History of World War I

HISTORY OF WORLD WAR 

Background and causes :

Causes: Franco-Prussian war and imperialism

The great common cause of World War I was the big tensions between different European countries. Nationalism (love for one's own country and people) had emerged in the nineteenth century and now played an important role in everyday life. By sharing habits, language, history and people of the same nation had a bond with each other and with their homeland. As a child, you learned to be proud of the people and nurture a dislike towards other nations.

Around 1900, there was enmity between France and Germany, as a result of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. This just-year war was won by Germany. Before the seventies of the nineteenth century, the Germans did not live all in the same country, but they were spread over several states. The German princes gathered during the Franco-Prussian war and called the German unit. This made Germany the most powerful state in Europe. The French province of Alsace-Lotharingian ceded to the Germans. Thus, the French were once an important source of raw materials (coal and ore) lost. They wanted revenge.

Not only Germany had problems with France, but also with Russia and England (Great Britain). When Germany went hunting colonies, the English were afraid that their colonies by Germany would be snapped up. This was the time of imperialism (the colonies and conquests worldwide). The British Empire (Empire) was very large: it covered a sixth of the earth. France and smaller European countries had colonies in Africa and Asia. The colonies raw materials and workers were delivered to European factories. Moreover, a country had much respect as it had many colonies.

In the nineteenth century, the beam (Southeastern Europe) and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) by rebellious nationalist nations proclaimed independent states. The inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted to join Serbia, but these lands were occupied by Austria-Hungary. Said they were not nationalistic Serbs fun.


Alliances: Friends and Foes

In 1879 formed an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. That came in 1882 when Italy still: this became the Triple Alliance. The three countries were central in the middle of Europe, so the united Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary were called the Central Powers. They promised each other military assistance at the outbreak of war.

A great enemy of Austria-Hungary was Russia. Serbia and other countries were supported in South East Europe through Russia: the Russians were trying in this way to reach the Mediterranean. In the northern oceans, the Russian ships were in fact often stuck on the ice. The government of Austria-Hungary feared that the nationalist Serbs would do their country fall apart and no influence of the Russians also wanted to Toolbars. Germany was an ally of Austria-Hungary and thus became angry at Russia.

Germany was better than France in the second half of the nineteenth century. The German population had grown stronger than the French, which the Germans had a larger and more powerful army. Economically it was with Germany better than in many other countries: the industry was strong, modern weapons. The industrialization of Germany and made her stronger armies.

Russia and France joined in 1894 an allied agreement to help each other during the war. In 1904, England also joined to it. France, Russia and England were called grille Erden.

In this way, Europe became divided into the camp of the Central Powers (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary) and the camp of the grille Erden: Russia, France, and England. It gave a feeling of security to form an alliance, but it also led to a world war: even had to fight alongside the allies when it came out.

In 1900, it could not be long before there would be a war. People harbored the great admiration for the army: militarism. There are plenty of weapons were produced and from warnings were unheeded.


The beginning of the war: the straw that broke the camel

Through the alliance of France with Russia was Germany during the war, both in the east (against Russia) fight as in the west (against France). This was difficult because the German army had to be split while France and Germany had only one front. By a German general attack, the plan was designed that would ensure that Germany won the two front war before. According to him, the French would be defeated in six weeks, then Russia's turn.

On June 28, 1914, the Austrian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand visited the capital of Bosnia. Along with Hercegovina had the Austrians Bosnia snapped up. Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot dead during a ricochet Sarajevo by Serb. This made the government of Austria-Hungary furious and wanted to punish Serbia. Simultaneously, the murder came in handy, because it was a good reason to attack Serbia. The German government agrees: Emperor Wilhelm II wanted as quickly as possible to deal with Serbia. Russia to help Serbia lap and mobilized its army. Then Germany declared war on Russia and France.

Across Europe, millions of conscripts were called and on August 4, 1914, the First World War officially began when Germany attacked.

Most of the soldiers at home and were very enthusiastic. Everyone assumed that would quickly overcome their own troops. Belgium took over the German army in France. Because of this attack on Belgium Britain declared war on Germany. England wanted absolutely no German domination in the North Sea. The English army started small and professionally, but tens of thousands of Britons took quickly volunteered.

The German advance was going well in the first few weeks, but the French were not defeated. so they had still to fight on two fronts: in the east against Russia and the west against France.


The course of the war :

How was the war waged?

