powder Keg\u201d or an area in the Balkans that only needed a minor issue to explode into a full-scale war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>You can even rearrange the letters from MAIN to M.A.N.I.A. if you want to add in one more A for &#8220;Assassination,&#8221; which was the final short-term impetus for the war.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Assassination<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"3\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q756556\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q756556\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">\n<p id=\"id1171299342007\">Assassination, the deliberate murder of a high-ranking government official, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a short-term cause of the war.<\/p>\n<p id=\"id1171300076280\"><strong data-effect=\"bold\">Specifics:\u00a0<\/strong>Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was a member of the \u201cBlack Hand\u201d, a Serbian nationalist group. Archduke Ferdinand was next in line for the Austrian throne; it was a huge shock to his uncle Franz Joseph.<\/p>\n<p>Upon hearing of the assassination, Franz Joseph still did not want war; however, the government in Vienna did. Joseph was required to deliver the Serbians a harsh ultimatum in order to avoid war. The Serbians refused to meet all the demands; thus, Austria and Serbia went to war. On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war; the Russians quickly declared war on Germany after they agreed to help Austria with all of the supplies and soldiers that they needed. Thus, the tangle of alliances started to take hold, bringing many countries into a fight they otherwise would have avoided.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_55e3afe2-931a-4cc0-88d6-05834494b47b\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/55e3afe2-931a-4cc0-88d6-05834494b47b?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_55e3afe2-931a-4cc0-88d6-05834494b47b\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #077fab; font-size: 1.15em; font-weight: 600;\">Total, Industrial Warfare<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"eip-idp160479264\">The Great War was unlike any war that came before it. Whereas in previous European conflicts, troops typically faced each other on open battlefields,\u00a0often on horseback,\u00a0and used weapons like swords, muskets, and canons, World War I saw new military technologies that turned war into a conflict of prolonged\u00a0<strong>industrial warfare <\/strong>that often settled agonizingly into static<strong>\u00a0trench warfare<\/strong>. Both sides used new artillery, tanks, airplanes, machine guns, barbed wire, and, eventually, poison gas: weapons that strengthened defenses and turned offensives into barbarous sacrifices of thousands of lives with minimal territorial advances in return. By the end of the war, the total military death toll was ten million, as well as another million civilian deaths attributed to military action, and another six million civilian deaths caused by famine, disease, or other factors.\u00a0World War I was also the first large-scale example of\u00a0<strong>total war,\u00a0<\/strong>a term coined by later historians, which refers to warfare that includes any and all\u00a0civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as\u00a0legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over\u00a0non-combatant\u00a0needs. Total war involves propaganda, mass conscription, unrestricted use of technology and weapons, and the targeting of civilian population centers in order to demoralize the enemy.<\/p>\n<h2>Unrestricted Submarine Warfare<\/h2>\n<p id=\"eip-idp141068016\">One terrifying new piece of technological warfare was the German\u00a0<strong>U-boat\u00a0<\/strong>(short for the German\u00a0&#8220;<em data-effect=\"italics\">unterseeboot,&#8221; <\/em>meaning \u201cundersea boat\u201d), more commonly known as a submarine. By early 1915, in an effort to break the British naval blockade of Germany and turn the tide of the war, the Germans dispatched a fleet of U-boats around Great Britain to attack both merchant and military ships, a tactic known as <strong>unrestricted submarine warfare<\/strong>. The U-boats acted in direct violation of international law, attacking without warning from beneath the water instead of surfacing and permitting the surrender of civilians or crew. By 1918, German U-boats had sunk nearly five thousand vessels.<\/p>\n<p>Of greatest historical note was the attack on the British passenger ship\u00a0<strong><em>RMS<\/em> <em data-effect=\"italics\">Lusitania<\/em>,<\/strong> on its way from New York to Liverpool on May 7, 1915. The German Embassy in the United States had announced that this ship would be subject to attack for its alleged cargo of ammunition, an accusation that was later substantiated. Nonetheless, almost 1,200 civilians died in the attack, including 128 Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania horrified the world, galvanizing support in England and beyond for the war. This provocation, more than any other event, would test President Wilson\u2019s desire to stay out of what had been a largely European conflict.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_23_01_Remember\">\n<div style=\"width: 595px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203026\/CNX_History_23_01_Remember.jpg\" alt=\"Drawing (a) depicts the destruction of the Lusitania. A British recruiting poster (b) reads \u201cREMEMBER THE LUSITANIA. THE JURY\u2019S VERDICT SAYS: \u2018We find that the said deceased died from their prolonged immersion and exhaustion in the sea eight miles south-southwest of the Old Head of Kinsale on Friday, May 7th, 1915, owing to the sinking of the R.M.S. \u2018Lusitania\u2019 by a torpedo fired without warning from a German submarine. That this appalling crime was contrary to international law and the conventions of all civilized nations, and we therefore charge the officers of the said submarine and the Emperor and Government of Germany, under whose orders they acted, with the crime of wilful and wholesale murder before the tribunal of the civilized world.