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Origins of WWI

1. Germany2. Balkans3. Arms Race4. Alliance system

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“Shot heard ‘round the world.” 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Sarajevo, Bosnia

Gavrilo Princip; Black Hand

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Germany

Empire (1871) Industrial growth Leadership

Bismarck Wilhelm II

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Steel Productions of European Powers, 1870-1914 (in million tons)

1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1914

*Germany 0.3 0.7 2.3 6.7 13.8 14.0

Austria-Hungary -- -- 0.5 1.2 2.2 2.7

France 0.3 0.4 0.7 1.6 3.4 3.5

*Great Britain 0.7 1.3 3.6 5.0 5.9 6.5

Russia -- -- 0.4 1.5 3.5 4.1

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Bismarck (1815-98)

Chancellor )1871-90(

German foreign policy

Balance of power in Europe

1879 Dual Alliance

1881 Three Emperors’ League

1882 Triple Alliance

Isolate France

Otto von Bismarck

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“France will have but one thought: to reconstitute her forces, gather her energy…raise her young generation to form an army of the whole people…to become again a great France, the France of 1792, the France of an idea with a sword. Then one day she will be irresistible. Then she will take back Alsace-Lorraine.”

French writer Victor Hugo )1802-85(

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Bismarck (1815-98)

Chancellor )1871-90(

German foreign policy

Balance of power in Europe

1879 Dual Alliance

1881 Three Emperors’ League

1882 Triple Alliance

Isolate France

Otto von Bismarck

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Kaiser Wilhelm II )1888-1918(

Destabilizing factor

Belligerent foreign policy

Forced Bismarck to resign )1890(

Weltpolitik: “world policy”

Allowed alliance with Russia to lapse )1890(

Focused support on Austria-Hungary

War between Aus-Hung & Russ more likely?

Wilhelm in 1897: “Nothing must henceforth be settled in the world without the intervention of Germany and the German Emperor.”

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“The Emperor is like a balloon; if one did not hold him fast on a string, he would go no one knows whither” - Bismarck

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Balkans

Ottoman Empire (1299-1922)Pan-SlavismSerbia (1878)Austria-HungaryRussia

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Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867-1918

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Balkans

Ottoman Empire (1299-1922)Pan-SlavismSerbia (1878)Austria-HungaryRussia

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Arms Race )militarism(

Germany

Britain

Dreadnought )1906(

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Alliances

1879 Dual Alliance

1882 Triple Alliance

1894 Franco-Russian alliance• ended French isolation

1904 Entente Cordiale

1907 Triple Entente

Bismarck's nightmare

‘

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Europe c. 1907

Europe: two allied camps

Balkans: unstable area – forces of nationalism

Austria-Hungary & Russia: struggle for influence in Balkans

Germany & Austria-Hungary: strong relationship