The First World War

(A) is true but (R) is false

Explanation — While the majority of the fighting took place in Europe, the conflict also extended to other regions, including the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia.

(A) is the reason for (R)

Explanation — British imperialism was indeed rooted in the pursuit of maintaining and expanding trade, which led to the establishment of a vast colonial empire in Asia and Africa by the end of the 19th century.

(R) is the reason for (A)

Explanation — The race of armaments began on the name of peace but eventually led to devastating war.

(A) is the reason for (R)

Explanation — After the First World War, the United States of America did surpass Europe both economically and militarily to emerge as a world power. The United States had the world’s largest economy and its military might increased significantly.

(R) contradicts (A)

Explanation — The League of Nations was founded on the principle of collective security, with the aim of preventing wars through international cooperation but it failed to achieve its goal as it failed to check the rise of dictatorships in Italy and Germany.

Nationalism

Race for armaments

Russia

Britain

Central Powers: Germany, Austria, Italy

Italy

Fronts

1914; Europe

The sinking of Lusitania by U-boats

Russia

Paris conference

France and Polland

Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen points

All of the above

Nationalism refers to the sense of unity felt by the people, who share a common history, language and culture. This feeling of unity soon turned into extreme pride, which made the people of many countries believe that their country is superior to the other countries. This led to the development of aggressive nationalism in Europe. Therefore, aggressive nationalism meant love for one’s own country and hatred of other countries.

Two features of Imperialism are-

1. Imperialism refers to the state policy or practice by which a powerful nation establishes its control over another country, either by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control. Once conquered, this country was claimed as a colony.
2. These colonies were governed and administered by the imperial nation through its representatives or a puppet government.

Germany defeated France and annexed the French territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The war and the subsequent annexation caused widespread resentment and a strong desire for revenge in France. This was the cause of Franco-German rivalry.

Sarajevo Crisis, the immediate cause of the war was the murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, on June 28, 1914 by a Serbian at Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia. Austria served an ultimatum on Serbia on July 23 making eleven demands. Serbia accepted most of the demands except those that would have led to the loss of her sovereignty.

Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Russia started preparation for war to support Serbia. On August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia and on August 3, war was declared on France. German troops marched into Belgium to press on to France on August 4 and on the same day Britain declared war on Germany. Thus, the First World War began.

Serbia was blamed for the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. Austria declared war on Serbia. Two countries which supported Austria were Germany and Turkey.

Great Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August, when the German army invaded Belgium whose neutrality had been guaranteed by England.

The five major powers that got involved in the hostilities in 1914 were Austria, Germany, Russia, France and Britain.

The war fought between 1914 and 1918 is called the First World War because of the following reasons-

1. The War was fought on the land and in the air, on the sea and under it. In the War were mobilised all methods of destruction, such as tanks, submarines, gunfire and bombardments.
2. The War began in Europe, but very soon it spread to continents of Asia and Africa as well.

Russia withdrew from the First World War after the October Revolution. The Russian Empire had suffered serious reverses in the War. Over 600,000 Russian soldiers were killed. The day after the Bolshevik Government came to power under the leadership of Lenin, it issued the Decree on Peace with proposals to end the War without any annexations and indemnities.

The Peace terms of the Treaty of Versailles (June 28, 1919) are being referred to in the given cartoon picture. Germany had to swallow the bitter pills.

The Treaty of Versailles aimed to prevent Germany from going to war again by limiting its military strength, taking away territories, imposing war guilt, and enforcing heavy reparations. These terms crippled Germany militarily and economically.

The victorious powers or the Allies, met in a conference first in Versailles, a suburb of Paris, and later in Paris, between January and June 1919.

As a result of the discussions at the Paris Conference, on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. It ended the War. The basis of the treaty's negotiations was the American President Wilson's Fourteen Points. The treaty was designed to prevent Germany from going to war again.

The United States of America emerged as a world power after the War.

After the First World War, the ruling dynasty of Hapsburg in Austria-Hungary was destroyed and Austria and Hungary became separate independent states.

France got back Alsace-Lorraine which she had lost in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). France was given full ownership of the rich coal mines in the Saar basin for a period of 15 years. The fate of Schleswig was determined by a plebiscite. Germany had to surrender the areas of Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium. The city of Memel went to Lithuiana. The newly created State of Poland got back all the territories she had lost in the War.

Besides territorial losses in Europe, Germany lost all her colonies and overseas possessions. Togoland and the Cameroon were partitioned between Britain and France and German East Africa was shared between Britain and Belgium. Palestine and Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) were also held by Britain under a Mandate from the League of Nations.

