WW1

1839-Britain signed a treaty with Belgium

Belgium was worried that Prussia (the most powerful German state) might try to take over Belgium - No immediate result, but in 1914 it led to Britain declaring war on Germany to protect Belgium

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1871-Franco-Prussian War

Prussia wanted to unite all German speaking states – defeating France would prove Prussian power so other German states would join with her. - Germany unified – leading to growth of nationalism as new nation wanted to assert its identity in Europe.

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1977-78- Treaty of San Stefano

Bosnia and Bulgaria had fought against Turkish rule and won. - Newly independent Bosnia would be ‘supervised’ by Austria and Russia

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1881- France seized Tunisia

Part of the scramble for Africa that took place in the 19th century, as industrial powers of Europe tried to capture new markets and raw materials. - Italy angry, as she wanted it too, so Italy turned to Germany and Austria for an alliance

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1885-Berlin Conference to share out Africa between European powers

Germany wanted to stop Britain and France gaining all the best land in Africa

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1888- Wilhelm II became Kaiser of Germany

He was very militaristic and wanted Germany to be as powerful as Britain and France. This made France worried, because she’d already been attacked once by Germany, so France signed an alliance with Russia.

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1892- Frnaco-Russian alliance

France was worried about Germany’s growing aggression under Wilhelm II - Germany was worried about being encircled so she developed the Schlieffen plan in 1905

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1899-1902-Germany supported the Boers against Britain, during the Boer War

Germany was trying to undermine Britain’s imperial strength - Britain furious - threatened to blockade Germany’s ports if Kaiser Wilhelm didn’t stop interfering in Britain’s affairs. So Germany decided she needed a bigger navy to protect herself.

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1900-Germany began to expand her navy

Von Tirpitz’ risk theory suggested a big German navy would intimidate Britain into making an alliance (wrong!) - Further extended in 1906, 1908 and 1912 – led to Britain building her navy up in return. Britain also made alliance with France.

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1904- Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale

Britain and France seeking security against growing threat of Germany - France was already allied with Russia, encircling Germany, and France also had Plan 17 for attacking Germany in the event of war. Now she had British support.

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1905- 1st Morocco Crisis

Germany wanted to test whether the Entente Cordiale was a strong alliance. - Algeciras conference called

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1905- Schlieffen plan devised

Germany needed a plan to avoid war on two fronts, as Russia and France had an alliance. - [The plan failed in 1914.]

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1906-Algeciras conference held

To solve the Moroccan crisis - France was allowed to have Morocco as a ‘protectorate’, rather than a colony. Germany humiliated - attempt to destroy Entente Cordiale backfired Showed the Entente Cordiale was strong Anglo-German rivalry increased

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1907- Triple Entente signed, between Britain, France and Russia

Germany’s naval expansion and the Schlieffen plan made F, GB and R nervous; they hoped that a strong alliance encircling Germany would intimidate her into behaving! - Germany nervous and tried to split the Entente over Morocco – again!

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1908- Austria seized Bosnia

Austria wanted to limit Russia’s influence in the Balkans and extend her own power - Serbia was furious; Bosnians were Slavs and wanted to join Serbia not Austria

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1911- Black hang Gang formed

Austria had seized Bosnia in 1908 - Franz Ferdinand assassinated in 1914

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1911- 2nd Morocco crisis: France sent 20,000 troops to crush the rebels. Germany claimed this broke the Algeciras agreement of a ‘protectorate’ and sent the warship Panther to the port of Agadir to ‘liberate’ Morocco. Britain alerted her navy.

Moroccan rebels attacked the city of Fez to gain independence from France. - As compensation for having broken the Algeciras agreement, Germany was given a ***** of the French Congo, which caused further hostility between France and Germany.

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1911- Italy defeated Turkey

Ottoman power in the Balkans was weakened even further. Encouraged Balkan League to declare war on Turkey in 1912

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1912- First Balkan War: Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro (the Balkan League) defeated Turkey

After Italy weakened Turkish power in the Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro decided now was the time to drive the Ottomans out of Europe for good - Turkey lost: The main outcome is that SERBIA gained more land and influence

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1912- (Feb) The Britain Minister for War, Lord Haldane, went to Germany for talks to try to halt the naval race.

Germany had passed the third law to expand her navy and Britain was worried. - Haldane managed to get the Germans to agree to only build one new warship every 3 years, but he forgot to negotiate a limit on the building of submarines

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1913- Second Balkan War: Bulgaria declared war on Serbia and Greece

Bulgaria’s King Ferdinand was greedy and wanted more land and power - Bulgaria lost. Serbia gained even more power in the region so: This encouraged the Slavic nationalists (like the Black hand Gang) to push for all slavs to unite

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1914- (19 August) Russian victory at Gumbinnen against Austria

Russia mobilised more quickly than expected

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1914- 26 August and 30 August 1914 - Catastrophic defeat for Russia at Tannenberg.

General Rennenkampf didn’t encode a message to General Samsonov in 1915. The Germans intercepted the message.

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