Professor Brophy
History 102

The First World War
Origins
-rigidification of alliance system, 1890-1914
-rival nationalisms and imperialism; pressures of the Second Industrial Revolution
-Germany’s Weltpolitik and navy
-Balkan nationalism and Hapsburg imperial claims
-diplomacy and mobilization

II. 1914: Ideals and Reality
-idealism for war
-the Burgfrieden and Union Sacree
-Schlieffen Plan and the Battle of the Marne
-trench warfare in west
-the changing nature of war: machine guns, gas, tanks, flame throwers
-the Eastern Front

III. The Home Front: A Critical Aspect of ‘Total War’
-the “home front”: maximum production necessary for victory
-new levels of state control: industry, commerce, agriculture, food rations
-public roles of women
-propaganda and extreme ideologies
-social cleavages

IV. Tides of Battle
-expansion into world war
-stalemate and slaughter in 1916 on western front:  Verdun, 900,000; Somme, 1.25 million; Ypres, 440,000
-German success in East

V. 1917 as Turning Point
-domestic political strains in Britain, France, Germany, and Russia
-unrestricted German submarine warfare and U.S. entry into war
-Bolshevik Revolution; peace with Germany, Mar. 1918
-Germany’s 1918 Spring offensive and Allied victory
-Armistice, 11 Nov. 1918

VI. Conclusions
-8.5 million dead; 37.5 million casualties
-transformation of a civilization’s outlook: end of progress, end of reason
-inestimable financial costs: how to pay for the war? European debt to US
-decline of European power; period of instability and uncertainty