Causes Of WW1 Flashcards
Background information on British empire….
In 1914, British empire largest in world
World superpower
German Kaiser wanted empire too, in order to become most powerful nation in world
Naval arms race
- 1906 HMS dreadnought
- fastest + most powerful ship in navy
- Germany built its own dreadnought
- two navies became equal
- Britain built another and so did Germany -> naval arms race
- competition to create strongest army resulted in a lot of tension between 🇩🇪 and 🇬🇧
Russia & Austria - Hungary & the Balkans
- Russia wanted to be influential in Balkans so they could get their ships through Black Sea
- > Balkans (Serbia + Eastern Europe) shared similar religion + culture so could be cultural allies as well
- Austria Hungary worried that Serbia would be encouraged by Russia, and cause break up of Austria Hungary empire
France and Germany over Alsace- Lorraine
- 1870 🇩🇪 took over provinces of Alsace Lorraine, after winning war against France
- french ashamed of losing crucial territory
- France determined to win back Alsace Lorraine + president began to build big army (3 mil)
- Germany started building their own army, (4 mil)
- Race to have strongest army
Who was in the triple alliance
🇩🇪
Austria Hungary 🇦🇹 🇭🇺
And later, 🇮🇹
Who was in the triple entente
Russia 🇷🇺
Britain 🇬🇧
France 🇫🇷
Why, in the years before 1914, did some countries in Europe form alliances
- 🇬🇧 ,🇩🇪, 🇷🇺, (🇦🇹 🇭🇺 ) and 🇮🇹 formed alliances -> increasing tensions between some of nations caused them to fear attacks from one another
- alliances provided SOME SENSE of security for powers in question, cos if one country was attacked the others would defend them
Triple Alliance
Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy
- agreed to support each other if attacked by either France or Russia
Triple Entente
France threatened by alliance
Britain concerned by growth in German navy
1904 - Entente Cordiale (cooperation over perceived threat of Germany)
Russia, fearing growth in German army, joined Britain + France to from Triple entente
Russia promised to help Serbia if attacked by triple alliance
Did Alliance System make Europe safer or more dangerous?
- some protection, but also meant that if a country was attacked, allies would get involved
- allies of attacker could also get involved, causing an originally local conflict to escalate into a global one
- only worked to intimidate opposition from waging war on more vulnerable nations
- if war broke out alliance system would increase number of countries involved and lead to more bloodshed
Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand = heir to throne of Austria Hungary
- decided to come on royal visit to Bosnia
What happened
Gavrilo Princip, third assassin, shot FF and his wife
June 28
Austria Hungary furious and with Germany’s support declared war on Serbia a month later
Black Hand Gang wanted to drive out Austria Hungarians and make Bosnia part of Serbia
What happened after the assassination?
Germany declared war on Russia, Serbia’s ally and invaded France via Belgium, which then caused Britain to declare war on Germany
What was the Schlieffen plan
German war plan to avoid war on two fronts with France and Russia, travelling at high speed through Belgium
After defeating France, German army would then turn east and attack Russia
1.
Germans knew that France had its army stationed by the border
Germans assumed that Russia would take longer to mobilise army than France, so attacked France first, passing through Belgium + NL and attacking from behind
2.
After defeating France in six weeks, German army would attack Russia and defeat their army
3.
Uk would not get involved or they would have mobilised army too late
When was schlieffen plan created
1905, but not employed (and the creator had died !) until 1914
Why was the plan created?
- to prevent war on two fronts
- German fear caused by being encircled by triple entente
Why did the Schlieffen plan fail
- assumed that Germany would defeat France in 6 weeks (which it didn’t)
- Russian mobilisation came more quickly than expected (didn’t take the six weeks assumed) and so invaded Germany before they could defeat France
Germany had to send soldiers to the eastern front, weakening its attack against France - assumed that Britain would not get involved
What were the consequences of the failure of the Schlieffen plan?
- Germans would have to fight war on 2 fronts, reducing chance of victory
- Germans dug trenches to defend captured territory
- > led to establishment of western front and the stalemate there
Why did the schlieffen plan make war more likely in Europe
- depended on speed to be successful, no time fro negotiating peace treaties
- Germany HAD to win war against France before Russia attacked
The Russian army would take 6 weeks to mobilise
- wrong
- within 2 weeks Russia started invading Germany
- had to take some soldiers from western front (France) to fight Russia, weakening their army and Schlieffen Plan
Belgium would be quickly overrun
Belgium fought back + so it took much longer to get through
— many forts built in city of Liege and these took a while to capture
- they did get through Belgium it just took longer than they had hoped
Britain would not fight to help Belgium
Yes they did, sent 120,000 soldiers, vs 3-4 million German soldiers
Didn’t defeat Germany, but slowed them down
The Germans would reach Paris in three weeks
Didn’t happen
Had been slowed down and lost men, attacked Paris from the front and not from behind
This allowed french army to block Germany’s way to Paris, as the French could get to Paris quicker than the Germans
Ruined the plan
What happened at the Battle of the Marne?
- French stopping Germans from reaching Paris
- about 1 million people on both sides, lasted a week
The French won and stopped Germans from taking Paris
September 1914
What was the Race to the sea
Germans wanted to capture ports in France, like Calais and Dunkirk, so that Brit soldiers couldn’t come to France
Germans failed, and the British got to ports first
