Hist 4C/Marcuse, L10 overlay

Music: Richard Wagner, Immolation of Brunhild (1875)

In what ways was World War I a watershed?

1. Origins
   1. Politics: a paradigm shift
      • Germany: From Bismarck (1815-1898)
        to Wilhelm II (1859-1941)
        • goals, nature, mobilization
   2. Ideology / Attitudes
      • national pride: France, Germany, Britain
        • racism
        • lack of imagination
   3. Economics
      • "primacy of domestic policy" (Fritz Fischer)
   4. International alliance system
      • 5: GB, Fr., Russia; Germ., Aust.-Hung.; It.
   5. Short term events
      • Coincidence, "Brinkmanship"
        • war enthusiasm ("spin")

1. Break
   • 2 announcements: White Rose, lecture courtesy
   • 2 poems: Oct. 1914, Oct. 1917
   • 2 videos: 1994 documentary, 1981 reenactment
2. Course of War
   • Western Front
     • Schlieffen Plan
     • trench warfare
     • new technologies:
       machine gun, submarine, poison gas, tank, aerial
     • US entry into war (Apr. 1917); Zimmermann telegr.
   • Eastern Front
     • Hindenburg (1847-1934), Ludendorf (1865-1937)
     • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Dec. 1917-Feb. 1918)
       Ukraine, Poland, Baltic states, Finland
   • "Home Front" and "Total War" (Ypern)