Europe in the World Wars (1914–1945)
The European twentieth century is dominated by two catastrophic global conflicts. The First World War (1914–1918) killed about 20 million people and destroyed four empires; the Second World War (1939–1945) killed perhaps 70–85 million, ushered in the atomic age, and ended European global dominance.
Warfare that mobilises all of a nation's resources — economic, demographic, scientific and ideological — and that recognises few or no distinctions between military and civilian targets. The First World War pioneered total war on industrial lines; the Second perfected it.
Origins of the First World War
The "long fuse" of 1914 had multiple strands:
- Alliance system — Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, 1882) vs Triple Entente (France-Russia 1894, with Britain via 1904 Entente Cordiale and 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention).
- Naval race — Germany's Tirpitz Plan and the HMS Dreadnought (1906) revolution.
- Imperial rivalries — Moroccan crises (1905, 1911); the Scramble for Africa.
- Balkan instability — Bosnia annexation (1908); Balkan Wars (1912–13).
- Nationalism — Pan-Slavism, German militarism, irredentist movements.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip of the Black Hand triggered a chain of ultimata and mobilisations. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (28 July); Germany on Russia (1 August) and France (3 August); Britain on Germany (4 August).
The Great War (1914–1918)
The war unfolded on multiple fronts:
| Front | Period | Key feature |
|---|---|---|
| Western Front | 1914–1918 | Trench stalemate from late 1914 |
| Eastern Front | 1914–1917 | Mobile warfare; Russia exits 1917 |
| Italian Front | 1915–1918 | Isonzo–Caporetto–Vittorio Veneto |
| Middle Eastern | 1914–1918 | Gallipoli; Arab Revolt; Allenby in Palestine |
| Naval | 1914–1918 | Jutland 1916; U-boat blockade |
| Colonial | 1914–1918 | German East Africa under Lettow-Vorbeck |
Major Western Front battles
- First Marne (Sept 1914) — French and BEF halt the Schlieffen advance.
- Verdun (21 Feb – 18 Dec 1916) — about 700,000 casualties.
- Somme (1 July – 18 Nov 1916) — first day costs the BEF 57,470 casualties (19,240 killed).
- Passchendaele / Third Ypres (Jul–Nov 1917).
- Spring Offensives / Hundred Days (Mar–Nov 1918) — Allied breakthrough.
Russia, the USA, and the end
The Russian Revolution of March 1917 (Tsar abdicates) and the Bolshevik Revolution of 7 November 1917 (25 October Old Style) led to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918), ceding huge territories to Germany. The United States entered the war on 6 April 1917 after German unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram. Armistice was signed at Compiègne at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918.
The Versailles Settlement
The Paris Peace Conference (Jan 1919) was dominated by the "Big Four": Woodrow Wilson (USA), David Lloyd George (UK), Georges Clemenceau (France), Vittorio Orlando (Italy).
Five treaties were signed:
| Treaty | Date | With |
|---|---|---|
| Versailles | 28 June 1919 | Germany |
| Saint-Germain | 10 Sep 1919 | Austria |
| Neuilly | 27 Nov 1919 | Bulgaria |
| Trianon | 4 June 1920 | Hungary |
| Sèvres (replaced by Lausanne 1923) | 10 Aug 1920 | Ottoman Empire |
The Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany:
- War Guilt Clause (Article 231) — sole responsibility for the war.
- Reparations ultimately fixed at 132 billion gold marks (1921 London Schedule).
- Loss of Alsace-Lorraine to France, of all colonies, of the Polish Corridor.
- Army limited to 100,000 men; no air force; demilitarised Rhineland.
- League of Nations established at Geneva (10 January 1920) — but the US Senate refused to ratify; the USA never joined.
Interwar Europe (1919–1939)
The 1920s brought hyperinflation in Weimar Germany (peak 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar, Nov 1923) and brief stabilisation under the Dawes Plan (1924) and Locarno Treaties (1925). The Wall Street Crash (29 October 1929) plunged Europe into the Great Depression.
