Lecture 11: The Challenges of the early 20^th Century and the Origins of World War I

I. Introduction

A. Announcements

1. AQWF on web

2. hope to have final study guide available soon; please give me feedback about final exam

B. Review

C. Framing Questions

1. What tensions characterized the early 20th century? How did these tensions lead to World War I?

2. Why did WWI happen when it did? Was it inevitable? Why or why not?

3. Why are short term causes insufficient explanations?

II. Early 20th century Life

A. Characteristics

1. life continues to change rapidly.

2. Mass politics

3. National concerns with birth rates

4. Other Concerns with Roles of women

5. Growing Power of Labor

6. Increased Migration

7. Modernism

8. Uncertainty in international relations

III. Origins of World War I

A. notion of long term cause v. immediate short term crisis

1. short term

2. long term

B. Foreign Policy Concerns

1. arms race

2. shift in dominance in European scene

3. Changing Alliances

4. Formalization of 2 alliances

a. Triple Alliance

b. Creation of Triple Entente

5. Series of International Crises (1905-1913)

C. Internal Problems

1. Austria-Hungary

2. Germany

3. France

4. Britain

5. Russia

IV. Questions for Section and Lecture

1. What were the tensions of the early 20^th century? How did early 20th century social, political, and economic tensions lead to World War I?

2. Is there one cause that you identify as being extremely significant to bringing about World War I?

3. Why are short term causes insufficient explanations?

4. Who was Heinrich Treitschke? Why does he think that the essential function of the state is the conduct of war?

5. What country does Treitschke position Germany against?

6. For lecture, please read All Quiet on the Western Front

TERMS

Mass politics

National Alliance for Increasing the French Population

German League for the Preservation of the People

Migration

Modernism

Max Weber

Henri Matisse

Pablo Picasso

Woodrow Wilson

Ottoman Empire

Sultan Abdulhamid II

Young Turks

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Bosnia

Daily Telegraph Affair

Triple Alliance

Triple Entente

Bosnian Crises

Congress of Berlin

Balkan Wars

Russo-Japanese War

Russian 1905 Revolution

Bloody Sunday

Tsar Nicholas II