THE ROAD TO WAR The division of Europe into two armed camps

Bismarck’s Germany Bismarck was the Chancellor of Germany He realised that France would want revenge for Alsace-Lorraine He knew France was too weak to fight Germany on it’s own He wanted to make sure that France was unable to make friends with countries close to Germany

The Dual Alliance In I879, Germany signed an ALLIANCE with Austria- Hungary The alliance stated that one country would help the other if they were attacked by another country The 2 countries felt close politically and ethnically

The Triple Alliance In the 1860’s, France had fought to try and stop the unification of Italy By the 1880’s, Italy remained fearful of France To protect itself it joined with Austria- Hungary and Germany in 1882

Franco-Russian Alliance In 1891, Germany refused to renew a friendship treaty with Russia Russia and France both afraid of the Triple Alliance In 1892, France and Russia signed an alliance promising to help each other if there ever was a war France lent money to Russia so it could build factories, weapons and buildings

Britain- the end of isolation Britain did not feel initially threatened by the Triple Alliance Britain even tried to join it but were refused The Boer War showed Britain that Germany was growing in confidence Britain began to look for friends elsewhere

Entente Cordiale By 1904,both Britain and France realised they were more afraid of Germany than each other They signed an ‘entente cordiale’ settling their differences over colonies in Africa and promising to remain friends ‘Entente Cordiale’ means friendly understanding

Triple Entente Encouraged by France, Britain and Russia became closer In 1907, they settled their differences over colonies such as Persia and Afghanistan This agreement became known as the Triple Entente

Two armed camps Europe was now divided into 2 armed camps The Triple Alliance meant that Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy had all promised to help each other in event of war. The Triple Entente committed France and Russia to help each other but only committed Britain to staying friends. Britain was under no obligation to help if war broke out.