World War I

Chapter 19

M.A.I.N.

World War I part 1

It was a time for optimism in Europe in the late 1800’s and 1900’s. Democracy was spreading. Food and jobs were widely available because of the Industrial Revolution.

• Then, in 1914 the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife from Austria Hungary were shot by a man from Serbia.

Next thing you know, it seems like the whole world was marching off to war. This war, World War I, became known as The Great War.

World War I would be fought all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Over 30 nations would fight in World War I. 8½ million people would be killed and over 21 million people would be wounded.

• Four main factors led to the outbreak of World War I in Europe. They were: Nationalism, Militarism, Imperialism, and Alliances.

The first was nationalism – the belief that the interests of a single country were more important than the cooperation among countries. This led to competition. People were united by pride for their nation. They wanted their nation to gain land, money, and power.

The second cause was imperialism. Countries tried to increase the power and influence around the world. This led to conflicts among them.

The nations wanted more colonies. France was also still angry at Germany for taking Alsace and Lorraine after the Franco-Prussian (remember Bismarck and his desire to expand Germany)

Serbia wanted land that was ruled by Austria-Hungary.

The third main cause was militarism. Militarism meant building up armies, navies, and other armed forces. It also meant using them as a tool for negotiating with other countries.

Each nation was building itself up to be stronger than any other. The nations in Europe were building massive armies.

Germany had built the strongest Otto von Bismarck had built them up in the 1800’s, but Wilhelm II made them even stronger Germany had built a strong Navy as well. This posed a threat to Britain.

Military technology had advanced as well. New ships and weapons had helped to strengthen nations.

A fourth cause for war was that many countries had made alliances with one another. These alliances had started after Prussia’s war with France (the one that helped Bismarck unite Germany). Germany had decided to make France pay for the whole war.

Bismarck did not want France to build up another strong economy so he decided to cripple their economy. Bismarck felt that it would be a good idea to find some strong allies to help keep Germany unified.

Austria-Hungary wanted Germany’s support so that they could expand into the Balkan region of Eastern Europe. Russia wanted Germany’s support to do the same thing. Then Russia got into a war with Turkey over who was going to control the Baltic region.

England threatened to go to war on the side of the Turks. Austria-Hungary was mad at the Russians for fighting over the land that they wanted for themselves. Bismarck decided to hold a European meeting to fix the problem. In 1878, a meeting called The Congress of Berlin was held to solve the issue.

The result of the meeting was that Austria-Hungary was given parts of the Balkans while the Russians did not receive anything. The Russians were not very pleased.

Bismarck realized that he now had both France and Russia mad at him. For support, he turned to Austria-Hungary. In 1879 they agreed to a treaty that became known as the Dual Alliance.

The last important treaty for Bismarck is known as the Triple Alliance. This treaty was made between Germany, Austria Hungary, and Italy. Italy was worried that France was trying to move in on the territories which it controlled in North Africa. Bismarck saw the chance to isolate France, feeling that the British would not want to side with them due to their history with one another.

The Russians were furious over the situation. They went to the French and British for support. The three of them decided to make an alliance with each other, this became known as the Triple Entente.

Together, these factors created anger and tension between nations in Europe.

So now the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, and Italy were in the Triple Alliance. And the French, English, and Russians were in the Triple Entente. “The battle lines were drawn, the teams set, and only a small spark was required to start a possible war.”•From: http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/history20/unit1/sec1_09.html