History- Causes of WW1

Germany

Strengths: One of the most powerful countries in the world. Had a strong navy and army. Building up its industry after taking Alsace-Lorraine region.

Weaknesses:Kaiser Wilhelm disagreed with his country. Had a small empire with only 2 colonies in Africa.

Concerns:'Encirclement' was a major concern of Germany. Worried about Russia to the east and France to the west. Seen as an attempt to 'surround' them.

Rivals: Britain had the largest navy and empire and wanted to match it. France had the largest army and a bigger empire and wanted to match it. Russia was starting to build up a large army.

Alliances:Austria-Hungary, trying to break up the alliance between Russia and France.

France

Strengths: had a strong empire. Had the biggest army.

Weaknesses:didn't have a big industry, unlike Germany. Only had 4 million tons of steel production and 2 million tons of merchant.

Concerns:Germany attacking them again like in Franco-Prussian War. Wanted to take back the Alsace Lorraine region, which would improve their industries.

Rivals: Germany, lost the war in 1871 and had lost Alsace Lorraine. Germany was also a growing nation in the industry and was trying to match France's army size.

Alliances: Britain, had agreements about colonies in Africa. Signed an agreement in 1907. both countries were rivalries with Germany. Russia had developed a close and strong relationship.

Britain

Strengths: had the biggest navy to keep trade routes open. Largest empire meaning they were a big trading nation.

Weaknesses: didn't have any help from other powers- 'splendid isolation'. Didn't have a large army.

Rivals:Germany, Kaiser had made it very clear that Germany should have an empire and the biggest navy. Britain saw this as a threat to their own empire and navy.

Alliances:France, already had agreements about colonies in Africa. Signed an agreement with France in 1907. Both countries were rivals with Germany.

Austria-Hungary

Strengths: had a bigger army than Britain which was important to Germany.

Weaknesses:didn't have a big industry. Didn't have the biggest army or navy.

Concerns:empire was fragile. They also faced problems from neighbouring states. Serbia was becoming a powerful nation.

Rivals:Serbia, tried to take control of the country before but Serbia were starting to get powerful with the support of Russia. Russia, they were were supporting Serbia which made Austria-Hungary wary.

Alliances:Germany, mainly to keep Russia and France apart from each other.

Russia

Strengths: largest country, largest population. Had a reasonably sized army.

Weaknesses:bad industry, which was extremely backward.

Concerns:people were poor. The economy was almost entirely made up of the agricultural industry. Wanted to modernise.

Rivals: Austria-Hungary, Russians believed they should have influence over the Slavic people. They protected Serbia from Austria-Hungary.

Alliances:France, developed strong relationship with Russia. Signed several treaties.

Italy

Strengths: Had already got country settled by 1914.

Weaknesses:didn't have an empire. Not industrially strong.

Concerns:not a strong industrial or military power, wanted to improve.

Rivals: Britain/Russia/France, all were part of the Triple Entente whereas Italy were part of Triple Alliance.

Not a relvant or important country in perspective.

triple alliance- formed in 1882. it was organised by Bismark, the German Chancellor. it was formed to isolate France, preventing them to gain a 'revenge' attack. it also sperated the 2 allies France and Russia, making the alliance have a defensive motive. members were, Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary.

franco-Russian alliance- formed in 1893. formed to make sure France was no longer an isolated country. russia also needed France's money to sort out its industry, and France would need Russia if germnay attacked. the terms of the alliance were defensive. if one country was attacked by either Austria-hungary or Germany, the other would protect them. members were France and Russia.

anglo-Japanese alliance- formed in 1902. meant there was still splendid isolation. formed to 'help' each other if they were attacked by more than 1 power. japan was an ally in the Far East, preventing Russian expansion. Britain didnt need any allies in Europe.

Entente Cordiale- an agreement not an alliance made in 1904. made so France and Britain could sort out any problems between the,. britain was worried about the size of Germnay's navy, so created a plan called the '3-power standard'. britain was allowed to reform Egypt and France was alloed to act as they wished in Morocco. Germnay saw this as abandoning splendid isolation. became Triple Entente in 1907.

why was the alliance system seen as a cause of WW1?

