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When did Germany take alsace lorraine?
It was originally part of the Holy Roman Empire (most of which eventually became Germany). After the Thirty Years War (which ended in 1648), France took control of Alsace-Lorraine. After Prussia defeated France in 1871, Prussia retook it from France. This partly contributed to France's desire for revenge, often termed "revanchism". Prussia's victory in that war allowed them to create the German Empire, which was the basis of modern Germany. With Germany's defeat in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, France retook the territory from Germany. Germany took control during their occupation of France during World War II, but France got it back afterward. France still controls it to this day.
How did the rise of fascist and totalitarian governments create conflict leading to World War 2?
The immediate Causes of World War II are generally held to be the German invasion of Poland, and the Japanese attacks on China, the United States, and the British and Dutch colonies. In each of these situations, the attacks were the result of a decision made by authoritarian ruling elites in Germany and Japan. World War II started after these aggressive actions were met with an official declaration of war or armed resistance.Background Main articles: Events preceding World War II in Europe and Events preceding World War II in AsiaBenito Mussolini of Fascist Italy (left) and Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.The Nazi Party came to power in Germany by democratic means, although after acquiring power they eliminated most vestiges of Germany's democratic system. The reasons for their popularity included their renouncement of the Treaty of Versailles (particularly Article 231, known as the "Guilt Clause"), which had placed many restrictions on Germany since the end of World War I, staunch anti-communism, the Dolchstosslegende and promises of stability and economic reconstruction. They also appealed to a sense of Germanic identity, superiority and entitlement, which would play an important role in starting the war, as they demanded the integration of lands they considered to be rightfully belonging to Germany. Hitler was also portrayed by himself, his party, and his book Mein Kampf as an almost otherworldly savior for the German people.Imperial Japan in the 1930s was largely ruled by a militarist clique of Army and Navy leaders, devoted to Japan becoming a world colonial power. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937 to bolster its meager stock of natural resources and extend its colonial control over a wider area. The United States and the United Kingdom reacted by making loans to Republic of China, providing covert military assistance, pilots and fighter aircraft to Kuomintang (KMT) China and instituting increasingly broad embargoes of raw materials and oil against Japan. These embargoes would potentially have eventually forced Japan to give up its newly conquered possessions in China or find new sources of oil and other materials to run their economy. Japan was faced with the choice of withdrawing from China, negotiating some compromise, developing new sources of supply, buying what they needed somewhere else, or going to war to conquer the territories that contained oil, bauxite and other resources in the Dutch East Indies, Malay and the Philippines. Believing the French, Dutch and British governments more than occupied with the war in Europe, the Soviets reeling from German attacks and that the United States could not be organized for war for years and would seek a compromise before waging full scale war, they chose the latter, and went ahead with plans for the Greater East Asia War in the Pacific.[1]The direct cause of the United States' entry into the war with Japan was the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Germany declared war on the United States on December 12, 1941.Ideological causesCommunismVladimir Lenin.Main articles: Communism and Anti-Communism The Russian Revolution led many Germans to fear that a communist insurrection would occur in their own country. Shortly after World War I, the communists attempted to seize power in the country, leading to the establishment of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. The Freikorps helped to put down the rebellion and their forces were an early component of the Nazi Party. Neville Chamberlain and most of his fellow conservatives were vehemently anti-communist. Some saw in Fascism a force that would militarily oppose the Soviet Union as proxy for Western Capitalism, contributing to the decision to pursue appeasement. Lord Halifax acknowledged that the Nazis had destroyed Communism in Germany and felt that the Nazi State represented a bulwark for the West against Bolshevism.[1] Prior to the Munich Agreement, the Soviet Union had urged for cooperation in protecting Czechoslovakia, but the Western Allies were suspicious of Stalin's own expansionist ambitions. Although allowed to absorb the Sudentenland, Germany later invaded what had constituted the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. This had a tremendous effect on foreign opinion.Expansionism Main article: LebensraumExpansion of the Japanese Empire.Expansionism is the doctrine of expanding the territorial base (or economic influence) of a country, usually by means of military aggression.In Europe, Italy's Mussolini sought to create a New Roman Empire based around the Mediterranean and invaded Albania in early 1939, before the official start of the war, and later invaded Greece. Italy had also invaded Ethiopia as early as 1935. This provoked little response from the League of Nations and the former Allied powers, a reaction to empire-building that was common throughout the war weary and depressed economy of the 1930's. Germany came to Mussolini's aid on several occasions.Italy's expansionist desires can be tied to bitterness over minimal gains after helping the Allies achieve victory in World War I. At Versailles, Italy had been promised large chunks of Austrian territory, but received only South Tyrol, and promises believed to have been made about Albania and Asia Minor were ignored by the more powerful nations' leaders.After World War I, the German State had lost land to Lithuania, France, Poland, and Denmark. Notable losses included the Polish Corridor, Danzig, the Memel Territory (to Lithuania), the Province of Posen and the most economically valuable eastern portion of Upper Silesia. The economically valuable regions of the Saarland and the Rhineland were placed under the authority (but not jurisdiction) of France.The result of this loss of land was population relocation, bitterness among Germans, and also difficult relations with those in these neighboring countries, contributing to feelings of revanchism which inspired irredentism. Under the Nazi regime, Germany began its own program of expansion, seeking to restore the "rightful" boundaries of pre-World War I Germany, resulting in the reoccupation of the Rhineland and action in the Polish Corridor, leading to a perhaps inevitable war with Poland. However, due to Allied appeasement and prior inaction, Hitler estimated that he could invade Poland without provoking a general war or, at the worst, only spark weak Allied intervention after the results was already decided.Also of importance was the idea of a Greater Germany, where supporters hoped to unite the German people under one nation. Germany's pre-World War II ambitions in both Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia mirror this goal. After the Treaty of Versailles, an Anschluss, or union, between Germany and a newly reformed Austria was prohibited by the Allies. Such a plan of unification, predating the creation of the German State of 1871, had been discarded due to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's multiethnic composition as well as competition between Prussia and Austria for hegemony. At the end of World War I, the majority of Austria's population supported such a union.The Soviet Union had lost large parts of former Russian Empire territories to Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania in World War I and Russian Civil War and was interested in regaining lost territories.Hungary, an ally of Germany had also been stripped of enormous territories after the partition of the Austria-Hungary empire and hoped to regain those lands by allying with Germany.In Asia, Japan also harbored expansionist desires, fuelled at least partially by the minimal gains the Japanese saw after World War I. Despite having taken a German colony in China and a few other Pacific islands, as well as swaths of Siberia and the Russian port of Vladivostok, Japan was forced to give up all but the few islands it had gained during World War I.In many of these cases, the roots of the expansionism leading to World War II can be found in perceived national slights resulting from previous involvement in World War I, nationalistic goals of re-unification of former territories or dreams of an expanded empire.Fascism Main article: Fascism "Fascism" is a philosophy of government that is marked by stringent social and economic control, a strong, centralized government usually headed by a dictator, and often has a policy of belligerent nationalism that gained power in many countries across Europe in the years leading up to World War II. In general it believes that the government should control industry and people for the good of the country.In many ways, fascism viewed the army as a model that a whole society should emulate. Fascist countries were highly militaristic, and the need for individual heroism was an important part of fascist ideology. In his book, The Doctrine of Fascism, Benito Mussolini declared that "fascism does not, generally speaking, believe in the possibility or utility of perpetual peace".[2] Fascists believed that war was generally a positive force for improvement, and were therefore eager at the prospect of a new European war. Facism ultimately proved to be one of beliefs that was universal with many invading Axis countries. While the Allies also ultimately developed this belief, Facism engulfed the culture of Europe during the War to be based around encouraging the political view of the leaders.Isolationism Main article: Isolationism Isolationism was the dominant foreign policy of the United States following World War I. Although the U.S. remained active in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific, it withdrew from European political affairs but retained strong business connections.Popular sentiment in Britain and France was also isolationist and very war weary after the slaughter of World War I. In reference to Czechoslovakia, Neville Chamberlain said, "How horrible, fantastic it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing. I am myself a man of peace from the depths of my soul."Within a few years of this statement, the world would be engulfed in total war.Militarism Main article : Militarism-Socialism in Showa JapanA highly militaristic and aggressive attitude prevailed among the leaders of Germany, Japan and Soviet Union. Compounding this fact was the traditional militant attitude of the first two, and the former Russian Empire had a similar track record that is often underestimated.Nationalism Nationalism is the belief that groups of people are bound together by territorial, cultural and ethnic links. Nationalism, was used by their leaders to generate public support for German, Italian and Japanese aggression. Fascism in these countries was built largely upon a theory of nationalism and the search for a cohesive "nation state". Hitler and his Nazi party used nationalism to great effect in Germany, already a nation where fervent nationalism was prevalent. In Italy, the idea of restoring the Roman Empire was attractive to many Italians. In Japan, nationalism, in the sense of duty and honor, especially to the emperor, had been widespread for centuries.Racism Main articles: Racial policy of Nazi Germany, Drang nach Osten, Polabian Slavs, and Japanocentrism , Xenophobia in Showa Japan, Eugenics in Showa Japan The events of the 20th century marked the culmination of a millennium-long process of intermingling between Germans and Slavs. Over the years, many Germans had settled to the east (e.g. the Volga Germans). At the same time, the Slavs had expanded westward (e.g. the Sorbs). Such migratory patterns created enclaves and blurred conceiveable ethnic frontiers. By the 19th and 20th century, these migrations now had considerable political implications. The rise of the nation-state had given way to the politics of identity and agendas such as Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism surfaced. Furthermore, Social Darwinist theories framed the coexistence as a "Teuton vs. Slav" struggle for domination, land and limited resources. Integrating these ideas into their own, the Nazis believed that the Germans, the "Aryan race", were the master race and the Slavs were inferior.Japan, led by a democratic government, had an increasingly imperialistic and colonial program in the 1930s. Doctrines auch as the Hakko ichiu were based on the conviction that the Japanese race, led by Emperor Showa, the offspring of Amaterasu, was superior to others. Many Japanese were virulently racist, not only towards Europeans, but also against other Asian peoples such as Koreans, Ainu, and Chinese who were called kichiku (beast, devil). To these Japanese racists, anyone who was not Japanese was considered inferior and treated as such. Rapid industrialization and progress through the 19th and 20th centuries meant that Japan was economically and technologically ahead of most of its neighbours. Japan used that technological lead to invade its neighbors and pursue its own expansionist ambitions, again an example of eugenism.Appeasement Appeasement is a strategy where, hoping to avoid conflict, one party grants concessions to the other. The United Kingdom and France demonstrated this towards Germany in the late 1930's, culminating in the 1938 Munich Agreement. Simultaneously, Germany's capacity increased, assuring that victory would be not as easily obtained by the Western Allies if war did break out. With the status of Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig hanging in the balance, Germany eventually attacked Poland. The Allies, believing that the situation could be resolved diplomatically, did little to prepare for this event despite the fact that they had issued guarantees towards Poland. As tensions escalated in the final days before the invasion, France explicitly warned Poland against mobilizing, believing the Germans could still be bargained with diplomatically[citation needed].Interrelations and economicsTreaty of Versailles Main article: Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was neither lenient enough to appease Germany, nor harsh enough to prevent it from becoming the dominant continental power again.The Treaty can be said by some to be the single most important, indirect cause of the war.[citation needed] It placed the blame, or "war guilt" on Germany and Austria-Hungary, and punished them from their alleged "responsibility" rather than working out an agreement that would assure peace in the long-term future. The Treaty resulted in harsh monetary reparations, territorial dismemberment, mass ethnic resettlements and indirectly hampered the German economy by causing rapid hyperinflation. The Weimar Republic printed trillions to help pay off its debts, and borrowed heavily from the United States (only to default later) to pay war reparations to Britain and France, who still carried war debt from World War I.Another important aspect of the Treaty was that it created bitter resentment towards the victors of the World War I, who had promised the people of Germany that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points would be a guideline for peace; many Germans felt that the German government had agreed to an armistice based on this understanding, while others felt that the German Revolution itself had been orchestrated by the "November criminals" who later assumed office in the new Weimar Republic. President Woodrow Wilson was never able to get the allies to agree to adopt them, indeed, he couldn't even get the U.S. Congress to join the League of Nations.Contributing to this, the Allies did not occupy significant parts of Germany during the war, and the war in the East against Russia had already been won by Germany. These were the pillars that held together the Dolchstosslegende, and gave the Nazis another tool at their disposal.An opposite view of the Treaty held by some is that it did not go far enough in permanently neutering the capability of Germany to be a great power by dividing Germany into smaller, less powerful states. In effect, this would have 'undone Bismarck's work' and would have accomplished what the French delegation at the Paris Peace Conference wanted. However, this could have had any number of unforeseeable consequences, especially amidst the rise of communism. Regardless, the Treaty of Versailles is generally agreed to have been a very poor treaty which sowed fertile ground for the rise of the Nazi party.Competition for resources Other than a few coal and iron deposits, Japan lacks true natural resources. Japan, the only Asian country with a burgeoning industrial economy at that time, feared that a lack of raw materials might hinder its ability to fight a total war against a reinvigorated Soviet Union. In the hopes of expanding its resources, Japan invaded Manchuria (1931) and set about to consolidate its resources and develop its economy. Insurgency by nationalists south of Manchuria compelled the Japanese leaders to argue for a brief, three month war to knock out Chinese power from the north. When it became clear that this time estimate was absurd, plans for obtaining more resources began. The Imperial Navy eventually began to feel that it did not have enough fuel reserves.To remedy this deficiency and ensure a safe supply of oil and other critical resources Japan would have to challenge the European colonial powers over the control of oil rich areas such as the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Such a move against the colonial powers was however expected to lead to open conflict also with the United States. On August 1941, the crisis came to a head as the United States, which at the time supplied 80% of Japanese oil imports, initiated a complete oil embargo. This threatened to cripple both the Japanese economy and military strength once the strategic reserves would run dry. Faced with the choice of either trying to appease the U.S., negotiate a compromise, find other sources of supply or go to war over resources, Japan chose the latter. Hoping to knock out the U.S. for long enough to be able to achieve and consolidate their war-aims, the Japanese Navy attacked the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor in December, 7, 1941. They mistakedly believed they would have about a two year window to consolidate their conquests before the United States could effectively respond and that the United States would compromise long before they could get near Japan.Japan felt threatened by the U.S. and wanted to be the sole power in the Pacific region. Several laws were passed in America and Canada which were more or less prejudiced against the Japanese and other Asians.League of Nations Main article: League of Nations The League of Nations was an international organization founded after World War I to prevent future wars. The League's methods included disarmament; preventing war through collective security; settling disputes between countries through negotiation diplomacy; and improving global welfare. