The Causes of World War One The MAIN

The Causes of World War One

The MAIN Causes of WW 1 n. Militarism - settle problems ! War is a good way to n. Alliances - Agree to protect friends , no matter what! n. Imperialism - Get more land! n. Nationalism-We want control over our nation , we want a country!

Background Fact 1 : France and Germany hated each other! When Germany became united country in 1870 -1, France went to war to try to stop it … but got WHOOPED! Fact 2: World War I was partially about the place of Germany in Europe

Background Fact 3 (cont. ) FACT 3: France lost some land in 1870 -1 to Germany. The French never forgave the Germans for taking their land They wanted REVENGE.

Germany in the Middle Germany’s BIG problem was that it was IN THE MIDDLE OF FRANCE AND RUSSIA! That made them feel VULNERABLE to attack.

Alliances Three Emperors’ League, 1881 In the 1800 s Germany’s leader, Bismarck, solved this problem by making friends with RUSSIA and AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

Alliances Triple Alliance, 1882 Then Bismarck made an alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary (the TRIPLE ALLIANCE, 1882). Together with his friendship with Russia, this kept Germany safe.

Alliances Germany encircled PROBLEM! Germany gets a new leader (Kaiser Wilhelm) and Germany brakes the alliance with Russia

Alliances Franco-Russian Alliance, 1892 Instead, in 1892, Russia made an alliance with FRANCE. Although it was only a DEFENSIVE alliance, it was Germany’s worst nightmare!

Alliances Triple Entente, 1907 • In 1907 Russia joined Britain and France to make the Triple Entente • So by 1914 Europe had divided into two massive superpower blocs. People thought this BALANCE OF POWER would keep the peace.

Alliances The Balkans But Russia was also allied to Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. When trouble erupted in the Balkans in 1914, the nations found their alliances dragged them into war…

Militarism �Germany was competing with the UK to build battleships. �The British feared an attack on their Empire- so they spend more on the military

Militarism Increase in Spending There was a four-fold increase in defence spending of the great powers, 1870 -1914.

Militarism Attitude towards war Militarism is also about government's attitude - seeing war as a good foreign policy. (GERMANY was especially militaristic. )

Militarism Armies GERMANY, worried because it was in-between France and Russia, built up the largest land army. The German army was accepted as being the biggest and the best in the world.

Militarism Armies This Russian postcard of 1914 shows Russia (symbolised by a woman) nailing the German eagle to a pillory after a war. But other countries built up their land armies too – in 1914, the fastest growing army was that of RUSSIA. This worried GERMANY a lot.

Militarism Armies As well as their STANDING ARMIES, the nations introduced CONSCRIPTION, so they also had large numbers of trained RESERVES. All the nations except Britain had HUGE armies.

Militarism INDUSTRIALISM Increased factories and mechanization allowed nations to build weapons at a rapid pace. European nations stockpiled massive amounts of weapons which meant that there would always be a supply of artillery.

Militarism Navies Both BRITAIN and GERMANY started building Dreadnoughts – the most advanced class of warship in the world. The Dreadnought essentially reduced everybody else’s number of warships to zero.

Militarism Effects MILITARISM was tied in to both NATIONALISM and IMPERIALISM. It increased SUSPICION and HATRED of other nations - and it gave the nations the ABILITY to wage war.

Imperialism �All the great powers were competing for colonies / territory. �The British feared Germany in Africa. �The Austrians feared Serbia / Russia in the Balkans

Imperialism This British postcard interprets Kaiser Wilhelm’s statement about wanting ‘a place in the sun’ – it shows him making everybody in the world bow down to him. In 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm said that GERMANY wanted ‘a place in the sun’ – they wanted an empire as big as Britain’s. This TERRIFIED the British.

Imperialism • One of the major reasons for bad relations amongst the nations of Europe in the years before 1914 was that they were engaged in a struggle to obtain overseas colonies. • Although this happened in several areas of the world, the most dramatic changes took place in Africa. Many nations took part in what became known as the “Scramble for Africa”.

Imperialism �This map shows Africa in 1914 and shows how much land the major nations had taken over.

Nationalism �This was an age when many nations wanted to assert their power and independence. �In Europe- a nation of people known as “Slavs”, wanted to be free of Austrian rule. �Serbia and Russia helped the Slavs Serbia’s national flag

The spark that lit the fuse…. �The one event that started the Great War happened in the Balkans. �The Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Austria) was assassinated while visiting Serbia. �The Black Hand (A nationalist group in Serbia) was responsible….

1. The Trigger- The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Gavrillo Princip

The Dominos Fall � Austrian Ultimatum to Serbia � Serbian Rejection and Russian Guarantee of Support � Austria-Hungary invades Serbia � Russia mobilizes to threaten Austria-Hungary � Germany mobilizes to threaten Russia � Germany declares war on Russia but… � Germany declares war on France