Causes of World War One
- Created by: geeklea
- Created on: 07-12-14 16:20
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- Causes of World War One
- Scramble for Africa
- FR controlled most of NW with arguments over MOR and Tunis
- GB had some of the most valuble colonies
- IT had valuable Lybia
- DE joined the race later, so didn't have many valuable bits and so targeted Morocco
- DE was angry about the BE Congo
- Kaiser Wilhelm II
- Made Otto von Bismarck retire when he wanted to continue alliance with Russia
- 1908- in an interview, he claimed DE disliked GB
- GB was worried about WELTPOLITIK because they owned 1/5 of the world and didn't want powerful Germany
- Weltpolitik-wanted a New Germany with a strong military, army and empire ("Germany must have it's place in the sun")
- King of DE at 27-grandson of Queen Victoria and cousins with Tsar Nicholas (RU) & King George (GB)
- Born with withered left arm and partially deaf, so he was self-concious but also pushed very hard as a child
- Great Powers
- Triple Entente
- RU and SRB already had an alliance, as well a GB and BE
- 1894-FR + RU agree to protect each other against DE or AU-HN
- 1902-JP + GB reach a naval agreement
- 1904- GB left 'splendid isolation' (to stay isolated from treaties in Europe)
- 1904-ENTENTE CORDIALE (GB + FR) It was just a friendly agreement, not a defense promise
- 1907- GB + RU reach reluctant agreement (triple entente) to stop DE, AU-HN + IT
- Triple Alliance
- 1879-DUAL ALLIANCE(DE + AU-HN)
- 1882-IT joins DE + AU-HN and agrees to help one another in an attack
- Triple Entente
- Total War Blame
- France
- could have done more to restrain RU
- afraid of DE mobilisation, so put pressure on RU mobilise fully
- Austria-Hungary
- knew RU would be annoyed when gave SRB ultimatum
- responded to assassination by giving tough ultimatum, provoking RU
- pushed RU into mobilisation by bombing SRB capital, Belgrade
- thought going to war would bind groups in empire together
- Germany
- involved in arms race & caused tension
- mobilising troops on 1 August meant no time for compromise
- followed policy of Weltpolitik claiming world power
- encouraged AU-HN with "blank cheque" (guaranteed protection)
- assassination gave time to put war plan into action
- war plan drawn up 10 years before
- 'hell bent' on world domination
- Great Britain
- promise to protect BE was just cause
- helped create tension with DE with naval race & alliances
- feared DE as competitor wanted to protect world position
- didn't make position over BE clear enough
- could have done more to restrain RU
- Russia
- joined Entente with GB & FR
- refused to back down over SRB like BOS in 1908
- involved in arms race & caused tension
- encouraged SRB to fight AU-HN
- 'too slow' to react
- France
- Schlieffen Plan
- PLAN- Quickly attack and defeat FR by going through BE, then RU
- A big gamble because of assumption that FR would be easily defeated and RU would be slow with army
- It fails- GB protected BE and RU builds army quicker
- DE get 2 miles from Paris but GB pushes them back
- Outbreak of war
- 23 July- AU-HN blame SRB for assassination and send ultimatum
- 28 July- AU-HN declare war on SRB and bomb capital (Belgrade)
- 29 July- RU prepare to defend SRB against AU-HN but DE warns RU to stop
- 1 August- DE declare war on RU and move army to FR + BE
- 2 August- FR prepare war front for DE
- 3 August- DE declare war on FR and invade BE. GB order DE to withdraw from BE
- 4 August- GB declare war on DE
- 6 August- AU declare war on RU
- Bosnian Crisis
- TR used to own Balkans, but they wanted independence so TR crumbled
- SRB wanted BOS and a coastline so looked to RU for support because they were scared of AU-HN
- BOS wanted to be under SRB's rule because of culture similarities
- 1908- AU-HN got BOS even though SRB was in the way, but they were defeated
- 1909-RU wanted access out of Black Sea so helped SRB but DE threatens them so RU backs out
- Moroccan Crises
- 1905
- Kaiser paraded Tangier on white horse and announced he wanted to help MOR gain independance
- This was a gesture aimed at FR from gaining MOR
- 1906-He set up Algeçiras, Spain Conference. GB + RU supported FR, while AU-HN + MOR supported DE
- FR + ESP had control of MOR police while DE got nothing
- GB started having military talks with FR, so their alliance was strangthened
- 1911
- There were riots in Fez, so interested FR sent their army over, which angered the Kaiser
- In response DE sent Black Panther ship to Agadir, claiming DE soldiers needed rescuing- there was only one DE soldier
- This made GB angry because if DE got MOR they could block the Gibraltar Strait (Mediterranean + East Africa)
- FR took over MOR, but DE was compensated with 100,000 miles² of useless FR Congo
- GB then promised to defend FR north coast + sent Dreadnought to MOR, so GB + FR united
- 1905
- Races
- Arms Race
- From 1870-1914 there was 4x growth in defense spending of the Great Powers
- 1914- DE had the largest army in the world, but RU was the fasting growing which worried DE
- DE and RU introduced conscription, so they had a lot of trained reserves as well as soldiers
- 1914- Great Powers all had huge armies, except from GB
- About insecurity, nationalism, imperialism and expansionism
- Naval Race
- 1906-1914- GB built 29 while DE built 17
- 1909- GB planned to build 4 but public said "we want 8 and we won't wait"
- DE put the ships in the North Sea, which was seen as a threat by GB
- GB + DE started building Dreadnoughts, the most advance warship in the world
- GB had ancient naval rule- must be 2+1 (3) times bigger than rival
- 1900- DE needed a navy to have an empire, so Admiral Tirpitz started DE Navy Law
- Arms Race
- Scramble for Africa
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