World War I Reading

War and Revolution Reading

​The Road to World War I

Section 1​

​Nationalism and the System of Alliances

​The growth of nationalism in the nineteenth century had many serious results. Competition for colonies and trade increased. Europe’s great powers were soon divided into two alliances, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. Crises in the Balkans between 1908 and 1913 made many European nations angry with each other. They were willing to go to war to preserve the power of their national states. Not all ethnic groups had become nations. But the growth of nationalism made the Irish, the Poles, and the Slavic peoples dream of creating their own national states.

Multiple Choice

The Triple Alliance was a loose agreement of cooperation among

• Serbia, Germany, and Britain.

• Italy, Serbia, and France.

• Germany, Italy, and Russia.

• Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

​Internal Dissent

​National desires were not the only reason for internal conflicts in the early 1900s. Socialist labor movements had become more powerful. These movements were more and more willing to use strikes to reach their goals, even if this led to violence. Some conservative leaders were afraid that their nations were on the verge of revolution. Some historians believe that the fear of revolution and the desire to suppress internal conflicts encouraged the leaders of some nations to go to war in 1914.

Multiple Choice

True or False: Some historians believe that fear of revolution encouraged some leaders to pursue war in 1914.

• True

• False

​Militarism

​After 1900, the size of armies throughout Europe grew at an alarming rate. Conscription, a military draft, was used by most Western nations before 1914. It caused the size of European armies to double between 1890 and 1914. Militarism (preparation for war) was growing. Military leaders became more powerful. They began to draw up plans that could be used if their countries went to war. They insisted that any changes to these plans would cause chaos in the military. In the 1914 crises, this forced European political leaders to make decisions for military rather than political reasons.

Multiple Choice

True or False: The first military draft in Europe was introduced in 1915.

• True

• False

​The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914

​Nationalism, internal conflicts, and militarism all played a role in the starting of World War I. But it was a crisis in the Balkans in the summer of 1914 that led directly to war. States in southeastern Europe had struggled for years to free themselves from Ottoman rule. Austria-Hungary and Russia both wanted to control these new nations. By 1914, Serbia, supported by Russia, was determined to create a large Slavic state in the Balkans. Austria-Hungary was determined that this would not happen.

​The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914

​On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, visited the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. Members of the Black Hand made plans to kill him. The Black Hand was a Serbian terrorist organization that wanted Bosnia to be free of Austria-Hungary. An attempt to kill the archduke with a bomb was unsuccessful. Later in the day, however, Gavrilo Princep, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb, shot and killed both the archduke and his wife.

​The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914

The Austro-Hungarian government did not know whether the Serbian government was involved in the assassination of the archduke, but it did not care. It saw this as an opportunity to crush Serbia. Austrian leaders wanted to attack Serbia, but they feared that Russia would intervene to help Serbia. The Austrians asked their German allies for help. Emperor William II of Germany agreed to give Austria-Hungary his full support. Austrian leaders sent an ultimatum to Serbia on July 23. Many of the demands were so extreme that Serbia had no choice but to reject some of them. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

​The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914

Russia was determined to support Serbia. Czar Nicholas II ordered partial mobilization of the Russian army. Mobilization is the process of assembling troops and supplies and making them ready for war. In 1914, mobilization was seen as an act of war. Russian military leaders told the czar that they could not partially mobilize. Their mobilization plans were based on a war against both Germany and Austria-Hungary. They claimed that mobilization against only Austria-Hungary would create chaos. Based on this claim, the czar ordered full mobilization of the Russian army on July 29. The German government warned Russia that it must stop its mobilization. When Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1.

​The Outbreak of War: Summer 1914

Germany also had a military plan. One of its generals, Alfred von Schlieffen, had drawn up a plan that called for war against both Russia and France. Under the Schlieffen Plan, Germany could not go to war against Russia only. As a result, Germany declared war on France on August 3. It also issued an ultimatum to Belgium, in which it demanded the right of German troops to pass through Belgium, even though Belgium was a neutral nation.

