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Louis Botha, (born Sept. 27, 1862, near Greytown, Natal [now in South Africa]—died Aug. 27, 1919, Pretoria, S.Af.), soldier and statesman who was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa (1910–19) and a staunch advocate of a policy of reconciliation between Boers and Britons, as well as of limiting the political rights of black South Africans.

The son of a voortrekker (Boer pioneer settler of the interior), he grew up in the Orange Free State, where he received his only formal education at a German mission school. In 1884 he helped to found the New Republic in the Vryheid district in Zululand (now northern KwaZulu-Natal). There he purchased a farm and married Annie Emmett, granddaughter of an Irish patriot. When the New Republic became part of the South African Republic (Transvaal) in 1888, Botha became politically active and held a number of posts before he was elected to the Volksraad (parliament) in 1897. There he sided with the moderates against Pres. Paul Kruger's hostile policy toward the Uitlanders (non-Boer, mostly English, settlers).

Rising tensions between Great Britain and the Boer republics led to the outbreak of the South African War in 1899. Botha rose rapidly in the Boer army to command the southern force besieging Ladysmith. While leading an ambush, he captured an armoured train; Winston Churchill was among the prisoners. When Piet Joubert, the commandant general of the Transvaal forces, died (March 1900), Botha was named to succeed him. Despite his talents as a general, he could not hold back the overwhelming numbers of British reinforcements. After the surrender of a large Boer army at Paardeberg and the fall of Pretoria, Botha organized a guerrilla campaign, but Britain eventually forced him to negotiate. He was one of the signatories at the Peace of Vereeniging (May 31,1902).

After the war, Botha returned to politics and in 1904 helped form a new party in the Transvaal, Het Volk (“The People”). When Het Volk won the Transvaal elections of February 1907, Botha became prime minister. Botha and his colleague Jan Smuts, showing political realism, downplayed the fostering of Afrikaner (Boer) interests and stressed conciliation with Britain. The National Convention of 1910 chose Botha as the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa (precursor to the Republic of South Africa), which amalgamated the British colonies (the Cape and Natal) and the former Boer republics (Orange Free State and the Transvaal) into one political entity. Botha was adamantly opposed to granting political rights (either to vote or eligibility as members of parliament) to black South Africans. He thus played an important role in creating the problems relating to majority political disenfranchisement and minority rule in the 20th-century South Africa.

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While serving as prime minister, Botha established the South African Party in 1911. Botha pursued subtle policies of white (British-Boer) conciliation and greater autonomy for South Africa. The most important measure of his administrations was the Natives' Land Act of 1913, which segregated land throughout the Union, laid down the basis for a system of “native reserves” for black South Africans, and began the policy of “influx controls” to reduce their access to cities. Botha's policy of white conciliation provoked opposition from extremist Afrikaner groups led by J.B.M. Hertzog, who formed the National Party in early 1914. Botha's support for Britain after the start of World War I in 1914 led to further splits among Afrikaners and provoked the rebellion led by Christiaan Rudolf de Wet and C.F. Beyers. One point of contention was the use of South African troops to attack German interests in Africa, including the mobilization against Germans troops in German South West Africa (now Namibia). The German defeat there in 1915 at the hands of a campaign that was personally led by Botha further exacerbated the situation. South African troops were also sent to German East Africa (now Burundi, Rwanda, mainland Tanzania, and part of Mozambique), Egypt, and the Western Front in France. Before his death in 1919, Botha participated in the Paris Peace Conference and advocated leniency for the former enemies.

World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously known as the Great War or "the war to end all wars",[7] it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history.[8][9] It also was one of the deadliest conflicts in history,[10] with an estimated 8.5 million combatant deaths and 13 million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war,[11] while resulting genocides and the related 1918 Spanish flu pandemic caused another 17–100 million deaths worldwide,[12][13] including an estimated 2.64 million Spanish flu deaths in Europe and as many as 675,000 in the United States.[14]

