1. WWI BACKGROUND ESSAY
VOCAB

2. WHY DO THE CAUSES OF WWI MATTER?

3. REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR
Our nation is attacked

4. REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR
A nation with who we have a mutual alliance is attacked

5. REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR
Our president is assassinated by a terrorist from an unfriendly country

6. REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR
Our President tells us that a country is planning an imminent attack on us

7. REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR
A country has just had a fundamentalist revolution and is sending fighters into a oil-producing nation in the region

8. REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR
An unfriendly nation has just tested a nuclear weapon in violation of a sign UN agreement

9. REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR
A US naval vessel is sunk in a foreign harbor by government agents from that country

10. Answers to Background Essay Questions
1. What is meant by the phrase "In 1900 Europeans believed the world was their oyster"?
Europe believed they were free to use the world in any way they pleased.

11. Answers to Background Essay Questions
2. World War I lasted four years. What were the war years?

12. Answers to Background Essay Questions
The population of Chicago is about 3,000,000. How does that compare to the total number of dead and wounded in World War I? (Give your answer as a fraction.)
It is about one tenth (1/10, derived from 3,000,000/30,000,000

13. Answers to Background Essay Questions
4. Why might a balance of power prevent war?
With power about even, neither side could expect easy victory.

14. Answers to Background Essay Questions
5. Otto von Bismarck once said that a great war might someday be caused by “Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans:' Was he right? Explain.
Yes. The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand that triggered World War I occurred in the Balkan country of Serbia.

15. Answers to Background Essay Questions
How did the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary lead to war between Russia and Germany?
Austria was, of course, angry at Serbia and wanted an apology. Serbia, fearing trouble, got a promise of help from Russia. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia came to Serbia's aid. Germany then came to Austria's aid. Russia and Germany were at war.

16. BALANCE OF POWER
Distribution of power where no nation can dominate another

17. ENTENTE
An agreement between two or more governments

18. BALKANS
ABOUT 10 COUNTRIES LOCATED ON THE Balkan peninsula between Italy and Turkey, including Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece

19. NATIONALISM
Love and devotion to one’s own country based on shared history and culture

20. Usually relating to a racial or cultural group
ETHNIC
Usually relating to a racial or cultural group

21. SPARK Event that triggers a larger event
ASSASSINATION OF FRANZ FERDINAND