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On August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany, officially for violating Belgian neutrality. In fact, Britain was allied with France and Russia and was concerned about maintaining its own world power. Now all European powers were at war.

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Multiple Choice

True or False: Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: Germany gave Austria-Hungary no indication of support in 1914.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Which one of the following is NOT considered a major cause of World War I?

• the growth of nationalism

• impressionism

• militarism

• internal dissent

Multiple Choice

Austria-Hungary feared that Serbia would

• create a large Slavic state.

• kill Archduke Ferdinand.

• invade Russia.

• invade Germany.

Multiple Choice

Germany viewed the Russian czar’s full mobilization of the army as an

• act of support for Austria-Hungary.

• act of kindness.

• act of war.

• act of bad judgment.

Multiple Choice

The German military plan devised by General von Schlieffen

• called for war on two fronts.

• relied on carpet-bombing.

• depended on help from Serbia.

• depended on French neutrality.

The War​

​Section 2

​1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate

​Before 1914, many leaders believed that war was so full of risks that it would not be worth fighting. Others believed that diplomats could control any situation and avoid war. In August 1914, these idea were shown to be wrong.

Prior to the war, government propaganda (ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause) had been used to stir up hatred towards other nations. When the war broke out, European governments had no trouble getting their citizens’ support for the war effort. Most people were truly convinced that their nation's cause was just. Most people also believed that the war would end in a few weeks.

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​1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate

​The German hopes for a quick end to the war rested on a military gamble. The Schlieffen Plan called for German troops to make a wide arc through Belgium into northern France. The German army would then sweep around Paris and surround most of the French army. However, the German advance was halted a short distance from Paris at the First Battle of Marne (September 6–10). To stop the Germans, the French military leaders loaded 2,000 Parisian taxi cabs with fresh troops and sent them to the front.

​1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate

On this Western Front, the war turned into a stalemate, with both sides taking shelter in their trenches. Trenches were ditches protected by barbed wire. These trenches soon stretched from the English Channel to the border of Switzerland. This trench warfare kept both sides in virtually the same positions for four years.

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​1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate

The war on the Eastern Front was fought much differently. There was a great deal of movement by the various armies on this front. As the war began, Russia moved into eastern Germany but was defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg on August 30 and at the Battle of Masurian Lakes on September 15. These defeats ended the Russian threat to Germany. Germany's ally, Austria-Hungary, fared less well at first. The Austrians were defeated by the Russians in Galicia and were thrown out of Serbia. Then Italy, their other ally, betrayed them by attacking Austria in May 1915. Italy joined France, Great Britain, and Russia, who were now called the Allied Powers or Allies.

​1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate

Germany came to the aid of their Austrian friends. A German-Austrian army defeated the Russians in Galicia and pushed them back into their own territory. The Russians had been almost knocked out of the war. Bulgaria joined Germany and Austria-Hungary in September 1915. They attacked and eliminated Serbia from the war. Their success in the east allowed them to focus their attention back on the Western Front.

Multiple Choice

True or False: The western front was more mobile than the eastern front because forces in the east became stuck due to trench warfare. 

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

To maintain high morale and maintain support for the war among their citizens

• only the authoritarian regimes used propaganda.

• only the authoritarian powers allowed peace rallies.

• the democratic states used propaganda.

• the democratic states never resorted to exaggeration.

​1916 to 1917: The Great Slaughter

​By 1916, the trenches on the Western Front had become elaborate systems of defense. Barbed wire, machine-gun nests, and heavy artillery protected trenches on both sides. The troops lived in holes in the ground. A strip of land, known as no-man's-land, separated the opposing forces. Trench warfare baffled the military leaders of both sides. Never before in the history of war had armies fought each other in this way. The leaders believed that if they could break through enemy lines, they could return to the type of fighting that they understood. These attempts to break through the lines would begin with a heavy artillery barrage that was intended to flatten the other side's barbed wire and leave them in a state of shock. Troops would then be ordered to leave their trenches and attack the other side with fixed bayonets. These attacks seldom worked, however, because the troops were fired at by the enemy's machine guns. In 1916 and 1917, millions of young men were killed in their attempts to achieve these breakthroughs. World War I had turned into a war of attrition, a war based on wearing the other side down by constant attacks and heavy losses.

