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The War: Before 1914, belief that war was too __, while others believed that __ could control any situation and prevent outbreak.
- risky/ costly,
- rational diplomats
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I. 1914-1915: Illusions and Stalemate
a. 1914: enthusiastic Europeans
- i. Government propaganda successful in stirring up national antagonisms before the war
- 1. Now, August 1914, the urgent pleas of government for defense against aggressive was heard
- a. Middle class and students= enthusiastic
- b. Workers in the cities and peasants= not so much
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overall
- a. Domestic differences disregarded
- b. Socialists derided “imperialistic war” as a blow against the common interests that united the working classes of all countries
- c. Nationalism was more powerful than working-class solidarity in summer of 1914 as socialist parties dropped strikes and workers were ready to fight
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New Illusions
- i. People thought war would be over in weeks and assumed it’d be like American Civil War
- ii. Belief that war couldn’t be longer than a few months without destroying the nation’s economy
- 1. Assumed they’d be back by Christmas
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Attracted to war
- i. Many people attracted to war
- 1. Release from bourgeois existence and a glorious adventure
- 2. Redemption: millions would abandon petty preoccupations with material life, ridding nation of selfishness and sparking a national rebirth based on self-sacrifice, heroism, and nobility
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War in the West
- i. German hopes for quick end: gamble
- 1. Schlieffen Plan called for German army to go through Belgium into northern France with vast encircling movement that would sweep around Paris and surround most of the French army
- a. Plan suffered since it called for strong right flank for the encircling of Paris, but German military leaders, concerned about a Russian invasion in the east, moved forces from the right flank to strengthen the German army in the east
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August 4
- i. August 4: German troops crossed into Belgium with little resistance but burned and looted the area and people
- 1. Reached Marne River in September
- a. Unexpected counterattack by British and French forces under French commander General Joseph Joffre stopped Germans at the First Battle of the Marne
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First Battle of the Marne
- i. German troops fell back, but French army couldn’t pursueà war was a stalemate since neither Germans nor French could dislodge the other from the trenches they dug for shelter
- 1. Two lines of trenches soon extended from the English Channel to the frontiers of Switzerland
- ii. Western Front was bogged down in trench warfare, which kept both sides in same positions for 4 years
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War in the East
- i. More mobile, but greater casualties
- ii. Beginning: Russian moved into eastern Germany and was defeated at the Battles of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes
- 1. These battles established the military reputations of the commanding general, Paul von Hindenburg, and his chief of staff, General Erich Ludendorff
- 2. Russians no longer a threat to German territory
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Austria
- i. Austrians, Germany’s allies, had less luck
- 1. Defeated by Russians and Serbians and Italy broke alliance with Germans and Austrians and entered war on Allied side by attacking Austria, but Germany helped Austria out
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German-Austrian army
- a. German-Austrian army defeated and routed the Russian army in Galicia and pushed Russians back into own territory
- b. Russain casualties: 2.5 million
- 2. Due to success, Germans and Austrians, joined by Bulgarians, attacked and eliminated Serbia from the war
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