The Causes of World War I

Causes of the Great War – M.A.I.N. The four long-term causes: Militarism Alliances Imperialism Nationalism The immediate cause, or “spark”: Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Militarism An arms race was taking place between Germany and Great Britain. Germany was competing with Great Britain to build the biggest and most powerful battleships. The British feared an attack on their Empire.

Militarism Germany, Russia and France were also competing with each other to expand their armies.

Alliances Triple Alliance = Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. 1882: The Triple Alliance Germany and Austria-Hungary make an alliance with Italy to stop Italy taking sides with Russia.

Alliances Triple Entente = France, Russia and Great Britain. 1907: The Triple Entente This alliance between Britain, France and Russia was made because of worsening relations between Germany and Russia and Germany and Britain.

Imperialism All the great powers were competing for colonies / territory. Germany was jealous of Britain’s Empire and Britain’s control of the seas. The British feared Germany would expand in Africa. The Austrians feared Serbia / Russia would interfere in the Balkans.

Imperialism By the late 1800’s, Britain was the world’s largest imperialist power.

Serbia’s national flag Nationalism This was an age when all nations wanted to show off their power and independence. In Europe, Slavs aided by Serbia and Russia wanted to be free of Austro-Hungarian rule. Serbia’s national flag

The First Shots Fired THE SPARK By 1914, tensions were high in Europe; yet, no one saw a full-scale war on the horizon. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, were travelling in a parade in Sarajevo. Future king and queen of Austria-Hungary. Sarajevo (a city in Bosnia) was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Most wanted Bosnia to no longer be part of the AH Empire, and they were willing to fight to achieve this freedom. The Black Hand: a terrorist group opposed to AH rule.

Assassination As Franz Ferdinand and Sophia travelled in their unguarded motorcade, they were unaware of the Black Hand presence. A bomb was thrown into their car, but Ferdinand threw it out (blew up the car behind them). The parade route was quickly changed, but no one informed the driver in the confusion. A wrong turn was made, and as the cars slowed to turn around, Gavrilo Princip (Black Hand) broke forward and fired two shots. The royal couple were fatally wounded (died on route to the hospital).

Causes of the Great War The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was the spark that set all of Europe on fire.