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred years. The old philosophy, growing out of the Congress of Vienna (1815), saw Europe as a shifting map of alliances among nation-states, creating a balance of power maintained by strong armies and secret agreements. Under the new philosophy, the League was a government of governments, with the role of settling disputes between individual nations in an open and legalist forum. The impetus for the founding of the League came from U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, though the United States never joined the League of Nations. This also lessened the power of the League - the addition of a burgeoning industrial and military world power would have added more force behind the League's demands and requests.The League lacked an armed force of its own and so depended on the members to enforce its resolutions, keep to economic sanctions which the League ordered, or provide an army, when needed, for the League to use. However, they were often very reluctant to do so.After a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920's, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis Powers in the 1930's. The absence of the USA, the reliance upon unanimous decisions, the lack of an armed force and the continued self-interest of its leading members meant that this failure was arguably inevitable.European Civil War Some academics examine World War II as the final portion of a wider European Civil War that began with the Franco-Prussian War in July 19, 1870. The proposed period would include many (but not all) of the major European regime changes to occur during the period, including those in Spain and Russia.Specific eventsFranco-Prussian War Main article: Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War was initiated by Napoleon III of France, who was alarmed at the rapid growth in population and unity among the German people. This period marked a relative decline in the strength of France, which would continue into the 20th century.The war was an overwhelming Prussian victory, and Germany unified soon after. Alsace-Lorraine, a border territory, was transferred from France to Germany. The resulting disruption in the balance of power led France to seek alliances with Russia and the United Kingdom.World War I Main articles: World War I and Causes of World War I Many people view World War II as a continuation of World War I. Firstly, some believe that the Versailles Treaty, drafted at the conclusion of the World War I, failed to set up the parameters which may have prevented the Second.World War I lacked a dramatically decisive conclusion. Allied troops had not entered Germany and its people anticipated a treaty along the lines of the Fourteen Points. This meant the German people argued that had the 'traitors' not gone and surrendered to the Allies, Germany could have gone on to win the war, however unlikely the reality. This peace proposal was largely abandoned in favor of punishing Germany for its alleged "war responsibility", an ineffective compromise that left Germany smaller, weaker and embittered, but capable of rebounding and seeking revenge.Large groups of nationalistic minorities still remained trapped in other nations. For example, Yugoslavia (originally the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) had 5 major ethnic groups (the Serbs, Croats, Macedons, Montenegrins, and the Slovenes), and it was created after the war. Other examples abound in the former lands of Austria-Hungary which were divided up quite arbitrarily and unfairly after the war. For example, Hungary was held responsible for the war and stripped of two thirds of its territory while Austria, which had been an equal partner in the Austro-Hungarian government, had its territory expanded.The Germans had a difficult time accepting defeat. At the end of the war, the navy was in a state of mutiny, and the army was retreating (but not routing) in the face of an enemy with more men and material. Despite this reality, some Germans, notably Hitler, advanced the idea that the army would somehow have triumphed if not for the German Revolution at home. This "Stab in the Back" theory was used to convince the people that a second world war would be winnable.Weimar Republic Main articles: Weimar Republic and Beer Hall Putsch The Weimar Republic governed Germany from 1919 to 1933. The republic was named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German Empire was abolished following the nation's defeat in World War I. It was a liberal democracy in the style of France and the United States.The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed Nazi coup d'état which occurred in the evening of Thursday, November 8 to the early afternoon of Friday, November 9, 1923. Adolf Hitler, using the popular World War I General Erich Ludendorff, unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the Weimar Republic. Following the Putsch, Hitler was imprisoned and wrote Mein Kampf.Economic depression The Great Depression resulted in 33% unemployment rate in Germany and a 25% unemployment rate in the U.S. This led many people to support dictatorships just for a steady job and adequate food.The Great Depression hit Germany second only to the United States. Severe unemployment prompted the Nazi party, which had been losing favor, to experience a surge in membership. This more than anything contributed to the rise of Hitler in Germany, and therefore World War II in Europe. After the end of World War I many American industries and banks invested their money in rebuilding Europe. This happened in many European countries, but especially in Germany. After the 1929 crash many American investors fearing that they would lose their money, or having lost all their capital, stopped investing as heavily in Europe. Additionally, it has also been suggested that the economic downturn that struck Britain in 1939 influenced the decision to back Poland, knowing that this increased the danger of going to war.[citation needed] Interestingly, these conditions were a direct result of most of Central Europe, now part of Nazi Germany, dropping out of the international economy.Nazi dictatorship Main articles: Gleichschaltung, Nazi Germany, and National Socialist German Workers Party Hitler was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933. The arson of the parliament building on February 27 (which some have claimed the Nazis had instigated) was used as an excuse for the cancellation of civil and political liberties, enacted by the aged president Paul von Hindenburg and the rightist coalition cabinet led by Hitler.After new elections, a Nazi-led majority abolished parliamentarism, the Weimar constitution, and practically the parliament itself through the Enabling Act on March 23, whereby the Nazis' planned Gleichschaltung (regimentation) of Germany was made formally legal. In the "Night of the Long Knives", Hitler's men murdered his remaining political rivals. After Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934, the authority of the presidency fell into the hands of Adolf Hitler. Without much resistance from the army leadership, the Soldiers' Oath was modified into an oath of obedience to Adolf Hitler personally.In violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the spirit of the Locarno Pact, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland on Saturday, March 7, 1936. The occupation was done with very little military force, the troops entering on bicycles, and could easily have been stopped had it not been for the appeasement mentality. France could not act due to political instability at the time. In addition, since the remilitarization occurred on a weekend, the British Government could not find out or discuss actions to be taken until the following Monday. As a result of this, the governments were inclined to see the remilitarization as a fait accompli.Italian Invasion of Ethiopia Main article: Second Italo-Abyssinian War Benito Mussolini attempted to expand the Italian Empire in Africa by invading Ethiopia, which had so far successfully resisted European colonization. With the pretext of the Walwal incident in September 1935, Italy invaded on October 3, 1935, without a formal declaration of war. The League of Nations declared Italy the aggressor but failed to impose effective sanctions.The war progressed slowly for Italy despite its advantage in weaponry and the use of mustard gas. By March 31, 1936, the Italians won the last major battle of the war, the Battle of Maychew. Emperor Haile Selassie fled into exile on May 2, and Italy took the capital, Addis Ababa, on May 5. Italy annexed the country on May 7, merging Eritrea, Abyssinia and Somaliland into a single state known as Italian East Africa.On June 30, 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie gave a stirring speech before the League of Nations denouncing Italy's actions and criticizing the world community for standing by. He warned that "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow". As a result of the League's condemnation of Italy, Mussolini declared the country's withdrawal from the organization.Spanish Civil WarPicasso's Guernica, 1937.Main article: Spanish Civil War Germany and Italy lent support to the Nationalist insurrection led by general Francisco Franco in Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government, the Spanish Republic which showed leftist tendencies. Both sides used this war as an opportunity to test improved weapons and tactics. The Bombing of Guernica was a horrific attack on civilians which foreshadowed events that would occur throughout Europe.Sino-Japanese War Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937 when Japan attacked deep into China from its foothold in Manchuria. The Japanese captured the Chinese capital city Nanking (now Nanjing), and committed brutal atrocities in the Rape of Nanking.Anschluss Main article: Anschluss The Anschluss was the 1938 annexation of Austria into Germany. Such an action was expressly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. Historically, the idea of creating a Greater Germany through such a union had been popular in Austria as well as Germany, peaking just after World War I; in the years prior to the actual Anschluss, many Austrians had lost interest. As such, the Austrian National Socialist Party and Austria's German nationalist movement became dependent on their northern neighbor. Hitlerian Germany pressed for the Austrian Nazi Party's legality, played a critical role in the assassination of Austrian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, and pressured for several Austrian Nazi Party members to be incorporated into offices within the administration.Following a Hitler speech at the Reichstag, Dollfuss' successor, Kurt Schuschnigg, made it clear that he could be pushed "no further". Amidst mounting pressures from Germany, he elected to hold a plebiscite, hoping to retain autonomy. However, just days prior to the balloting, a successful Austrian Nazi Party coup transferred power within the country. The takeover allowed German troops to enter Austria as "enforcers of the Anschluss", since the Party quickly transferred power to Hitler. Consequently, no fighting occurred and Britain, France and Fascist Italy, who all vehemently opposed such a union, did nothing. Just as importantly, the quarrelling amongst these powers doomed any continuation of a Stresa Front and, with no choice but to accept the unfavorable Anschluss, Italy had little reason for continued opposition to Germany, and was actually drawn in closer to the Nazis. Austria ceased to exist as an independent state.Munich Agreement Main articles: Munich Agreement and Appeasement The Sudetenland was a predominantly German region within recently formed Czechoslovakia. As a whole, Czechoslovakia had a large, modern army of 38 divisions, backed by a well-noted armament industry as well as a military alliance with France. The Sudetenland region formed about one third of Bohemia (western Czechoslovakia) in terms of territory, population, and economy. It contained most of the huge defensive system (larger than the Maginot line) that represented Czechoslovakia's only viable military defense, well protected by the mountainous terrain. In order to build these positions, some land had been expropriated (with compensation).[2]Hitler pressed for the Sudetenland's incorporation into the Reich, supporting German separatist groups within the Sudeten region. Alleged "Czech brutality" and "persecution under Prague" helped to stir up nationalist tendencies with the help of the Nazi press. After the Anschluss all German parties (except German Social-Democratic party) merged with the Sudeten German Party (SdP). Paramilitary activity and extremist violence peaked during this period. The Czechoslovakian government declared martial law in parts of the Sudetenland to maintain order. Germany requested the immediate annexation of the Sudetenland.Finally, in the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French leaders appeased Hitler. The conferring powers allowed Germany to move troops into the region and incorporate it into the Reich "for the sake of peace." In exchange for this, Hitler gave his word that Germany would make no further territorial claims in Europe.[3] Czechoslovakia, which at that time had already mobilized over one million troops and was prepared to fight to preserve its sovereignty, was not allowed to participate in the conference. When the French and British negotiators informed the Czechoslovak representatives about the agreement, and that if Czechoslovakia would not accept it, France and Britain would consider Czechoslovakia to be responsible for war, president Edvard Beneš capitulated. Germany took the Sudetenland.In March, 1939, breaking the Munich agreement, German troops invaded Prague and the rest of what had been Czechoslovakia.Soviet-Japanese Border War Main article: Battle of Khalkhin Gol In 1939, the Japanese attacked north from Manchuria into Siberia. They were decisively beaten by Soviet units under General Georgy Zhukov. Following this battle, the Soviet Union and Japan were at peace until 1945. Japan looked south to expand its empire, leading to conflict with the United States over the Philippines and control of shipping lanes to the Dutch East Indies. The Soviet Union focused on the west, leaving only minimal troops to guard the frontier with Japan.Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Main article: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Nominally, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It was signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939, by the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.In 1939, neither Germany nor the Soviet Union were ready to go to war with each other. The Soviet Union had lost territory to Poland in 1920 and would not tolerate German occupation of all of Poland.[citation needed] Although officially labeled a "non-aggression treaty", the Pact included a secret protocol, in which the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were divided into spheres of interest of the parties. The secret protocol explicitly assumed "territorial and political rearrangements" in the areas of these countries.Subsequently all the mentioned countries were invaded, occupied or forced to cede part of their territory by either the Soviet Union, Germany, or both.Invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland.Main articles: Invasion of Poland (1939) and World War II Tensions had existed between Poland and Germany for some time in regards to the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor. Finally, after issuing a number of proposals, Germany declared that diplomatic measures had been exhausted and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Britain and France had previously warned that they would honor their alliances to Poland and issued an ultimatum to Germany: withdraw or war would be declared. Germany declined and World War II began. The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on September 17.Invasion of the Soviet Union Main article: Operation BarbarossaHitler Tearing the Nonaggression Pact, a 1941 poster by Kukryniksy artists.By attacking the Soviet Union in June, 1941, Hitler enlarged the scale of the war, committing what today is widely regarded as a strategic blunder. Leaving a determined United Kingdom at his rear, in effect, opened up a debilitating two front war. Hitler also believed that the Soviet Union could be defeated in a fast-paced and relentless assault that capitalized on the Soviet Union's ill-prepared state.One theory states that if Germany had not attacked, Stalin would have done so within the next couple of months, unleashing the Red Army and all the force the Soviet Union could bear. This would have been a disaster for the Germans, as the Wehrmacht would lose the element of surprise and the ability to maneuver, which contributed to the military's ability to confront the Soviets so successfully early on. Furthermore, the terrain of Germany's east would not have been favorable for defensive warfare, as it is flat and relatively open. Still, the view promoted by Viktor Suvorov relies on a number of assumptions, including the underlying notion that a war between the two powers was, for various reasons, inevitable.Attack on Pearl Harbor Main article: Attack on Pearl Harbor The Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, hoping to destroy the United States Pacific Fleet at anchor. Even though the Japanese knew that the U.S. had the potential to build more ships, they hoped that they would feed reinforcements in piecemeal and thus the Japanese Navy would be able to defeat them in detail. This nearly happened during the Battle of Wake Island shortly after.Within days, Germany declared war on the United States, effectively ending isolationist sentiment in the U.S. which had so far prevented it from entering the war.
What is the desire to take over lands for one's own country?
Expansionism (if the territories were not previously in the nation's control) Predestinationism (if the territories are considered to be part of the country, but not yet under the nation's control nor have they ever been) Revanchism (if the territories used to be under the nation's control in the past and the nation seeks to reclaim them) --- Some general terms are : expansionism, territorial aim, urge to conquer.