• treaties were signed in secret, so countries suspected an aggresive motive rather than a defensive one.
• each power would look for support of its allies.
• the great powers wanted the biggest armies and navies. therefore, both alliances were getting stronger and stronger.
• each alliance tried to get the better of each other between 1900-1914. thiese conficts increased tension between the alliances, making war inevitable.

welpolitik- 'world politics' the term to describe the Kaiser's foriegn policy.

strengths pre 1914- was the strongest industrial country in Europe. had the most powerful army in the world.

limitations pre 1914- didnt have an empire. Germans thought this was the reason their country was undervalued by other countries.

aims of weltpolitik- win Germany the respect it deserved from the world. wanted his nation to emerge from the shadows and take its 'place in the sun'. therefore he adapted an aggressive foriegn policy.

aims of wilhelm- wanted to turn Germany into a huge trading nation. which is why he needed an African Empire and a strong navy.

aims of Pan-German League- looked to a creation of 'MittleEuropa', german held Europe

rivals' fear- britain feared Germany because it thretened its navy, empire and industrial power. france because it threatened its army and empire. Russia because it threatened its army+allies.

britain followed this policy because it felt it was too powerful to be challenged by any other country, and didnt need any country's help.

however, britains rivals changed. in the 19th century it was France and Russia. now they were allies.

in the 20th century it was Germany. they had started to match the size of Birtains navy, and the kaisr had made remarks about Britain in the Daily Telegraph. in the Boer War, Germany had helped the boers by supplying weaponry.

Causes of crisis- morocco was a country of strategic importance. it was the entrance to the Atlantic from the Mediterranean. Britain occupied Gibraltar. France wanted Morocco.(entente cordiale). in 1904, it was agreed that Morocco fell into France's 'sphere of influence. the kaiser wanted Morocco as well. in 1905, he visited Tangier and promised support for an independant state. he was testing the strength of the Entente Codiale.

resolved?- in 1906, a conference was held in Algeciras between European powers. britain and russia supported France. morocco and Austria-hungary supported Germany. frace had to recognise the independant state but was given joint control with spain of the moroccan police. it DID NOT  resolve the crisis.

effects- the algericas agreement strengthened the entente cordiale. in 1907 it became the triple entente. germany thought they were being surrounded by enemies. the kaiser became even more resentful.

Causes- 2 countries ruled in the Balkans: Austria-Hungary and Turkey. The Slav people of the region wanted to create a new independant Slav region. Austria-Hungary was particularly worried of Slav nationalism. There were 15 different nationalities in their empire, which could also have been triggered into nationalism. They were eager to destroy the new nation of Serbia. Therefore, the Balkan Peninsula was a politicaly unstable region. "Turkey was the sick man of Europe"- both these countries wanted Bosnia because it gave entrance to the Mediterraenean.

Resolved?- in 1908, there was a revolution in Turkey, and Austria-Hungary took the opportunity to annex Bosnia. this angered Serbia as they wanted to absorb the Slavs of Bosnia. however, they were too small to act alone, so they asked Russia for help. Russia was angry for not telling them, so they helped Serbia. Germany was also angry for not being told, but had to help Austria-hungary forcing Russia to back down.

Effects- Austria-Hungary felt they had the full support of Germany and the blank cheque made them overconfident, which reflected how they acted in 1914. italy didn't like Austria-Hungary expanding into the Balkans, so it became less keen on the Triple Entente. Russia had been humiliated by Germany and was determined to not let it happen again, so they quickened their arms manufacturer in 1909- which is why the Schlieffen Plan failed.

Causes- In 1911, the French helped Morocco to put down a rebellion against the rulers. It gave France with an opportunity to take Morocco. In return, they were prepared to compensate countries that were concerned by it: Germany & Spain. Germany sent a gunboat the Panther, to Agadir, a port on Morocco's Atlantic Coast. The Kaiser had hoped to force the French into giving Germany a share of Morocco.

Resolved?- Britain feared that Germany was going to set up a naval base in Agadir, as part of its challenge to Britain's naval supremacy. Germany's aggressive action in Morocco confirmed Britain's worst fears that Germany were aiming to dominate Europe. Despite this, they backed down and were given 100,000 sq miles of the French Congo in Africa, but was mostly swamp and jungle. This wasn't the "place in the sun" that the Kaiser wanted.