\u2019 IT IS YOUR DUTY TO TAKE UP THE SWORD OF JUSTICE TO AVENGE THIS DEVIL'S WORK. ENLIST TO-DAY.\u201d\" width=\"585\" height=\"282\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. The torpedoing and sinking of the Lusitania, depicted in the English drawing above (a), resulted in the death of over twelve hundred civilians and was an international incident that shifted American sentiment regarding a potential role in the war, as illustrated in a British recruiting poster (b).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<h2>The U.S. Military on the Eve of WWI<\/h2>\n<p>A foreign policy of neutrality reflected America\u2019s inward-looking focus on the construction and management of its new industrial economy (built in large part with foreign capital). The federal government possessed limited diplomatic tools with which to engage in international struggles for world power. America\u2019s small and increasingly antiquated military precluded forceful coercion and left American diplomats to persuade by reason, appeals to justice, or economic coercion. But in the 1880s, as America embarked upon a project of empire, Congress authorized the construction of a modern navy. The army nevertheless remained small and underfunded compared to the armies of many industrializing nations.<\/p>\n<p>After the turn of the century, the army and navy faced a great deal of organizational uncertainty. New technologies\u2014airplanes, motor vehicles, submarines, modern artillery\u2014stressed the capability of army and navy personnel to effectively procure and use them. The nation\u2019s army could police Native Americans in the West and garrison recent overseas acquisitions, but it could not sustain a full-blown conflict of any size. The Davis Act of 1908 and the <strong>National Defense Act of 1916<\/strong> inaugurated the rise of the modern versions of the National Guard and military reserve. A system of state-administered units available for local emergencies that received conditional federal funding could be activated for use in international wars. The National Guard program encompassed individual units separated by state borders. The program supplied summer training for college students as a reserve officer corps. Federal and state governments now had a long-term strategic reserve of trained soldiers and sailors.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_4e4c9c5c-ff82-4b22-b665-461a5f9dfea7\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/4e4c9c5c-ff82-4b22-b665-461a5f9dfea7?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_4e4c9c5c-ff82-4b22-b665-461a5f9dfea7\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Central Powers: <\/strong>the alliance of Germany, Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, which formed the other belligerent side in WWI against the Triple Entente and its allies<\/p>\n<p><strong>industrial warfare:\u00a0<\/strong>the use of large-scale, industrial production of munitions, vehicles, and artillery, combined with industrial transportation methods like trains and vehicles, and the use of industrial technology to develop new, more destructive weapons like poison gas or nuclear bombs<\/p>\n<p><strong>National Defense Act of 1916:\u00a0<\/strong>U.S. legislation passed to expand the role of the National Guard, enlarge the Army, establish an Army Aviation Branch, and establish contracts with civilian industries to produce war materials like gunpowder and ammunition<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>RMS Lusitania<\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong>a British merchant ship alleged to be carrying munitions from the U.S. to England. The Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, killing 128 American passengers and turning public opinion in the U.S. firmly against Germany and its allies<\/p>\n<p><strong>Schlieffen Plan:\u00a0<\/strong>Germany&#8217;s military strategy to invade France through Belgium and the Netherlands, rather than across their common border<\/p>\n<p><strong>separatist movements: <\/strong>as European imperialism ramped up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, movements grew in some of these colonial territories which hoped to oust imperial powers and establish independent nations based on ethnic, religious, or linguistic communities. Examples include Ireland, the Slavic-Baltic States, and Greece.<\/p>\n<p><strong>total war:\u00a0<\/strong>a war that is unrestricted in terms of types of weapons used, targeting of civilian infrastructure or populations, and the involvement of all segments of the population in the war effort<\/p>\n<p><strong>trench warfare:\u00a0<\/strong>a fighting strategy wherein opposing armies dig trenches to shelter from gunfire and artillery, then periodically try to seize the trenches of the opposing army and drive them out, thereby gaining territory only a few hundred yards at a time and at a terrible cost<\/p>\n<p><strong>Triple Entente: <\/strong>the alliance of Great Britain, France, and Russia which formed one of the primary groups of belligerents in WWI<\/p>\n<p><strong>u-Boat:\u00a0<\/strong>short for &#8220;<em>unterseeboot<\/em>;&#8221; a German submarine<\/p>\n<p><strong>unrestricted submarine warfare:\u00a0<\/strong>the use of submarines to destroy military or merchant ships without warning and without giving the opportunity to surrender<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-2813\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Lillian Wills for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>US History. