World War One Causes Flashcards
What was the aim of forming alliances?
To achieve national security - it deterred enemies from attacking you.
Attacking one nation = attacking its allies too!
When and between who formed the Triple Alliance?
In 1882 between Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary.
When and between who formed the Triple Entente?
In 1907 between France, Britain and Russia.
What was signed in 1904?
The Entente Cordiale between France and Britain, promising not to invade each other’s empires.
Why did France, Britain and Russia join forces?
They all felt threatened by Germany.
Why did Britain join an alliance?
Concerned about Germany, who were building a strong army and navy which could compete with Britain.
Why did France join an alliance?
Worried about the growing power of Germany and wanted to take Alsace-Lorraine back from them.
Why did Russia join an alliance?
Worried about threat of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Also lost war in 1905 so needed aid.
Why did Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy join forces?
Germany and Austria-Hungary were surrounded by the Entente and feared invasion, so they joined together.
Germany and Italy wanted stronger empire.
Why did Germany join an alliance?
Wanted recognition from other countries for a strong navy, army and empire.
Why did Austria-Hungary join an alliance?
To keep its empire strong.
Why did Italy join an alliance?
They wanted an overseas empire.
What is Weltpolitik?
World policy.
What were the Kaiser’s ambitions?
- To have a powerful army
- A large empire that has control over colonies (global ‘superpower’), so it can defend itself against others
- Large navy to attack countries overseas
How did the Kaiser’s actions anger other nations?
- They were worried he would challenge them for colonies
- Tensions increased as he built up his army and navy which
What were the two Moroccan Crises?
- Tangiers Crisis (1905)
- Agadir Crisis (1911)
What caused the Tangiers Crisis?
- Germany supported Morocco in remaining independent from France
- Wil.II goes to Tangier to publicly offer support
- Wil wanted to see how strong F+B alliance was
What happened as a result of the Tangiers Crisis?
- Algeciras conference, 1906
- All major European powers agree that France can have certain rights in Morocco - however, they couldn’t fully colonize it
What were the results of the Algeciras conference?
- Germany humiliated + learns how serious the Entente Cordiale is
- Russia + Britain relationship improves
- Triple Entente signed in 1907
What caused the Agadir Crisis?
- Rebellion in Morocco leads to France sending troops
- Germany sees this as an invasion so sends a warship; the Panther
What happened after the Agadir Crisis?
- Britain feels as if their navy base is being threatened
- Germany backs down (humiliated), compensated with small amount of land in Africa
What were the results of the Agadir Crisis?
- Germany won’t back down again; German people support this
- Entente grows stronger (defending eachother’s empires)
- Britain starts building more warships
- Alliance weakened; Italy did not defend Germany during either crisis
What was the scramble for Africa?
Where most European countries had colonized and divided sections of Africa; Britain owned the most
What was the Arms Race?
When rival countries build up their armed forces in a bid to become bigger and stronger than eachother.
Why did the Kaiser want a stronger navy?
- Germany were encircled so wanted to increase army and navy for protection.
- Germany also wanted to challenge Britain’s naval supremacy
What was the Dreadnought race between Britain and Germany?
- Britain had the strongest navy and developed the Dreadnought in 1906 (making the German navy obsolete)
- Led to a competition, with Britain building 29 and Germany building 17 by 1914
What was the condition of Germany’s army before WWI?
- Not the biggest but well trained and equipped
- Relied on Schlieffen Plan to win (defeat France quickly in the West, then Russia in the East)
What was the condition of Austria-Hungary’s army before WWI?
- Very reliant on German forces; needed Schlieffen Plan to work
What was the condition of Russia’s army before WWI?
- Huge army but poorly equipped
- Plan to overwhelm Germany and Austria-Hungary with mass of troops
What was the condition of France’s army before WWI?
- Large and well-equipped army
- Plan 17; march into Germany and force them to surrender
What was the condition of Britain’s army before WWI?
- Had the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) of 150,000 highly trained soldiers
- Joined with France and thought war could be over in a couple of weeks
How did problems in the Balkans arise?
- Ottoman Empire was losing control of it’ empire
- Balkan countries were nationalistic and saw chance to take advantage
- Austria wanted to prevent them from taking over
What were the two main problems in the Balkans?
- The Bosnian Crisis (1908-09)
- The Balkan Wars (1912-13)
What caused the Bosnian Crisis?