The plan of the Germans for not having to fight on two fronts failed. With the support of the British kept the French army position in Belgium and northern France. Germany was therefore forced to fight both in the West and in the East. The western front ran from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. Millions and millions of soldiers were facing each other in trenches: deep trenches which the soldiers are more or less protected against the fire of the guns and cannons. Barbed wire, bunkers, and tunnels reinforced the trenches, but you were not quite safe there. The enemy attempted to destroy the trenches with heavy artillery and the generals gave repeatedly ordered to massive attacks. A bayonet (insert weapon) soldiers had to help the gun to the enemy trenches. Mostly killed there just soldiers and was not conquered new territory. Both the Central Powers and the grille Erden shots for no meter.

In February 1915, the eastern fight was what agile. The Russian army was poorly equipped and lack of almost all the necessities: guns, bullets, guns, grenades, clothing, food, medical aid and army captains. But there were plenty of men. In one year the Russian army lost four million men. The huge losses led to criticism of the Russian government. The Tsar (Russian Emperor) came under pressure and had to retire by many people.

Not only was fought on the Eastern Front and the Western Front. Also on the beams and the border of Italy and Austria-Hungary was waged battle, and even in the African colonies. But Italy joined the Central Powers to grille Erden in 1914.

Thanks to the industrial and technical progress in the nineteenth century, there were very strong during the First World War and killing weapons. There were rifles and guns that could shoot exactly and large, heavy shells. The machine gun could shoot down thousands of enemies in proper formation. The gun was very popular to destroy trenches and distribute grenades rains. Poison gas, flamethrowers, and planes were new inventions and true weapon horrors. Both planes were designed for exploration of the front as dogfights and bombing. The English were in 1916 also once the tank, but all these weapons were of no avail: the enemy lines could not be broken and they continued to fight in the trenches.


Consequences for soldiers and civilians

All men between eighteen and fifty years were summoned to enlist in the army. The grille Erden had many soldiers from colonies. Moroccans, Algerians, and Sanger Glasses served the French, Canadians, Australians, South Africans, Indians and Chinese were on the side of the British. Approximately sixty-eight million soldiers were mobilized in total and ten million were killed: three times as many soldiers were injured. All countries took drastic measures to arm the army and care. Before the war, there were economic freedom entrepreneurs determined themselves what they produced and sold and the level of wages and product prices was free. This changed in the period between 1914 and 1918. Manufacturers were required to produce weapons. This economic unfreedom turned the First World War a total war: the entire population, the economy, and society as a whole were used there. Women had to take over the work of soldiers and exchange their job as a nurse, housekeeper or salesperson for the office or factory train driver. This was good for the emancipation of women because women were doing the same work as men and therefore were more equal.

During the war, nationalism was again raked up and exploited. The population had to stand behind the war, one hundred percent, so the patriotism was reinforced by propaganda. Newspapers, movies, and such methods were used to blame in the shoes of the enemy countries. The enemies were blackened and depicted: the mass media were full of large numbers of casualties on the enemy. About their own losses were not positive or spoken. There was censorship, the government oversaw the press and not everything should be published.


The end of the First World War

Was pretty soon after the outbreak of the war formed a blockade to the German coast by the British fleet. British warships made a trade barrier: Sea: no goods could be transported to Germany. import and export to and from Germany were impossible. This caused major commodity and food shortages. In the first two years it was not too bad, but in 1917, the damage was increasing. There were too few bullets and grenades for the army and there was famine among the population. Meanwhile, graille Erden could, of course, argue indeed large shiploads of goods from other continents. The German defeat was the result of this blockage.

In 1917 changed the structure of the war. The United States joined in while Russia withdrew. The German navy was not strong enough to challenge the English ships, only the submarine managed to get through the blockade. Ships of impartial countries graille Erden were hijacked by Germany. The German emperor brought his submarine several US ships sunk. This led in April 1917 that America declared war against Germany and came to stand on the side of France and England.

Russia had to do in 1917 with two revolutions. The Russian Tsar was forced to resign in February and in October the Communists seized power under the leadership of Lenin. They decided to stop the fight against the Central Powers. Russia withdrew from the war around the end of 1917. However, in March 1918, Russia signed an official peace with Germany, which Russia lost large areas of Germany. The grille Erden felt betrayed and was furious Lenin was in their eyes, nothing more and nothing less than a traitor to France and England was abandoned.

1917, despite the strong new alliance with the United States, a difficult year for the grille Erden. There was no incentive to fight anymore and the soldiers were war-weary. In the French army broke strikes. The US troops were hundreds of thousands of well-armed soldiers, and that was decisive. In 1918, it was a lost cause for Germany. The emperor abdicated and fled to the Netherlands, a truce was officially closed on November 11, 1918.