According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Schelswig-Hostein was restored to Denmark.

The League of Nations was created as a world organisation of all independent States in 1920.

The horrors of War convinced the leaders of the world that there must be a mechanism to prevent war and promote international cooperation. This culminated in the setting up of the League of Nations.

The two major countries which were not allowed to become the members of the League of Nations were Germany and the Soviet Union.

(a) Three causes that led to the war were as follows-

1. Race for Armaments — Germany had acquired colonies in Africa and a few islands in the Pacific. In order to protect her colonies Germany began to build a powerful navy. The Germans dug the Kiel Canal deeper so that battle ships could find shelter in its waters. There was an arms race and the peculiar feature of such a race is that if one country increases its armaments, other countries are compelled to do the same. Such a race for armaments could end only in a war.

2. Division of Europe into two armed camps — In 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungary had signed a Treaty to help each other in case of enemy attack. Three years later Italy joined the Pact, which came to be known as the Triple Alliance. As opposed to the Triple Alliance emerged the Triple Entente comprising Britain, France and Russia in 1907 to control German expansionism. Thus, Europe was divided into two major camps. The suspicions, fears, rivalry and enmity between the two camps was a major step towards World War I.

3. Sarajevo Crisis — The immediate cause of the war was the murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, on June 28, 1914 by a Serbian at Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia. The assassination was organised by a secret society called 'Black Hand' or 'Union of Death' formed by extremist Serbian nationalists.

(b) The First World War was fought in many different areas called fronts.

1. War on the Western Front — The war began when the German armies swept across Belgium and entered southern France. The French army along with the British army met the German forces in the Battle of Marne (after the river near which the battle was fought) some 15 miles from Paris. The European countries made use of the troops recruited from their colonies in the war.
2. Trench Warfare — The opposing armies dug a series of trenches to defend themselves and to launch attacks. Living conditions in these trenches were pathetic.
3. War on the Eastern Front — The fighting began with the invasion of Russia by Austria-Hungary. Germany and Austria succeeded in repulsing the Russian attack and capturing parts of the Russian empire. They were also successful against Romania, Serbia and Italy. Outside Europe, Japan occupied German possessions in East Asia, and Britain and France seized most of the German colonies in Africa.
4. Policy of Blockade — The war involved total mobilisation of all the resources of the warring parties with all economic activities subordinated to the needs of the war. It also required that no goods including food, raw materials and war materials should be allowed to enter the enemy territory from anywhere.
5. Entry of USA in the War — In 1915, the German U-Boats had sunk a British ship Lusitania. The Americans were generally sympathetic to Britain, and this incident further roused anti-German feelings in the USA. On 6 April, 1917, the United States of America declared war on Germany.
6. Exit of Russia from the War — Another major development that took place in 1917 was the withdrawal of Russia from the War after the October Revolution.

(c) As a result of the War, the economy of many countries was shattered.

1. The global economic depression of 1929-30 is attributed to this War.

2. It gave rise to many serious social problems.

3. According to some estimates the expenditure on the Allied side was nearly forty-one thousand million pounds and that on the German side over fifteen thousand million pounds.

(a) Three consequences of the First World war were as follows:

1. Treaty of Versailles was signed between the Allies and Germany on June 28, 1919.
2. Territorial rearrangements — it changed the political map of the world by giving a serious blow to monarchy and developed democracy in Europe. The treaty not only affected substantial territorial changes but also reduced the military strength of Germany.
3. The war led to the formation of the League of Nations.

(b) Three points under the Treaty of Versailles, which affected Germany were-

1. The area of the Rhine Valley was to be demilitarised and the German territory west of Rhine was to be occupied by the Allied Troops for 15 years.
2. Germany lost Alsace Lorraine to France; Eupen-et-Malmedy to Belgium, Schleswig to Denmark. Danzig became a Free Port in the Polish territory.
3. Germany ceded parts of her pre-War territory to Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia and France.

(c) The objectives of the League of Nations were —

1. All the States of the world were prohibited from entering into any secret treaties and alliances.
2. The member-States were not supposed to maintain huge armies, warships and destructive armaments.
3. All States were to respect each other's independence.
4. All States were to refer their mutual disputes, if any, to the League of Nations for a peaceful settlement.
5. The member-States were to take necessary action as directed by the League against any State which tried to disturb world peace and order.
6. Apart from political functions, the League of Nations was supposed to promote cultural, social and economic cooperation among the member-States.