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​1916 to 1917: The Great Slaughter

For the first time in history, warfare was waged in the sky. Airplanes appeared over battlefields for the first time in 1915. At first, planes were only used to spot the enemy's position, but they soon began to attack ground targets. Battles began to be waged between the opposing pilots. At first, they used pistols. Later, machine guns were added to the noses of the planes.

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The Germans also used their giant airships, the zeppelins, to bomb London and eastern England. The zeppelins were filled with hydrogen gas, and Germany's enemies soon found that these airships could be turned into raging infernos when hit by antiaircraft guns.

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Multiple Choice

Air warfare in World War I involved all of the following EXCEPT

• the first long-range missiles.

• spotting enemy positions.

• attacking ground targets.

• shooting down enemy aircraft.

​Widening of the War

​Because of the stalemate on the Western Front, both sides sought new allies. The Ottoman Empire had already joined the war on Germany’s side in August 1914. Russia, Great Britain, and France declared war on the Ottoman Empire in November. The Allies tried to open a Balkan front by landing forces at Gallipoli, southwest of Constantinople, in April 1915. But Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire). After a disastrous campaign at Gallipoli, the Allies were forced to withdraw.

​Widening of the War

​By 1917, the war had truly become a world war. Italy, now on the side of the Allies, opened up a front against Austria-Hungary. In the Middle East, a British officer known as Lawrence of Arabia encouraged Arab princes to revolt against their Ottoman rulers. In 1918, British forces from Egypt destroyed the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East.The British used forces from India, Australia and New Zealand in their Middle East campaigns. During the war, the Allies were able to seize German colonies around the world. Japan, a British ally since 1902, seized several German-held islands in the Pacific. Australia seized German New Guinea.

Multiple Select

All select the nations that were part of the Central Powers

• Germany

• Italy

• Austria-Hungary

• Ottoman Empire

• France

​Entry of the United States

​At first, the United States tried to remain neutral. However, as the war dragged on, this became increasingly difficult. The United States finally entered the war as a result of the naval war between Great Britain and Germany. As part of its war strategy, Britain used its navy to block war materials and other goods from reaching Germany by sea. Germany retaliated by setting up its own blockade of Britain. German strategy included the use of submarines. The submarines were allowed to attack not only military ships but also civilian ships, such as passenger liners.

​Entry of the United States

On May 7, 1915, German forces sank the British ship Lusitania. Around 1,100 civilians were killed, including over 100 Americans. As a result of American protests, the German government stopped unrestricted submarine warfare. The German and British navies fought only one direct battle, the Battle of Jutland. This battle took place on May 31, 1916, and neither side won a conclusive victory. By January 1917, the Germans were desperate to win the war. German naval officers convinced Emperor William II that the use of unrestricted submarine warfare would starve the British into submission. They convinced the emperor that the British would starve before the United States could act.

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​Entry of the United States

The German naval officers were wrong. The British did not surrender. The return to unrestricted submarine warfare caused the United States to enter the war in 1917. By 1918, large numbers of American troops had arrived in Europe. The entry of the United States in the war boosted the Allies psychologically and gave them a new source of money and supplies

Multiple Choice

The United States entered the war largely over the issue of

• Serbian independence.

• trench warfare.

• German use of zeppelins.

• unrestricted submarine warfare.

