1. Causes of The Great War (WWI)

2. Long Term Causes: France
> France loses to Germany in the Franco- Prussian (Germany) war
-Germany gains land from France because of the war
-France wants revenge on Germany
- However, France’s army is not big enough—Need an alliance!
Alliance-defense agreement among nations
-1907-> Triple entente between France, Russia, and Britain is formed
Entente- understanding between nations (shaking hands on it)

3. Long Term Causes: Britain
1839-> Britain makes a treaty with Belgium
-Treaty-a formal agreement between countries (a contract)
- Germany starts to occupy colonies in Africa and in the Pacific
- This is a problem because Britain has colonies in Africa and the Pacific!!!
> Naval arms race between Britain and Germany

4. Long Term Causes: Germany
-1871-> Germany became unified and took some land from France Germany refused to give it back
> Naval arms race with Britain
-Germany is worried about France and Russia attacking them
-Schleiffen Plan-> travel through Belgium, attack and defeat France quickly, then go to Russia to fight

5. Long Term Causes: Austria-Hungary
-1885-> Austria Hungary occupies Bosnia
- Austria Hungary wants to occupy Serbia
-However, Russia is closely tied to Serbia
-So, Austria Hungary gets an alliance with Germany so that they (Austria Hungary) can gain control of Serbia.

6. Long Term Causes: Russia and Serbia
> Russia wants to gain more influence in the Balkans (specifically Serbia)
-Russia is dedicated to protecting Serbia (Russia and Serbia=Best friends)
-Serbia wants a part of Austria Hungary (Specifically Bosnia)

7. Short Term Causes
- Serbia wants to take Bosnia from Austria Hungary
- June 28th, 1914-> an 18 year old Serbian assassinates the Arch Duke of Austria Hungary (Arch Duke Ferdinand)
- July 28th, 1914-> Austria Hungary declares war on Serbia
- The domino effect begins….

9. Overall Causes
- Imperialism- Growing your nation by gaining more colonies
-Nationalism- Intense loyalty or pride for your country
-Militarism- Building up your countries army and navy to rival those of other nations
 created the need for alliances
 Armies were built up
 Nations looked for new types of technology to create superior armies