Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Origins of the First World War part 1.1
- Alliances
- The Triple Alliance
- Duel Alliance of 1879 between Germany and
Austria-Hungary
- To strengthen Germany against France and
Russia
- Italy joined in 1882 to form the Triple
Alliance
- A defensive alliance
- all three agreed to support each other if one was
attacked
- The Triple Entente
- Franco-Russian Alliance
- 1894
- Both France and Russia felt isolated from
Europe
- Entente Cordiale
- 1904
- Britain felt isolated in Europe
- Britain allowed France to take
action in Morocco and France
allowed Britain to make reforms
in Egypt
- The Kaiser became suspicious
- Anglo-Russian Entente
- 1907
- Influenced by France
- Both countries were keen to settle areas of
difference in the middle east and far east
- The Moroccan Crises
- The First Crisis 1905-06
- In 1905 the Kaiser made a speech in Tangiers declaring that
Morocco should stay independent of France
- Supported by Britain, France refused to back down but agreed to a
international conference discussing the future of Morocco
- The conference held in 1906 was a disaster for the Kaiser who had only the
support of Austria-Hungary while France had the full support of Britain
- France was given a free hand in Morocco
- The Kaiser's attempts to break up the Entente Cordiale had
backfired and had strengthened the alliance even further
- The Kaiser blamed the British for his
humiliation which intensified Anglo-German
rivalry
- The second Crisis 1911
- In 1911 the Kaiser sent a gunboat called the Panther to the Moroccan
port of Agadir to try and force France to agree to compensation
- Lloyd George, the British Chancellor made a speech directly warning the
Germans that Britain would fully support France even if it meant war.
- Germany backed down so they wouldn't risk war
- The crisis greatly increased tension in Europe
- It strengthened Anglo-French relations further
- The Kaiser suffered another humiliating defeat
- It increased Anglo-German rivalry
- France and Britain both thought the Kaiser
was trying to set up a German naval base in
Morocco
- The Bosnian Crisis 1908-09
- In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia
- The Serbians were furious because they had hoped to make Bosnia part of Serbia
- They appealed to Russia for help whose answer
was to call for an international conference
- A-H refused to attend the conference and was backed by
Germany so Russia had little choice but to back down
- Serbia wanted revenge and the return of Bosnia
- Russia was humiliated and was now unlikely to
back down in another crisis
- Germany was now fully committed to supporting
Austro-Hungarian policy in the Balkans
- The Arms Race
- Military
- Every major power in Europe had introduced
conscription which led to huge armies
- The armies could be mobilised at a moments notice
- it increased tension because as one power
increased its army, another would follow suit
- it made war more likely because each country became more
confident of success and more willing to test its armed forces
- Naval
- Naval competition between Britain and Germany in
the years 1900-14
- Britain launched the dreadnought in 1906 which was faster, bigger and
had a bigger firing range than any existing battleship
- it made all previous battleships obsolete
- A race developed to see who could build the most and in 1909 Britain had 8 and Germany had 7