​The Home Front: The Impact of Total War

​World War I became a total war, a war involving a complete mobilization of resources and people. The war affected all of the citizens in the warring countries. As a result of the war effort, there was an increase in government powers and in the use of propaganda. Once it became clear that the war would last far longer than expected, it also became clear that many more men and supplies would be needed. Governments expanded their powers to meet these needs. Countries drafted tens of millions of young men to serve in their militaries. Wartime governments also expanded their power over their economies. Capitalism, with its free market system, was temporarily set aside. In order to mobilize all the resources of their nations for the war effort, European nations set up planned economies-systems directed by government agencies, Governments set up price, wage, and rent controls. They also rationed food supplies and materials, regulated imports and exports, and took over transportation systems and industries.

​The Home Front: The Impact of Total War

As the war dragged on and the casualties mounted, patriotic enthusiasm decreased. War governments fought back against the growing opposition to the war. Authoritarian governments, like those of Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, used force to control their people. Soon, even democratic states expanded their police powers in order to stop opposition to the war. In Great Britain, a law was passed that allowed the government to arrest protestors as traitors. Newspapers were censored or even suspended. Governments continued to use propaganda to create enthusiasm for the war.

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​The Home Front: The Impact of Total War

Because so many of the world's men were involved in fighting the war, new opportunities were opened up for women. Women were asked to take over jobs that had not been available to them before. But many of the new jobs for women proved to be only temporary when men returned to the job market. There were some lasting results, however. In Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and the United States, women were given the right to vote soon after the war ended.

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Multiple Choice

During the war, new roles in the workforce were created for women because

• they were experienced workers.

• so many men entered the military effort.

• women needed something to do.

• women demanded equality.

Multiple Choice

Across Europe, wartime governments

• maintained free-market conditions.

• set up planned economies.

• reduced their powers.

• deregulated prices, wages, and rent.

​The Russian Revolution

Section 3​

​Background to Revolution

​Russia was not prepared for World War I.There were no competent military leaders in Russia. Czar Nicholas II was in charge of the armed forces, but he had no training or ability for this. Russian industry was not able to produce the weapons needed for the army. Because of these problems, two million soldiers were killed.

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While the czar was at the battlefront, his wife Alexandra made all of the important decisions. She consulted Rasputin, a Siberuan peasant who claimed to be a holy man. She was influenced by him because he seemed to be able to stop the bleeding of her son Alexis, who had hemophilia. Because of his influence, Rasputin became an important power in Russia.

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​Background to Revolution

With such poor leadership, the Russian people suffered through a series of military and economic disasters. The people became more and more upset with the rule of the czar. Even the conservative aristocrats, who supported the czar, felt that something must be done. They assassinated Rasputin in December 1916. But even this drastic move could not save the regin of the czar.

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​Background to Revolution

In March 1917, working women led a series of strikes in the capital city of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg). The government had begun rationing bread. The same women who were working 12-hour days in the factories were now forced to wait in long lines to get bread to feed their children. On March 8, 1917, about 10,000 women marched through the city of Petrograd. Other workers soon joined them. They called for a general strike, which shut down all the factories in the city on March 10. Czar Nicholas ordered troops to break up the crowds by shooting them if necessary. But large numbers of soldiers soon joined the demonstrators and refused to fire on the crowds.

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​Background to Revolution

The Duma, or legislative body, which the czar had tried to dissolve, met anyway. On March 12, it set up a provisional government. This government asked the czar to step down. Because Nicholas II had no support from the army or even from the wealthy aristocrats, he did step down, on March 15. The provisional government, led by Alexander Kerensky, decided to carry on the war to preserve Russia's honor. This was a major blunder. Workers and peasants no longer supported the war. The provisional government was also faced with a challenge to its authority--the soviets. The soviets were councils in Russia composed of representatives from the workers and soldiers. They were largely made up of socialists. One group, the Bolsheviks, began to play a crucial role.

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Multiple Choice

Russia was unprepared for war in all of the following ways EXCEPT one. Which one?

• no competent military leaders

• weak armament industry

• poorly armed military

• no czar

Multiple Choice

Women workers in Petrograd marched in protest, then

• organized a general strike.

