1. World War I: 1914-1918 The Great War

2. Austro-Hungarian Empire
I. Europe Before the War
Russian Empire
German Empire
Great Britain
Austro-Hungarian Empire
France
Balkans

3. II. Optimism Before the War
Scientific and technological advances
Economic prosperity
belief that the world had become too “civilized” for war

4. II. Why The Great War Began
Imperialism – competition for colonial empires fueled rivalry
Example: Moroccan crisis between Germany and France
Nationalism – Ethnic groups wanted nations of their own (especially in Austria-Hungary).
Example: Slavic people in the Balkan “powder keg”
Serbia was an independent Slavic nation and wanted other Slavs to join them in a new nation-state. The area had several wars in the early 1900s, trying to achieve this aim.

5. II. Why the Great War Began
Militarism – “glorification of military strength”
Each nation tried to get a bigger army or navy than the other (arms race)
Alliance System – leaders of nations promised to aid one another in case of attack
Central Powers/Triple Alliance – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire
Allied Powers/Triple Entente – Great Britain, France, Russia

6. III. The Spark
Wow.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia (in the Balkans) by a Serbian nationalist
Austria declares war on Serbia. Russia had to honor its alliance with Serbia.
Alliance system kicks in, and soon everyone is at war. Nations enter with excitement; believe the war will be short.

7. IV. Schlieffen Plan Germany’s War Plan The Reality:
Massive attack to quickly defeat France
Then focus on Russia in the East
The Reality:
Attacks bog down (Battle of the Marne)
Both sides build trenches and realize the war will not be short
Trench Warfare begins

8. Roots of War

9. War of Attrition/ Total War
New method of warfare based on new weapons
ALL human/natural resources poured into war
Whoever ran out of these things first would lose
Colonies taken advantage of, for extraction of human/natural resources
Colonial peoples used in labor roles at the Western Front

10. Trench Life