Director

The First World War

Exploring World History
Series Editors John McNeill, Georgetown University Jerry Bentley, University of Hawai`i As the world grows ever more closely linked, students and general readers alike are appreciating the need to become internationally aware. World history offers the crucial connection to understanding past global links and how they influence the present. Theseries will expand that awareness by offering clear, concise supplemental texts for the undergraduate classroom as well as trade books that advance world history scholarship. The series will be open to books taking a thematic approach—exploring commodities such as sugar, cotton, and petroleum; technologies; diseases; and the like; or regional—for example, Islam in Southeast Asia or east Africa, theIndian Ocean, or the Ottoman Empire. The series sees regions not simply as fixed geographical entities but as evolving spatial frameworks that have reflected and shaped the movement of people, ideas, goods, capital, institutions, and information. Thus, regional books would move beyond traditional borders to consider the flows that have characterized the global system. Edited by two of the leadinghistorians in the field, this series will work to synthesize world history for students, engage general readers, and expand the boundaries for scholars. The First World War: A Concise Global History by William Kelleher Storey Insatiable Appetite: The United States and the Ecological Degradation of the Tropical World by Richard P. Tucker Smuggling: Contraband and Corruption in World History by AlanL. Karras

The First World War
A Concise Global History

William Kelleher Storey

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2009 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. First paperback edition 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in areview. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available The hardback edition of this book was previously cataloged by the Library of Congress as follows: Storey, William Kelleher. The First World War : a concise global history / by William Kelleher Storey. p. cm. — (Exploring world history) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. World War, 1914–1918. 2. World War,1914–1918—Environmental aspects. 3. World War, 1914–1918—Technology. I. Title. D523.S745 2009 940.3—dc22 2009015229 ISBN 978-0-7425-4145-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-4146-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-6724-5 (electronic)

™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed LibraryMaterials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America

For Robin W. Kilson (1953–2009), humanista semper oppugnans bella imperiaque. “Qua tibi lucem arte morer?” Virgil, Aeneid, XII.873–4.

Contents

Maps Preface Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Introduction Environment, Technology, and the Origins of War Empires at High Tide and Low Tide The German Question Planning for War TheNaval Arms Race The Crisis of 1914 Chapter 3 Optimism, 1914–1916 The War in Western Europe, 1914–1915 The War in Eastern and Southern Europe, 1914–1915 War in Africa, 1914–1916 War at Sea, 1914–1916 War in the Middle East, 1914–1916 Chapter 4 Intensification, 1916–1917 The Big Offensives of 1916 The Arts of War

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Contents...