• learned to bake bread.

• consulted with Rasputin.

• joined the czar’s army.

Multiple Choice

Kerensky’s provisional government made the fatal mistake of deciding to

• continue the war.

• sign a peace treaty with Germany.

• assassinate the czar.

• continue the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty.

​The Rise of Lenin

​The Bolsheviks began as a small faction of a Marxist party called the Russian Social Democrats. Vladimir Ilyich Ulianov, better known as V.I. Lenin, led them. Lenin believed that violent revolution was the only way to destroy the capitalist system. He believed that a small group of well-disciplined revolutionaries could accomplish this. From 1900 to 1917. Lenin spent most of his time aboard. When the provisional government was formed, he saw this as an opportunity for the Bolsheviks to seize power. In April 1917, German military leaders shipped Lenin back to Russia. They hoped that he would create disorder in Russia.

​The Rise of Lenin

Lenin's arrival in Russia started a new stage of the Russian Revolution. He believed that the Bolsheviks should try to gain control of the soviets and use them to overthrow the provisional government. The Bolsheviks told the people what they wanted to hear. They promised an end to the war, the redistribution of land to the peasants, the transfer of factories from capitalists to the workers, and the transfer of government power to the soviets.

Multiple Choice

True or False: V. I. Lenin was sent to Russia by German military leaders to create disorder.

• True

• False

​The Bolsheviks Seize Power

​By October 1917, the Bolsheviks held a slight majority in the Petrograd and Moscow soviets. The number of Bolsheviks had grown from 50,000 to 240,000. Leon Trotsky, a dedicated revolutionary, led the Petrograd soviet. This put the Bolsheviks in a position to claim power in the name of the soviets. During the night of November 6, the Bolsheviks seized the Winter Palace, where the provisional government met. The government quickly collapsed. This overthrow occurred at the same time as a meeting in Petrograd of the all-Russian Congress of Soviets. This group represented soviets from all over the country. Outwardly, Lenin turned power over to the Congress of Soviets. But real power passed to the Council of People's Commissars, headed by Lenin

​The Bolsheviks Seize Power

The Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communists. Now that they were in power, they faced the difficult task of removing Russia from the war. This would mean the loss of much Russian territory, but there was no real choice. On March 3, 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and gave up eastern Poland, Ukraine, Finland, and the Baltic provinces. Even with this treaty, real peace did not come, because the country soon sank into civil war.

Multiple Choice

True or False: The provisional government of 1917 was overthrown by the Bolsheviks.

• True 

• False

Multiple Choice

Outwardly, Lenin turned over power to the all-Russian Congress of Soviets, then

• invaded Poland with a mercenary army of peasants.

• signed a peace treaty with the czar and became deputy czar.

• passed real power to a Council of People’s Commissars that he controlled.

• retired from politics and settled in the Ukraine.

​Civil War in Russia

​Many people were opposed to the new Communist government. These people included groups loyal to the czar, liberals, anti-Lenin socialists, and the Allies. The Allies sent troops to various parts of Russia in the hope of bringing Russia back into the war. The troops rarely fought on Russian soil, but they gave aid to anti-Communist forces. From 1918 to 1921, the Communist (Red) Army was forced to fight on many fronts against the anti-Communist (White) forces. In the early part of the civil war, the White Army had several successes. But by 1920, the major White forces had been defeated. Within a year, the Communists regained control of Ukraine, Georgia, Russian Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

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The royal family was a victim of the civil war. On July 16, 1918, members of the local soviet in Ekaterinburg murdered Nicholas II and his family, where they were being held captive.

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Multiple Choice

True or False: The Allies sent troops into Russia with the hopes of ending the revolution and of Russia rejoining the war.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Military opposition or other forms of challenges to the Red Army came from all of the following EXCEPT

• Siberian anti-Communists.

• Italian royalists who supported Lenin.

• Allied material aid to the anti-Communists.

• the Ukrainians.

