The Causes of War

The Causes of WarSWBAT: IDENTIFY THE CAUSES OF WWI.

HOMEWORK: NONE

DO NOW: USING THE CAUSES OF WWI, MAKE A MNEMONIC DEVICE TO REMEMBER THEM. EXAMPLE:PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY (PEMDAS) IS USED TO REMEMBER THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS IN MATH.

Project Overview

IF YOUR NUMBER IS A:1: VERDUN2: FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE3: FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES4. FIRST BATTLE OF THE SOMME5. BATTLE OF CAMBRAI

The Causes: Militarism Militarism: define it. By the early 1900s, Europe was in the middle of an arms race between the main countries.

Countries competed for the largest army.◦ In the course of just a few years, army sizes

doubled, tripled, and quadrupled.

Competition waged between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas.

Country 1880 1914

Germany 1.3 m 5.0 m

France .73 m 4.0 m

Russia .40 m 1.2 m

Military Size by Country

Alliance System What is the alliance system? 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 declared war first.

Imperialism Imperialism: what is it again? By 1914, the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa.

The amount of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late and only had small areas of Africa.

Nationalism Nationalism: what is it again? Every one of Europe’s great powers developed a firm but excessive belief in its own cultural, economic and military supremacy.

Meanwhile another dangerous form of nationalism was emerging in Europe. ◦ This was not about supremacy or military power, but about self-determination, self-government and

independence.

With the world largely divided into empires and spheres of influence, there were a host of regions, races and religions who sought freedom from their imperial masters. ◦ Russia, for example, encompassed more than 80 ethnic groups were forced to speak Russian and practice

the Russian Orthodox religion. ◦ The formation of revolutionary and separatist groups in the Balkans also threatened the fragile Austro-

Hungarian Empire.

If you knew you only had one year to live, what would you do?

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The Situation Bosnia and Herzegovina were annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908 to the outrage of Serbian nationalists, who believed they should become part of the newly independent Serbian nation.

Gavrillo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, is dying of tuberculosis and has nothing to lose by joining the plot to kill the archduke.

The Archduke and his wife, Sophie, are traveling through Bosnia when disaster strikes.

Video Clip Time 1. Why purpose does the cyanide serve?

2. Why does Franz Ferdinand want to drive around town with the top down?

3. What is Gavrilo’s job?

4. Where does Gavrilo go after the failed assassination plan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_tNXFbx0VY

The Assassination Gavrilo’s choice to stop for a sandwich would set the stage for war.

The Archduke decided to go to the hospital to see those who had been injured in the attack. This meant taking an alternate route than originally planned.

The driver accidently took a wrong turn and had to make a K turn in order to go the right way.

This was conveniently in front of the sandwich shop Gavrilo decided to buy a sandwich at.

Gavrilo took out his gun and fired.

The archduke and his wife were both shot and killed.

The Ultimatum Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for war.

An ultimatum was sent to Serbia: The Serbian government would have to accept an Austro-Hungarian inquiry into the assassination, or face war.

Austria-Hungary knew Serbia would not accept.

On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

The Alliance System takes its toll

The declaration of war begins a series of declarations by other countries.

Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilization of its vast army in her defense.

Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilization as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and declared war on Russia on August 1st.

France, bound by treaty to Russia, found itself at war against Germany and, by extension, on Austria-Hungary.

Britain, allied to France, declared war against Germany on August 4th. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.

With Britain's entry into the war, her colonies and dominions abroad variously offered military and financial assistance, and included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.

And with that, the world is at war.