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\">http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>World War I and its aftermath. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The American Yawp. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/21-world-war-i\/\">https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/21-world-war-i\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>The July Crisis. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/July_Crisis\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/July_Crisis<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Historical Separatist Movements. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_historical_separatist_movements#Europe\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_historical_separatist_movements#Europe<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>German Empire. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Empire\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Empire<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>German empire. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: German colonial. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Empire#\/media\/File:German_colonial.PNG\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Empire#\/media\/File:German_colonial.PNG<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Causes of WWI (The Great War). <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Brandon Brown. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/-bNFhaCp@4\/Causes-of-WWI-The-Great-War\">https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/-bNFhaCp@4\/Causes-of-WWI-The-Great-War<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/f9b34585-a0a9-40f3-9af7-c62d17b92fda@4.<\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">All rights reserved content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Who Started World War I: Crash Course World History 210. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: CrashCourse. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=19&#038;v=_pFCpKtwCkI&#038;feature=emb_logo\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=19&#038;v=_pFCpKtwCkI&#038;feature=emb_logo<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>Other<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">Public domain content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Assassination of Ferdinand. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/July_Crisis#\/media\/File:DC-1914-27-d-Sarajevo-cropped.jpg\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/July_Crisis#\/media\/File:DC-1914-27-d-Sarajevo-cropped.jpg<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"US History\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"World War I and its aftermath\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"The American Yawp\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/21-world-war-i\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Modification, adaptation, and original content\",\"author\":\"Lillian Wills for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"copyrighted_video\",\"description\":\"Who Started World War I: Crash Course World History 210\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"CrashCourse\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=19&v=_pFCpKtwCkI&feature=emb_logo\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"other\",\"license_terms\":\"Standard YouTube License\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The July Crisis\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/July_Crisis\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Historical Separatist Movements\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_historical_separatist_movements#Europe\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"German Empire\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Empire\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"pd\",\"description\":\"Assassination of Ferdinand\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/July_Crisis#\/media\/File:DC-1914-27-d-Sarajevo-cropped.jpg\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"pd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"German empire\",\"author\":\"German colonial\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/German_Empire#\/media\/File:German_colonial.PNG\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Causes of WWI (The Great War)\",\"author\":\"Brandon Brown\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/-bNFhaCp@4\/Causes-of-WWI-The-Great-War\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/f9b34585-a0a9-40f3-9af7-c62d17b92fda@4.\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"6571da64-1cb6-4a7c-848f-d21893e51c15,cf02d95b-a783-4aa6-a3e6-dc2ae37f47e2","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-2813","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":200,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9432,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2813\/revisions\/9432"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/200"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2813\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=2813"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=2813"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=2813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}