The BIG STORY OF YEAR 9: increasing interconnectedness brings both benefits and costs
WHY WAS THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY THE MOST VIOLENT IN HUMAN HISTORY?
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Globalization Essential Understanding: Slowing down globalization can happen for many reasons, including but not limited to: war, a desire to protect domestic industries or a desire to collect taxes on imports.
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THE FIRST WORLD WAR 1914-1918
PART ONE: CAUSES
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INTRODUCTION: During this sequence of learning you will discover that the causes of the First World War were rooted in the processes of the previous century: namely the Industrial Revolution across Europe and the colonization of the Earth by these same powers. We call this process Imperialism. Whilst both processes brought greater interconnection than had ever been known before, the root of these interconnections was unequitable (unfair) and the economic system on which it was based; empire, created rivalries, tension and protest between powers and from those that had been colonized. Keynes could laud many of the benefits of the pre-1914 global system but he mentions none of the costs. It was these costs of the 'First Age of Globalization' when exposed by events in Europe that would plummet the world into the first crisis of the 20th Century: The First World War (1914-1918).
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What's in a name?: How important are names in the way that we think about events. At the time it was known as the 'Great War for Civilization' or the 'War to End all Wars'. How do these two alternative names affect you understanding of the conflict?
Map of Europe in 1900.
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WHAT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION MADE THE WAR SO LENGTHY AND VIOLENT
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INTRODUCTION: The event that would trigger the First World War was the assassination of the Archduke and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne by a Serb Nationalist in the city of Sarajevo on 28th June 1914. This provoked the leadership of Austria-Hungary to demand that the Kingdom of Serbia agree to an ultimatum document that was unlikely to be agreed to by the Serbs. At this point it looked as though the Serbs would capitulate or the Austrians back down.
However the key moment came on 5th July when Germany's leadership promised their allies, the Austrian's unconditional support in the conflict. This re-emboldened the Austrians as they had back-up in the event that Russia entered the war on the side of their Slavic brethren the Serbs. Throughout July rumor and media sensationalism fueled a war fever across Europe and by the end of the month all of the governments of Europe were reviewing their plans for war. The German war plan (The Schlieffen Plan) was a key reason for the crisis of July to escalate since the plan anticipated war with both France and Russia in the event of a war with either. The plan had been devised in 1905 by chief of the German general staff Alfred Graff Von Schlieffen in response to a formal military alliance between France and Russia. The Germans understood they could not win a war fought against France and Russia at the same time and so they devised a strategy for knocking France out of the war before Russia had a chance to mobilize and attention could be turned to wards Russia. On 28th July Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia. On 29 July Russia mistepped and mobilized her army. Worried that the Schlieffen Plan would become less successful with each day that passed, Germany declared war against Russia and put the Schlieffen Plan into effect, declaring war on Russia on the 1st August. Following France's mobilization for war on the 2 August, Germany declared war on France on the 3rd. Germany Attacking France passing through Belgium on the 3rd August was enough to provoke Britain into entering the war on the side of France. Europe was at war and their Empires colonies would follow in the days ahead. A conflict begun in a remote part of the Austrian empire had drawn the world into the first post-industrial global conflict and the first age of globalization would be destroyed in brutal and horrific war spurred by the ever more destructive technologies of the Industrial Revolution, themselves the outcome of 100 years of strident advances in this area. |
The assassination of the Archduke on 28th June 1914
Europe is engulfed in war fever July to August 1914
Animated: The German Schlieffen Plan and its failure in August and September 1914 to bring a swift victory to Germany ensuring a lengthy war.
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Resource Bank 1: A gallery of photos and artistic representations of the Western Front:
Resource Bank 2: Excerpts from Peter Jacksons: They Shall Not Grow Old (2018):
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It's going to be a big advance
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British soldiers thoughts on the Germans
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The end of the War
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Resource Bank 3: Soldiers experiences of the First World War in their own words:
Resource Bank 4: Case Study: The Battle of the Somme 141 days of Horror (BBC)
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