Homework - Test on Friday
Post War Problems – Non-Question (do not write an answer to this - but, it many be useful for studying for test) – How did the war shatter the optimism of the Age of Progress and
cast doubt upon the liberal belief in a rational world?
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
December 17, 2013
Homework - Finish reading the note packet.
Question # 6 - Post War Conflicts – Fredrick Wilhelm Heinz, a World War One veteran and later Nazi Party leader said of the end of the war, “People told us the war was over. That was a laugh. We ourselves are the war: Its flame burns strongly in us.” How did soldiers returning home from the war fuel wars of “national self-determination” that raged after the official peace?
Answer - Main Point – The war caused four empires that covered Eastern Europe and the Middle East to collapse. In the wake of the war, people in these regions began to reorganize countries based on nationalism. However, in many of these places there were intermixed populations and it was difficult to clearly draw national borders. Across this region (and in Ireland) soldiers who fought in the war became engaged in fighting to establish new countries and governments.
Question # 6 - Post War Conflicts – Fredrick Wilhelm Heinz, a World War One veteran and later Nazi Party leader said of the end of the war, “People told us the war was over. That was a laugh. We ourselves are the war: Its flame burns strongly in us.” How did soldiers returning home from the war fuel wars of “national self-determination” that raged after the official peace?
Answer - Main Point – The war caused four empires that covered Eastern Europe and the Middle East to collapse. In the wake of the war, people in these regions began to reorganize countries based on nationalism. However, in many of these places there were intermixed populations and it was difficult to clearly draw national borders. Across this region (and in Ireland) soldiers who fought in the war became engaged in fighting to establish new countries and governments.
· Many soldiers from these regions returned home after the war with weapons and experience – ready to fight for independence.
· Poles fought Germans, Ukrainians and Soviets to establish a Polish nation, Turks fought Greeks for control of Western Turkey, and the Irish fought British for independence
Friday, December 13, 2013
December 13 & 16, 2013
Homework - Read up to "New and Unresolved Problems".
Question 5 - Woodrow Wilson wrote his Fourteen Points to be the template for designing a post-war peace but then, as a result of the negotiations at Paris Peace Conference, agreed to the Treaty of Versialles. Was it correct for the Germans to blame Wilson for the conditions of the Treaty of Versialles or was it the best they could expect given the situation?
Question 5 - Woodrow Wilson wrote his Fourteen Points to be the template for designing a post-war peace but then, as a result of the negotiations at Paris Peace Conference, agreed to the Treaty of Versialles. Was it correct for the Germans to blame Wilson for the conditions of the Treaty of Versialles or was it the best they could expect given the situation?
Thursday, December 12, 2013
December 12, 2013
Homework - Read up to "Division of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empires"
Question # 4 - Why did the process of Total War mean that the war only ended with the collapse of the home fronts of the belligerant countries?
Question # 4 - Why did the process of Total War mean that the war only ended with the collapse of the home fronts of the belligerant countries?
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
December 10 & 11, 2013
Homework - Read up to the section "Treaty of Versailles".
Question # 3 - Total War – Historian Jay Winter has described the development of Total War as, "The nature of that kind of war opens up the whole issue of whether this conflict began in a 19th Century fashion with a degree of understanding about what the limits of violence were, and, slowly but surely – 1915 is a critical moment – those limits were pushed and pushed and pushed until they didn't exist anymore. So that by the end of 1915, you could say that everyone in each combatant country was at risk. No one was safe. Everyone was a target.” How did the process of Total War expand the scope of the war until “Everyone was a target” - killing civilians was considered a legitemate action in war?
Question # 3 - Total War – Historian Jay Winter has described the development of Total War as, "The nature of that kind of war opens up the whole issue of whether this conflict began in a 19th Century fashion with a degree of understanding about what the limits of violence were, and, slowly but surely – 1915 is a critical moment – those limits were pushed and pushed and pushed until they didn't exist anymore. So that by the end of 1915, you could say that everyone in each combatant country was at risk. No one was safe. Everyone was a target.” How did the process of Total War expand the scope of the war until “Everyone was a target” - killing civilians was considered a legitemate action in war?
Monday, December 9, 2013
December 9, 2013
Homework - Read up to "United States Enters World War One"
Question # 2 - How was the horror of the fighting on the Western Front the result of "total war" between evenly matched industrial powers focused on a small geographic area?
Question # 2 - How was the horror of the fighting on the Western Front the result of "total war" between evenly matched industrial powers focused on a small geographic area?
Thursday, December 5, 2013
December 5, 2013
Homework - Read in the notes up to "The War at Sea" (the quiz will be on this reading). In addition, read the excerpt from the Graphic novel "War of the Trenches" and look at the two linked articles on the graphic novel "The Great War" (both are linked on the class web page)
Question # 1 - Europe before World War One – Bismarck was quoted as saying, “If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.” How did Bismarck’s actions as Chancellor of Germany contribute to a situation where “some damned silly thing in the Balkans” could trigger a world war?” (Hint: you should also go back and look at the notes on the unification of Germany)
Question # 1 - Europe before World War One – Bismarck was quoted as saying, “If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.” How did Bismarck’s actions as Chancellor of Germany contribute to a situation where “some damned silly thing in the Balkans” could trigger a world war?” (Hint: you should also go back and look at the notes on the unification of Germany)
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