HIST 121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: War Communism, Trench Warfare, Totalitarianism
Document Summary
Intro: crisis and the beginning of the 20th century. Crystal palace, advent of science and philosophy, etc. , time of the turn of the century was a very optimistic one full of hope and progress, science and reason. World war 1 shatters it: world war 1 and world crisis, heder spawned nationalism-> imperialism and folk tales which swept germany and inspired many small countries to wish for independence. Sarajevo, june 28, 1914: the modern, industrial war. Machine gun and artillery significant changes allowed certain nations to dominate other countries, becomes tragic when used in war against each other. Trench warfare resulted in extended slaughter of stalemates. Battle of the somme, 1916, horrific losses on both sides for no real gain: the home front, mobilization: conscription and the war machine. First war where large scale conscription was used and necessary. Free market capitalism and liberal economic policies more restricted than any time previously in ww1 war economies.
