World War I – Background Knowledge

Who:

When:

Where:

How was it fought:

Who won:

Cause (why?):

Effects:

Battle of the Somme, France, 1916

How did World War I Start?

Arms Races• Building on the advances of the Industrial Revolution,

England and Germany began expanding their militaries.• Tanks, machine guns, airplanes and chemical weapons

such as nerve gas were invented, raising the potential for destruction.

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/the_age_of_the_mass/04.ST.01/?scene=2

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/the_age_of_the_mass/04.ST.01/?scene=3

Schlieffen Plan• Due to previous wars, Germany had

bad relations with France to its east and Russia to its west.

• The Schlieffen Plan was a German plan made before the war that proposed a strategy for defeating France.

• The plan was to defeat France quickly on the western front, leaving time to prepare for the Russian assault from the east

Alfred Graf von Schlieffen

Militarism

• Militarism is the idea that a government best serves its people by having a strong military.

• Germany, Austria, and Russia believed in militarism.

• Militaristic countries have huge standing armies ready for action.

Competition for Trade and Resources

• With capitalism, countries competed for trade in different markets (e.g. Textiles).

• No one likes to lose.

• Tensions between countries grew as competition of new markets intensified.

• Colonies were places to buy and sell goods, so was land in other countries

Ethnic and political rivalries

• Many Slovaks were upset about Austro-Hungarian occupation of Slovak ethnic areas.

• The Slovaks were supported by the Russians.

http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/

Alliances

• Web of treaties• Triple Alliance vs. Triple Entente• Or, Central Powers vs. Allies

Franz Ferdinand