Rise of dictatorships
| Dictator | Country | Came to power |
|---|---|---|
| Mussolini | Italy | March on Rome, 28–30 October 1922 |
| Stalin | USSR | Consolidated 1924–28 |
| Hitler | Germany | Chancellor, 30 January 1933 |
| Franco | Spain | Civil War 1936–39; ruler 1939–75 |
| Salazar | Portugal | 1932–1968 |
Hitler's regime annexed Austria (Anschluss, 12 March 1938), took the Sudetenland (Munich Agreement, 30 September 1938), and dismembered Czechoslovakia (March 1939). The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939 with Stalin cleared the way for the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939.
- 28 June 1914 — Assassination of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo.
- 11 November 1918 — Armistice ends WWI.
- 28 June 1919 — Treaty of Versailles.
- 1922 — Mussolini's March on Rome.
- 1933 — Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
- 1 September 1939 — German invasion of Poland.
- 22 June 1941 — Operation Barbarossa.
- 6 June 1944 — D-Day Normandy landings.
- 8 May 1945 — VE Day; Germany surrenders.
The Second World War in Europe (1939–1945)
The war fell into three phases:
1. German ascendancy (1939–1941)
- Sept 1939 — Poland conquered in 35 days; partitioned between Germany and the USSR.
- April–June 1940 — Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, France conquered.
- 27 May – 4 June 1940 — Dunkirk evacuation.
- 22 June 1940 — French armistice at Compiègne.
- Jul–Oct 1940 — Battle of Britain; the Luftwaffe defeated.
- 22 June 1941 — Operation Barbarossa: Germany invades the USSR.
- 7 December 1941 — Pearl Harbor; USA enters the war.
2. Stalingrad and El Alamein (1942–1943)
- Nov 1942 — Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad; Paulus's 6th Army surrenders 2 February 1943.
- Oct–Nov 1942 — Montgomery's victory at El Alamein.
- 8 Nov 1942 — Operation Torch; Anglo-American landings in North Africa.
- 5 July – 23 Aug 1943 — Battle of Kursk, largest tank battle in history.
- Sept 1943 — Italian armistice; Mussolini deposed July 1943.
3. Liberation and victory (1944–1945)
- 6 June 1944 — D-Day Normandy landings under Eisenhower.
- Aug 1944 — Paris liberated.
- Dec 1944 – Jan 1945 — Battle of the Bulge.
- April 1945 — Soviet capture of Berlin; Hitler suicide 30 April 1945.
- 8 May 1945 — Germany surrenders unconditionally (VE Day).
- 6 and 9 August 1945 — Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- 2 September 1945 — Japan surrenders (VJ Day).
The Holocaust
Nazi Germany's industrialised genocide of European Jewry — the Shoah / Holocaust — was decided at the Wannsee Conference (20 January 1942) and executed at extermination camps including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek. Roughly six million Jews and millions of Roma, Soviet POWs, Polish civilians, disabled persons and political prisoners were killed. The Nuremberg Trials (1945–46) prosecuted Nazi leaders for crimes against humanity.
For FPSC, memorise three turning points of WWII: Stalingrad (Eastern Front, winter 1942–43), Midway (Pacific, June 1942) and El Alamein (North Africa, autumn 1942). Pair them with D-Day 1944 (Western Front).
Aftermath
The wars destroyed four European empires in 1918 (Romanov, Habsburg, Hohenzollern, Ottoman) and shattered the European powers' global hegemony in 1945. The United Nations Charter was signed at San Francisco on 26 June 1945; the Truman Doctrine (1947) and Marshall Plan (1948) brought American leadership; the Iron Curtain divided Europe. The dual experience of total war and totalitarian dictatorship produced the impulses that built the modern welfare state, the European Communities, and the human-rights regime of the post-1945 world.