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist and member of the Serbian Black Hand military society, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis.[15][16] In response, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July. Serbias reply failed to satisfy the Austrians, and the two moved to a war footing. A network of interlocking alliances enlarged the crisis from a bilateral issue in the Balkans to one involving most of Europe. By July 1914, the great powers of Europe were divided into two coalitions: the Triple Entente, consisting of France, Russia, and Britain; and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Alliance was only defensive in nature, allowing Italy to stay out of the war until 26 April 1915, when it joined the Allied Powers after its relations with Austria-Hungary deteriorated.[17] Russia felt it necessary to back Serbia, and approved partial mobilisation after Austria-Hungary shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade, which was a few kilometres from the border, on 28 July 1914.[18] Full Russian mobilisation was announced on the evening of 30 July; the following day, Austria-Hungary and Germany did the same, while Germany demanded Russia demobilise within twelve hours.[19] When Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914 in support of Austria-Hungary, the latter following suit on 6 August 1914. France ordered full mobilisation in support of Russia on 2 August 1914.[20] In the end, World War I would see the continent of Europe split into two major opposing alliances; the Allied Powers, primarily composed of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland, the United States, France, the Russian Empire, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and the many aforementioned Balkan States such as Serbia and Montenegro; and the Central Powers, primarily composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

Germanys strategy for a war on two fronts against France and Russia was to rapidly concentrate the bulk of its army in the West to defeat France within 6 weeks, then shift forces to the East before Russia could fully mobilise; this was later known as the Schlieffen Plan.[21] On 2 August, Germany demanded free passage through Belgium, an essential element in achieving a quick victory over France.[22] When this was refused, German forces invaded Belgium on 3 August and declared war on France the same day; the Belgian government invoked the 1839 Treaty of London and, in compliance with its obligations under this treaty, Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August. On 12 August, Britain and France also declared war on Austria-Hungary; on 23 August, Japan sided with Britain, seizing German possessions in China and the Pacific. In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and the Sinai Peninsula. The war was fought in (and drew upon) each powers colonial empire also, spreading the conflict to Africa and across the globe.

The German advance into France was halted at the Battle of the Marne and by the end of 1914, the Western Front settled into a war of attrition, marked by a long series of trench lines that changed little until 1917 (the Eastern Front, by contrast, was marked by much greater exchanges of territory). In 1915, Italy joined the Allied Powers and opened a front in the Alps. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in 1915 and Greece joined the Allies in 1917, expanding the war in the Balkans. The United States initially remained neutral, though even while neutral it became an important supplier of war materiel to the Allies. Eventually, after the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, the declaration by Germany that its navy would resume unrestricted attacks on neutral shipping, and the revelation that Germany was trying to incite Mexico to initiate war against the United States, the U.S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Trained American forces did not begin arriving at the front in large numbers until mid-1918, but the American Expeditionary Force ultimately reached some two million troops.[23]

Though Serbia was defeated in 1915, and Romania joined the Allied Powers in 1916, only to be defeated in 1917, none of the great powers were knocked out of the war until 1918. The 1917 February Revolution in Russia replaced the Monarchy with the Provisional Government, but continuing discontent with the cost of the war led to the October Revolution, the creation of the Soviet Socialist Republic, and the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk by the new government in March 1918, ending Russias involvement in the war. Germany now controlled much of eastern Europe and transferred large numbers of combat troops to the Western Front. Using new tactics, the German March 1918 Offensive was initially successful. The Allies fell back and held. The last of the German reserves were exhausted as 10,000 fresh American troops arrived every day. The Allies drove the Germans back in their Hundred Days Offensive, a continual series of attacks to which the Germans had no countermove.[24] One by one, the Central Powers quit: first Bulgaria (September 29), then the Ottoman Empire (October 31) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (November 3). With its allies defeated, revolution at home, and the military no longer willing to fight, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on 9 November and Germany signed an armistice on 11 November 1918, ending the war.

World War I was a significant turning point in the political, cultural, economic, and social climate of the world. The war and its immediate aftermath sparked numerous revolutions and uprisings. The Big Four (Britain, France, the United States, and Italy) imposed their terms on the defeated powers in a series of treaties agreed at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the most well known being the Treaty of Versailles with Germany.[25] Ultimately, as a result of the war, the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian Empires ceased to exist, and numerous new states were created from their remains. However, despite the conclusive Allied victory (and the creation of the League of Nations during the peace conference, intended to prevent future wars), a second world war followed just over twenty years later.