​Triumph of the Communists

​Communists had won the civil war against seemingly insurmountable odds. There were several reasons for their success. First, the Red Army was well disciplined. This was largely due to the efforts of Leon Trotsky, the commissar of war. He reinstated the draft and insisted on complete obedience. Second the Whites were not unified. They had no common goal, and the different groups did not trust each other. The Communists, on the other hand, had a clear vision of the new socialist order. Third, the Communists implemented a policy of war communism. This policy was used to ensure regular supplies for the Red Army. This meant government control of banks and industries, the seizing of grain from peasants, and the centralization of state administration under Communist control. The Communists also formed a new secret police, known as the Cheka. The Cheka began a Red Terror aimed at destroying those who opposed the new regime. Finally, the presence of foreign armies on Russian soil was used to stir up Russian patriotism. The Communists were able to call on patriotic Russians to fight foreign attempts to control the country.

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​Triumph of the Communists

By 1921, the Communists had total control of Russia. Russia was now a centralized state dominated by a single party. The state was also hostile to the Allies because the Allies had helped the Communists' enemies in the civil war.

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Multiple Choice

True or False: Unlike the Reds, the anticommunist Whites shared a single-minded sense of purpose.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: By 1921, the new communist regime rewarded the Allies for their help against the Whites.

• True

• False

End of the War​

Section 4​

​The Last Year of the War

​1917 had been a very difficult year for the Allied forces. Their offensives on the Western Front had been defeated, and the Russian Revolution led to Russia’s withdrawal from the War. However, the entry of the United States to the war gave the Allies a much-needed psychological boost. In 1918, fresh American troops would be crucial.

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​The Last Year of the War

With Russia out of the war, Germany was free to concentrate entirely on the Western Front. Erich von Ludendorff, who guided German military operations,decided to make a grand offensive to break the stalemate. The German attack began in March 1918. The Germans were stopped at the Second attack Marne on July 18. French, Moroccan and American forces supported by hundreds of tanks, threw the Germans back over the Marne. The German offensive had failed.

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​The Last Year of the War

With more than a million American troops pouring into France, the Allies began to advance toward Germany. On September 29, 1918, General Ludendorff informed the German leaders that the war was lost. He demanded that the government ask for peace. The Allies were unwilling to make peace with the present German government, so reforms were begun to create a more liberal government. However, the exhausted German people were unwilling to wait for this process to take place. On November 3, sailors in the town of Kiel mutinied. Soldiers and workers began to form councils throughout Germany. By November 9, William II was forced to leave the country. The Social Democrats under Friedrich Ebert announced the creation of a democratic republic. On November 11, the new government signed an armistice (a truce or an agreement to end the fighting in a war).

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​The Last Year of the War

The war was over, but revolutionary forces had been set in motion in Germany. A group of radical socialists formed the German Communist Party in December 1918. The Communists tried to seize power in both Berlin and Munich. The new Social Democratic government used army troops to crush the rebels and murdered two of the Communist party leaders. The attempt at revolution left the German middle class with a deep fear of communism.

Austria-Hungary also experienced revolution. Ethnic groups tried harder and harder to gain their independence. By the end of the war, the Austro Hungarian Empire no longer existed. The independent republics of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, along with the monarchical state called Yugoslavia, replaced it.

​The Peace Settlements

​In January 1919, representatives of 27 victorious Allied nations met in Paris to make a final settlement of the war. Idealistic reasons for fighting World War I had replaced the original reasons for starting the war. Even before the end of the war, the U.S, president, Woodrow Wilson, had presented his “Fourteen Points” to the U.S. Congress.These points were his basis for a peace settlement. His proposals included reaching the peace agreements openly rather than through secret diplomacy, reducing armaments (military forces or weapons), and ensuring self-determination (the right of each people its own nation). He also pushed for a general association of nation would guarantee independence for large and small nations alike.

