CAUSES OF WORLD WAR 1 SEVERAL DIFFERENT CAUSES BROUGHT WORLD WAR 1 ABOUT, THOUGH IT CAUGHT MOST BY SURPRISE –NATIONALISM –CHANGES TO THE POWER STRUCTURE OF EUROPE –ARMS RACE –ALLIANCE SYSTEM –REGIONAL TENSIONS –IMPERIAL AMBITIONS CANADIANS AT THE SOMME 1916

NATIONALISM –NATIONALISM’S APPEAL GREW WITH THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE 19 TH CENTURY –NEW COUNTRIES SUCCESSFULLY ASSERTED THEIR INDEPENDENCE, (ITALY, GERMANY), OR STRIVED TO ACHIEVE IT, (SERBIA) –NEWLY FORMED GERMANY WANTED TO ACHIEVE THE IMPERIAL STATUS SHE FELT SHE DESERVED –SERBIA STRUGGLED TO ASSERT HER INDEPENDENCE AND CREATE A SOUTH SLAV FEDERATION CHANGES TO THE POWER STRUCTURE OF EUROPE –AN ECONOMICALLY STRONG GERMANY CHALLENGED THE ASSUMPTIONS OF THE OLD POWERS –THE DECLINE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (‘THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE’), LEFT A VACCUM IN THE BALKANS TO BE FILLED BY RUSSIA OR AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

ARMS RACE –BRITAIN DEVELOPS THE NEW AND SUPERIOR HMS DREADNOUGHT –THIS SHIP MAKES OLDER VESSELS OBSOLETE AND A RACE BEGINS BETWEEN BRITAIN (TRADITIONAL RULER OF THE SEA), AND GERMANY (NEWLY MODERNIZED), TO PRODUCE THE MOST BATTLESHIPS ALLIANCE SYSTEM –TRIPLE ENTENTE BRITAIN, FRANCE AND RUSSIA –TRIPLE ALLIANCE GERMANY, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND ITALY –THE SYSTEM OF ALLIANCES ENSURED THAT ANY SINGLE CONFLICT WOULD INVOLVE ALL THE POWERS OF EUROPE

REGIONAL TENSIONS AND IMPERIAL AMBITIONS –ITALY, DEFEATED BY ETHOPIA, DEMANDED RECOGNITION AS A MEDITERANEAN POWER, ARGUED WITH FRANCE OVER TUNISIA –BRITAIN AND GERMANY MAINTAINED BOTH A NAVAL ARMS RACE AND COMMERCIAL COMPETITION –RUSSIA, DEFEATED BY JAPAN, OPPOSED AUSTRIA- HUNGARY OVER REPLACING THE OTTOMANS (TURKEY) AS THE MAJOR POWER IN THE BALKANS

OUTBREAK OF THE WAR –DURING A TOUR OF SARAJEVO, SERBIA, ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND, HEIR TO THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN THRONE WAS ASSINATED ON 28 JUNE 1914 –ARGUING THAT THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT WAS IMPLICATED, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY DELIVERED AN ULTIMATUM TO SERBIA WHICH WOULD HAVE EFFECTIVELY ELIMINATED SERBIA’S INDEPENDENCE –AUSTRIA-HUNGARY EXPECTED SERBIA TO REJECT THE ULTIMATUM, GIVING HER REASON TO LAUNCH A LIMITED WAR AGAINST SERBIA –SERBIA’S RESPONSE (WHICH MET MOST POINTS OF THE ULTIMATUM), WAS UNSATISFACTORY TO AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, WHO DECLARED WAR ON SERBIA ON 28 JULY 1914 –RUSSIA, IN A TREATY WITH SERBIA, ANNOUNCED MOBILISATION OF ITS LARGE ARMY, A PROCESS EXPECTED TO TAKE 6 WEEKS ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MEMORIZE THIS MATERIAL

OUTBREAK OF THE WAR (CONTINUED) –GERMANY, ALLIED TO AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, VIEWED RUSSIA’S MOBILIZATION AS AN ACT OF WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA- HUNGARY AND DECLARED WAR ON RUSSIA ON 1 AUGUST 1914 –FRANCE, BOUND BY TREATY TO RUSSIA, DECLARED WAR AGAINST GERMANY ON 3 AUGUST 1914, GERMANY RESPONDED BY INVADING NEUTRAL BELGIUM –BRITAIN, ONLY LOOSELY TIED TO FRANCE BY TREATY, HONOURS A 75 YEAR OLD PACT WITH BELGIUM AND DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY ON 4 AUGUST 1914 – (WITH BRITAIN COME THE DOMINIONS INCLUDING CANADA) –THE UNITED STATES DECLARES A POLICY OF NEUTRALITY ON 4 AUGUST 1914 –JAPAN, ABIDING BY A TREATY WITH BRITAIN, DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY ON 23 AUGUST 1914 –ITALY, DECIDING THAT GERMANY AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY ARE ENGAGED IN AN OFFENSIVE WAR, ARGUES THAT SHE IS NOT BOUND BY TREATY AND REMAINS NEUTRAL UNTIL MAY 1915 YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MEMORIZE THIS MATERIAL