2.3A how the war started (slides)

Question 1

Alliances & how they caused the war

Answer 1

• Agreements between nations to provide aid and protect one another
• The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was counterbalanced by the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Great Britain.
• As a result, by 1907 Europe was divided into two armed and rather fearful camps.

Question 2

Militarism & how it caused the war

Answer 2

• There was an arms race among nations to see who could create more weapons of mass destruction
• Desire to create a large amount of weapons as well as build up a nation’s army and navy
• A surplus of weapons means that eventually someone will want to use them

Question 3

Imperialism & how it caused the war

Answer 3

• Virtually all the major powers were engaged in a scramble for empire
• Biggest competition was between Britain and Germany and
  between France and Germany (especially in Africa)
• Great Britain, Germany and France needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution.
• In the Middle East, the crumbling Ottoman Empire was alluring to Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia.

Question 4

Nationalism & how it caused the war

Answer 4

• Nationalism – extreme pride in one’s country
• The French Revolution had spread nationalism throughout most of Europe
• The idea that people with the same ethnic origins, language, and political ideals had the right to form sovereign states through the process of self-determination
• Leads to ideas of expansion and control over ‘inferior’ nations

Question 5

what was the chain reaction that caused the war?

Answer 5

1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sent its crown prince,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, to Bosnia’s capital Sarajevo.

His visit gave the Black Hand (a terrorist group of Bosnian Serbs) the opportunity to attack the Austro-Hungarian Empire whom they viewed as an invader.

As the Archduke’s procession made its way through the city, a Black Hand member, Gavrilo Princip, shot and killed Archduke Ferdinand and his wife setting off a chain reaction that would ultimately lead to World War I.