Contents

1Names

2Background

2.1Political and military alliances

2.2Arms race

2.3Conflicts in the Balkans

3Prelude

3.1Sarajevo assassination

3.2Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

3.3July Crisis

4Progress of the war

4.1Opening hostilities

4.1.1Confusion among the Central Powers

4.1.2Serbian campaign

4.1.3German Offensive in Belgium and France

4.1.4Asia and the Pacific

4.1.5African campaigns

4.1.6Indian support for the Allies

4.2Western Front

4.2.1Trench warfare begins

4.2.2Continuation of trench warfare

4.3Naval war

4.4Southern theatres

4.4.1War in the Balkans

4.4.2Ottoman Empire

4.4.3Italian participation

4.4.4Romanian participation

4.5Eastern Front

4.5.1Initial actions

4.5.2Russian Revolution

4.5.3Czechoslovak Legion

4.6Central Powers peace overtures

4.71917–1918

4.7.1Developments in 1917

4.7.2Ottoman Empire conflict, 1917–1918

4.7.315 August 1917: Peace offer by the Pope

4.7.4Entry of the United States

4.7.5German Spring Offensive of 1918

4.7.6New states enter the war

4.8Allied victory: summer 1918 onwards

4.8.1Hundred Days Offensive

4.8.2Allied advance to the Hindenburg Line

4.8.3German Revolution 1918–1919

4.8.4New German government surrenders

4.8.5Armistices and capitulations

5Aftermath

5.1Formal end of the war

5.2Peace treaties and national boundaries

5.3National identities

5.4Health effects

6Technology

6.1Ground warfare

6.1.1Areas taken in major attacks

6.2Naval

6.3Aviation

7War crimes

7.1Baralong incidents

7.2Torpedoing of HMHS Llandovery Castle

7.3Blockade of Germany

7.4Chemical weapons in warfare

7.5Genocide and ethnic cleansing

7.5.1Ottoman Empire

7.5.2Russian Empire

7.6Rape of Belgium

8Soldiers experiences

8.1Prisoners of war

8.2Military attachés and war correspondents

9Support for the war

10Opposition to the war

11Conscription

11.1Canada

11.2Australia

11.3Britain

11.4United States

11.5Austria-Hungary

12Diplomacy

13Legacy and memory

13.1Historiography

13.2Memorials

13.3Cultural memory

13.4Social trauma

13.5Discontent in Germany and Austria

13.6Economic effects

14See also

15Footnotes

16References

17Bibliography

17.1Sources

17.2Primary sources

17.3Historiography and memory

18Further reading

19External links

19.1Animated maps

19.2Library guides

Names

The term world war was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel, who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and character of the feared European War ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word,"[26] citing a wire service report in The Indianapolis Star on 20 September 1914.

Prior to World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War.[27][28] In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Macleans wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."[29] Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as "the war to end war" or "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its then-unparalleled scale and devastation.[30] After World War II began in 1939, the terms became more standard, with British Empire historians, including Canadians, favouring "The First World War" and Americans "World War I".[31]

Background

Main article: Causes of World War I

Political and military alliances

Map of Europe focusing on Austria-Hungary and marking the central location of ethnic groups in it including Slovaks, Czechs, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Romanians, Ukrainians, Poles.

Rival military coalitions in 1914: Triple Entente in green; Triple Alliance in brown. Only the Triple Alliance was a formal "alliance"; the others listed were informal patterns of support.