The United Nations was formed in October 1945 with objectives similar to those of the League of Nations.

(a) The immediate impact of the incident mentioned in newspaper above was beginning of the First World War.
The assassination was organised by a secret society called 'Black Hand' or 'Union of Death’ formed by extremist Serbian nationalists whose aim was to unite all Serbians into a single Serbian State. The political objective behind the assassination was to free Bosnia and Herzegovina from Austria-Hungarian rule and establish a common South Slav state.

(b) Three other reasons that led to a turning point in the history of the world were:

1. Nationalism, Aggressive nationalism and Imperialism — In the latter half of the 19th century, the nationalism turned into extreme pride, which made the people of many countries believe that their country is superior to the other countries. This led to the development of aggressive nationalism in Europe. The aggressive nationalism also led to the rise of imperialism. Imperialism refers to the state policy or practice by which a powerful nation establishes its control over another country, either by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control.
2. Race for Armaments — The mad race for armaments which began soon after the Franco-Prussian War (1870) was one of the reasons which led to the First World War. Every major power began stockpiling armaments in the name of self-defence and preservation of peace.
3. Division of Europe into Two Hostile Groups — There were two kinds of States in Europe in the early 20th century. On the one hand there were single Nation-States like France, Holland and Germany whose national identities were based on their common language and traditions. On the other, there were imperial States like the Austria-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire. The rivalry happened for colonies, trade and trade routes.

(c) The Treaty of Versailles was designed to prevent Germany from going to war again. The three clauses of this treaty were:

• The Treaty declared Germany guilty of aggression.
• Germany was required to pay for the loss and damages suffered by the allies during the war. The amount of reparations was fixed at 33 billion dollars. Germany had to cede her merchant ships to the allies as compensation and had to supply huge quantities of coal to France Italy and Belgium for ten years.
• The area of the Rhine Valley was to be demilitarised and the German territory west of Rhine was to be occupied by the Allied troops for 15 years.

(a) Germany summarily rejected the British ultimatum, which had demanded that Germany withdraw its forces from Belgium.
This is because Germany had invaded Belgium as part of its military strategy to attack France.

(b) Great Britain declared war on Germany because Germany violated Belgium's neutrality, which Britain had pledged to protect through a treaty. This invasion was viewed by the British as an unprovoked act of aggression. When Germany ignored Britain's ultimatum to withdraw its forces from Belgium, Britain responded by declaring war on Germany. Additionally, Britain was increasingly concerned about Germany’s growing military and naval power, which threatened the balance of power in Europe.

(c) The First World War ended on November 11, 1918, when Germany agreed to an armistice. The Allied Powers—which included Great Britain, France, and later the United States—won the war. The Central Powers, led by Germany, were defeated.

Effects on Germany —

1. Germany was held responsible for the war and made to pay $33 billion in reparations and sign the Treaty of Versailles.
2. Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine to France and other territories to Belgium, Poland, Denmark, etc.
3. Saar coal mines were given to France for 15 years and Rhineland demilitarised.
4. It lost all overseas colonies to the Allies.
5. Japan took over German territories in China and the Pacific.
6. German Army and navy size were severely restricted. Air force and submarines were banned.

Effects on Great Britain —

1. Britain suffered heavy loss of life and resources despite being on the winning side.
2. The war weakened Britain economically, and it lost its status as the foremost economic power.
3. Rise of the U.S. and Japan challenged British dominance.
4. British control over colonies declined, leading to nationalist movements especially in India.

By the end of the 19^th century, England and France had built up a huge colonial empire in Asia and Africa. Some other countries of the world like Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan also wanted to increase their sphere of influence and create their colonies in Asia and Africa. These colonies were essential for their progress as they could provide raw materials for their industries and markets for their finished products. Besides, acquiring colonies would add to the power and prestige of these countries. This led to a clash of interest among these countries. They began to scramble for colonies which resulted in rivalries and wars. Thus, we can say that the greed to acquire colonies and thereby, more money and resources led to the First World War more than the national pride.

Yes the First World War could have been avoided if the leaders of Russia and Germany would have shown some restraint. Franz Ferdinand was the strongest spokesman for peace in Austria-Hungary. He believed that a war with Russia would lead to the downfall of both empires. His assassination removed this brake on going to war. On the contrary, it became the immediate cause of the war.
Had Russia not declared war on Austria-Hungary, then Germany would have not declared war on Russia and the First World War could have been avoided at that moment. Use of some diplomacy on the part of Russia and Germany and Germany not giving unconditional support to its ally Austria-Hungary could have prevented the war.