What is the desire to take over lands for one's own country called?
Expansionism (if the territories were not previously in the nation's control) Predestinationism (if the territories are considered to be part of the country, but not yet under the nation's control nor have they ever been) Revanchism (if the territories used to be under the nation's control in the past and the nation seeks to reclaim them) --- Some general terms are : expansionism, territorial aim, urge to conquer.
When did Germany take alsace lorraine?
It was originally part of the Holy Roman Empire (most of which eventually became Germany). After the Thirty Years War (which ended in 1648), France took control of Alsace-Lorraine. After Prussia defeated France in 1871, Prussia retook it from France. This partly contributed to France's desire for revenge, often termed "revanchism". Prussia's victory in that war allowed them to create the German Empire, which was the basis of modern Germany. With Germany's defeat in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, France retook the territory from Germany. Germany took control during their occupation of France during World War II, but France got it back afterward. France still controls it to this day.
What is a common reason for conflict between groups or nations?
No two conflicts are the same and to say that they have common causes or common history belittles the interests of each group and the better (in their view) world that they strive to create. However, there are general patterns that conflicts tend to have, even though not every conflict has every one of these components and most do not have all of them. This list is not exhaustive:1) Imperialism: This is the idea that a given country or nation has as its destiny to grow and to mature both physically and spiritually. That expansion naturally brings new regions under the authority of this state and causes conflict with those who refuse to submit to the new power.2) Revanchism: This is the reverse of imperialism. An empire in its last days begins to see parts of its territory splinter off as supposed independent regions. Those who support the maintaining the virtue of a great composite empire strive to protect what was and create a future that continues that legacy.3) Independence: When one group of people have been under the yoke of another and suffered too many grievances, the people realize that what they need is the ability to determine their own destiny on their own land to rectify the situation.4) Revolution: This is the same as independence, except the oppressed group sees themselves as the natural leadership of the nation in question instead of needing to break away. All citizens should be able to gain the benefits they seek.5) Ethnic Hegemony: One ethnic/religious/national group are the true patriots and representatives of the country. Other groups should have fewer rights or a country less-geared to their interests. The reverse of this is citizenship and equality, but that usually falls under "Revolution". Also, this ethnic/religious/national group may be repressed in neighboring countries and it is incumbent on this nation to protect and defend them.6) Sacred Values or Territory: A country represents a religious virtue or contains religiously sacred territory. There is something that is naturally hallowed about a certain stretch of land or a certain faith and understanding of the Divine and thus it is worth defending for those who revere its sanctity.7) Idealism and Pragmatism: Many people believe in higher ideals and aspirations as to what a government can achieve or do. Others believe they have the most pragmatic solution to any given crisis. However, not everyone believes that this solution is desirable, especially interests vested in the Ancient Régime that have benefits from the less-effective system.8) Strategic Positioning: The particular geography of a country is not conducive to defense of that country, therefore modifications must be made to ensure the long-term stability and security of the country. It could also be that resources exist in a foreign country that could stabilize a given country or defend against a third country and the given country must take advantage to secure their survival.9) Power: Some people are just intoxicated by the idea of increasing power and will oppose those who threaten their natural ascent to this ideal.
Why do Muslims not like Israel?
If you capture the lands of a nation, subject a nation to suppression, cruelty, deprive the people of their fundamental rights, subject them to slavery without caring for the resolutions of the UNO, bomb their dwellings and kill innocent men, women and children, Will they like you? This is what Israelis have been doing with the Philistinian Muslims for the past many decades. And lo! The so-called CIVILIZED America and England are its chief Patrons. What a sense of justice!Answer 21) Just like there are pro-Israel lobbyists and publicists, so too there is also a vast machinery of anti-Israel ranting and rhetoric. Many anti-Israel media twist the facts in their reporting, which is part of the reason why the U.N. and E.U. are biased against Israel. For example, when a terrorist is shot while hurling a firebomb at Israelis, biased sources will report the shooting only. When this kind of reporting happens often enough, some people get the notion that Israel is pure evil.2) One facet of the desire to wipe out Israel, is plain anti-Semitism.3) Harm that has been done to the Palestinians, is used as a reason for hatred of Israel, even though some of the harm is caused by people who are not Israelis. For example, some Middle Eastern countries are vastly wealthy, but studiously refrain from giving enough assistance to the Palestinians to improve their livelihood. Another example is Iran's support of terrorism, which creates a cycle in which Israel is forced to defend itself, and the defensive measures are used as an excuse for still more attacks.4) Anything in Israel's favor is not reported by by biased media. People are unaware that tens of thousands of Palestinians are employed by Israelis. Israel supplies Gaza with electricity and built a hospital there. It purchases thousands of tons of Palestinian agricultural and other products, thus infusing them with much-needed currency. There are tens of other examples. Israel's enemies could lay down their weapons, and ask us directly: "Why hasn't Israel returned to its pre-1967 borders"? Then we could carry on a serious debate. And that issue is not one-sided. When Israel's neighbors have pursued a policy of discussion and debate, solutions have been implemented, not only argued over. Israel pulled out of Sinai and gained a peace treaty with Egypt. A very cold peace, but a strategic and useful one.Israel made border-adjustments and water concessions to Jordan, and gained another cold but useful peace.The same process brought a treaty in May 17, 1983 with Lebanon but it was blocked by Syria.The same process was almost completed by Rabin and Arafat in 2000. They were at the treaty-signing table, having hammered out all the details. Then Yasser Arafat pulled out of the ceremony, and initiated the Second Intifada, loading the "Karin A" ship with tons of weapons for terror-use.
Is pursuing internationalism a good thing?
There are many different forms of nationalism that can be pursued. There is the internationalism of politics, the internationalism of linguistics, the internationalism of the proletariat or internationalism of Marxism, and then the political parties such as the international party of the United States and the Internacialismo of Venezuela and then there is a set of booklets published in the 1920's called the International Jew. For the purposes of this answer, time out will be taken from the more appealing pursuit of hot looking women and just plain fun, to pursue the pros and cons of internationalism in terms of politics. That being said, there should perhaps be a brief discussion of internationalism in terms of linguistics. In linguistics there is the term known as "loanword" which describes those words that occur in the same languages of several different nationalities sharing the same or similar meaning and etymology. If one is to pursue a political agenda of internationalism then the linguistics of internationalism becomes a necessary tool. The pronunciation and orthography, or how the words are pronounced and written is also very important. It is just plain important to be able to understand what people are saying to each other when they strive to cooperate. Internationalism politics purports to achieve this end and so understanding those nations one hopes to cooperate with is paramount in obtaining any form of success. An example of international "loan words" would be the Latin or Greek words which have found themselves scattered across the lexicons of many of the European Latin based languages and others. New technologies also tend to create international loan words as that technology is embraced by the different nations across the world. The word computer is virtually the same in most languages as is disc and spam. Scientific words such as gene, bionics, and cybernetics are the same. Words such as coffee and chocolate are also words that tend towards internationalism. It is unclear and poorly defined exactly how many different languages must use the same loan word before it is considered an international word and it remains unclear exactly who would decide how many languages would be required for a certain word to qualify as an international loan word. Thus, in this regard, perhaps a pursuit of internationalism on a political level is not such a bad idea, if only to get some clarification on how many languages are required to make an international loan word. In politics, the term internationalism is used to describe a political agenda that aspires to foster cooperation on an economic, scientific and political level believing that cooperation between nations far outweighs any competitive or nationalistic goals in the long term. In terms of theoretical argument, it is hard to argue with such a supposition. Cooperation is key in any social endeavor even those that are competitive. If you and I are to play a game of chess it is best we cooperate first long enough to agree on what the rules are before engaging in competition. To that degree, cooperation becomes the senior mode of operation between our competition. In any organized competitive sport, cooperation is what makes the competition work and because of this it is understandable how internationalism might think the same principles could work between countries. However, even in sports, the cooperation established is oftentimes undermined by willful disregard to the rules established by cooperation. It has been agreed that betting on sporting games amongst owners and players is off limits and yet it happens. For whatever reasons, it has been agreed that the use of steroids would not be allowed in professional sports and yet it happens. That these agreements are broken illustrates the fundamental problem with internationalism. To make such agreements on an international scale only confounds the problems of breaking those agreements exponentially. Indeed, in many ways World War I was caused precisely because of this. The proximate cause, which is to say the event coming closest to resembling the cause of World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Bosnian-Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Now, one might wonder how an assassination of an Archduke, even one who was heir to Austro-Hungarian throne could lead to a World War that involved the majority of the world powers of that day, killed more than fifteen million people and made it one of the deadliest wars known to humanity. It was the network of alliances some known and some secret that drug the rest of the world into a conflict between Austria and Yugoslavia or Serbia. These alliance became ever more complex as the Dual Alliance of Germany and Austro-Hungary evolved into the Triple Alliance when Italy had signed on. It was, in a large part, Otto Von Bismark who had crafted these careful alliances and treatise with the rest of Europe to avoid any full scale European conflict. One could argue that Von Bismark was the ultimate internationalist. His statesmanship and efforts to deal with French revanchism, (revenge for the Franco-Prussian war), made him legendary. Von Bismark was directly responsible for the League of Three Emperors. Of course, in the end being a Chancellor of a protectionist country such as Germany didn't make Von Bismark such an internationalist after all. There was the strained relations with Russian and even though Bismark was somewhat integral to the Unification of Italy he didn't much care for Italians. This, combined with the failings of the Ottoman Empire that only seemed to ensure a rising Russian power only made Von Bismark's job at diplomacy harder. Then the League of Three Emperors fell apart and this led to the forging of the Dual Alliance which then became the Triple Alliance. These careful alliances forged by Von Bismark were greatly undermined when Wilhelm II was made Kaiser. Kaiser Wilhelm broke with Von Bismark on many issues and the Triple Alliance eventually gave way to treatises that formed the Triple Entente. The falling out of Von Bismark and Wilhelm is just one example of what could go wrong with internationalism but in regards to World War I there was much more involved that would make one reconsider any political ideas that involve internationalism. Of course, while the politics of internationalism puts their stress on cooperation, it can't be stressed enough how dangerous competition between nations can be and this also led to the calamity of the "War to end all wars". The arms race of Europe leading up to the first World War began between Germany and Britain. Wilhelm had spent a considerable amount of money building the German Kaiserlich Marine in an attempt to rival the British Royal Navy. In 1906, the British built the HMS Dreadnought and this gave them the edge on the arms race between them and Germany but also led to the rest of Europe joining the race and by 1913 the military spending of European nations had increased by fifty percent. The fracturing of treatise only got worse when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina which more than agitated Russia and Serbia because of the huge population of the Slavic Serbians in Bosnia-Herzegovina. All of this nasty form of internationalism was known as the "Powder keg of Europe". Further destabilizing the European theater was the First and then the Second Balkan Wars which resulted in the Treaty of London from the First Balkan War which created the state of Albania and expanded Britain's holdings on Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece and this led to the Second Balkan War. So, when Princip assassinated Ferdinand, there was great confusion particularly among the Central Powers. Where Germany had promised to support the invasion of Serbia by Austria-Hungary, there was confusion, misunderstandings and misinterpretations of what the terms of their treatise actually meant. This confusion made it a nightmare of military strategy for the Austria-Hungary armies now divided on two fronts. The horror and devastation that followed in WWI is well documented and there is no need to document it here, especially since the question is in regards to pursuing internationalism. Thus, we will review the many alliances that directly led to that World War. Listed below are those alliances. 1.) 1879 The Dual Alliance 2.) 1881 The Austro-Serbian Alliance 3.) 1882 The Triple Alliance 4.) 1894 The Franco-Russian Alliance 5.) 1904 The Entente Cordiale 6.) 1907 The Anglo-Russian Entente 7.) 1907 The Triple Entente 8.) 1914 The Triple Entente (No separate peace) The importance of these treatise is that in order to honor them some countries had no choice but to enter into that war that was so costly and so devastating it makes one stop and wonder just how valuable internationalism can be given the risk of such a cost. It was that great rock n roll guitarist and jukebox philosopher Carlos Santana who once said: "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it...what? Oh I forgot! Okay, it wasn't Carlos Santana who said that it was George Santayana who said it and what he actually said before I forgot what he said was: "Those who can not remember the past are doomed to repeat it." But he also said that: "Sanity is madness put to good use." So, who knows, but in the case of internationalism it might do us all well to remember the lessons of history and what such endeavors has done in the past.
What is a 10 letter word that starts with r?
rabbinates, rabbinical, rabbinisms, rabbitries, rabblement, rabidities, racecourse, racehorses, racemizing, racetracks, racewalker, rachitides, racialisms, racialists, racinesses, racketeers, racketiest, raconteurs, radarscope, radiancies, radiations, radicalise, radicalism, radicalize, radicating, radicchios, radiogenic, radiograms, radiograph, radiolabel, radiologic, radiolyses, radiolysis, radiolytic, radiometer, radiometry, radiopaque, radiophone, radiophoto, radiosonde, raffinoses, rafflesias, ragamuffin, raggedness, ragpickers, railbusses, railleries, railroaded, railroader, rainmakers, rainmaking, rainspouts, rainsquall, rainstorms, rainwashed, rainwashes, rainwaters, rakishness, ramblingly, ramosities, rampageous, rampancies, ramparting, ramrodding, ramshackle, rancidness, randomized, randomizer, randomizes, randomness, rangelands, ranknesses, ransackers, ransacking, ranunculus, rapacities, rapidities, rappelling, rapporteur, raptnesses, rarenesses, rashnesses, ratcheting, 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Bismarck in unification?
