2.2A GP background (slides)

Question 1

Who were in the Triple Entente?

Answer 1

Great Britain
France
Russia

Question 2

Who were the Triple Entente’s allies?

Answer 2

Portugal
Belgium
Romania
Serbia

Question 3

Who were in the Triple Alliance?

Answer 3

Germany
Austria-Hungary
Italy

Question 4

Who were the Triple Alliance’s allies?

Answer 4

Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria

Question 5

What caused the Great Powers to expand their territory?

Answer 5

Industrialization

Question 6

France’s background

Answer 6

• Unhappy about Germany recently becoming a Great Power (France is an old gen Great Power)
• awkward relations w/ Great Britain and Germany due to competing with eachother to colonize Africa
• Strong military, but weaker than Germany’s
• Wanted to fight Germany, but knew it was too weak

Question 7

Germany background

Answer 7

• A new country that was united after the Franco-Prussian war in 1870
• Due to being new, it had a way smaller empire
• Despite that, it had a strong economy that was threatening to Great Britain and France
• Had the strongest military in all of Europe, and was competing with other Great Powers in terms of naval power
• Wants more space, ideally from Russia

Question 8

Germany background slide 2

Answer 8

• Strongest military in Europe. After Prussia’s victory in the
  Franco-Prussian War in 1870, in which Prussian army entered and
  marched over Paris, Bismarck announced the creation of the
  German Empire and excluded Austria-Hungary solely in this
  unified Germany.
• Leader Kaiser Wilhelm II (cousins with leader of GB King
  George V and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia) was one of the most
  recognizable public figures of World War I (1914-18).
• Wilhelm did not actively seek war but his verbal outbursts and his
  open enjoyment of the title of Supreme War Lord helped bolster
  the case of those who blamed him for the conflict.

Question 9

Russia background

Answer 9

• Really really big and cold and lots of people
• Soldiers were not well equipped
• Social unrest was starting to show across Russia, and there were
  whisperings of an impending revolution, potentially to remove the
  leader Tsar Nicholas II
• Wanted control of the Dardanelles (strait that links the Black Sea to
  the Mediterranean), currently controlled by the Ottoman Empire

Question 10

Austro-Hungarian Empire background

Answer 10

• One of the oldest continental empires in Europe
• Many different backgrounds within the empire and the strength is
  declining as each group desire independence
• Serbia is attempting to unite all ethnic Serbs, including those who
  live within the empire. This would take away the empire’s land
• Military is strong, but not compared to Great Britain, France, and
  Germany
• They really want to regain control of their empire

Question 11

Great Britain background

Answer 11

• Superpower for over 100 years (colonies on every
  continent)
• Strong Navy “Two Power Standard” (must be ahead by the second two best times 2)
• Desire to keep and protect colonies
• Parliamentary democracy & constitutional
  monarchy
• Doesn’t like to get involved with European
  affairs, unless absolutely necessary