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War and Social Upheaval: World War I
of three large empires (German, Russia, and Austro-Hungarian). This included the modern states of the Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, and Ukraine. Several new mostly weak and unstable countries or dependencies (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania) had been created from the earlier breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Most of these countries, including areas of the German Empire, were still largely agricultural, in some cases almost feudal. Large areas had still been vurtually untouched by the Industrial Revolution. The rural peasantry and relatively small urban working class was often very poor with families eckeing out a very meager existence. Urban workers in many cases lived in almost Dickesian squalor. Natioanlist sentiment was strictly suppressed in these empires. World War I which destroted all four of these great empires was to unleash long-supressed nationalist sentiment throughout Eastern Europe. Winston Churchill saw the destruction and the introduction of dangerous American principles in the Versailles Treaty such as national self determination as one of the causes of the rise of brutish Coomunis, Fascist, and NAZI totalitarianism after the War. Adding the volitile mix was the rise of Soviet Communism in Russia after the War and its appeal to many agricultural and industrial workers.
The War (1914-18)
Terroism was at the heart of World War I in a chilling reminder to our modern age. War had been brewing in Europe for decades. It was a terrorist act that was the actual catalyst. Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip (June, 28, 1914) assasinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. The Austrians were incorporating Bosnia into their Empire and had chosen the most sacred day in Serbian history, their defeat by the Ottoman Turks on the plains of Kosovo, for the Archduke's visit. The Austrians decided to punish the Serbs. The German Government (July 6) gave its support for Austro-Hungary's plan to punish the Serbs. Germany and Austria-Hungary became known as the Central Powers. When Austria-Hungary with German backing declared war on Serbia, Russia and France began to mobilize its troops. As a result of Kaiser Wilhem's bumbling, France had succeeded in signing a mutual defense treaty. Germany felt impelled to strike at France before Russia could mobilize. Germany declaring war on Russia (August 1) and France (August 3). The German Army entered neutral Belgium (August 4), in an effort to go around the strong French border defenses. Britain declared war on Germany over the violation of Belgian neutrality. Britain, France, and Russia became known as the Allied countries. The Germans were convinced they could take Paris before either th British or Russians could intervene. Miraculously the French Army managed to stop the Germans at the Marne and the Western Front became a brutal war of attrition. Italy had signed a treaty with Germany and Austria Hungary, decided not to honor it and later entered the War. Turkey had signed a defensive alliance with Germany in July 1914 and seeing an opportuity to make major gains against [next page]