AnswerOtto von Bismarck and his Policies Otto von Bismarck or Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince von Bismarck, Count von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke von Lauenburg--was a Prussian statesman who in 1871 founded the German Empire and served as its first chancellor for 19 years. Once the empire was established, he actively and skillfully pursued pacific policies in foreign affairs, succeeding in preserving the peace in Europe for about two decades. But in domestic policies his patrimony was less benign, for he failed to rise above the authoritarian proclivities of the landed squirearchy to which he was born (Britannica, 1997).Foreign policyUntil his resignation in 1890, Bismarck had a relatively free hand in conduct of foreign policy. After three successful wars, he saw his task as promoting peace and gaining time so that the powerful German Empire would come to be accepted as natural. Bismarck's two areas of concern were the Balkans, where the disintegration of the Turkish empire could easily lead to conflict between the Habsburg monarchy and Russia, and France, where the desire to avenge the defeat at Sedan was strong. In each area a general European conflagration could flare up and involve Germany. In 1873 he embraced a pacific foreign policy when he negotiated the Dreikaiserbund (Three Emperors' League) with Russia and Austria-Hungary. But the alliance did not survive the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. When the Austrians and British threatened war over a Carthaginian peace imposed on Turkey by the Russian victors, Bismarck called for a peace congress in Berlin. The German chancellor succeeded in getting the Russians to moderate their gains, and peace was preserved. But a European conflagration had barely been averted. Soon after the conference, Bismarck negotiated a defensive alliance with Austria-Hungary, which remained in effect through World War I. Although in the mid-1860s he had rejected such an alliance as harmful, he now considered it advantageous. Because he feared that the dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy would lead to Russian expansion into central Europe, he sought the alliance to gain leverage in Vienna. He steadfastly used it to prevent a war in the Balkans. In addition, he did not want seven million Austro-German Catholics seeking admission to the empire. Having a solid ally, Bismarck demonstrated his virtuosity by negotiating a revived Dreikaiserbund in 1881. He now had influence in St. Petersburg as well as in Vienna to prevent a Balkan war. In 1882, Italy, fearing French hostility, joined the Dual Alliance, making it into the Triple Alliance. On the surface Bismarck had triumphed. France had no allies for a war of revenge, and, for the moment, a Balkan war seemed unlikely. But the ephemeral nature of all these alliances soon became apparent. A crisis in Bulgaria inflamed Russo-Austrian relations, leading to a breakup the revived league. Once again a war was avoided with Bismarck's intervention, but his efforts could not reconstitute the league. He then negotiated a separate secret treaty with Russia, while maintaining the 1879 accord with Austria-Hungary. Between 1870 and 1890 Bismarck earned the respect of European leaders for his earnest efforts in behalf of peace. Apart from a few colonial acquisitions in the mid-1880s, Germany had acted as a satiate power. All of Bismarck's considerable tactical skills had been successful in creating a powerful German Empire in his first decade in power. For the next two decades these same skills maintained the peace.Domestic PolicyFrom the defeat of Austria in 1866 until 1878 Bismarck was allied primarily with the National Liberals. Together they created a civil and criminal code for the new empire and accomplished Germany's adoption of the gold standard and move toward free trade. Just as they had earlier written off Bismarck as an archconservative, liberals now viewed him as a comrade--a man who had rejected his conservative roots. Many conservative leaders agreed with this assessment. Bismarck had cashiered kings, gone to war against conservative regimes, and adopted policies that promoted rapid industrialization. Their fears were further enhanced when he joined liberals in a campaign against political Catholicism (Kulturkampf) in 1873. Bismarck had not counted on the emergence of new parties such as the Catholic Centre or the Social Democrats, both of whom began participating in imperial and Prussian elections in the early 1870s. Along with the left liberal Progressive Party, he labeled them all enemies of the empire (Reichsfeinde). Each in its own way rejected his vision of a united Germany. The Progressives found the empire too conservative and its elite essentially feudal; the socialists questioned its capitalist character; and for the Centre the empire was Protestant and too centralized. Bismarck's aim was clearly to destroy the Catholic Centre Party. He and the liberals feared the appeal of a clerical party to the one-third of Germans who professed Roman Catholicism. In Prussia the minister of public worship and education, Adalbert Falk, with Bismarck's blessing, introduced a series of bills establishing civil marriage, limiting the movement of the clergy, and dissolving religious orders. All church appointments were to be approved by the state. Clerical civil servants were purged from the Prussian administration. Hundreds of parishes and several bishoprics were left without incumbents. The Kulturkampf failed to achieve its goals and, if anything, convinced the Catholic minority that their fear of persecution was real. Bismark gradually relented in his campaign, especially after the death of the activist pope, Pius IX, in 1878. But he never relented in his hatred for the Centre leader, Ludwig Windthorst, a Hanoverian who had earlier experienced Bismarck's methods in the annexation of his kingdom. Bismarck's speeches continued to be barbed with anticlericalism until his fall in 1890. In 1878-79 Bismarck initiated a significant change in economic policy, which coincided with his new alliance with the conservative parties at the expense of the liberals. Tariffs were introduced on iron as well as on major grains. The new policy was a result of the "great depression" that had swept Europe and the United States in the mid-1870s. Bismarck's shift had serious political implications: it signified his opposition to any further evolution in the direction of political democracy. The liberal ministers Falk and Rudolph von Delbrück resigned, and Robert von Puttkamer became minister of public worship and education in 1879 and minister of interior in 1881. The grain tariffs provided the Junker estate owners of Prussia, who constituted the main opposition to political reform, subventions that isolated them somewhat from the world market. From 1879 onward, the landed elite, major industrialists, the military, and higher civil servants formed an alliance to forestall the rise of social democracy. Ever since the Commune of Paris of 1871, Bismarck had developed an uncompromising hatred for socialists and anarchists. His attacks on them were egregious. At one point he wrote, "They are this country's rats and should be exterminated." Another time he called them "a host of enemies bent on pillage and murder." He thus introduced a crude and unsavory discourse into everyday German politics that was to be long-lived. Although only two socialists sat in the Reichstag in 1871, their number and support grew with each election, until they had 35 seats in 1890. As early as 1876 Bismarck had sought legislation to outlaw the party but failed to get a majority. After two assassination attempts against William I he prorogued Parliament and ran a campaign in which the socialists (quite unjustly) were blamed for the failed efforts to kill the emperor. The conservative parties triumphed and the Social Democratic Party was banned in 1878. The ban was renewed until 1890. The second part of Bismarck's strategy to destroy social democracy was the introduction of social legislation to woo the workers away from political radicalism. During the 1880s, accident and old-age insurance as well as a form of socialized medicine were introduced and implemented by the government. But Bismarck's two-pronged strategy to win the workers for the conservative regime did not succeed. Support for the Social Democrats increased with each election. The election of 1890 was a disaster for Bismarck. The Centre, the Social Democrats, and the Progressives, the parties that he had termed enemies of the empire, gained more than half of the seats in the new Reichstag. The new young emperor William II (b. 1859; emperor and king of Prussia from 1888 to 1918) did not want to begin his reign with a bloodbath or a coup d'état by the state. Seventy-five years old in 1890, Bismarck resigned with a sense of having failed. The antisocialist law was not revived, and the new government set out to win the workers to the regime. Bismarck retired to his estate an embittered man. That he was now a prince and extremely wealthy did not ease his retirement. For the next eight years (he died July 30, 1898) he issued sharp critiques of his successors. Elected to the Reichstag, he chose not to take his seat. He wrote his memoirs, which became best-sellers. To some extent he orchestrated the Bismarck legend that was to dominate German historical writing for the next half century.AssessmentBismarck was a towering figure who put his stamp on his age, as Luther and Metternich had done earlier (Britannica, 1997). When Bismarck became prime minister of Prussia in 1862, the kingdom was universally considered the weakest of the five European powers. Less than nine years later Prussia had been victorious in three wars, and a unified German Empire had emerged in the heart of Europe, arousing envy and fear among its rivals. When Bismarck left office in 1890, after 28 years as prime minister of Prussia and 19 as chancellor of the German Empire, the map of Europe had been changed beyond measure. The European centre, characterized by a weak conglomeration of small and medium-sized states for centuries, was now home to the foremost military and industrial power on the Continent. Bismarck's legacy to the next generation, however, was a mixed one. In foreign affairs his skill had led to 20 years of peace in Europe, which had gained him a deserved reputation for moderation and a sense of limits. Bismarck's greatest achievement, the German Empire, only survived him by 20 years. Although he had united Germany in one sense, he had failed to create an internally unified people. In domestic affairs--as in foreign policy--he sought to freeze the status quo after 1871. His empire was designed to be conservative. Thus he opposed the Catholic Centre in the 1870s and the socialists in the 1880s because both constituted unforeseen threats to his authoritarian creation. He also introduced a vicious rhetoric into German politics that forestalled a sense of common destiny. While German industry developed rapidly during his decades in power, he would allow no evolution in the political system toward greater participation. In this sense, Bismarck was a last representative of the world of the ancient régime and cabinet diplomacy.Bismarck was born in Schönhausen, the family estate in the old Prussian province of Brandenburg (now Saxony-Anhalt), situated west of Berlin. His father, Ferdinand von Bismarck, was a landowner and a former Prussian military officer; his mother, Wilhelmine Mencken, belonged to a Lower Saxon burgher familyBismarck was educated at the Friedrich-Wilhelm and the Graues Kloster-Gymnasium. Thereafter, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Georg August University of Göttingen, where he spent only a year as a member of the Corps Hannovera before enrolling in the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin. Although Bismarck hoped to become a diplomat, he could only obtain minor administrative positions in Aachen and Potsdam.He married the noblewoman Johanna von Puttkamer in 1847. Like Puttkamer, he became a Pietist Lutheran. Their long and happy marriage produced one daughter (Marie) and two sons (Herbert and Wilhelm, known as "Bill"), all of whom survived into adulthood.Foreign policiesBismarck devoted himself to keeping peace in Europe, so that the strength of the German Empire would not be threatened. He was forced to contend with French revanchism — the desire to avenge the loss in the Franco-Prussian War. Bismarck adopted a policy of diplomatically isolating France, while maintaining cordial relations with other nations in Europe. In order to avoid alienating the United Kingdom, he declined to seek a colonial empire or an expansion of the navy. In 1872, he offered friendship to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, whose rulers joined Wilhelm I in the League of the Three Emperors, also known as the Dreikaiserbund. Bismarck also maintained good relations with Italy.But after Russia's victory over the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), Bismarck helped negotiate a settlement at the Congress of Berlin. The Treaty of Berlin, 1878, revised the earlier Treaty of San Stefano, reducing the great advantages it gave to Russia in southeastern Europe. Bismarck and other European leaders opposed the growth of Russian influence, and so tried to protect the power of the Ottoman Empire (see Eastern Question). As a result, Russo-German relations suffered; the Russian Prince Gorchakov denounced Bismarck for compromising his nation's victory. The relationship further suffered due to Germany's protectionist policies.The League of the Three Emperors having fallen apart, Bismarck negotiated the Dual Alliance (1879) with Austria-Hungary. This became the Triple Alliance in 1882 with the addition of Italy. Attempts to reconcile Germany and Russia did not have lasting effect: the Three Emperors' League was re-established in 1881, but quickly fell apart, and the Reinsurance Treaty of 1887 was allowed to expire in 1890.At first, Bismarck opposed the idea of seeking colonies, arguing that the burden of obtaining and defending them would outweigh the potential benefits. But during the late 1870s public opinion shifted to favour the idea of a colonial empire. Other European nations also began to rapidly acquire colonies (see New Imperialism). During the early 1880s, Germany joined other European powers in the Scramble for Africa. Among Germany's colonies were Togoland (now part of Ghana and Togo), Cameroon, German East Africa (now Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania), and German South-West Africa (now Namibia). The Berlin Conference (1884–1885) established regulations for the acquisition of African colonies; in particular, it protected free trade in certain parts of the Congo basin.In February 1888, during a Bulgarian crisis, Bismarck addressed the Reichstag on the dangers of a European war.
How did the rise of fascist and totalitarian governments create conflict leading to World War 2?
