World war I – Lesson 1 WWI Begins pgs. 270-273
1. conscription Military draft this was a regular practice of most countries, armies doubled in size between 1890&1914. Russia’s army was the largest with 1.3 million men….France and Germany had about 900,000…Britain, Italy, and A-H had between 2500,00- 500,00 soldiers.
2. militarism aggressive preparations for war Militarism was growing, as armies grew so did the influence of military leaders. They drew up plans for quickly mobilizing soldiers & weapons in the event of war.
3. Triple Alliance and Triple Entente Triple Alliance – Germany, A-H, Italy Triple Entente – France, GB, Russia these alliances intensified the dangers of militarism
4. Serbia In 1914 they were supported by Russia and wanted to be an independent Slavic State A-H had Slavic minorities to deal with and was determined to prevent Serbia from being independent.
5. Archduke Francis Ferdinand Heir to the A-H throne (Hapsburgs) On June 28 1914 FF and his wife were in Sarajevo Bosnia…they were assassinated as Bosnian terrorists wanted Bosnia to free from A-H and part of a Serbian kingdom.
6. Gavrilo Princip 19 yr old, Bosnian Serb – member of Black Hand group Terrorist who successfully assassinated FF & wife (an attempt earlier in the day failed)
7. Germany’s ‘blank’ check to A-H German promise of full unconditional support if war broke out between Russia and A-H A-H leaders were worried that Russia would support Serbia if war broke out so they asked for and received the backing from their German allies.
8. mobilization The process of assembling troops and supplies for war Czar Nicholas II ordered a partial mobilization of Russian troops against A-H but mobilization was considered an act of war, there could be no partial mobilization. Russia had to move to attack both Germany and A-H.
9. Schlieffen Plan German military plan for a two front war drawn up by General Alfred Schlieffen Germany would put a holding action on Russia while they carried out a rapid invasion of France. GB (allied w/R&F) declared war on Germany for invading neutral Belgium.
Alliances Video link