ww1

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Teddy Roosevelt Runs Again

Installment #29: August 7, 1912, was a busy day in one of the most complicated presidential elections in U.S. history. The election of 1912 would see not two, not three, but four presidential candidates face off in a fierce, but genteel, contest that divided the country along class and geographic lines. In fact, the first divisions occurred within the political parties.... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Britain and France Team Up (Sort Of)

Installment #28: The rise of German power on land and at sea in the first years of the 20th century forced Britain and France, rivals since the medieval period, to put aside their differences to contain the growing German threat. This was a huge change for Britain, which had previously emphasized its “splendid isolation” from the Continent of Europe by avoiding long-term, formal commitments to France or any other European power.... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Russia Promises to Attack Germany

Installment #27: Beginning in 1910, the general staffs of France and Russia, allied since 1894, held regular talks once a year, alternating between Paris and St. Petersburg, to coordinate their military strategies in case of war with Germany. In June-July 1912, members of the Russian general staff, led by General Yakov Grigorievich Zhililnsky, made the several weeks’ journey to Paris to discuss strategy with the French general staff, led by General Joseph Joffre, in a meeting covering both land and naval... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Imagining the Demise of France

Installment #26: One of the big questions facing historians of the First World War is the role played by popular nationalism in the outbreak of hostilities. While conventional historical wisdom has stated that “most” ordinary Europeans embraced nationalist ideals, and that national rivalries and hatreds therefore contributed to the outbreak of war, revisionist historians have questioned that assumption, pointing out that there is actually little evidence what most ordinary people thought.... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Confusion Reigns in Constantinople

Installment #25: Turkish fortunes took a sharp turn for the worse in 1911-1912, as the ailing multinational Ottoman Empire was first attacked by Italy, then assailed by an Albanian uprising, while the members of the Balkan League plotted to liberate their ethnic kinsmen under Turkish rule (and grab big chunks of land). Suffering reverses on all fronts, it’s no surprise that the ruling party, the Committee of Union and Progress – better known as the “Young Turks” – started looking around for a scapegoat.... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Carving up the Ottoman Empire

Installment #24: In the first half of 1912, the small Christian kingdoms of the Balkan Peninsula began plotting an attack on their former oppressor, the weak, declining Ottoman Empire. In March the main conspirators, Bulgaria and Serbia, signed a treaty of alliance in which they agreed to divide up the Ottoman territory of Macedonia, followed in May by a military convention where both countries promised to provide 200,000 soldiers for the joint attack on the Turks... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: With Friends Like These...

Installment #23: In the 19th century, European statesmen came to share an amoral (some would say cynical) view of geopolitics, in which international relations were based solely on the size and strength of rival players and their perceived self-interest, and diplomacy and warfare operated on a Darwinian principle of merciless, unrelenting competition. Ironically, however, this system of realpolitik actually served to keep some weaker players alive simply because their enemies couldn’t agree how to divide... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Even Bigger Battleships

Installment #22: The naval arms race between Britain and Germany (along with smaller naval arms races between other European powers) was precipitated by a new ship, the HMS Dreadnought, which revolutionized naval weaponry. Her size, armor, and firepower essentially made every other ship in the world obsolete when she entered service in 1906. In fact, “dreadnought” soon became shorthand for any battleship built along similar specifications, as well as a unit of measure for comparing naval strength... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Breaking Up DuPont

Installment #21: The turn of the century was a time of upheaval in the American economy, as powerful corporations formed during the latter half of the 19th century came under fire from populist politicians who accused them of conspiring with each other to gouge American consumers. In its struggle against monopolies and trusts, the government was armed, somewhat dubiously, with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act passed by Congress in 1890, which banned anti-competitive cooperation... READ ON

WWI Centennial

World War I Centennial: Mounting Machine Guns on Airplanes

Installment #20: Of all the new weapons systems coming on line in the years leading up to the Great War, the newest – and most open-ended – was the airplane. The airplane’s potential military applications seemed endless, but it still faced legions of skeptics and any number of technical issues before it could become a useful part of the modern arsenal.... READ ON