Name____________ Date_____________ Handout: MAIN Activity 20 th Century History Jigsaw: WWI Elgin Park Secondary MAIN: There are four causes that led to war between the major powers of the world in 1914: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism. *There is also the acronym: MAINA (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism & ASSASSINATION. For this activity we will focus on MAIN . DIRECTIONS 1. Students will be assigned either nationalism, alliances, militarism or imperialism. 2. In your group (7-8) answer the questions below. 3. After you complete the first part, you will jigsaw with other students in the class to find out the other information. READINGS & IMAGES I. Imperialism “Imperialism was clearly a contributing cause of World War I. The competition for overseas possessions often brought European powers into conflict. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Germany became more and more aggressive in its quest for imperial possessions. In 1905, the leading
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Name____________ Date_____________Handout: MAIN Activity 20th Century HistoryJigsaw: WWI Elgin Park Secondary
MAIN: There are four causes that led to war between the major powers of the world in 1914: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism.
*There is also the acronym: MAINA (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism & ASSASSINATION. For this activity we will focus on MAIN.
DIRECTIONS1. Students will be assigned either nationalism, alliances, militarism or imperialism.2. In your group (7-8) answer the questions below. 3. After you complete the first part, you will jigsaw with other students in the class to find out the other information.
READINGS & IMAGES
I. Imperialism
“Imperialism was clearly a contributing cause of World War I. The competition for
overseas possessions often brought European powers into conflict. In the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, Germany became more and more aggressive in its quest for imperial
possessions. In 1905, the leading imperial powers gave approval to Germany’s demand
for a conference to dispute French control of Morocco. Though Germany gained nothing,
other nations began to view Germany as a threat to stability in Europe. Britain and
France had competed for control of areas in Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian
subcontinent. It was not until the Anglo-French Entente of 1904 that the two nations
finally settled their colonial disputes. Many of the “entangling alliances” that historians
often cite as a premier cause of World War I actually came about as a result of conflicts
over imperialism.”
“What was most strikingly new about the new imperialism was its intense concentration
upon two continents: Africa and eastern Asia. These were the only two important areas of
the globe still not brought under European influence before 1870. The decades between
1870 and 1914 speedily completed the expansion of European influence and civilization
over the whole of the earth; and it was accomplished in an era when the realism,
ruthlessness, and rivalries of European national governments were exceptionally great. It
therefore had a temper uniquely masterful and remorseless, tolerating no obstacles and
pushfully self-assertive. This quality came as much from the nature of European politics
as from the urges of European economic development. There was no international
organization fit to exercise any kind of control or regulation over the scramble for
territories in which the great powers now indulged. The naked power politics of the new
colonialism were the projection, onto an overseas screen, of the interstate frictions and
rivalries of Europe. It was this combination of new economic conditions with anarchic
(old) political relations which explained the nature of the new imperialism. Among the
economic forces behind it, the urge to find new outlets for the "glut of capital" and fresh
markets for industrial output were in general more important than either the quest for raw
materials or the factor of overpopulation.”
II. Alliances
“An alliance is an agreement made between two or more countries to give each other help
if it is needed. When an alliance is signed, those countries become known as Allies.
A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879 and 1914.
These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to
declare war if one of their allies.
European alliances were designed to keep a balance of power. The Triple Entente (U.K.,
France, and Russia) balanced the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy).
Belgium had pledged neutrality but made a treaty with the U.K. to protect it in case of
attack. The Ottoman Empire was weak and had allowed Germany too much control over
its foreign policy. As a whole, these alliances assured total peace or total war. There was
nothing in between: one incident could set off a chain reaction that would draw all the
countries of Europe into a conflict.
III. Militarism
The Industrial Revolution brought great changes to all aspects of life, including the
military. Armies were now swifter, stronger, more mobile and more deadly. New
technologies also created new weapons. The cavalry and bayonets of the past would now
meet tanks, machine guns, howitzer cannons, and airplanes on the battlefields of Europe.
“The menace of the hostile division led to an arms race, another cause of World War I.
Acknowledging that Germany was the leader in military organization and efficiency, the
great powers of Europe copied the universal conscription (compulsory enrolment into the
military), large reserves and detailed planning of the Prussian system. Technological and
organizational developments led to the formation of general staffs with precise plans for
mobilization and attack that often could not be reversed once they were begun. The
German Schlieffen Plan to attack France before Russia in the event of war with Russia
was one such complicated plan that drew more counties into the war than necessary.
Armies and navies were greatly expanded. The standing armies of France and Germany
doubled in size between 1870 and 1914. Naval expansion was also extremely
competitive, particularly between Germany and Great Britain. By 1889, the British had
established the principle that in order to maintain naval superiority in the event of war
they would have to have a navy two and a half times as large as the second-largest navy.
This motivated the British to launch the Dreadnought, invented by Admiral Sir John
Fisher, in 1906. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 had demonstrated how effective
these battleships were. As Britain increased their output of battleships, Germany
correspondingly stepped up their naval production, including the Dreadnought. Although
efforts for worldwide disarmament were made at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and
1907, international rivalry caused the arms race to continue to feed on itself.