Effects- Britain made a naval agreement with France, and Britain promised to defend the north coast of France if it was attacked from sea. The French took over Morocco and the Kaiser was forced to back down. The Agadir Crisis was a clear victory for France and the Triple Entente. The Kaiser was determined not to be the loser in the next crisis.

• Military leaders argued that the only way to ensure peace was to have an army strong enough to deter another country from invading. The manufacturers were making vast profits from this.
• All of the Great Powers, except Britain, increased the size of their army between 1900-1914.
• In 1913, France raised the period of conscription from 2 years to 3 years. The Russians raised theirs from 3 years to 3.5 years. This gave both countries more trained soldiers.
• By 1913, the German army was very powerful. Only Russia had more soldiers.
• Britain was the only country not to introduce conscription by 1914.
• Despite being the largest, Russia's army was badly equipped and far inferior to Germany's army. They had backward technology and weapons being used.

Army sizes in 1914:

• Russia- 1,400,000
• Germany- 1,000,000
• France- 1,000,000
• Britain- 700,000

• In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm ordered his head of navy, Admiral Tirpitz to build a navy that could rival Britain's.
• In 1906, both sides began to build Dreadnoughts. It was a new ship that could destroy the older type of battleships. Britain's naval supremacy depended on these older ships.
• Britain and Germany began a race to build the most Dreadnoughts.
• The naval race peaked in 1909. Britain only planned to build 4 that year, but after public opinion against the Germans worsened, public pressure forced them to increase spending for the navy.
• The naval race helped to make Britain fear Germany and lead a better relationship with France.
• However, the naval race was NOT the main cause for Britain's decision to go to war in 1914, they already had more Dreadnoughts than Germany.

Number of Dreadnoughts built between 1907-1914(in order of year).

• Britain: 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 11, 2, 7. Total number of Dreadnoughts in 1914: 34
• Germany: 0, 0, 0, 4, 1, 6, 1, 5. Total number of Dreadnoughts in 1914: 22

Franz Ferdinand was assassinated while on a trip to Sarajevo by members of the Black Hand.

Europe's Opinion- the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was thought by most countries to be a local matter that would be solved by Austria-Hungary and Serbia.

Response to assassination:

• The leader of the war party, Conrad Von Hotzendorf proposed to wage war 25 times and saw this as the perfect excuse to wage war on Serbia.
• Austria-Hungary sent a 10 point ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July or face war. The conditions demanded that the Serbians suppress all anti-Austrian activity in Serbia. Serbia accepted all but one of the 10 points. Point 6 was to allow Austria to be involved in the investigation.
• Serbia's reply indicated they didn't want war. They were prepared to refer the investigation to the International Court. Germany felt the response was favourable. Serbia had been involved in two wars and were nowhere ready to go to war with Austria-Hungary.
• However, Austria-Hungary felt confident that they could crush Serbia. On July 6, Wilhelm told Austria-Hungary they would support whatever action it took against Serbia- the 'blank cheque'

• The plan was created by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen.
• The main overview was to go around France's main armies at Alsace-Lorraine, by going through Holland, Belgium and round Paris for a surprise attack.
• However, the plan was changed by General Moltke, so the army went through Belgium instead of round Holland.
• The plan was devised so that Germany could deal with the problem of a war on two fronts.
• It was based on Russia taking 6 weeks to mobilise their troops, and Belgium giving up.
• On 3 August 1914, the Germans launched the Schlieffen Plan.
• Russia only took 3 weeks to mobilise, and Belgium put up a massive fight.
• This caused Germany to never reach Paris because half their troops needed to fight against the Russians.

The plan helped to cause WW1 because it was a 'plan of attack' by the Germans.

• The Treaty of London was made by all leading countries to protect Belgium, signed in 1839.
• It was signed by Britain, Prussia and all other leading countries.
• It was because Belgium was a leading manufacturer in wool. Because of its size, no country could attack it.
• Britain especially took this to heart, as most of the wool was imported by Belgium.
• They had an idea of moral duty towards Belgium.
• It was a tiny country and they didn't have a big army.
• Kaiser Wilhelm called it the 'Scrap of Paper', as he was surprised Britain would go to war over a Treaty signed decades ago.
• They falt they could just steamroll into Belgium, as they thought it was an insignificant country.