The Netherlands and Belgium in World War I

Neutral or not, the war in the Netherlands and Belgium

Initially, the Germans wanted by Belgium and march through the Netherlands, but eventually remained in Belgium. Netherlands was left by both grille Erden as the Central Powers alone and therefore remained neutral, impartial and without taking sides.

However, this did not apply to Belgium. The Germans invaded France through Belgium and thereby conquered most of the Belgium. From the small piece of coast that was from Belgium, large parts of the country were put under water by the Belgian army. This meant four years prior, with the help of the English and French.

The Netherlands was neutral did not mean that we did not have any burden of the war. The Netherlands had the task of refugees to catch on both fronts, leading to social and economic problems. Netherlands mobilized the army more than two hundred thousand men had to protect the Netherlands against a possible attack. During the war, more and more mobilized soldiers: in 1918 there were half a million soldiers. All of which cost money.

In The Hague, the government did everything possible to keep the Netherlands neutral and that also show. That was not so easy: some generals were clear pro-German. But they had to listen to the parliament and the government, which at all costs wanted to preserve neutrality. All political parties supported the government and thereby put their differences aside mutual Netherlands in the period from 1914 to 1918 does not suffer had major damage and loss of innocent lives.


The economic impact

Belgium was occupied by the Germans, who confiscated all industry, commerce, and agriculture. They robbed the country almost empty, destroyed towns and killed innocent Belgians. Despite the fact that the Netherlands was occupied by enemies who manipulated the economy, were here too ill effects. Trade with Germany or the grille Erden was dangerous and was seen as supporting the enemy by the other front. Netherlands had little resources they had to be transported by sea, and by the British blockade was a problem. England wished Netherlands competed with them and would not deal with Germany. To ensure that, the Dutch merchant was monitored very strictly. Dutch ships were often seized by the British Navy. Shipping in the North Sea was dangerous. By the English mines were dumped at sea that could blow up whole ships. The German submarines made it pretty difficult the Dutch ships. Dozens of lost ships and the Netherlands could only protest.

The war had the economic decline as a result. Especially in the last two years of the war it was very noticeable: companies went bankrupt and had to close: people were unemployed. They arrived in sad circumstances, and the poor had suffered from the rising cost of living. The government took some steps to the food still somewhat to lead in the right direction. Farmers had to grow food crops, which the government took for fixed amounts. The distribution system was a measure. Vouchers (coupons and vouchers) for bread, meat, soap, fuel and similar necessities ensured that could survive the poor. There were also war profit makers who profited from the misery of the poor. In 1917 and 1918, broke through famine and poverty in riots.


The reception of Belgian refugees in the Netherlands

When the Germans were approaching, fled to an estimated one million Belgians to the safe and neutral Netherlands. They also went to England and France, because, after all, fought against the Germans and would help them. In the Netherlands, most of the Belgian refugees arrived in Zeeland, Limburg and North Brabant. In the beginning, they were captured by ordinary citizens and let them live in their own homes. Money was collected, but the refugees kept coming. There was hardly any food and housing, so the government had to intervene. The emergency had to be led in the right direction, and the refugees were Belgians as possible throughout the Netherlands. All provinces had to take care of them together, through the established refugee camps.

Late 1914, early 1915 Belgium safe for most people. There was only fought in the southwest of Belgium: the rest of the country "normal" occupied by the Germans. Hundred thousand Belgians in the Netherlands remained until the war was really over. These were part of people whose house was in the front area. Or were Belgian soldiers who did not want to fight the Germans. These soldiers stayed back in other types of camps and could only return home in 1918.


The Soviet Union

Communists to power

Russia was not exactly good for the country in 1914 when at war hit with Austria-Hungary and Germany. Most people were tenant farmers and had to work for landowners in the country. Workers in the few industry had to work very hard for very little money and lived in appalling conditions. The star wanted hegemony over the country. But Russia there was obviously much too large, and in addition, the state of the army was pretty bad. They had little training and had a lousy equipment: shooting had to be done with broom steal. not even against modern, strong army of Germany in Russia could. In early 1917 the misery peaked. There were severe food shortages because almost all the farmers were in the army. Especially among the townspeople was hungry.

In March (according to the Russian calendar of February) in 1917 was given the Russian capital St. Petersburg riots. The army did not shoot at the people and the Tsar joined forced off. This was the first stage of the Russian Revolution.