For much of the 19th century, the major European powers had tried to maintain a tenuous balance of power among themselves, resulting in a complex network of political and military alliances.[32] The biggest challenges to this were Britains withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation, the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the post-1848 rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War established Prussian hegemony in Germany, while victory over France in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War unified the German states into a German Reich under Prussian leadership. French desire for revenge over the defeat of 1871, known as revanchism, and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine became a principal object of French policy for the next forty years (see French–German enmity).[33]

In 1873, to isolate France and avoid a war on two fronts, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors (German: Dreikaiserbund) between Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. Concerned by Russias victory in the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War and its influence in the Balkans, the League was dissolved in 1878, with Germany and Austria-Hungary subsequently forming the 1879 Dual Alliance; this became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.[34][35]

The practical details of these alliances were limited since their primary purpose was to ensure cooperation between the three Imperial Powers and to isolate France. Attempts by Britain in 1880 to resolve colonial tensions with Russia and diplomatic moves by France led to Bismarck reforming the League in 1881.[36] When the League finally lapsed in 1887, it was replaced by the Reinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary.

In 1890, the new German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, forced Bismarck to retire and was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by the new Chancellor, Leo von Caprivi.[37] This allowed France to counteract the Triple Alliance with the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894 and the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain, while in 1907 Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Convention. The agreements did not constitute formal alliances, but by settling long-standing colonial disputes, they made British entry into any future conflict involving France or Russia a possibility. These interlocking bilateral agreements became known as the Triple Entente.[38] British backing of France against Germany during the Second Moroccan Crisis in 1911 reinforced the Entente between the two countries (and with Russia as well) and increased Anglo-German estrangement, deepening the divisions that would erupt in 1914.[39]

Arms race

SMS Rheinland, a Nassau-class battleship, Germanys first response to the British Dreadnought

The creation of the German Reich following victory in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War led to a massive increase in Germanys economic and industrial strength. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and Wilhelm II, who became Emperor in 1890, sought to use this to create a Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial German Navy to compete with Britains Royal Navy for world naval supremacy.[40] In doing so, he was influenced by US naval strategist Alfred Mahan, who argued possession of a blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz translated his books into German, and Wilhelm made them required reading.[41] However, it was also driven by Wilhelms admiration of the Royal Navy and desire to outdo it.[42]

This resulted in the Anglo-German naval arms race. Yet the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 gave the Royal Navy a technological advantage over its German rival, which they never lost.[40] Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources to creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it. In 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to the Rüstungswende or ‘armaments turning point, when Germany switched expenditure from the navy to the army.[43]

This was driven by Russias recovery from the 1905 Revolution, specifically increased investment post-1908 in railways and infrastructure in its western border regions. Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for fewer numbers; it was concern at the closing of this gap that led to the end of the naval race, rather than a reduction in tension elsewhere. When Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 men in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures taken by the Balkan powers and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are hard to calculate, due to differences in categorising expenditure, while they often omit civilian infrastructure projects with a military use, such as railways. However, from 1908 to 1913, defence spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms.[44]

Conflicts in the Balkans

Photo of large white building with one signs saying "Moritz Schiller" and another in Arabic; in front is a cluster of people looking at poster on the wall.

Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908

In October 1908, Austria-Hungary precipitated the Bosnian crisis of 1908–1909 by officially annexing the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878. This angered the Kingdom of Serbia and its patron, the Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russian Empire. The Balkans came to be known as the "powder keg of Europe".[45] The Italo-Turkish War in 1911–1912 was a significant precursor of World War I as it sparked nationalism in the Balkan states and paved the way for the Balkan Wars.[46]

In 1912 and 1913, the First Balkan War was fought between the Balkan League and the fracturing Ottoman Empire. The resulting Treaty of London further shrank the Ottoman Empire, creating an independent Albanian state while enlarging the territorial holdings of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. When Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913, it sparked the 33-day Second Balkan War, by the end of which it lost most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and Southern Dobruja to Romania, further destabilising the region.[47] The Great Powers were able to keep these Balkan conflicts contained, but the next one would spread throughout Europe and beyond.

Prelude

Sarajevo assassination

Main article: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

This picture is usually associated with the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, although some[48][49] believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, visited the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. A group of six assassins (Cvjetko Popović, Gavrilo Princip, Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Trifko Grabež, and Vaso Čubrilović) from the Yugoslavist group Mlada Bosna, who had been supplied with arms by the Serbian Black Hand, gathered on the street where the Archdukes motorcade was to pass, with the intention of assassinating him. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungarys South Slav provinces, which Austria-Hungary had annexed from the Ottoman Empire, so they could be combined into Yugo.