Road to World War One Arms Race Britain

Road to World War One

Arms Race • Britain and Germany trying to military ‘outmight’ the other and ‘out-colonize’ the other • 1906: Dreadnaught launched • Britain wanted Canada to help by funding the British navy

Militarism • The policy of building up military forces and weaponry and threatening armed aggression • Britain: “ruled the waves” • Germany: most powerful army in Europe • Needed to maintain “balance of power”

End of the Empire • Much of Eastern Europe was dominated by three weak and crumbling Empires: –Russia –Ottoman –Austria-Hungary

Russia • Czar Nicholas II – Russia on the verge of a revolution

Austria-Hungary • Emperor Franz Joseph • Archduke Franz Ferdinand – Heir to the throne

Ottoman Empire - “Sick Man of Europe”

Germany • Kaiser Wilhelm II – Before he died he wanted his “place in the sun” – "It is not by his will that he will unleash a war, but by his weakness. " • King Edward VII writing about his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm II, in 1905.

Congress of Vienna (1815) • After the defeat of Napoleon, major powers worked together in alliance systems to prevent another nation’s hegemony

WWI Alliances • 1914: the great powers of Europe were divided into two alliances • Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy • Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, Russia – Formed because of German threat

Entente Cordiale • Series of mutual defense pacts signed between Britain, Russia and France • Germany knows she is condemned to a two front war

WWI Alliances

Balkan Nationalism • Struggle for control over Balkan peninsula after Turkey loses territories during Balkan wars (1812 -13) • A-H wants Serbia in her

Balkan Nationalism • Russia was anxious to curb A-H’s power, so she supported Serbia • 1908: A-H took advantage of Russia’s weakness (Russo. Japanese War 1904 -05) and annexed Slav territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina (bordering on Serbia)

The spark that ignited “the war to end all wars” • Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated while visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia on 28 June 1914 by the Black Hand (a Serbian nationalist secret society)

Assassination • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=BCTI aii. GB 4 o

Austria-Hungary Reacts • A-H blames Serbia • A-H now has a legitimate reason to take Serbia • However, Russia was obligated to defend Serbia • One thing leads to another…

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The Irony of Alliances

To summarize: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=kfxr. TD-k. Pps