🏛️ Flügel History

Chapter 4: World War I, Russian Revolution & Collapse of Imperial Dynasties ​

1. The Causes of World War I (1914–1918) ​

The outbreak of the Great War resulted from structural M-A-I-N tensions:

  • Militarism: Anglo-German naval arms race (Dreadnought battleships).
  • Alliances: Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia) vs. Triple Alliance / Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy/Ottoman).
  • Imperialism: Colonial friction in Africa and the Balkans.
  • Nationalism: Pan-Slavism and ethnic unrest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
  • The Spark (June 28, 1914): Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

World War I Alliance Blocs

2. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) ​

Signed on June 28, 1919, the peace settlement imposed severe terms on Germany:

  • Article 231 (War Guilt Clause): Assigned sole responsibility for the war to Germany and its allies.
  • Reparations: Massive financial indemnity (132 billion gold marks).
  • Territorial Losses: Alsace-Lorraine returned to France; Polish Corridor created; all overseas colonies confiscated.
  • Demilitarization: Rhineland demilitarized; army capped at 100,000 men with no air force or U-boats.
  • League of Nations: Formed on Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, but weakened by US non-entry.

3. The Russian Revolutions of 1917 ​

  • February Revolution (March 1917): Food riots and army mutinies in Petrograd forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, establishing the Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky.
  • October Revolution (November 1917): Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky led the Bolshevik party to seize power under the slogan "Peace, Land, and Bread!", establishing the world's first socialist state.

Check Your Mastery ​

⚡ Concept Quick-CheckTest Your Conceptual Intuition
Which clause of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles explicitly assigned sole moral and legal responsibility for World War I to Germany and its allies?