Causes of World War One – Student Handout



Causes of World War One – Student Handout

Although it was the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand that led to the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the actual causes of the war were more complicated and not confined to a single cause.

|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 declared war first. |

|Imperialism |[pic]Pink = British Blue = French |

|Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and makes them subject to their rule. |Red = German |

|By 1900 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. | |

|[pic] |Militarism |

| |Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government. The |

| |growing European divide had led to an arms race between the main countries. The armies of both France and|

| |Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and |

| |Germany for mastery of the seas. The British had introduced the 'Dreadnought', an effective battleship, |

| |in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit introducing their own battleships. The German, Von Schlieffen |

| |also drew up a plan of action that involved attacking France through Belgium if Russia made an attack on |

| |Germany.  |

|Nationalism |

|Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of one's country. During this period, nationalist feeling ran high as the countries of |

|Europe sought to restructure themselves. The Congress of Vienna, held after the Napoleonic wars, left both Germany and Italy as divided states. Nationalism |

|inspired the re-unification of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871. For its part, France was angry because the settlement at the end of the Franco-Prussian war |

|had given Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to differing nationalist groups, all of whom wanted freedom from |

|the states in which they lived. |

|Crises |

|The Moroccan Crisis - In 1904 Morocco had been given to France by Britain, but the Moroccans wanted independence and was supported by Germany. War was avoided,|

|but in 1911, the Germans were again protesting against French possession of Morocco. Britain supported France and Germany was persuaded to back down for part of|

|French Congo. |

| |

|The Bosnian Crisis - In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs. Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary |

|with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilized its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilized its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was |

|avoided when Russia backed down. In 1911 and 1912 there was war in the Balkans when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each |

|other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary intervened and forced Serbia to give up land. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was|

|high. |

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 declared war first.

|1879 |1881 |1882 |

|The Dual Alliance |Austro-Serbian Alliance |The Triple Alliance |

|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |

|Germany and Austria-Hungary |Austria-Hungary made an alliance with Serbia | Germany and Austria- Hungary made |

|made an alliance to protect |to stop Russia gaining control of Serbia |an alliance with Italy to stop Italy|

|themselves from Russia | |from taking sides with Russia |

|1914 |[pic] |1894 |

|Triple Entente (no separate | |Franco-Russian Alliance |

|peace) | |[pic] |

|[pic] | | Russia formed an alliance with |

|Britain, Russia and France | |France to protect herself against |

|agreed not to sign for peace| |Germany and Austria-Hungary |

|separately. | | |

|1907 |1907 |1904 |

|Triple Entente |Anglo-Russian Entente |Entente Cordiale |

|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |

| This was made between |This was an agreement between Britain and |This was an agreement, but not a |

|Russia, France and Britain |Russia |formal alliance, between France and |

|to counter the increasing | |Britain. |

|threat from Germany. | | |

Read the table above clockwise from the top left picture.

World War One Causes. History on the Net. 7 October 2009 .

Imperialism

Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and makes them subject to its rule. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. With the rise of industrialism countries needed new markets. 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. Note the contrast in the map below.

[pic]

The map above links countries and their colonies through the use of color. For example, the United Kingdom is colored in pink and corresponds with its colonies in present-day Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, Sudan, Egypt among others.

Price, Richard, History 219P. University of Maryland. Department of History. 7 October 2009 .

Militarism

Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government. Countries build up their armed forces in the name of security, thereby intimidating other nations. The growing European divide had led to an arms race between the main countries. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas. The British had introduced the 'Dreadnought', an effective battleship, in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit introducing their own battleships. The German, Von Schlieffen, also drew up a plan of action that involved attacking France through Belgium if Russia made an attack on Germany. The map below shows how the plan was to work.

[pic]

Nationalism

 Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of one's country. The Congress of Vienna, held after Napoleon's exile to Elba, aimed to sort out problems in Europe. Delegates from Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia (the winning allies) decided upon a new Europe that left both Germany and Italy as divided states. Strong nationalist elements led to the re-unification of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871. The settlement at the end of the Franco-Prussian war left France angry at the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany and keen to regain lost territory. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to differing nationalist groups, all of whom wanted freedom from the states in which they lived.