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​The Peace Settlements

When the delegations met at the Paris Peace Conference, it became obvious that secret treaties and agreements had been made before the war. These agreements had raised the hopes of European nations for territorial gains. These hopes could not be totally ignored, even if they were in conflict with the principle of self-determination. David Lloyd George, prime minister of Great Britain, was determined to make Germany pay for the war. Georges Clemenceau, the premier of France, was mainly concerned about national security. Clemenceau wanted Germany to be stripped of all weapons. He also wanted German reparations (payments to cover the costs of the war) and a separate Rhineland as a buffer zone between France and Germany.

​The Peace Settlements

Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau made the most important decisions at the Paris Peace Conference. Germany was not even invited to attend, and Russia could not be present because of civil war. On January 25, 1919, the conference accepted Wilson's idea of a League of Nations. In return, Wilson agreed to make compromises on territorial arrangements. He did this because he believed that the League could later fix any unfair arrangements. Clemenceau also compromised. He gave up France's wish for a separate Rhineland.

​The Peace Settlements

The final peace settlement consisted of five separate treaties with the defeated nations (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey). The most important treaty was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany. It was signed on June 28, 1919. The treaty said that Germany and Austria were responsible for starting the war. It ordered Germany to pay reparations for the damage done to the Allied Nations. Germany also had to reduce its army and navy and eliminate its air force. Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France. Parts of eastern Germany were given to a new Polish state. German land on sides of the Rhine was made a demilitarized zone and stripped of all weapons and fortifications. It was hoped that this would prevent Germany from making advances toward France.

​The Peace Settlements

As a result of the war and the peace treaties, the map of Europe was redrawn. Both the German and Russian empires lost much territory. The Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared. New nations emerged; Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary. Romania acquired additional lands from Russia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Serbia became part of a new nation, called Yugoslavia. The Paris Peace Conference was supposedly guided by the principle of self-determination, but the mixtures of peoples in Eastern Europe made it impossible to draw boundaries totally along ethnic lines. As a result, almost every eastern European country still had ethnic minorities. The problem of ethnic minorities would lead to later conflicts.

​The Peace Settlements

The Ottoman Empire was also broken up by the peace settlement. To gain Arab support during the war, the Allies had promised to recognize the independence of Arab states in the Ottoman Empire. After the war, however, France took control of Lebanon and Syria, and Britain took control of Iraq and Palestine. These arrangements were called mandates. Under the mandate system, a nation officially governed another nation as a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations but did not own the territory.

​The Peace Settlements

World War I had other results as well. The death of so many people undermined the idea of progress. This war had been a total war that required a complete mobilization of people and resources. As a result, the power of governments increased. The turmoil created by the war led to even more insecurity. Revolutions broke up old empires. New states were created, which led to new problems.

Multiple Choice

True or False: France came to the 1919 peace talks prepared to help Germany recover.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: One of France's chief concerns at the 1919 peace talks was its future national security against Germany.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: Wilson's idea of a world organization like the League of Nations was aimed at preventing future wars.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: The Treaty of Versailles left the Germans with a sense that they were being treated fairly by the Big Three.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

American president Wilson argued at the Paris Peace conference most strongly for

• forgiving Germany.

• restoration of Russia’s czar to end communism.

• a League of Nations to prevent future wars.

• the outright annexation of territories by the Allies.

Multiple Choice

To gain Arab support against the Ottoman Turks during the war, the Allies had promised to

• recognize independent Arab states.

• destroy the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

• keep Russia out of Egypt.

• buy Arabian oil.

Multiple Choice

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to do all of the following EXCEPT

• return Alsace and Lorraine to France.

• give up land to a new Polish state.

• pay for war damage.

• run Italy as a mandate.

Multiple Choice

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Big Three powers as a peace settlement with

• Germany, Austro-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

• Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Bulgaria.

• Germany and Austro-Hungary.

• Germany.

Multiple Choice

After German emperor William II fled the country in 1918, Germany formed a

• Communist soviet.

• democratic republic.

• constitutional monarchy.

• military dictatorship.