conflict and tension part 1/3- causes of first world war Flashcards
strengths in the Triple Alliance
formed in 1882
Germany-
2,200,000 soldiers
powerful empire after winning war against France in 1871
took Alsace-Lorraine from France
second most powerful navy
Austrian Hungary-
very large empire
Italy-
allied with Germany and Austrian Hungary to become Central Powers
strengths in triple entente
formed in 1907
Britain-
empire with 46 million population, 390 million population overseas and 27km of overseas colonies
most powerful navy in the world
France-
1.8 million soldiers
strong navy; 46 battleships and 73 submarines
Russia-
167 million population
3,400,000 soldiers
largest power due to population and land size
1905 Moroccan Crisis
1904- Britain and France agreed on Entente Cordiale where Britain would help France take over Morocco.
Spain and Italy had no objections but Germany did, Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Tangier to pledge support to Sultan Abdelaziz
KW acted this way to test how far they could be pushed, whether they would declare war on Germany
to test the Entente Cordial to see how strong it was
And to demonstrate Germany fully intended on becoming fully involved in world affairs and was interested in expanding their empire.
Algerciras Conference in January 1906 held to settle conflict, all major European nations and USA attended
Germany was humiliated as only Austria-Hungary supported them, France gained special rights in Morocco by gaining foothold by being given joint control of police, although not allowed to colonise it
Britain and Russia stood firm with France and Kaiser understood Entente Cordiale was serious
Triple Entente formed 1907
1911 Moroccan Crisis
rebellion against Sultans ruling in Fez
French sent 20,000 soldiers to fight the rebels and Germany saw it as an invasion so they sent warship ‘Panther’ to Agadir to show strength
Britain felt threatened as they had a port in Gibralta
solved by meetings as Britain and France stood firm against Kaiser and he backed down and was ordered to leave Agadir, French able to colonise Morocco and Germany given land in Central Africa to compensate
wider impacts of 1911 Moroccan Crisis
Germany humiliated again and unlikely to back down again
German people suppoted Kaiser when he began to talk of war
Britain convinced Germany was a threat to European peace and began to build more battleships
Britain and France grew closer, secret agreement that French warships would patrol Mediterranean and British would patrol north coast of France
Italy not supported Germany and weakened relationship of Triple Alliance
Balkans Crisis 1908
Turkish Empire weak- known as sick man of Europe as countries rebelled against Turkish rule
Austrian Hungary wanted to increase influence in Balkans to squash independence movement of Serbian Slavs encouraging those in AH to rebel
Russia wanted more influence in Balkans to gain land in coastal areas, make trade easier and in times of war they had access to Med from Black Sea
1908- AH took advantage of a rebellion in Turkey and annexed Bosnia, ruled by Turkey, Serbia was angered and asked Russia for support, which they agreed to due to strong cultural links
Serbia was angry as AH took a fellow slav nation so Russia called for an international conference
Germany unhappy of AH actions but supported them as they supported them during Moroccan Crisis
Russia had to either fight both AH and Germany to support Serbia or back down, which they did as there weren’t strong enough to take on both
Impacts on 1908 Balkans Crisis
Most people in Bosnia resented AH rule and wanted to join with Serbia
Secret societies in Serbia and Bosnia formed, mainly to get rid of AH and were prepared to use violence
Russia forced to back down against Germany, which wouldn’t happen again so they built more weapons
AH felt it now had full support from Germany strengthening relationship, Italy unhappy with AH expansion and weakened Triple Alliance
aims of Weltpolitik
jealous of cousins in Britain and Russia and wanted to become a political power
wanted to match Britain’s naval power
led to
- Anglo-German naval race
-Moroccan Crisis
-Germany becoming a threat to European peace
Splendid Isolation
Britain was isolated from all alliances as felt they didn’t need military or economical support due to their empire
Felt too isolated in early 1900’s as Germany getting increasingly aggressive and all other strong nations had formed alliances
ended in 1903 when King Edward VII was holidaying in Europe in the Mediterranean and heard French President was staying in the same area
He sent 4 battleships to salute the President, who was delighted and invited him to Paris
They grew closer and led to 1904 Entente Cordiale and 1907 Triple Entente
Black Hang Gang
cretaed in May 1911
2500 workers
1911 a member was sent to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, which failed and then tried to kill Austrian government with a poisoned dagger, which also failed
AH outraged and began testing weapons on Serbian border to try and stop rebellion against AH rule
Led to July Crisis
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
visited Bosnia on national Serbian day- commemoration of Battle of Kosovo June 28th 1914
BH assassins waited for car along journey published in newspapers
bomb was thrown but deflected by Franz and exploded under car behind
Took a detour to visit victims, no one told driver so they turned around in an alley and Gavrillo Princip shot him and his wife with a gun from the Serbian government.
Balkan League wars
Balkan League set up to expel Turks as it had grew weaker
To gain independence, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro joined forces against Turks
Russia supported this as felt a strong group of Slav nations would be a good ally and deter AH ambitions
First Balkan war or October 1912-May 1913 saw Balkan nations fighting over amount of land each would gain, King of Bulgaria declared war on Serbia and Greece to get more
second war June-August 1913, Turkey and Romania fought against Bulgaria to gain land and Bulgaria lost all gains from first Balkan war
Serbia gained most land and became determined to lead all Slav nations, including those in AH territory. Serbs living in Bosnia wanted land free of AH rule, which threatened AH and both Bulgaria and AH wanted revenge on Serbia
Anglo German naval race
result of Weltpolitik as Kaiser wanted to be bigger than Britain’s navy
By 1914, Britain had 29 dreadnoughts and Germany had 17
Dreadnought was a new British ship which was faster, stronger and more powerful than other battleships
old German ships referred to as ‘funf minuten’ as they could be took out in 5 mins with a dreadnought
British built super dreadnought in response to Germans dreadnought, Rheinland
July Crisis
Late July, AH sent ulitmatum to Serbia- stating Serbia takes responsibility for Franz Ferdinand assassination, gets rid of BH and similar groups and allowed AH police into Serbia to ensure this was enforced- sent with a 48 hour deadline
Serbia accepted all except police as argued it was too much of a foothold
28th July, AH declared war on Serbia and began bombing Belgrade
July 29th- Russian Tsar ordered army to mobilise to aid Serbia, Kaiser Wilhelm II asked him to back down, he didn’t
August 1st- Germany declared war on Russia
August 2nd- Germany began Schlieffen Plan- invade France through Belgium and capture Paris before Russia mobilised then redeploy to Russia to avoid war on two fronts
August 3rd- Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium, Britain asked Germany to call off invasion as they had treaty in 1839 to help Belgium
August 4th- Britain declared war on Germany
August 5th- France declared war on Germany