It was a spontaneous uprising, so there is no alternative arrangements were made. There was a provisional government that had to create a new constitution and a rescue of the country. This government was put under pressure from Britain and France and therefore decided to continue to fight against Germany.

This error did the Bolsheviks, the Russian Communists, waited. Their leader Lenin had earlier fled abroad but returned. He immediately began to prepare for a coup. According to his promise, he would distribute among the peasants the land of the landlords and stop the war against Germany. The Bolsheviks took advantage of the summer of the chaotic situation when Russia had suffered a number of defeats against Germany. On 24 November (actually October), 1917, the Bolsheviks occupied some important buildings in St. Petersburg. The provisional government was overthrown and the Communists had seized power. Provisional they would that do not emit too.


Communists to power: the goals of the Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks were of the German philosopher Karl Marx. He thought that the workers could only get better with a revolution. According to Marx, it was capitalism (the personal property and personal wealth and prosperity) due that most people are getting poorer, and only a few people were getting richer. A society must come up with a fair distribution of wealth, led by workers. This was communism. A communist society there is no private property, everything is owned by the state. The Communist Party must ensure certainty and equal treatment so, therefore, the life of the country.

The Bolsheviks were very enthusiastic about communism and immediately began their export. Lenin was the leader of the Communist government and therefore banned all other political parties. Russia was the Soviet Union or USSR. Soviet in Russian means a council (government) soldiers and workers. Russia withdrew from the war with Germany by the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The money economy was abolished and all private property - land, houses, cattle, machinery - became the property of the state. Not everyone was happy with this, and civil war broke out between the Reds and the Whites, the Bolsheviks (red) and the opponents of Communism (white). The Whites were supported by Western Europe and the US but still could not defeat the Bolsheviks.

Lenin established a secret police to eliminate the opposition. This was the beginning of a terror in the Soviet Union that would make millions of victims. It was not a workers' paradise, but an extreme left (very progressive) dictatorship. The population had no say, everything was defined and organized by the Communist Party.

Lenin died in 1924 after a long illness, he was fifty-three years. He was succeeded by Stalin, which was worse than Lenin. Stalin was a doer and not a thinker: he literally went over seem to uphold the rule of communism.


The consequences of Stalin's leadership

Stalin began to work directly on the construction of communism in the Soviet Union. Capitalism had to disappear and therefore Russia should become a modern industrial country. This is what he wanted to achieve by working from 1938 with a planned economy. For a period of five years given the government's economic targets to be achieved. The structure of the industrial society was given high priority, and workers were enormous seated behind their pants just to work as hard and as fast as possible. After the first five-year plan, which failed miserably, the Soviet Union was able to catch her behind Western Europe and the United States.

The farmers had to contribute to the development of the industry. The farm was collective (public, state-owned) is to improve the harvest. Own agricultural businesses and farms were not allowed. The farmers joined forced to accede to collective farms or communist farms. The farmers were forced to cooperate by Stalin. Farmers who nevertheless were independent were arrested and sent low survival to prison camps in Siberia.

The massacres had great tragedies as a result. The decreased revenues from the food there was great famine and there were millions of deaths. Not only the farmers suffered from terror. The secret police (KGB) daily urged hundreds of opponents of communism. Even Communist party members were not safe. The prisoners confessed anything under torture, but all in government-organized show trials.

In the period between 1934 and 1938 thirty-five officers of the Bolsheviks were murdered. Altogether died between four and eight million people. But Stalin persevered with the construction of a totalitarian state. There was strict censorship criticism of his policy impossible. All media were used to propagate communism. Large parameters were held for Lenin and Stalin, to keep the population on their side and indoctrinate (inject, as it were) their ideas to the people.

The terror was less after 1938. Stalin noticed that Hitler was arriving from abroad. First, there was a brief collaboration between Hitler and Stalin to occupy Poland in part. In 1941, the Soviet Union was attacked by Germany.


Historical Portraits

Ilijtsj Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) founder and first leader of the Soviet Union. He led the confiscation of all private property and established a secret police for the opponents of communism.

Joseph Stalin (1870-1953) He followed Lenin and became a brutal dictator in the Soviet Union. He was the creator of the planned economy, collectivization of agriculture, purges and terror. As a result of his rule millions of people died.


Timeline

1882: Italy joins Germany and Austria-Hungary.

1907: Russia joins the Anglo-French Treaty.

1914: World War I begins.

1917: The United States declare war on Germany.

1917 Russian Revolution: Russia closes armistice with Germany, Phase 1 and 2

1918: November: Armistice between Germany and grille Erden, ending World War I.