first world war

Posted on Jul 28, 2023 in History

The Berlin Conference was made up in 1885 and it was made to try to establish rules for the colonisation of the African continent by European empires. However the rise of power of the German Empire create conflicts between european countries. Marroco create a lot of tension at the beginning of the 20th century between European countries because they all wanted to control it.//// Before WW1 starts they were made alliances, they were two oposing alliances. In 1882 the german empire signed an agreement with Austro-Hungary and Italy, that it was known as the Triple Alliance. In 1907 France, Britain and Russia signed a pact, known as the Triple Entente. These conflicts create an arms race, where countries spent a lot of money on manufacturing weapons, building warships and strength the armies. /// The outbreak of the war was the 28 june 1914 when Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was assasinated in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia, he was heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire. This led to WW1, because after this Austro-Hungary encouraged by the Germans accused Serbia, and declared war. Then Russia declared war on the Austro-Hungarian empire to protect Serbia., and Germany declare war on Russia and France. After the German empire invade Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany and the Austro Hungarian empire. /// WW1 (1914-18) was divided in three phases, the first phase, The war of movement, was a period were Germany wants to finish the war as soon as possible in the Western front, and they attacked France thruough Belgium and Louxembourg, and whe they were at 40km from Paris the British and French stopped them in the Battle of the Marne, whilst on the western front Germany defeated the Russian empire in the Battle of Tannenberg. Balkans, Serbia stopped austro-hungarian advance. /// The second phase, The trench warfare was the longest phase of the war and due to technology the war was inmobile, both sides create trenches the germans more durable trenches, the british not as good as the germans, Over this phase took place the Battle of the somme were Germany was attacked by France and Britain, Battle of Verdum were French stop germans./// the last phase, 1917 was a very important year because Russia left the war due to revolts, eastern front dissapear, and the USA joined the war, made it a global conflict. In 1918 many countries surrended and they signed the Armistice on 11 november 1918 and that was the end of WW1./// The total war is the full mobilisation of a country’s economy, industries and people for the war effort. The Women had a new role in society, they began to work in munitions factories, hospitals and transport. When the war ended woman represent 35% of industrial labour in germany and britain. However they don’t have the same rights as men so this resulted in the appearance of the suffragette movement (calling for female vote)/// In opposition to tsarism the Marxism ideas were spread among the industrial workers, In 1898, The Russian Social Democratic Labour  Party was founded and led by Lenin, and they were two winds, the Mensheviks (minority) and the Bolsheviks (majority) they were unconvinced of the tsar reforms and favoured a revolutionary path. In the early 20 century the Constitutional Democratic Party starts to appear in Russia. In 1905 a revolution broke out demanding the end of autocracy and Russia was defeated by Japan that year./// The Russian Revolution was divided into two parts. The first part the February Revolution of 1917, was the fall o tsarism, there was a large demonstration in Petrograd followed by a general strike and riots in the barracks. The tsar abdicated and a republic was proclaimed, and the bourgeois parties like Kadet and Esers led the government and made political and social reforms. However the Soviets want bigger changes and the populas discontent grows. The second phase was the October revolution, it starts the 25 October 1917 and by then mos of the Soviets support the Bolsheviks. Their leader Lenin returned to Russia from exile. He proclaimed a workers government that includes Trotsky and Stalin. They make elections for a constituent Assembly but the Bolsheviks got only 25% of the votes so Lenin dissolves it. He take some revolutionary measures and he takes Russia from WW1. In Russia in 1918 there was a Civil War and the formation of the USSR.  In this year those who supported tsarism took up arms against the Soviets. With help from the French, Japanese, British and American troops, the White army confronted the Red Army led by Trotsky and the Bolsheviks. The civil war lasted for three years and create many problems for the people. In 1921 the Red Army won the war./// At thhe end of WW1 the were 18 million deaths, and the western front had totaly destroyed most of France. The victorious countries were undecided on what to do with Germany. So in 1919 they all joined in Paris and they create the Treaty of Versailles that it was an agreement between the alies bout germany and the future of europe, were they establish peace between countries. However germany wasn’t included in this trety so they weren’t agree. The Treaty of Versailles had different terms like 1. Guilt; germany was accused and had the blame of the loss and damage of the war. 2. Army, no submarines, no airplanes only 6 battleships. 3. Reparations; 6,600 million pounds in instalments. 4. Germany lost lands such as Alsace and Lorraine. 5. The League of Nations was set up, it was created by the USA to create peace and cooperate between countries, however the USA didn’t have influence on it. 6. Extra points; germany and austria could not join together. However the Germans felt unfairly treaty and this led to the “stab in the back” theory. Where the germans think that they didn’t lost the war and the treaty was humiliating. Hitler used this theory in his speeches to gain.