Learning Objective To understand why the naval race increased tension between Germany and Britain. To understand why the assassination of Franz Ferdinand led to the start of World War One.

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand Watch the clip and note down 12 factsthe clip

Serbia to take full responsibility for the murder. Austria claimed that the conspirators confessed to the murders being planned with Serbian approval and weapons. The right to police 'anti-Austrian' groups within Serbia. The right to prosecute these and other conspirators in Austrian courts. The terms were more severe than Serbia could possibly accept, and Austria-Hungary must have known this. To allow Austrian police into Serbia would challenge Serbia's right to rule itself, making it in effect a territory of Austria-Hungary. Serbia was given only 48 hours to decide on whether to accept the ultimatum. Refusal certainly meant war. After seeking Russian advice, Serbia refused to accept the parts of the ultimatum that allowed Austrian troops or police into Serbia. It asked that other powers like France and Germany help resolve this disagreement. Austria-Hungary refused to accept this and declared war.

The Schlieffen Plan Overview In 1914, Germany believed war with Russia was extremely likely. If war broke out, Germany assumed France would also attack as she was both an ally of Russia and keen for revenge for her defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. If this happened, Germany would face a war on two fronts. Germany wanted to avoid this at all costs. Germany planned to defeat France rapidly and then turn to the eastern front for a major offensive on Russia. This was the basis for the Schlieffen Plan.

Von Schlieffen Background The Germany Army Chief of Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen was asked to plan a way of preventing a war on two fronts. His initial plan was produced late in He believed that it was a priority to defeat France quickly, forcing them to surrender before Russia had a chance to mobilize her armed forces. In full knowledge of French defences, Schlieffen proposed attacking France through Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg – the Benelux countries. Schlieffen planned to use 90% of German military forces to deliver a knock out blow to France. The remaining 10% would defend the eastern border of Germany against Russian attack. Von Molkte Von Molkte replaced Von Schlieffen in 1906, and made some alterations to the plan. His version avoided invading Holland, instead concentrating attack through Belgium. According to Von Molke, the Belgium army would be unable to resist a powerful German military, and German forces would rapidly enter France.

Von Schlieffen- Assumptions 1.Russia would take at least 6 weeks to mobilise. 2.France would be easily defeated in 6 weeks. 3.Belgium would not resist any German attack. 4.Britain would remain neutral.

Von Schlieffen- The Reality On 2nd August 1914, the German army invaded Luxembourg and Belgium according to the Schlieffen Plan. The Germans were held up by the Belgium army, backed up by the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) which arrived extremely quickly. Russia mobilised in just 10 days and Germany was forced to withdraw troops from the Schlieffen Plan to defend her eastern border. Germany did not take the chance to take Paris, instead decided to attack east of the capital. They were met by French at the battle of the Marne (5-11 Sept) which halted the German advance.

Short term causes of WWI Write a conversation between two or three Welsh people. The conversation is to last two minutes and is to be asking and answering the question what made Britain join the First World War on 4 th August 1914?