- Austria-Hungary seized control of Bosnia in 1908
- Serbia was angered by their actions
- Russia was allied with Serbia, but had to back down as Austria-Hungary had the protection of Germany and Russia wasn’t prepared for war yet
What were the impacts of the Bosnian Crisis?
- Rebellions created in Serbia and Bosnia against AH
- AH confident in Germany’s support
- Russia won’t back down again; starts to build more weapons
- Italy not happy; weakens relationship with AH
What caused the Balkan wars?
- Turkey growing weaker in 1900’s
- Balkan League included Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro
- Russia supported the Balkan League
What happened during the first Balkan War?
- Turkey was defeated and pushed out of all areas in Europe
- The Balkan League split the remaining land
What happened during the second Balkan War?
- Turkey fought and won against Bulgaria
- Bulgaria loses all the land they won in the first war
What were the impacts of the Balkan Wars?
- AH sees Serbia as a threat
- Germany made clear they would stand with AH in event of war
- Serbia is a stronger ally with Russia; won’t back down next time!
- Bulgaria wants revenge against Serbia
- Serbia wants to be the leader of all Slav people, including those controlled by AH
Why was the Black Hand Gang formed?
- Serbia emerged as the most powerful Balkan state after the Balkan Wars
- However, they were angry at AH for denying land that gave access to the sea
- The BHG was a Serbian terrorist group used to fight against AH
Why was Franz Ferdinand assassinated by the Black Hand Gang?
- BHG planned to kill FF on behalf of the Serbian government, to protect against AH controlling Bosnia
- FF wanted to offer great freedom to Bosnians; Serbia needed him gone to make things worse so people would rebel
- BHG sent in secret to assassinate him
Who assassinated Franz Ferdinand and what were the consequences?
- The leader of the BHG, Gavrilo Princip, shot FF and his wife
- They were on a tour around Bosnia to gain support (even though it was risky!)
- Princip was arrested and they discovered the Serbian gov was against the attack
What was the July Crisis?
The outbreak of WWI as all countries began to declare war on each other.
What did Germany do to initiate the July Crisis?
- The Kaiser gave his support to AH.
- He offered the Blank Cheque (Germany would give AH anything they needed) which allowed AH to be more aggressive.
Why did Austria-Hungary declare war on Serbia?
- AH sent Serbia a ten-clause ultimatum
- Serbia agreed to all but one; it would impact their justice system
- AH took this rejection as an excuse to invade, so declared war on Serbia
How did Germany and Russia join the war?
- Serbia asked Russia for help after AH declared war
- Tsar Nicholas began to mobilise army against Germany and AH
- Germany mobilised and declared war on Russia
How did France join the war?
- France refused to stay neutral
- Germany declared war on France
How did Britain join the war?
- Britain had signed Treaty of London with Belgium which promised to protect them
- Germany invades Belgium, so Britain sends an ultimatum
- Germany ignores ultimatum; Britain declares war over a ‘scrap of paper’
What was the Schlieffen Plan?
- A plan devised in 1905 by head of German army, von Schlieffen, to win the war
- It tackled a war on two fronts; they would move through Belgium and take France by surprise, defeat them, then turn it’s attention to Russia
Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail?
- Russia mobilised it’s army quicker than anticipated
- Belgium held up resistance, which gave France time to move their troops
- BEF arrived and held the Germans up with the French (Treaty of London)
- Germany now had to fight a war on two fronts
What were the MAIN causes for WWI?
- Militarism
- Alliances
- Imperialism
- Nationalism
How did Germany play a part in the outbreak of WWI?
- Their quest for militarism
- Their actions down in the Morocco
- Supporting AH after they declared war on Serbia
- They invaded Belgium
- The Kaiser was nationalistic and aggressive towards others
How did Austria-Hungary play a part in the outbreak of WWI?
- Planned to attack Serbia since 1906, assassination gave an excuse
- Aggressive policy within Balkans
- War broke out because they declared war on Serbia
How did Serbia play a part in the outbreak of WWI?
- Deliberately tried to antagonise the Austrians
- Responsible for FF assassination
How did Russia play a part in the outbreak of WWI?
- Humiliated in 1908, so became more aggressive as a result
- They mobilised, which threatened Germany
- Seeking power in the Balkans and helped increase tensions
How did Britain play a part in the outbreak of WWI?
- Their empire led to Germany desiring a place under the sun
- Competing with Germany over the Dreadnought
- Became involved in European politics, such as Morocco and the alliances
- Went to war over a ‘scrap of paper’
