Causes of the First World War Canadian History 30F

militarism  In the early 20 th century there was a massive build up of military arsenals in Europe  The competitive arms race between countries like Great Britain, Germany and Russia led to a dangerous stockpile of weapons  Advances in technology also led to deadlier weapons ex. machine guns, subs

Imperialism  Refers to the British Empire, which stretched ¼ of the globe  Other countries, like Germany, were in competition with Great Britain  Animosity grew as competition increased for global territory

Colonial map of Africa

Nationalism  The growing desire for nationhood was popular in Europe  The Austrian-Hungary empire was home to 50 million ethnic minorities such as Ukrainians, Serbs, and Bosnians and many desired independence  Events in Bosnia and Herzegovina would play a huge role in the outbreak of the war

Military alliances  There were two key alliances that had evolved in Europe  The Triple Entente (Allies) was made up of France, Russia, and Great Britain  The Triple Alliance (Axis) included Austria- Hungary, Germany and Italy  This network of alliances allowed a small conflict to quickly spread into something much larger

Assassination  On June 28 th, 1914 Archduke of Austria- Hungary Franz Ferdinand was shot by a Serbian nationalist  When Aus-Hung declared war on Serbia, Russia came to its defence  When Russia began to mobilize its army Germany immediately declared war on Russia and then on France  When the German army invaded Belgium Britain declared war on Germany (Aug 4), which meant Canada was automatically at war as well

Canada in 1914  Canada PM for the duration of the war was a Conservative imperialist named Robert Borden  Borden pledged there would be no conscription in Canada  Canada’s initial wave of volunteers was 30,000 (within one month of war declaration)  Between unemployment and adventure many were eager to fight

The Western Front

Trench Warfare  After the initial German advance was halted in late 1914, a long period of trench warfare emerged  Soldiers would live in the trenches for two week periods at a time moving from front-line to support-line and to the reserve line  Attempts to advance from trench lines to advance on the enemy would result in thousands of deaths at a time for both sides