Causes of World War I

What We Need to Know First We first need to understand Europe at this time. Europe is a continent loaded with many countries and a lot of these countries have a history filled with disagreements, fights and even wars. Picture it like a small room filled with baseball fans except these baseball fans all like different teams.

Europe in 1914

M.A.I.N. Causes of World War I At this time in Europe tensions were rising for these main causes: Militarism Alliances Imperialism Nationalism

Militarism Militarism is the building up of armed forces and military. Making preparations for war. The European countries at the time were in an active arms race meaning they were trying to build their army as quickly as possible. For example: The British built a massive battleship and Germany quickly responded by building their own battleship. This was the result of many countries promoting militarism. Think of it like a race on a track. You want to win first place so you will run as fast as you can.

Alliances Alliance are agreements or promises made with other countries in order to defend and help each other in case of an attack. A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879 and 1914. These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies declared war first. Think of it like in sports. When one teammate gets into a scuffle with another opposing teammate, both teammates get back up from the rest of their team. Take a look at the Alliances Chart on the next slide. There are a lot of alliances and its quite confusing with how many there are!

Alliances Chart 1879 The Dual Alliance Germany and Austria-Hungary made an alliance to protect themselves from Russia 1881 Austro-Serbian Alliance Austria-Hungary made an alliance with Serbia to stop Russia gaining control of Serbia 1882 The Triple Alliance Germany and Austria- Hungary made an alliance with Italy to stop Italy from taking sides with Russia 1914 Triple Entente (no separate peace) Britain, Russia and France agreed not to sign for peace separately. 1894 Franco-Russian Alliance Russia formed an alliance with France to protect herself against Germany and Austria-Hungary 1907 Triple Entente This was made between Russia, France and Britain to counter the increasing threat from Germany. 1907 Anglo-Russian Entente This was an agreement between Britain and Russia 1904 Entente Cordiale This was an agreement, but not a formal alliance, between France and Britain.

Imperialism Imperialism is the policy of a country to extend their authority over other countries using economic, political, and military means. By the year 1900 Britain, France and Germany controlled many territories around the world. This caused tension. This happened with the impact of the Industrial Revolution. Many countries used the innovations of the Industrial Revolution to increase in imperialism in order to become richer and have greater influence. Think of it like a tug-of-war match. You are trying to pull things in your direction in order to win.

Nationalism Nationalism is having pride in your own country or ethnic origin, and willing to defend it to death. Europe, as we learned, was always exposed to war. The loser of a war usually lost land or territory. This loss of land and territory would make a lot of countries angry at other countries because they felt their pride was being taken away. Imagine you own a nice big yard with lots of rich, green grass. You take great pride in keeping your yard look beautiful. Slowly, your neighbor claims more of that nice lawn and puts up a fence each year. You keep losing more of your property. How would you feel with a neighbor doing that to you?

Any other causes? Yes! A big one! An assassination took place! An assassination is when a person of high importance is murdered.

Short Term Cause of World War I The Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. You may be asking “Who is that?!?!” Let’s take a look…

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand Part I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E6e8BW0l-E Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_tNXFbx0VY Part III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC_26YXMZd4 Important Follow Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQpBZU2L2Dg

Gun powder and one fuse Think of it like this… The tension of all the M.A.I.N. causes. The fuse to ignite the bomb would be the short term cause from the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The explosion would be World War I. The war would last from 1914 – 1918 resulting in a changed world.

So what? You may be asking what this has to do with America. It has heavy implications for America because they had allies in Europe who urged them to join the war. But would the United States join the war? We’ll find out soon…