The immediate Causes of World War II are generally held to be the German invasion of Poland, and the Japanese attacks on China, the United States, and the British and Dutch colonies. In each of these situations, the attacks were the result of a decision made by authoritarian ruling elites in Germany and Japan. World War II started after these aggressive actions were met with an official declaration of war or armed resistance.Background Main articles: Events preceding World War II in Europe and Events preceding World War II in AsiaBenito Mussolini of Fascist Italy (left) and Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.The Nazi Party came to power in Germany by democratic means, although after acquiring power they eliminated most vestiges of Germany's democratic system. The reasons for their popularity included their renouncement of the Treaty of Versailles (particularly Article 231, known as the "Guilt Clause"), which had placed many restrictions on Germany since the end of World War I, staunch anti-communism, the Dolchstosslegende and promises of stability and economic reconstruction. They also appealed to a sense of Germanic identity, superiority and entitlement, which would play an important role in starting the war, as they demanded the integration of lands they considered to be rightfully belonging to Germany. Hitler was also portrayed by himself, his party, and his book Mein Kampf as an almost otherworldly savior for the German people.Imperial Japan in the 1930s was largely ruled by a militarist clique of Army and Navy leaders, devoted to Japan becoming a world colonial power. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937 to bolster its meager stock of natural resources and extend its colonial control over a wider area. The United States and the United Kingdom reacted by making loans to Republic of China, providing covert military assistance, pilots and fighter aircraft to Kuomintang (KMT) China and instituting increasingly broad embargoes of raw materials and oil against Japan. These embargoes would potentially have eventually forced Japan to give up its newly conquered possessions in China or find new sources of oil and other materials to run their economy. Japan was faced with the choice of withdrawing from China, negotiating some compromise, developing new sources of supply, buying what they needed somewhere else, or going to war to conquer the territories that contained oil, bauxite and other resources in the Dutch East Indies, Malay and the Philippines. Believing the French, Dutch and British governments more than occupied with the war in Europe, the Soviets reeling from German attacks and that the United States could not be organized for war for years and would seek a compromise before waging full scale war, they chose the latter, and went ahead with plans for the Greater East Asia War in the Pacific.[1]The direct cause of the United States' entry into the war with Japan was the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Germany declared war on the United States on December 12, 1941.Ideological causesCommunismVladimir Lenin.Main articles: Communism and Anti-Communism The Russian Revolution led many Germans to fear that a communist insurrection would occur in their own country. Shortly after World War I, the communists attempted to seize power in the country, leading to the establishment of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. The Freikorps helped to put down the rebellion and their forces were an early component of the Nazi Party. Neville Chamberlain and most of his fellow conservatives were vehemently anti-communist. Some saw in Fascism a force that would militarily oppose the Soviet Union as proxy for Western Capitalism, contributing to the decision to pursue appeasement. Lord Halifax acknowledged that the Nazis had destroyed Communism in Germany and felt that the Nazi State represented a bulwark for the West against Bolshevism.[1] Prior to the Munich Agreement, the Soviet Union had urged for cooperation in protecting Czechoslovakia, but the Western Allies were suspicious of Stalin's own expansionist ambitions. Although allowed to absorb the Sudentenland, Germany later invaded what had constituted the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. This had a tremendous effect on foreign opinion.Expansionism Main article: LebensraumExpansion of the Japanese Empire.Expansionism is the doctrine of expanding the territorial base (or economic influence) of a country, usually by means of military aggression.In Europe, Italy's Mussolini sought to create a New Roman Empire based around the Mediterranean and invaded Albania in early 1939, before the official start of the war, and later invaded Greece. Italy had also invaded Ethiopia as early as 1935. This provoked little response from the League of Nations and the former Allied powers, a reaction to empire-building that was common throughout the war weary and depressed economy of the 1930's. Germany came to Mussolini's aid on several occasions.Italy's expansionist desires can be tied to bitterness over minimal gains after helping the Allies achieve victory in World War I. At Versailles, Italy had been promised large chunks of Austrian territory, but received only South Tyrol, and promises believed to have been made about Albania and Asia Minor were ignored by the more powerful nations' leaders.After World War I, the German State had lost land to Lithuania, France, Poland, and Denmark. Notable losses included the Polish Corridor, Danzig, the Memel Territory (to Lithuania), the Province of Posen and the most economically valuable eastern portion of Upper Silesia. The economically valuable regions of the Saarland and the Rhineland were placed under the authority (but not jurisdiction) of France.The result of this loss of land was population relocation, bitterness among Germans, and also difficult relations with those in these neighboring countries, contributing to feelings of revanchism which inspired irredentism. Under the Nazi regime, Germany began its own program of expansion, seeking to restore the "rightful" boundaries of pre-World War I Germany, resulting in the reoccupation of the Rhineland and action in the Polish Corridor, leading to a perhaps inevitable war with Poland. However, due to Allied appeasement and prior inaction, Hitler estimated that he could invade Poland without provoking a general war or, at the worst, only spark weak Allied intervention after the results was already decided.Also of importance was the idea of a Greater Germany, where supporters hoped to unite the German people under one nation. Germany's pre-World War II ambitions in both Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia mirror this goal. After the Treaty of Versailles, an Anschluss, or union, between Germany and a newly reformed Austria was prohibited by the Allies. Such a plan of unification, predating the creation of the German State of 1871, had been discarded due to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's multiethnic composition as well as competition between Prussia and Austria for hegemony. At the end of World War I, the majority of Austria's population supported such a union.The Soviet Union had lost large parts of former Russian Empire territories to Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania in World War I and Russian Civil War and was interested in regaining lost territories.Hungary, an ally of Germany had also been stripped of enormous territories after the partition of the Austria-Hungary empire and hoped to regain those lands by allying with Germany.In Asia, Japan also harbored expansionist desires, fuelled at least partially by the minimal gains the Japanese saw after World War I. Despite having taken a German colony in China and a few other Pacific islands, as well as swaths of Siberia and the Russian port of Vladivostok, Japan was forced to give up all but the few islands it had gained during World War I.In many of these cases, the roots of the expansionism leading to World War II can be found in perceived national slights resulting from previous involvement in World War I, nationalistic goals of re-unification of former territories or dreams of an expanded empire.Fascism Main article: Fascism "Fascism" is a philosophy of government that is marked by stringent social and economic control, a strong, centralized government usually headed by a dictator, and often has a policy of belligerent nationalism that gained power in many countries across Europe in the years leading up to World War II. In general it believes that the government should control industry and people for the good of the country.In many ways, fascism viewed the army as a model that a whole society should emulate. Fascist countries were highly militaristic, and the need for individual heroism was an important part of fascist ideology. In his book, The Doctrine of Fascism, Benito Mussolini declared that "fascism does not, generally speaking, believe in the possibility or utility of perpetual peace".[2] Fascists believed that war was generally a positive force for improvement, and were therefore eager at the prospect of a new European war. Facism ultimately proved to be one of beliefs that was universal with many invading Axis countries. While the Allies also ultimately developed this belief, Facism engulfed the culture of Europe during the War to be based around encouraging the political view of the leaders.Isolationism Main article: Isolationism Isolationism was the dominant foreign policy of the United States following World War I. Although the U.S. remained active in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific, it withdrew from European political affairs but retained strong business connections.Popular sentiment in Britain and France was also isolationist and very war weary after the slaughter of World War I. In reference to Czechoslovakia, Neville Chamberlain said, "How horrible, fantastic it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing. I am myself a man of peace from the depths of my soul."Within a few years of this statement, the world would be engulfed in total war.Militarism Main article : Militarism-Socialism in Showa JapanA highly militaristic and aggressive attitude prevailed among the leaders of Germany, Japan and Soviet Union. Compounding this fact was the traditional militant attitude of the first two, and the former Russian Empire had a similar track record that is often underestimated.Nationalism Nationalism is the belief that groups of people are bound together by territorial, cultural and ethnic links. Nationalism, was used by their leaders to generate public support for German, Italian and Japanese aggression. Fascism in these countries was built largely upon a theory of nationalism and the search for a cohesive "nation state". Hitler and his Nazi party used nationalism to great effect in Germany, already a nation where fervent nationalism was prevalent. In Italy, the idea of restoring the Roman Empire was attractive to many Italians. In Japan, nationalism, in the sense of duty and honor, especially to the emperor, had been widespread for centuries.Racism Main articles: Racial policy of Nazi Germany, Drang nach Osten, Polabian Slavs, and Japanocentrism , Xenophobia in Showa Japan, Eugenics in Showa Japan The events of the 20th century marked the culmination of a millennium-long process of intermingling between Germans and Slavs. Over the years, many Germans had settled to the east (e.g. the Volga Germans). At the same time, the Slavs had expanded westward (e.g. the Sorbs). Such migratory patterns created enclaves and blurred conceiveable ethnic frontiers. By the 19th and 20th century, these migrations now had considerable political implications. The rise of the nation-state had given way to the politics of identity and agendas such as Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism surfaced. Furthermore, Social Darwinist theories framed the coexistence as a "Teuton vs. Slav" struggle for domination, land and limited resources. Integrating these ideas into their own, the Nazis believed that the Germans, the "Aryan race", were the master race and the Slavs were inferior.Japan, led by a democratic government, had an increasingly imperialistic and colonial program in the 1930s. Doctrines auch as the Hakko ichiu were based on the conviction that the Japanese race, led by Emperor Showa, the offspring of Amaterasu, was superior to others. Many Japanese were virulently racist, not only towards Europeans, but also against other Asian peoples such as Koreans, Ainu, and Chinese who were called kichiku (beast, devil). To these Japanese racists, anyone who was not Japanese was considered inferior and treated as such. Rapid industrialization and progress through the 19th and 20th centuries meant that Japan was economically and technologically ahead of most of its neighbours. Japan used that technological lead to invade its neighbors and pursue its own expansionist ambitions, again an example of eugenism.Appeasement Appeasement is a strategy where, hoping to avoid conflict, one party grants concessions to the other. The United Kingdom and France demonstrated this towards Germany in the late 1930's, culminating in the 1938 Munich Agreement. Simultaneously, Germany's capacity increased, assuring that victory would be not as easily obtained by the Western Allies if war did break out. With the status of Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig hanging in the balance, Germany eventually attacked Poland. The Allies, believing that the situation could be resolved diplomatically, did little to prepare for this event despite the fact that they had issued guarantees towards Poland. As tensions escalated in the final days before the invasion, France explicitly warned Poland against mobilizing, believing the Germans could still be bargained with diplomatically[citation needed].Interrelations and economicsTreaty of Versailles Main article: Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was neither lenient enough to appease Germany, nor harsh enough to prevent it from becoming the dominant continental power again.The Treaty can be said by some to be the single most important, indirect cause of the war.[citation needed] It placed the blame, or "war guilt" on Germany and Austria-Hungary, and punished them from their alleged "responsibility" rather than working out an agreement that would assure peace in the long-term future. The Treaty resulted in harsh monetary reparations, territorial dismemberment, mass ethnic resettlements and indirectly hampered the German economy by causing rapid hyperinflation. The Weimar Republic printed trillions to help pay off its debts, and borrowed heavily from the United States (only to default later) to pay war reparations to Britain and France, who still carried war debt from World War I.Another important aspect of the Treaty was that it created bitter resentment towards the victors of the World War I, who had promised the people of Germany that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points would be a guideline for peace; many Germans felt that the German government had agreed to an armistice based on this understanding, while others felt that the German Revolution itself had been orchestrated by the "November criminals" who later assumed office in the new Weimar Republic. President Woodrow Wilson was never able to get the allies to agree to adopt them, indeed, he couldn't even get the U.S. Congress to join the League of Nations.Contributing to this, the Allies did not occupy significant parts of Germany during the war, and the war in the East against Russia had already been won by Germany. These were the pillars that held together the Dolchstosslegende, and gave the Nazis another tool at their disposal.An opposite view of the Treaty held by some is that it did not go far enough in permanently neutering the capability of Germany to be a great power by dividing Germany into smaller, less powerful states. In effect, this would have 'undone Bismarck's work' and would have accomplished what the French delegation at the Paris Peace Conference wanted. However, this could have had any number of unforeseeable consequences, especially amidst the rise of communism. Regardless, the Treaty of Versailles is generally agreed to have been a very poor treaty which sowed fertile ground for the rise of the Nazi party.Competition for resources Other than a few coal and iron deposits, Japan lacks true natural resources. Japan, the only Asian country with a burgeoning industrial economy at that time, feared that a lack of raw materials might hinder its ability to fight a total war against a reinvigorated Soviet Union. In the hopes of expanding its resources, Japan invaded Manchuria (1931) and set about to consolidate its resources and develop its economy. Insurgency by nationalists south of Manchuria compelled the Japanese leaders to argue for a brief, three month war to knock out Chinese power from the north. When it became clear that this time estimate was absurd, plans for obtaining more resources began. The Imperial Navy eventually began to feel that it did not have enough fuel reserves.To remedy this deficiency and ensure a safe supply of oil and other critical resources Japan would have to challenge the European colonial powers over the control of oil rich areas such as the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Such a move against the colonial powers was however expected to lead to open conflict also with the United States. On August 1941, the crisis came to a head as the United States, which at the time supplied 80% of Japanese oil imports, initiated a complete oil embargo. This threatened to cripple both the Japanese economy and military strength once the strategic reserves would run dry. Faced with the choice of either trying to appease the U.S., negotiate a compromise, find other sources of supply or go to war over resources, Japan chose the latter. Hoping to knock out the U.S. for long enough to be able to achieve and consolidate their war-aims, the Japanese Navy attacked the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor in December, 7, 1941. They mistakedly believed they would have about a two year window to consolidate their conquests before the United States could effectively respond and that the United States would compromise long before they could get near Japan.Japan felt threatened by the U.S. and wanted to be the sole power in the Pacific region. Several laws were passed in America and Canada which were more or less prejudiced against the Japanese and other Asians.League of Nations Main article: League of Nations The League of Nations was an international organization founded after World War I to prevent future wars. The League's methods included disarmament; preventing war through collective security; settling disputes between countries through negotiation diplomacy; and improving global welfare. