The Road to WWI

Background causes

The Spark

The Players

(Today’s focus…practice summarizing main ideas from slides)

The 4 underlying causes

• Without going into the specific details, can you guess how the following issues led to war?– Nationalism– Imperialism– Military Expansion/ Industrialism– The Alliance System

NationalismNationalism exalts one nation above all others and

places primary emphasis on promoting that nation’s culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations.

New Nations were formed in the 1800’s such as Belgium & Germany.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, nationalism helped fuel the sense of competition between the nations of Europe. One particularly prominent nationalistic movement, Panslavism, figured heavily in the events preceding the war.

Industrialism• There was also growing tension

between Germany and Britain economically. Britain was the first country to industrialize and for many years dominated Europe economically. However, Germany rapidly caught up after her unification in 1871. By 1900 it rivalled the more-established British economy as the world's largest.

• German coal production, about one-third of Britain's in 1880, increased sixfold by 1913, almost equaling British yields that year.

• German steel production increased more than tenfold in the same period, surpassing British production by far.

• German goods were taking over British goods on the international market

Military Expansion

• As a result of growing tensions, between 1871 and 1914 the nations of Europe maintained large standing armies equipped with increasingly advanced weaponry.

• The Germans began to build up their navy, arming their ships with long-range guns; in response, the British developed the widely copied dreadnought battleship, notable for its heavy armor.

• Precisely formulated plans for mobilization and attack, such as Germany’s Schlieffen Plan, also began to take shape well before the war started in 1914 (original plans to invade France developed in 1905)

Colonial RivalryColonial Rivalrythe example from Morocco, 1905 & the example from Morocco, 1905 &

1911 1911

• Background: France and Britain agreed that Britain could have freedom to control Egypt and that Britain would help France to take over control of Morocco.

• Kaiser William made his infamous Tangiers Speech. Wishing to frustrate French efforts to take over Morocco, William sailed to Tangiers and made a menacing speech.

• He supported the independence of Morocco and demanded an international conference to discuss Morocco's future.

• Clearly this was provocative to the French. The French suspected the German leader of trying to break up the Entente Cordiale.

• The conference to discuss Morocco's future met in Algeçiras in 1906. At the conference Britain fully supported France - to the disappointment of Germany.

1911: The Second Moroccan Crisis

• Following disturbances in the country the Sultan asked the French to send in troops to 'restore order'.

• Germany was alarmed at this growth of French power and sent a gunboat, the Panther, to the port of Agadir.

• They claimed this was to protect German interests. Lloyd George, in his Mansion House speech, once again supported France: “Britain would prefer a war to a European pacification achieved at the cost of her honour”. Once again, Germany had to back down.

The Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy

• This alliance was signed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1882.

• It was a defence alliance that claimed that should France, Russia or any other power attack any member of the alliance, then all three of them would stand together.

The Triple Entente: France, Russia and Britain

• This alliance agreement bound France, Russia and Britain to a similar agreement. It was signed in 1907.

• What is remarkable was that these nations were traditional rivals, and that Britain had for a long time steered clear of any alliances, following a policy of what it called ‘Splendid Isolation’.

Result: A ‘Balance of power’?

• The politicians of the day believed that the existence of these two alliances actually preserved peace.

• The one alliance balanced out the other. Both were a deterrent to the outbreak of war as both groups were strong.

• This situation was known as the 'balance of power'.

The Spark: the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand: June 28, 1914

• On a cold June morning in 1914, in the cobblestone streets of Sarajevo on Serbian Independence Day, a group of 7 young Serbian nationalists romanticized the idea of assassinating the heir to Austro-Hungarian empire, the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife.

• Each member of the group waited in a spot along the parade root at which the Archduke's motorcade was planning on following. All but two of these men came to their senses and decided against trying to kill the Archduke.

• Using this opportunity, the second assassin Gavrilo Princip walked up to the car and stood on the running board, pulled out his revolver and fired several shots, which made little noise and the car sped off. The driver looked at the couple and, at first, thought that they were unhurt.

• In actuality, the Archduke had been hit in the neck and Sophie in the stomach. The Archduke opened his mouth and a stream of blood poured out. Sophie cried: "For heaven's sake, what's happened to you?" She was in shock and unaware that she too had been shot.

• She then lost consciousness. Franz Ferdinand turned to his wife with the words: "Sophie dear, Sophie dear, don't die. Stay alive for our children." He then keeled over whispering: "Es ist nichts, Es ist nichts..." (It is nothing, It is nothing...) Both victims were dead minutes later.

The Chain Reaction

• Austria issues Serbia with an ultimatum, but decides to declare war even when Serbia accepts all the points but one; July 28, 1914

• Russia declares war on Austria.• Germany declares war on Russia;• Germany simultaneously declares war on France as

part of the Schlieffen Plan and marches through Belgium.

• Britain declares war on Germany for violating Belgian neutrality

• Italy declares its’ neutrality.