The War to End All Wars Write down anything that’s underlined World War One The War to End All Wars Write down anything that’s underlined

“The First World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict.” The War to End All Wars “The First World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict.” Unnecessary because it could have been avoided The war was tragic because it ended the lives of millions of people Largest German military cemetery; 40, 000 men

Cause and Effect History is often a story of cause and effect – events trigger other events and then things happen! WWI is a perfect example: July 1914, very few saw this war coming Lurking in the background, powerful forces were bringing Europe towards the greatest bloodbath the world had ever seen

The M.A.I.N. Causes of WWI By the early 1900’s the great powers of Europe were on a collision course Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia were in a race to become more powerful

Militarism Alliances Imperialism Nationalism M.A.I.N. The Bomb of Europe! The four M.A.I.N. causes of World War One were: Militarism Alliances Imperialism Nationalism M.A.I.N.

Imperialism One way European powers tried to become stronger was by building Empires This meant they had control over colonies outside Europe around the world Colonies supplied cheap raw materials like minerals and lumber for factories in the homeland Also provided a place to sell finished goods

A World of Empires, 1914

Empires of the World, 1914

Imperialism This ideology says that it’s natural for one country to dominate another using military force and make them part of a larger empire Britain and France already had large Empires in Africa and Asia Germany was the newcomer to the game and felt she was being denied her proper place and should get more

Europe 1914

Asia, 1914

Imperialism and Conflict Countries like France and Britain made lots of money from their empires so they were not willing to ‘make room’ for Germany Protecting imperial interests led to building larger armies and navies and created a lot of tension in Europe

Alliances European powers feared attack from their rivals in Europe To protect themselves they formed military alliances – agreements to cooperate Britain, France and Russia were allies in the Triple Entente Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the Triple Alliance Members of both alliances agreed that an attack on one ally would be treated as an attack on them all!

1914, Russian poster that reads “agreement” Britain (left) and France (right) look to Mother Russia to lead them in the coming war

European Alliances, 1914 Triple Alliance – Red Triple Entente – Grey

Militarism Militarism is when the military is seen as a very important part of a country’s strength It’s also a belief that using your military is a good thing to do Because the European powers feared attack from their neighbours they began to strengthen their militaries

Militarism and the Arms Race Believing strong militaries was important led to an arms race in Europe After Britain built the HMS Dreadnaught the Germans began building their own massive battleships – the Bismark All European countries had forced military service creating huge standing armies ready to fight By 1914, Europe was armed to the teeth with the largest military force the world had ever seen

HMS Dreadnaught

Nationalism Belief that your country is superior to all others and that you must be 100% loyal at all times Fighting to defend your nation was a noble thing This gave people a sense of national pride

Nationalism on a Smaller Scale Smaller countries like Serbia also felt a strong sense of nationalism They wanted to be left alone by Austria-Hungary This geographic region, called the Balkans had seen years of conflict before 1914 (WWI) Russia wanted to protect Serbia from Austria-Hungary in the same way a big brother wants to protect his little brother

Serbia feeling the squeeze!

The Spark June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife were shot and killed while visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of Austria-Hungary but neighbouring Serbia wanted to take it over

Brotherly Love Many Serbian nationalists – people who felt strongly about their homeland – believed they shared strong religious, cultural and ethnic ties with the people of Russia The assassin who killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife belonged to the Serbian nationalist group, The Black Hand Austria-Hungary used the assassination as an excuse to invade Serbia

The Dominoes Begin to Fall… When Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia Russia honoured an agreement with Serbia and came to their defense Germany then backed its ally, Austria-Hungary While Britain and France backed their ally, Russia Just over a month after the assassination all of Europe was at war