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred years. The old philosophy, growing out of the Congress of Vienna (1815), saw Europe as a shifting map of alliances among nation-states, creating a balance of power maintained by strong armies and secret agreements. Under the new philosophy, the League was a government of governments, with the role of settling disputes between individual nations in an open and legalist forum. The impetus for the founding of the League came from U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, though the United States never joined the League of Nations. This also lessened the power of the League - the addition of a burgeoning industrial and military world power would have added more force behind the League's demands and requests.The League lacked an armed force of its own and so depended on the members to enforce its resolutions, keep to economic sanctions which the League ordered, or provide an army, when needed, for the League to use. However, they were often very reluctant to do so.After a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920's, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis Powers in the 1930's. The absence of the USA, the reliance upon unanimous decisions, the lack of an armed force and the continued self-interest of its leading members meant that this failure was arguably inevitable.European Civil War Some academics examine World War II as the final portion of a wider European Civil War that began with the Franco-Prussian War in July 19, 1870. The proposed period would include many (but not all) of the major European regime changes to occur during the period, including those in Spain and Russia.Specific eventsFranco-Prussian War Main article: Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War was initiated by Napoleon III of France, who was alarmed at the rapid growth in population and unity among the German people. This period marked a relative decline in the strength of France, which would continue into the 20th century.The war was an overwhelming Prussian victory, and Germany unified soon after. Alsace-Lorraine, a border territory, was transferred from France to Germany. The resulting disruption in the balance of power led France to seek alliances with Russia and the United Kingdom.World War I Main articles: World War I and Causes of World War I Many people view World War II as a continuation of World War I. Firstly, some believe that the Versailles Treaty, drafted at the conclusion of the World War I, failed to set up the parameters which may have prevented the Second.World War I lacked a dramatically decisive conclusion. Allied troops had not entered Germany and its people anticipated a treaty along the lines of the Fourteen Points. This meant the German people argued that had the 'traitors' not gone and surrendered to the Allies, Germany could have gone on to win the war, however unlikely the reality. This peace proposal was largely abandoned in favor of punishing Germany for its alleged "war responsibility", an ineffective compromise that left Germany smaller, weaker and embittered, but capable of rebounding and seeking revenge.Large groups of nationalistic minorities still remained trapped in other nations. For example, Yugoslavia (originally the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) had 5 major ethnic groups (the Serbs, Croats, Macedons, Montenegrins, and the Slovenes), and it was created after the war. Other examples abound in the former lands of Austria-Hungary which were divided up quite arbitrarily and unfairly after the war. For example, Hungary was held responsible for the war and stripped of two thirds of its territory while Austria, which had been an equal partner in the Austro-Hungarian government, had its territory expanded.The Germans had a difficult time accepting defeat. At the end of the war, the navy was in a state of mutiny, and the army was retreating (but not routing) in the face of an enemy with more men and material. Despite this reality, some Germans, notably Hitler, advanced the idea that the army would somehow have triumphed if not for the German Revolution at home. This "Stab in the Back" theory was used to convince the people that a second world war would be winnable.Weimar Republic Main articles: Weimar Republic and Beer Hall Putsch The Weimar Republic governed Germany from 1919 to 1933. The republic was named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German Empire was abolished following the nation's defeat in World War I. It was a liberal democracy in the style of France and the United States.The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed Nazi coup d'état which occurred in the evening of Thursday, November 8 to the early afternoon of Friday, November 9, 1923. Adolf Hitler, using the popular World War I General Erich Ludendorff, unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the Weimar Republic. Following the Putsch, Hitler was imprisoned and wrote Mein Kampf.Economic depression The Great Depression resulted in 33% unemployment rate in Germany and a 25% unemployment rate in the U.S. This led many people to support dictatorships just for a steady job and adequate food.The Great Depression hit Germany second only to the United States. Severe unemployment prompted the Nazi party, which had been losing favor, to experience a surge in membership. This more than anything contributed to the rise of Hitler in Germany, and therefore World War II in Europe. After the end of World War I many American industries and banks invested their money in rebuilding Europe. This happened in many European countries, but especially in Germany. After the 1929 crash many American investors fearing that they would lose their money, or having lost all their capital, stopped investing as heavily in Europe. Additionally, it has also been suggested that the economic downturn that struck Britain in 1939 influenced the decision to back Poland, knowing that this increased the danger of going to war.[citation needed] Interestingly, these conditions were a direct result of most of Central Europe, now part of Nazi Germany, dropping out of the international economy.Nazi dictatorship Main articles: Gleichschaltung, Nazi Germany, and National Socialist German Workers Party Hitler was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933. The arson of the parliament building on February 27 (which some have claimed the Nazis had instigated) was used as an excuse for the cancellation of civil and political liberties, enacted by the aged president Paul von Hindenburg and the rightist coalition cabinet led by Hitler.After new elections, a Nazi-led majority abolished parliamentarism, the Weimar constitution, and practically the parliament itself through the Enabling Act on March 23, whereby the Nazis' planned Gleichschaltung (regimentation) of Germany was made formally legal. In the "Night of the Long Knives", Hitler's men murdered his remaining political rivals. After Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934, the authority of the presidency fell into the hands of Adolf Hitler. Without much resistance from the army leadership, the Soldiers' Oath was modified into an oath of obedience to Adolf Hitler personally.In violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the spirit of the Locarno Pact, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland on Saturday, March 7, 1936. The occupation was done with very little military force, the troops entering on bicycles, and could easily have been stopped had it not been for the appeasement mentality. France could not act due to political instability at the time. In addition, since the remilitarization occurred on a weekend, the British Government could not find out or discuss actions to be taken until the following Monday. As a result of this, the governments were inclined to see the remilitarization as a fait accompli.Italian Invasion of Ethiopia Main article: Second Italo-Abyssinian War Benito Mussolini attempted to expand the Italian Empire in Africa by invading Ethiopia, which had so far successfully resisted European colonization. With the pretext of the Walwal incident in September 1935, Italy invaded on October 3, 1935, without a formal declaration of war. The League of Nations declared Italy the aggressor but failed to impose effective sanctions.The war progressed slowly for Italy despite its advantage in weaponry and the use of mustard gas. By March 31, 1936, the Italians won the last major battle of the war, the Battle of Maychew. Emperor Haile Selassie fled into exile on May 2, and Italy took the capital, Addis Ababa, on May 5. Italy annexed the country on May 7, merging Eritrea, Abyssinia and Somaliland into a single state known as Italian East Africa.On June 30, 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie gave a stirring speech before the League of Nations denouncing Italy's actions and criticizing the world community for standing by. He warned that "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow". As a result of the League's condemnation of Italy, Mussolini declared the country's withdrawal from the organization.Spanish Civil WarPicasso's Guernica, 1937.Main article: Spanish Civil War Germany and Italy lent support to the Nationalist insurrection led by general Francisco Franco in Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government, the Spanish Republic which showed leftist tendencies. Both sides used this war as an opportunity to test improved weapons and tactics. The Bombing of Guernica was a horrific attack on civilians which foreshadowed events that would occur throughout Europe.Sino-Japanese War Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937 when Japan attacked deep into China from its foothold in Manchuria. The Japanese captured the Chinese capital city Nanking (now Nanjing), and committed brutal atrocities in the Rape of Nanking.Anschluss Main article: Anschluss The Anschluss was the 1938 annexation of Austria into Germany. Such an action was expressly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. Historically, the idea of creating a Greater Germany through such a union had been popular in Austria as well as Germany, peaking just after World War I; in the years prior to the actual Anschluss, many Austrians had lost interest. As such, the Austrian National Socialist Party and Austria's German nationalist movement became dependent on their northern neighbor. Hitlerian Germany pressed for the Austrian Nazi Party's legality, played a critical role in the assassination of Austrian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, and pressured for several Austrian Nazi Party members to be incorporated into offices within the administration.Following a Hitler speech at the Reichstag, Dollfuss' successor, Kurt Schuschnigg, made it clear that he could be pushed "no further". Amidst mounting pressures from Germany, he elected to hold a plebiscite, hoping to retain autonomy. However, just days prior to the balloting, a successful Austrian Nazi Party coup transferred power within the country. The takeover allowed German troops to enter Austria as "enforcers of the Anschluss", since the Party quickly transferred power to Hitler. Consequently, no fighting occurred and Britain, France and Fascist Italy, who all vehemently opposed such a union, did nothing. Just as importantly, the quarrelling amongst these powers doomed any continuation of a Stresa Front and, with no choice but to accept the unfavorable Anschluss, Italy had little reason for continued opposition to Germany, and was actually drawn in closer to the Nazis. Austria ceased to exist as an independent state.Munich Agreement Main articles: Munich Agreement and Appeasement The Sudetenland was a predominantly German region within recently formed Czechoslovakia. As a whole, Czechoslovakia had a large, modern army of 38 divisions, backed by a well-noted armament industry as well as a military alliance with France. The Sudetenland region formed about one third of Bohemia (western Czechoslovakia) in terms of territory, population, and economy. It contained most of the huge defensive system (larger than the Maginot line) that represented Czechoslovakia's only viable military defense, well protected by the mountainous terrain. In order to build these positions, some land had been expropriated (with compensation).[2]Hitler pressed for the Sudetenland's incorporation into the Reich, supporting German separatist groups within the Sudeten region. Alleged "Czech brutality" and "persecution under Prague" helped to stir up nationalist tendencies with the help of the Nazi press. After the Anschluss all German parties (except German Social-Democratic party) merged with the Sudeten German Party (SdP). Paramilitary activity and extremist violence peaked during this period. The Czechoslovakian government declared martial law in parts of the Sudetenland to maintain order. Germany requested the immediate annexation of the Sudetenland.Finally, in the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French leaders appeased Hitler. The conferring powers allowed Germany to move troops into the region and incorporate it into the Reich "for the sake of peace." In exchange for this, Hitler gave his word that Germany would make no further territorial claims in Europe.[3] Czechoslovakia, which at that time had already mobilized over one million troops and was prepared to fight to preserve its sovereignty, was not allowed to participate in the conference. When the French and British negotiators informed the Czechoslovak representatives about the agreement, and that if Czechoslovakia would not accept it, France and Britain would consider Czechoslovakia to be responsible for war, president Edvard Beneš capitulated. Germany took the Sudetenland.In March, 1939, breaking the Munich agreement, German troops invaded Prague and the rest of what had been Czechoslovakia.Soviet-Japanese Border War Main article: Battle of Khalkhin Gol In 1939, the Japanese attacked north from Manchuria into Siberia. They were decisively beaten by Soviet units under General Georgy Zhukov. Following this battle, the Soviet Union and Japan were at peace until 1945. Japan looked south to expand its empire, leading to conflict with the United States over the Philippines and control of shipping lanes to the Dutch East Indies. The Soviet Union focused on the west, leaving only minimal troops to guard the frontier with Japan.Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Main article: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Nominally, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It was signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939, by the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.In 1939, neither Germany nor the Soviet Union were ready to go to war with each other. The Soviet Union had lost territory to Poland in 1920 and would not tolerate German occupation of all of Poland.[citation needed] Although officially labeled a "non-aggression treaty", the Pact included a secret protocol, in which the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were divided into spheres of interest of the parties. The secret protocol explicitly assumed "territorial and political rearrangements" in the areas of these countries.Subsequently all the mentioned countries were invaded, occupied or forced to cede part of their territory by either the Soviet Union, Germany, or both.Invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland.Main articles: Invasion of Poland (1939) and World War II Tensions had existed between Poland and Germany for some time in regards to the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor. Finally, after issuing a number of proposals, Germany declared that diplomatic measures had been exhausted and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Britain and France had previously warned that they would honor their alliances to Poland and issued an ultimatum to Germany: withdraw or war would be declared. Germany declined and World War II began. The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on September 17.Invasion of the Soviet Union Main article: Operation BarbarossaHitler Tearing the Nonaggression Pact, a 1941 poster by Kukryniksy artists.By attacking the Soviet Union in June, 1941, Hitler enlarged the scale of the war, committing what today is widely regarded as a strategic blunder. Leaving a determined United Kingdom at his rear, in effect, opened up a debilitating two front war. Hitler also believed that the Soviet Union could be defeated in a fast-paced and relentless assault that capitalized on the Soviet Union's ill-prepared state.One theory states that if Germany had not attacked, Stalin would have done so within the next couple of months, unleashing the Red Army and all the force the Soviet Union could bear. This would have been a disaster for the Germans, as the Wehrmacht would lose the element of surprise and the ability to maneuver, which contributed to the military's ability to confront the Soviets so successfully early on. Furthermore, the terrain of Germany's east would not have been favorable for defensive warfare, as it is flat and relatively open. Still, the view promoted by Viktor Suvorov relies on a number of assumptions, including the underlying notion that a war between the two powers was, for various reasons, inevitable.Attack on Pearl Harbor Main article: Attack on Pearl Harbor The Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, hoping to destroy the United States Pacific Fleet at anchor. Even though the Japanese knew that the U.S. had the potential to build more ships, they hoped that they would feed reinforcements in piecemeal and thus the Japanese Navy would be able to defeat them in detail. This nearly happened during the Battle of Wake Island shortly after.Within days, Germany declared war on the United States, effectively ending isolationist sentiment in the U.S. which had so far prevented it from entering the war.
need information about the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment Company F during ww2 March 1944 to end of war?
