Causes of WW1

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Along with the arms/naval race, German leader, Alfred Von Schlieffen also drew up a plan of action that involved going through Belgium to attack France, if Russia planned to make an attack on Germany. Schlieffen’s strategy assumed that Russia would take at least six weeks to mobilize its troop, as they had recently lost a war with Japan. In the remaining six weeks, Germany would stage an attack on France by going neutral territory Belgium. Then German forces would descend through Belgium and onward into France,surrounding and defeating French forces. Once France was defeated, according to the plan, Germany could transport its soldiers using its railroad network and put them up against the Russian troops. Russia also proved to be more experienced and it also proved to be faster at mobilizing its troops than Germany had assumed. The Germans also assumed that it would take 6 weeks for Russia to mobilize, but Russia made an attack on East Prussia within one week in the year of 1914. Russian advances forced Germany to send troops from France to East Prussia, weakening Germany’s forces on the Western Front where it was essential to have a large number of troops. The Schlieffen Plan’s strategy also required that France be defeated quickly so the Germans can go and defeat Russia, but this did not happen according to the plan. The allied forces of Russia, France, and Belgium defeated the Germans.

Imperial struggles in the Balkans.

In the late 1800s, German leader Otto von Bismarck called the Berlin Conference which had the European powers meet to discuss the division of Africa into regions controlled by the European nations. The purpose of the meeting was to avoid starting a major European conflict and to lessen tensions because the Scramble for Africa was leading to an intense rivalry and distrust between the Europeans powers. The peace created at the Berlin Conference did not last as the rivalry between the European powers increased as they approached 1914.

Causes of WWI

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The Archduke traveled to Sarajevo, Bosnia in the year of 1914 to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia that were annexed by Austria-Hungary in the early 1900s. The previous annexation angered Serbian nationalists, who believed the territories should be part of Serbia. A group of young nationalists made a plan to kill the Archduke during his visit to Sarajevo and during this plan, Gavrilo Princip was able to shoot the Archduke and his wife at point-blank range, while they traveled in their official procession, killing both almost instantly.

The assassination set off a rapid chain of events, as Austria-Hungary immediately blamed the Serbian government for the attack. As large and powerful Russia supported Serbia, Austria asked for assurances that Germany would step in on its side against Russia and its allies, including France and possibly Great Britain. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the fragile peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed, beginning the devastating conflict now known as the First World War.

An image of Gravrilo Princip.

Main topic

Nationalism

This is a poster with the title, "Too Hard." This demonstrates Kaiser Wilhelm trying to swallow the world, but he fails and is getting very angry. This poster informs the viewer that the Great War was the result of Wilhelm’s appetite for war and conquest, but he has bitten off more than he can chew. The image of the Kaiser trying to swallow the world signals both the cause of the Great War, and predicts its outcome, when Germany is outnumbered by Russia, Belgium, and France.

Another type of nationalism is defined by an intense loyalty and desire to preserve one's own cultural identity, language, and tradition, which are simmered in the colonized countries.

As the Great Powers sought to expand their empires, the Powers paid minimal attention to the interests of the nations that they colonized. The Great Powers practised their own type of nationalism, during which the showed great pride in and patriotism for their mother country.

Austria-Hungary: The Austro-Hungarian Empire controlled many Slavic nations that wanted independence and continuously disobeyed and rebelled against the Austrian rule. As an example, Bosnia was highly contested as the country of Serbia wanted to take over the Bosnian territory and include it within Serbian borders, in hopes of making a large and more powerful Serbia. Some Serbian nationalists formed a group willing to fight for Serbia's nationalistic goals, and this group was also known as the Black Hand. This group wanted to unite the Slavic peoples to form "Greater Serbia." The Austro-Hungarian imperialists viewed the Serbian nationalism as a very dangerous idea, that had to be destroyed, no matter what the circumstances were.

The Balkans: Some of the countries in the Balkans were newly created while others regained independence as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated.

In the early 1900s, nationalism created a fierce competition and rivalry between the European powers. In order to be the greatest of the great nations, the nation would have to be the best at everything, in terms of economy and militarism.

Objective of the Countries involved in World War One - WWI Simulation

France:-control Alsance with armies -prevent Germany from controlling Belgium -control Mediterranean Sea

Italy:-control Tyrol -control Adriatic -control Mediterranean Sea

Russia: -prevent Austria-Hungary from controlling Serbia -control Romania -prevent any other natio from controlling Poland

Great Britain: -control North Sea with navies -prevent German armies from controlling Belgium -strop Germany from controlling France -stop Germany from having more than 5 navies on their coast

Austria-Hungary: - control Serbia -prevent Italy from controlling Tyrol -stop Russia from controlling Romania (stop Russia from having a strangle hold on Europe) -control Adriatic

Germany: -prevent any other power from controlling Alsace - control Poland (friction with Russia) - control Belgium with armies (issues with France) -stop anyone from controlling the North Sea (stuggle with Britain)

The Role of the Balkans

As the Great Powers struggled to expand their colonies, they also fought over limited resources in Europe. Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire wanted to control the Balkans.

The Ottoman Empire had controlled the Balkans and southeastern Europe, as well as areas of northern Africa for more than 500 years, since the year of 1517. However, The Ottoman Empire was crumbling at the beginning of the 20th century, and it had lost its hold of the Balkans and it feared losing even more territory.

Austria-Hungary viewed the Pan-Slavism act as a threat to its power. Austria-Hungary feared that it would lose its grip on its territory if Russia, Slovenia, and Croatia (the several nations under the power of the Pan-Slavism act) united.

Russia's approach was to promote Pan-Slavism, which is the idea of uniting the Slavic peoples of the Balkans. Russia hoped that supporting the Slavic nations in the Balkans would allow it access to the warm-water ports of the region. Russia's ports were alway frozen in the winter, limiting its ability to import and export goods, so the Balkans warm-water ports were very important to the Russians.