Reference Guide – The Reasons for America’s Entry into World War I

Reasons for Neutrality- Traditionally, Washington and Jefferson had warned about the danger of becoming involved in European conflicts. In this case, it wasn’t our war. The US had no direct or indirect role in causing its outbreak. There was a large immigrant population in the US that had come from Europe. There was concern that these immigrants would empathize with their nation of origin. This would cause conflict between immigrant populations in the US. In general, war endangers democracy. The passions caused by it can erode rationality and compassion. American citizens would kill and be killed in the war. Both results would be damaging to those involved and their families and countrymen

Submarine Warfare: At the beginning of WWI, the German Empire had ships scattered across the globe, some of which were used to attack Allied merchant shipping. The British systematically hunted them down. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain also initiated a naval blockade of German ports and mined international waters to prevent any ships from entering entire sections of ocean . The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies, although the blockade violated generally accepted international law. In response, Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare, attempting to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain and prevent the US from sending troops to Europe in the event of a declaration of war. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.

Lusitania: The Lusitania was a British passenger liner sunk by a U-Boat off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915. The Germans correctly suspected that the ship carried weapons. Included among the passengers were 128 Americans, who had boarded the ship despite warnings from Germany that British ships were targets. The American media called Germans barbarians but President Wilson called for patience. Germany promised not to target passenger liners as long as they did not resist German searches. By 1917 German resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in an effort to defeat Britain before the US could join the war.

Zimmermann Note: The US broke off relations with Germany shortly after the resumption of submarine warfare and Wilson asked Congress for permission to arm merchant ships. Antiwar members of the Senate attempted to filibuster this request. At the same time, the British revealed the contents of an intercepted German telegram detailing an offer to assist Mexico in reclaiming Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. While the President did not take this note seriously and Mexico denied seeking an alliance, the public was pushed closer to favoring Great Britain and the war.

Economics and Munitions Makers: US banks had loaned the European Allies funds to continue fighting as well as to buy munitions. There was a fear among US bankers that a German victory in the war would mean their loans would not be paid back. While loans had been made to both sides, the Allies loans totaled $2.2 billion while Germany’s debt to US banks was only $27 million. The US also stood to gain from the increased manufacturing required to maintain a war and most munitions makers supported US entry.

Domestic Impact of World War One Chart

Reference Guide

|Act or Organization |Description |Promotes or Protects Freedom |Hurts Core Values |

| |Attempt to coordinate production of |Was essential for successfully |Interferes with capitalism or a |

|War Industries Board |war materials. Set prices on |waging war. Defeat in the war was|“free market” economy. This means|

| |occasion, allocated raw materials |tantamount to losing freedom. |that a cornerstone of American |

| |and told manufacturers what to |Theoretically was only a temporary|liberty is compromised by it. |

| |produce. |organization. | |

| |An Organization which attempted to |Helps protect workers from |Is an example of government |

|National War Labor Board|mediate labor disputes to insure |exploitation. Helps promote |interference in private affairs. |

| |that war production was not |victory in the war which is |Hurts corporation by unfairly |

| |disrupted by strikes. |officially about freedom. |representing labor. |

| | | | |

| |Espionage Act passed in 1917 which |Espionage Act, if employed |Espionage Act, if employed |

|Espionage and Sedition |made it illegal to interfere with |carefully, the Act would not |liberally the Act would be an |

|Acts |the war effort. |compromise American civil |excuse to unduly restrict American|

| | |liberties and promote the war |civil liberties i.e. free speech |

| | |effort by preventing espionage |and assembly. |

| | |activity. | |

| | | | |

| | |Prevented unreasonable speech |Establishes a dangerous precedent |

|Sedition Act |Sedition Act passed in 1918 which |which would undermine the war |for restricting free speech which |

| |made public speech against the war |effort and put our troops at |compromises the first Amendment. |

| |illegal. |greater risk. | |

| |Committee created by Wilson to gain |By encouraging American support |By limiting damaging information |

|The Committee on Public |popular support for America’s entry |for the war, one could argue that |through the distribution of press |

|Information |into the war both at home and |the Committee on Public |releases, it could be argued that |

| |abroad. Used advertising techniques |Information helped to promote |it limited freedom of the press. |

| |and an understanding of psychology |freedom on the seas and abroad. | |

| |to disseminate propaganda in favor | | |

| |of the War. | | |

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