ending the war. World War I was a significant turning point in the political, cultural, economic, and social climate of the world. The war and its immediate aftermath sparked numerous revolutions and uprisings. The Big Four (Britain, France, the United States, and Italy) imposed their terms on the defeated powers in a series of treaties agreed at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the most well known being the German peace treaty: the Treaty of Versailles. Ultimately, as a result of the war, the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian Empires ceased to exist, and numerous new states were created from their remains. However, despite the conclusive Allied victory (and the creation of the League of Nations during the Peace Conference, intended to prevent future wars), a second world war followed just over twenty years later. The term "world war" was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel, who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word," citing a wire service report in The Indianapolis Star on 20 September 1914. Prior to World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War. In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War." Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as "the war to end war" or "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. After World War II began in 1939, the terms became more standard, with British Empire historians, including Canadians, favouring "The First World War" and Americans "World War I". For much of the 19th century, the major European powers had tried to maintain a tenuous balance of power among themselves, resulting in a complex network of political and Military alliances. The biggest challenges to this were Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation, the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the post-1848 rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War established Prussian hegemony in Germany, while victory over France in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War unified the German states into a German Reich under Prussian leadership. French desire for revenge over the defeat of 1871, known as revanchism, and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine became a principal object of French policy for the next forty years (see French–German enmity).In 1873, to isolate France and avoid a war on two fronts, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors (German: Dreikaiserbund) between Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. Concerned by Russia's victory in the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War and its influence in the Balkans, the League was dissolved in 1878, with Germany and Austria-Hungary subsequently forming the 1879 Dual Alliance; this became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.The practical details of these alliances were limited, since their primary purpose was to ensure cooperation between the three Imperial Powers, and to isolate France. Attempts by Britain in 1880 to resolve colonial tensions with Russia and diplomatic moves by France led to Bismarck reforming the League in 1881. When the League finally lapsed in 1887, it was replaced by the Reinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. In 1890, the new German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, forced Bismarck to retire and was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by the new Chancellor, Leo von Caprivi. This allowed France to counteract the Triple Alliance with the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894 and the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain, while in 1907 Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Convention. The agreements did not constitute formal alliances, but by settling long-standing colonial disputes, they made British entry into any future conflict involving France or Russia a possibility. These interlocking bilateral agreements became known as the Triple Entente. British backing of France against Germany during the Second Moroccan Crisis in 1911 reinforced the Entente between the two countries (and with Russia as well) and increased Anglo-German estrangement, deepening the divisions that would erupt in 1914. The creation of the German Reich following victory in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War led to a massive increase in Germany's economic and industrial strength. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and Wilhelm II, who became Emperor in 1890, sought to use this to create a Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial German Navy to compete with Britain's Royal Navy for world naval supremacy. In doing so, he was influenced by US naval strategist Alfred Mahan, who argued possession of a blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz translated his books into German, and Wilhelm made them required reading. However, it was also driven by Wilhelm's admiration of the Royal Navy and desire to outdo it.This resulted in the Anglo-German naval arms race. Yet the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 gave the Royal Navy a technological advantage over its German rival, which they never lost. Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources to creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it. In 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to the Rüstungswende or ‘armaments turning point', when Germany switched expenditure from the navy to the army.This was driven by Russia's recovery from the 1905 Revolution, specifically increased investment post-1908 in railways and infrastructure in its western border regions. Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for fewer numbers; it was concern at the closing of this gap that led to the end of the naval race, rather than a reduction in tension elsewhere. When Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 men in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures taken by the Balkan powers and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are hard to calculate, due to differences in categorising expenditure, while they often omit civilian infrastructure projects with a military use, such as railways. However, from 1908 to 1913, defence spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. In October 1908, Austria-Hungary precipitated the Bosnian crisis of 1908–1909 by officially annexing the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878. This angered the Kingdom of Serbia and its patron, the Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russian Empire. The Balkans came to be known as the "powder keg of Europe". The Italo-Turkish War in the 1911–1912 was a significant precursor of the World War I as it sparked nationalism in the Balkan states and paved the way for the Balkan Wars.In 1912 and 1913, the First Balkan War was fought between the Balkan League and the fracturing Ottoman Empire. The resulting Treaty of London further shrank the Ottoman Empire, creating an independent Albanian state while enlarging the territorial holdings of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. When Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913, it sparked the 33-day Second Balkan War, by the end of which it lost most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and Southern Dobruja to Romania, further destabilising the region. The Great Powers were able to keep these Balkan conflicts contained, but the next one would spread throughout Europe and beyond. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, visited the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. A group of six assassins (Cvjetko Popović, Gavrilo Princip, Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Trifko Grabež, and Vaso Čubrilović) from the Yugoslavist group Mlada Bosna, who had been supplied with arms by the Serbian Black Hand, gathered on the street where the Archduke's motorcade was to pass, with the intention of assassinating him. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav provinces, which Austria-Hungary had annexed from the Ottoman Empire, so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. Čabrinović threw a grenade at the car but missed. Some nearby were injured by the blast, but Ferdinand's convoy carried on. The other assassins failed to act as the cars drove past them. About an hour later, when Ferdinand was returning from a visit at the Sarajevo Hospital with those wounded in the assassination attempt, the convoy took a wrong turn into a street where, by coincidence, Princip stood. With a pistol, Princip shot and killed Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Although they were reportedly not personally close, the Emperor Franz Joseph was profoundly shocked and upset. The reaction among the people in Austria, however, was mild, almost indifferent. As historian Zbyněk Zeman later wrote, "the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On Sunday and Monday (28 and 29 June), the crowds in Vienna listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened." Nevertheless, the political effect of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and was described by historian Christopher Clark on the BBC Radio 4 series Month of Madness as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna." The Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged the subsequent anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, in which Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks killed two Bosnian Serbs and damaged numerous Serb-owned buildings. Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned and extradited approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as the Schutzkorps was established and carried out the persecution of Serbs. The assassination led to a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain, called the July Crisis. Austria-Hungary correctly believed that Serbian officials (especially the officers of the Black Hand) had been involved in the plot to murder the Archduke, and wanted to finally end Serbian interference in Bosnia. However, the Austrian-Hungarian foreign ministry had no proof of Serbian involvement, and a dossier that it belatedly compiled to make its case against Serbia was riddled with errors. On 23 July, Austria-Hungary delivered to Serbia the July Ultimatum, a series of ten demands that were made intentionally unacceptable, in an effort to provoke a war with Serbia. Serbia decreed general mobilisation on 25 July. Serbia accepted all the terms of the ultimatum except for articles five and six, which demanded that Austrian-Hungarian representatives be allowed to assist in suppressing subversive elements inside Serbia's borders and to participate in the investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination. Following this, Austria broke off diplomatic relations with Serbia and, the next day, ordered a partial mobilisation. Finally, on 28 July 1914, a month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. On 25 July, Russia, in support of Serbia, declared partial mobilisation against Austria-Hungary. On 30 July, Russia ordered general mobilisation. German Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg waited until the 31st for an appropriate response, when Germany declared Erklärung des Kriegszustandes, or "Statement on the war status". Kaiser Wilhelm II asked his cousin, Tsar Nicolas II, to suspend the Russian general mobilisation. When he refused, Germany issued an ultimatum demanding its mobilisation be stopped, and a commitment not to support Serbia. Another was sent to France, asking her not to support Russia if it were to come to the defence of Serbia. On 1 August, after the Russian response, Germany mobilised and declared war on Russia. This also led to the general mobilisation in Austria-Hungary on 4 August. The German government issued demands to France that it remain neutral whilst they decided which deployment plan to implement, it being extremely difficult to change the deployment once it was underway. The modified German Schlieffen Plan, Aufmarsch II West, would deploy 80% of the army in the west, while Aufmarsch I Ost and Aufmarsch II Ost would deploy 60% in the west and 40% in the east. The French did not respond, but sent a mixed message by ordering their troops to withdraw 10 km (6 mi) from the border to avoid any incidents, and at the same time ordered the mobilisation of their reserves. Germany responded by mobilising its own reserves and implementing Aufmarsch II West. The British cabinet decided on 29 July that being a signatory to the 1839 treaty about Belgium did not oblige it to oppose a German invasion of Belgium with military force.On 1 August, Wilhelm ordered General Helmuth von Moltke the Younger to "march the whole of the ... army to the East" after being informed that Britain would remain neutral if France was not attacked (and, possibly, that her hands might, in any case, be stayed by crisis in Ireland). Moltke told the Kaiser that attempting to redeploy a million men was unthinkable, and that making it possible for the French to attack the Germans "in the rear" would prove disastrous. Yet Wilhelm insisted that the German army should not march into Luxembourg until he received a telegram sent by his cousin George V, who made it clear that there had been a misunderstanding. Eventually the Kaiser told Moltke, "Now you can do what you want." For years, the French had been aware of intelligence indicating that Germany planned to attack France through Belgium. General Joseph Joffre, chief of staff of the French military from 1911, inquired about the possibility of moving some French troops into Belgium to pre-empt such a move by Germany, but France's civilian leadership rejected this idea. Joffre was told that France would not be the first power to violate Belgian neutrality and that any French move into Belgium could come only after the Germans had already invaded. On 2 August, Germany occupied Luxembourg, and on 3 August declared war on France; on the same day, they sent the Belgian government an ultimatum demanding unimpeded right of way through any part of Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4 August, the Germans invaded; King Albert ordered his military to resist and called for assistance under the 1839 Treaty of London. Britain demanded Germany comply with the Treaty and respect Belgian neutrality; it declared war on Germany at 19:00 UTC on 4 August 1914 (effective from 23:00), following an "unsatisfactory reply". Confusion among the Central Powers The strategy of the Central Powers suffered from miscommunication. Germany had promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Germany, however, envisioned Austria-Hungary directing most of its troops against Russia, while Germany dealt with France. This confusion forced the Austro-Hungarian Army to divide its forces between the Russian and Serbian fronts. Serbian campaign Austria invaded and fought the Serbian army at the Battle of Cer and Battle of Kolubara beginning on 12 August. Over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were thrown back with heavy losses, which marked the first major Allied victories of the war and dashed Austro-Hungarian hopes of a swift victory. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening its efforts against Russia. Serbia's defeat of the Austro-Hungarian invasion of 1914 has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century. The campaign saw the first use of medical evacuation by the Serbian army in autumn of 1915 and anti-aircraft warfare in the spring of 1915 after an Austrian plane was shot down with ground-to-air fire. German Offensive in Belgium and France When the war began, the German Order of Battle placed 80% of the army in the West, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. The plan was to quickly knock France out of the war, then redeploy to the East and do the same to Russia. The German offensive in the West was officially titled Aufmarsch II West, but is better known as the Schlieffen Plan, after its original creator. Schlieffen deliberately kept the German left (i.e. its positions in Alsace-Lorraine) weak to lure the French into attacking there, while the majority were allocated to the German right, so as to sweep through Belgium, encircle Paris and trap the French armies against the Swiss border (the French charged into Alsace-Lorraine on the outbreak of war as envisaged by their Plan XVII, thus actually aiding this strategy). However, Schlieffen's successor Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank. Consequently, as the German Army increased in size in the years leading up to the war, he changed the allocation of forces between the German right and left wings from 85:15 to 70:30. Ultimately, Moltke's changes meant insufficient forces to achieve decisive success and thus unrealistic goals and timings.The initial German advance in the West was very successful: by the end of August the Allied left, which included the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was in full retreat; French casualties in the first month exceeded 260,000, including 27,000 killed on 22 August during the Battle of the Frontiers. German planning provided broad strategic instructions, while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front; this worked well in 1866 and 1870 but in 1914, von Kluck used this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris. The French and British exploited this gap to halt the German advance east of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne from 5 to 12 September and push the German forces back some 50 km (31 mi). In 1911, the Russian Stavka had agreed with the French to attack Germany within 15 days of mobilisation; this was unrealistic and the two Russian armies that entered East Prussia on 17 August did so without many of their support elements. The Russian Second Army was effectively destroyed at the Battle of Tannenberg on 26–30 August but the Russian advance caused the Germans to re-route their 8th Field Army from France to East Prussia, a factor in Allied victory on the Marne.By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields and had inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, and it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war. This amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the Marne, Crown Prince Wilhelm told an American reporter; "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already." Asia and the Pacific New Zealand occupied German Samoa (later Western Samoa) on 30 August 1914. On 11 September, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of Neu Pommern (later New Britain), which formed part of German New Guinea. On 28 October, the German cruiser SMS Emden sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the Battle of Penang. Japan seized Germany's Micronesian colonies and, after the Siege of Tsingtao, the German coaling port of Qingdao on the Chinese Shandong peninsula. As Vienna refused to withdraw the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth from Tsingtao, Japan declared war not only on Germany, but also on Austria-Hungary; the ship participated in the defence of Tsingtao where it was sunk in November 1914. Within a few months, the Allied forces had seized all the German territories in the Pacific; only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea remained. African campaigns Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorate of Togoland and Kamerun. On 10 August, German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in German East Africa, led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought a guerrilla warfare campaign during World War I and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Indian support for the Allies Germany attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, instigating uprisings in India, and sending a mission that urged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and goodwill towards Britain. Indian political leaders from the Indian National Congress and other groups were eager to support the British war effort, since they believed that strong support for the war effort would further the cause of Indian Home Rule. The Indian Army in fact outnumbered the British Army at the beginning of the war; about 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while the central government and the princely states sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. In all, 140,000 men served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East. Casualties of Indian soldiers totalled 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded during World War I. The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India after the end of hostilities, bred disillusionment and fuelled the campaign for full independence that would be led by Mohandas K. Gandhi and others. Trench warfare begins Military tactics developed before World War I failed to keep pace with advances in technology and had become obsolete. These advances had allowed the creation of strong defensive systems, which out-of-date military tactics could not break through for most of the war. Barbed wire was a significant hindrance to massed infantry advances, while artillery, vastly more lethal than in the 1870s, coupled with machine guns, made crossing open ground extremely difficult. Commanders on both sides failed to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, however, technology began to produce new offensive weapons, such as gas warfare and the tank.After the First Battle of the Marne (5–12 September 1914), Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the "Race to the Sea". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces were left confronting each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from Alsace to Belgium's North Sea coast. Since the Germans were able to choose where to stand, they normally had the advantage of the high ground; in addition, their trenches tended to be better built, since Anglo-French trenches were initially intended as "temporary," and would only be needed until the breaking of German defences.Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans (violating the Hague Convention) used chlorine gas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides, and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, poison gas became one of the most-feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Tanks were developed by Britain and France and were first used in combat by the British during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (part of the Battle of the Somme) on 15 September 1916, with only partial success. However, their effectiveness would grow as the war progressed; the Allies built tanks in large numbers, whilst the Germans employed only a few of their own design, supplemented by captured Allied tanks. Continuation of trench warfare Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years. Throughout 1915–17, the British Empire and France suffered more casualties than Germany, because of both the strategic and tactical stances chosen by the sides. Strategically, while the Germans mounted only one major offensive, the Allies made several attempts to break through the German lines. In February 1916 the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the Battle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. The Germans made initial gains, before French counter-attacks returned matters to near their starting point. