Unit 8a: WWI & Russian Revolution

Before World War I began, most Europeans were confident about their science and technology, but militarism, imperialism, and nationalism caused a series of crises that culminated in World War I and ushered in an age of anxiety. Industrialized warfare led to the need for new military strategies and caused massive loss of life (Key Concept 4.4.I). On the home front, nationalistic fervor and the need for total war gave way to economic stresses. As the stalemate continued and war spread, protest and revolution changed the balance of power in Europe. After the war ended, a sense of despair replaced the belief in continuing progress (Key Concepts 4.3.I, 4.3.II). The League of Nations was created to deter war but had little power to act. The conflicting goals of the Great Powers and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles caused economic collapse, which contributed to the Great Depression and political problems for Germany's Weimar Republic (Key Concepts 4.1.II, 4.2.III). With the emergence of the United States as a global power and the end of European empires, Europe's relationship to the world was greatly changed (Key Concept 4.1.I).

In Russia the stresses of World War I combined with outmoded political, economic, and social institutions to cause a takeover by Lenin's Bolsheviks. The Russian Revolution instituted a new Marxist-influenced government and the New Economic Policy (Key Concept 4.2.I).

Source: Western Civilization, Spielvogel, pg. 757

Key Concepts

4.1.I: World War I, caused by a complex interaction of long- and short-term factors, resulted in immense losses and disruptions for both victors and vanquished.
- A. A variety of factors—including nationalism, military plans, the alliance system, and imperial competition—turned a regional dispute in the Balkans into World War I.
- B. New technologies confounded traditional military strategies and led to trench warfare and massive troop losses..
- C. The effects of military stalemate, national mobilization, and total war led to protest and insurrection in the belligerent nations and eventually to revolutions that changed the international balance of power.
- D. The war in Europe quickly spread to non-European theaters, transforming the war into a global conflict.
- E. The relationship of Europe to the world shifted significantly with the globalization of the conflict, the emergence of the United States as a world power, and the overthrow of European empires.
4.1.II: The conflicting goals of the peace negotiators in Paris pitted diplomatic idealism against the desire to punish Germany, producing a settlement that satisfied few.
- A. Wilsonian idealism clashed with postwar realities in both the victorious and the defeated states. Democratic successor states emerged from former empires and eventually succumbed to significant political, economic, and diplomatic crises.
- B. The League of Nations, created to prevent future wars, was weakened from the outset by the nonparticipation of major powers, including the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union.
- C. The Versailles settlement, particularly its provisions on the assignment of guilt and reparations for the war, hindered the German Weimar Republic’s ability to establish a stable and legitimate political and economic system
4.2.I: The Russian Revolution created a regime based on Marxist–Leninist theory.
- A. In Russia, World War I exacerbated long-term problems of political stagnation, social inequality, incomplete industrialization, and food and land distribution, all while creating support for revolutionary change.
- B. Military and worker insurrections, aided by the revived Soviets, undermined the Provisional Government and set the stage for Lenin’s long-planned Bolshevik Revolution and establishment of a communist state.
- C. The Bolshevik takeover prompted a protracted civil war between communist forces and their opponents, who were aided by foreign powers.
- D.i. In order to improve economic performance, Lenin compromised communist principles and employed some free-market principles under the New Economic Policy.
- D.ii. After Lenin’s death, Stalin undertook a centralized program of rapid economic modernization, often with severe repercussions for the population.
- E. Stalin’s economic modernization of the Soviet Union came at a high price, including the liquidation of the kulaks (the land-owning peasantry) and other perceived enemies of the state, devastating famine in the Ukraine, purges of political rivals, and, ultimately, the creation of an oppressive political system.

Guiding Questions

What were the long term and short term causes of World War I?
What new technologies or strategies led to massive destruction and loss of life?
How were women both participants in the war effort and affected by the war itself?
Evaluate the conflicting goals of the peace negotiators in Paris and analyze how those goals materialized (or did not materialize) in the Treaty of Versailles.
What terms of the Treaty of Versailles caused economic collapse and political problems for Weimar Germany?
Evaluate the extent to which the Russia Revolution created a regime based on Marxist-Leninist Theory.
What were the major causes of the Russian Revolution? How did it influence the course of World War I?
How did the emergence of the US as a world power change political, economic, and social life in Europe?