The Global Spread
Background
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This is a poster that the British had made to help recruit solders from the colonies
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Japan’s Entry
- On August 15th 1914, the Japanese government claimed they wanted to secure firm and enduring peace in Eastern Asia
- They sent an offer to Germany claiming they had to handover the German territory of Jiaozhou to the Japanese without any compromise.
- They also requested that the German navy had to unconditionally withdraw its warships from Japanese and Chinese waters
- The Germans obviously refused the agreement which led the Japanese to enter the war on the side of the allies
- the Japanese took the fortress of Qingdao and took control of the German held Marshall Islands, the Mariana Islands, Palau, and the Carolines
- Authorities from New Zealand and Australia joined the Japanese to control German lands and possessions
- After seizing a lot of land from Germany, Japan had accomplished to bring Allied support and advance their imperial interest within China
- On January 18th 1915, the japanese had handed china 21 demands
- If China were to accept these demands, they would have reduced China to protect Japan
- The most significant demand was that china had to confirm the fact that Japan had seized Shandong from Germany, give Japan industrial monopolies in China, place Japanese people in government position as well as give them control over the police forces restrict the purchases to japanese manufactures, and finally, approve of purchases with the approval of the Japanese government
- China agreed to obey most of the demands but refused to follow others
- These demands had somehow leaked to the British government, which help China because they spoke up for the country to prevent total capitulation
- These demands proved that japan was determined to dominate east Asia and wanted China to be under the pressure of them
- But the small country still had nothing to do with the Great War in Europe
The Chinese acceptance letter to the 21 demands
Africa and Southwest Asia
- The conflict also reflect to the Allies specifically the German colonies in Africa
- Almost all of Sub Saharan Africa consisted of the European colonies and the Germans only controlled four of them
- Because the allied force won the first 3 months of the war, German colonies in Africa was becoming difficult
- Fighting took place on land, sea, and even air!
- because fighting took place in areas like jungles, many allied soldiers and workers caught deadly tropical disease which hindered their ability to fight
- In the end, Germany did not disappear from africa until the armistice took effect
- The most extensive military operation was in southwest Asian territories of the ottoman empire
- Winston Churchill, first lord of the British navy, suggested the idea that the Allies should strike against the ottomans would hurt the Germans detrimentally
- So the British navy conducted an expedition to seize the approach to the dardanelles to open a water supply line go Russia through the Ottoman controlled straits
- However, Turkish troops deployed at the strait at Gallipoli imposed heavy losses on the Allied navies
- After withdrawing the battleships, the british high command decided to lead a combined force of English, Canadian, Australian, and New zealand soldiers on the beach of the Gallipoli peninsula which turned out to be horrible
- Turkish defenders pinned down the troops on the beaches and they were trapped between the sea and the hills
- Despite the loss, the allied leaders took 9 months to admit to their failing
- Unfortunately there were consequences to this loss
- Canadian, Australian, and New zealanders suffered the most deaths
- This led to the the wakening of imperial ties and paved emerging national identity
- But the battle helped launch the political commander of the Turkish division hat defended Gallipoli
- Mustapha kemal played an important role in the creation of the modern Turkish state
The Gallipoli campaign: where the Allies tried to invade Turkey and take over the Gallipoli peninsula
The Ottomans
- Ottomans armies retreated to the fronts due to successfully fending of Allied troops in the beaches of Gallipoli in 1916
- After stopping the Russians in the Caucasus, Turkish troops were unable to defend the empire against the British because they had recruits from Egypt, India, Australia, and New Zealand
- They smashed the Ottomans
- The army received significant support from an Arab revolt against the Turks
- The nomadic bedouin of Arabia and the king of hejaz rose up against turkish rule
- The success of the revolts did help T. E Lawrence of Arabia, a british adventurer, soldiers, and author.
- He began working for British intelligence services as a military advisor among the Arabs in revolts against the Turkish rule, coordinating the attacks
The ottoman empire enters The Great War
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