Causes of WW1

Causes of WW1

4 main causes
1. NATIONALISM
  1. Belief that your country is better than others... This made countries aggressive
2. IMPERIALISM
  1. The desire to conquer colonies - this brought the powers not conflict
3. MILITARISM
  1. The attempt to build up a strong army gave nations the means to make war
4. ALLIANCES
  1. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the triple alliance... This alarmed Britain, France and Russia who formed the triple entente
Assassination of archduke Ferdinand
1. Franz Ferdinand was inspecting the army in Sarajevo with his wife Sophie.
  1. Austrian emperor Franz Josef forbade him to be seen with her because she was a. Commoner
    1. 28th June 1914 was also Serbia's National Day. Ferdinand's visit was an insult to the Serbs
      1. The conspirators got their guns and bombs from the Black Hand. A Serbs terrorist organisation
        Franz Ferdinand was shot on Franz Josef street
The schlieffen plan
1. Based on the theory that Germany would be at war with France and Russia
2. It assumed France was weak and would be easier to beat than Russia
3. The plan began to go wrong when Russia mobilised its army and France did not
4. Things got worse when Britain declared war on Germany
German historian Fritz Fischer argued that the German leaders had a 'will to war', that they wanted to expand German power, and they wanted the situation in Europe to deteriorate into war.

Resource summary

	Created by courtneycoxx over 10 years ago