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000 to 975,000 casualties suffered between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo-French offensive of July to November 1916. The opening day of the offensive (1 July 1916) was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army, suffering 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead. The entire Somme offensive cost the British Army some 420,000 casualties. The French suffered another estimated 200,000 casualties and the Germans an estimated 500,000. Gun fire was not the only factor taking lives; the diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions made it so that countless diseases and infections occurred, such as trench foot, shell shock, blindness/burns from mustard gas, lice, trench fever, "cooties" (body lice) and the 'Spanish flu'.To maintain morale, wartime censors minimised early reports of widespread influenza illness and mortality in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. Papers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain (such as the grave illness of King Alfonso XIII). This created a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit, thereby giving rise to the pandemic's nickname, "Spanish flu". Protracted action at Verdun throughout 1916, combined with the bloodletting at the Somme, brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts using frontal assault came at a high price for both the British and the French and led to the widespread French Army Mutinies, after the failure of the costly Nivelle Offensive of April–May 1917. The concurrent British Battle of Arras was more limited in scope, and more successful, although ultimately of little strategic value. A smaller part of the Arras offensive, the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps, became highly significant to that country: the idea that Canada's national identity was born out of the battle is an opinion widely held in military and general histories of Canada.The last large-scale offensive of this period was a British attack (with French support) at Passchendaele (July–November 1917). This offensive opened with great promise for the Allies, before bogging down in the October mud. Casualties, though disputed, were roughly equal, at some 200,000–400,000 per side. The years of trench warfare on the Western front achieved no major exchanges of territory and, as a result, are often thought of as static and unchanging. However, throughout this period, British, French, and German tactics constantly evolved to meet new battlefield challenges. At the start of the war, the German Empire had cruisers scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping. The British Royal Navy systematically hunted them down, though not without some embarrassment from its inability to protect Allied shipping. Before the beginning of the war, it was widely understood that Britain held the position of strongest, most influential navy in the world. The publishing of the book The Influence of Sea Power upon History by Alfred Thayer Mahan in 1890 was intended to encourage the United States to increase their naval power. Instead, this book made it to Germany and inspired its readers to try to over-power the British Royal Navy. For example, the German detached light cruiser SMS Emden, part of the East Asia Squadron stationed at Qingdao, seized or destroyed 15 merchantmen, as well as sinking a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. However, most of the German East-Asia squadron—consisting of the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, light cruisers Nürnberg and Leipzig and two transport ships—did not have orders to raid shipping and was instead underway to Germany when it met British warships. The German flotilla and Dresden sank two armoured cruisers at the Battle of Coronel, but was virtually destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, with only Dresden and a few auxiliaries escaping, but after the Battle of Más a Tierra these too had been destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval blockade of Germany. The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies, although this blockade violated accepted international law codified by several international agreements of the past two centuries. Britain mined international waters to prevent any ships from entering entire sections of ocean, causing danger to even neutral ships. Since there was limited response to this tactic of the British, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare.The Battle of Jutland (German: Skagerrakschlacht, or "Battle of the Skagerrak") in May/June 1916 developed into the largest naval battle of the war. It was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, fought the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, led by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. The engagement was a stand off, as the Germans were outmanoeuvred by the larger British fleet, but managed to escape and inflicted more damage to the British fleet than they received. Strategically, however, the British asserted their control of the sea, and the bulk of the German surface fleet remained confined to port for the duration of the war.German U-boats attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the "cruiser rules", which demanded warning and movement of crews to "a place of safety" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet). Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the United States could transport a large army overseas, but after initial successes eventually failed to do so.The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in convoys, escorted by destroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after the hydrophone and depth charges were introduced, accompanying destroyers could attack a submerged submarine with some hope of success. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies, since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled. The solution to the delays was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. The U-boats had sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at a cost of 199 submarines.World War I also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918, as well as blimps for antisubmarine patrol. War in the Balkans Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first ten months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats, however, scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian provinces of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia provided troops for Austria-Hungary in the fight with Serbia, Russia and Italy. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia.Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 12 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern Albania. The Serbs suffered defeat in the Battle of Kosovo. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat towards the Adriatic coast in the Battle of Mojkovac in 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated by ship to Greece. After conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria.In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-German King Constantine I dismissed the pro-Allied government of Eleftherios Venizelos before the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The friction between the King of Greece and the Allies continued to accumulate with the National Schism, which effectively divided Greece between regions still loyal to the king and the new provisional government of Venizelos in Salonica. After intense negotiations and an armed confrontation in Athens between Allied and royalist forces (an incident known as Noemvriana), the King of Greece resigned and his second son Alexander took his place; Greece officially joined the war on the side of the Allies in June 1917. The Macedonian front was initially mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing Bitola on 19 November 1916 following the costly Monastir Offensive, which brought stabilisation of the front.Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in the Vardar Offensive, after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at the Battle of Dobro Pole, and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918. The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were far too weak to re-establish a front.The disappearance of the Macedonian front meant that the road to Budapest and Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against the Central Powers and, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement. Ottoman Empire The Ottomans threatened Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India via the Suez Canal. As the conflict progressed, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christian populations, known as the Armenian Genocide, Greek Genocide, and Assyrian Genocide.The British and French opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns (1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs). In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in the Siege of Kut by the Ottomans (1915–16), British Imperial forces reorganised and captured Baghdad in March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian tribesmen, while the Ottomans employed local Kurdish and Turcoman tribes. Further to the west, the Suez Canal was defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at the Battle of Romani by the ANZAC Mounted Division and the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Following this victory, an Egyptian Expeditionary Force advanced across the Sinai Peninsula, pushing Ottoman forces back in the Battle of Magdhaba in December and the Battle of Rafa on the border between the Egyptian Sinai and Ottoman Palestine in January 1917.Russian armies generally had success in the Caucasus campaign. Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, was ambitious and dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been lost to Russia previously. He was, however, a poor commander. He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at the Battle of Sarikamish. The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modern Iran) in December 1914 in an effort to cut off British and Russian access to petroleum reservoirs around Baku near the Caspian Sea. Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under the spheres of British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided by Kurdish and Azeri forces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, such as the Qashqai, Tangistanis, Luristanis, and Khamseh, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. The Persian Campaign was to last until 1918 and end in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led to Armenian and Assyrian forces, who had hitherto inflicted a series of defeats upon the forces of the Ottomans and their allies, being cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia. General Yudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus with a string of victories. During the 1916 campaign, the Russians defeated the Turks in the Erzurum Offensive, also occupying Trabzon. In 1917, Russian Grand Duke Nicholas assumed command of the Caucasus front. Nicholas planned a railway from Russian Georgia to the conquered territories, so that fresh supplies could be brought up for a new offensive in 1917. However, in March 1917 (February in the pre-revolutionary Russian calendar), the Tsar abdicated in the course of the February Revolution, and the Russian Caucasus Army began to fall apart. The Arab Revolt, instigated by the Arab bureau of the British Foreign Office, started June 1916 with the Battle of Mecca, led by Sherif Hussein of Mecca, and ended with the Ottoman surrender of Damascus. Fakhri Pasha, the Ottoman commander of Medina, resisted for more than two and half years during the Siege of Medina before surrendering in January 1919.The Senussi tribe, along the border of Italian Libya and British Egypt, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scale guerrilla war against Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in the Senussi Campaign. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916.Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000 (325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded). Italian participation Italy had been allied with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882 as part of the Triple Alliance. However, the nation had its own designs on Austro-Hungarian territory in Trentino, the Austrian Littoral, Fiume (Rijeka) and Dalmatia. Rome had a secret 1902 pact with France, effectively nullifying its part in the Triple Alliance; Italy secretly agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany. At the start of hostilities, Italy refused to commit troops, arguing that the Triple Alliance was defensive and that Austria-Hungary was an aggressor. The Austro-Hungarian government began negotiations to secure Italian neutrality, offering the French colony of Tunisia in return. The Allies made a counter-offer in which Italy would receive the Southern Tyrol, Austrian Littoral and territory on the Dalmatian coast after the defeat of Austria-Hungary. This was formalised by the Treaty of London. Further encouraged by the Allied invasion of Turkey in April 1915, Italy joined the Triple Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May. Fifteen months later, Italy declared war on Germany. The Italians had numerical superiority, but this advantage was lost, not only because of the difficult terrain in which the fighting took place, but also because of the strategies and tactics employed. Field Marshal Luigi Cadorna, a staunch proponent of the frontal assault, had dreams of breaking into the Slovenian plateau, taking Ljubljana and threatening Vienna. On the Trentino front, the Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the mountainous terrain, which favoured the defender. After an initial strategic retreat, the front remained largely unchanged, while Austro-Hungarian Kaiserjäger, Kaiserschützen and Standschützen engaged Italian Alpini in bitter hand-to-hand combat throughout the summer. In the Alpine and Dolomite fronts, the main battle line led through rock and ice and often to an altitude of over 3000m. The soldiers were threatened not only by the enemy but especially in winter by the forces of nature and the difficult supply. The fighting led to the formation of special units with mountain guides and new combat tactics. The Austro-Hungarians counterattacked in the Altopiano of Asiago, towards Verona and Padua, in the spring of 1916 (Strafexpedition), but made little progress and were defeated by the Italians.Beginning in 1915, the Italians under Cadorna mounted eleven offensives on the Isonzo front along the Isonzo (Soča) River, northeast of Trieste. Of these eleven offensives, five were won by Italy, three remained inconclusive, and the other three were repelled by the Austro-Hungarians, who held the higher ground. In the summer of 1916, after the Battle of Doberdò, the Italians captured the town of Gorizia. After this victory, the front remained static for over a year, despite several Italian offensives, centred on the Banjšice and Karst Plateau east of Gorizia. The Central Powers launched a crushing offensive on 26 October 1917, spearheaded by the Germans, and achieved a victory at Caporetto (Kobarid). The Italian Army was routed and retreated more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) to reorganise. The new Italian chief of staff, Armando Diaz, ordered the Army to stop their retreat and defend the Monte Grappa summit, where fortified defences were constructed; the Italians repelled the Austro-Hungarian and German Army, and stabilised the front at the Piave River. Since the Italian Army had suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Caporetto, the Italian Government ordered conscription of the so-called '99 Boys (Ragazzi del '99): all males born in 1899 and prior, who were 18 years old or older. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarians failed to break through in a series of battles on the Piave and were finally decisively defeated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in October. On 1 November, the Italian Navy destroyed much of the Austro-Hungarian fleet stationed in Pula, preventing it from being handed over to the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On 3 November, the Italians invaded Trieste from the sea. On the same day, the Armistice of Villa Giusti was signed. By mid-November 1918, the Italian military occupied the entire former Austrian Littoral and had seized control of the portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the London Pact. By the end of hostilities in November 1918, Admiral Enrico Millo declared himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia. Austria-Hungary surrendered on 11 November 1918. Romanian participation Romania had been allied with the Central Powers since 1882. When the war began, however, it declared its neutrality, arguing that because Austria-Hungary had itself declared war on Serbia, Romania was under no obligation to join the war. On 4 August 1916, Romania and the Entente signed the Political Treaty and Military Convention, that established the coordinates of Romania's participation in the war. In return, it received the Allies' formal sanction for Transylvania, Banat and other territories of Austria-Hungary to be annexed to Romania. The action had large popular support. On 27 August 1916, the Romanian Army launched an attack against Austria-Hungary, with limited Russian support. The Romanian offensive was initially successful in Transylvania, but a Central Powers counterattack drove them back. As a result of the Battle of Bucharest, the Central Powers occupied Bucharest on 6 December 1916. Fighting in Moldova continued in 1917, but Russian withdrawal from the war in late 1917 as a result of the October Revolution meant that Romania was forced to sign an armistice with the Central Powers on 9 December 1917. In January 1918, Romanian forces established control over Bessarabia as the Russian Army abandoned the province. Although a treaty was signed by the Romanian and Bolshevik Russian governments following talks between 5 and 9 March 1918 on the withdrawal of Romanian forces from Bessarabia within two months, on 27 March 1918 Romania formally attached Bessarabia, inhabited by a Romanian majority, to its territory, based on a resolution passed by the local assembly of that territory on its unification with Romania.Romania officially made peace with the Central Powers by signing the Treaty of Bucharest on 7 May 1918. Under the treaty, Romania was obliged to end the war with the Central Powers and make small territorial concessions to Austria-Hungary, ceding control of some passes in the Carpathian Mountains, and to grant oil concessions to Germany. In exchange, the Central Powers recognised the sovereignty of Romania over Bessarabia. The treaty was renounced in October 1918 by the Alexandru Marghiloman government, and Romania nominally re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 against the Central Powers. The next day, the Treaty of Bucharest was nullified by the terms of the Armistice of Compiègne. Total Romanian deaths from 1914 to 1918, military and civilian, within contemporary borders, were estimated at 748,000. Initial actions Russian plans for the start of the war called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia and East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, it was driven back from East Prussia by Hindenburg and Ludendorff at the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914. Russia's less developed industrial base and ineffective military leadership were instrumental in the events that unfolded. By the spring of 1915, the Russians had retreated from Galicia, and, in May, the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern frontiers with their Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive. On 5 August, they captured Warsaw and forced the Russians to withdraw from Poland. Despite Russia's success in the June 1916 Brusilov Offensive against the Austrians in eastern Galicia, the offensive was undermined by the reluctance of other Russian generals to commit their forces to support the victory. Allied and Russian forces were revived only briefly by Romania's entry into the war on 27 August, as Romania was rapidly defeated by a Central Powers offensive. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia as the Tsar remained at the front. The increasingly incompetent rule of Empress Alexandra drew protests and resulted in the murder of her favourite, Rasputin, at the end of 1916. Russian Revolution In March 1917, demonstrations in Petrograd culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak Provisional Government, which shared power with the Petrograd Soviet socialists. This arrangement led to confusion and chaos both at the front and at home. The army became increasingly ineffective.Following the Tsar's abdication, Vladimir Lenin—with the help of the German government—was ushered by train from Switzerland into Russia 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, the new government acceded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, the Baltic provinces, parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers. Despite this enormous German success, the manpower required by the Germans to occupy the captured territory may have contributed to the failure of their Spring Offensive, and secured relatively little food or other materiel for the Central Powers war effort. With the adoption of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Entente no longer existed. The Allied powers led a small-scale invasion of Russia, partly to stop Germany from exploiting Russian resources, and to a lesser extent, to support the "Whites" (as opposed to the "Reds") in the Russian Civil War. Allied troops landed in Arkhangelsk and in Vladivostok as part of the North Russia Intervention. Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion fought on the side of the Entente. Its goal was to win support for the independence of Czechoslovakia. The Legion in Russia was established in September 1914, in December 1917 in France (including volunteers from America) and in April 1918 in Italy. Czechoslovak Legion troops defeated the Austro-Hungarian army at the Ukrainian village of Zborov, in July 1917. After this success, the number of Czechoslovak legionaries increased, as well as Czechoslovak military power. In the Battle of Bakhmach, the Legion defeated the Germans and forced them to make a truce. In Russia, they were heavily involved in the Russian Civil War, siding with the Whites against the Bolsheviks, at times controlling most of the Trans-Siberian railway and conquering all the major cities of Siberia. The presence of the Czechoslovak Legion near Yekaterinburg appears to have been one of the motivations for the Bolshevik execution of the Tsar and his family in July 1918. Legionaries arrived less than a week afterwards and captured the city. Because Russia's European ports were not safe, the corps was evacuated by a long detour via the port of Vladivostok. The last transport was the American ship Heffron in September 1920. On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of the Battle of Verdun and a successful offensive against Romania, Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies. However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a "duplicitous war ruse".Soon after, the US president, Woodrow Wilson, attempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking in a note for both sides to state their demands. Lloyd George's War Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions amongst the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the United States was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the "submarine outrages". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of "a direct exchange of views". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities. This included the liberation of Italians, Slavs, Romanians, Czecho-Slovaks, and the creation of a "free and united Poland". On the question of security, the Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars, complete with sanctions, as a condition of any peace settlement. The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds that Germany had not put forward any specific proposals. Events of 1917 proved decisive in ending the war, although their effects were not fully felt until 1918. Developments in 1917 The British naval blockade began to have a serious impact on Germany. In response, in February 1917, the German General Staff convinced Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg to declare unrestricted submarine warfare
