Germany

- ‘Blank Cheque’
- To Austria escalated tensions
- However Austria interpreted it wrong.
- Schlieffen Plan
- Dragged Belgium, France and GB into war
- German ‘welt politik’
- German imperialism and desire to expand the empire.
- Sent officers to the Ottoman Empire to train their army and prevent expansionist pan-
slavism

Serbia
- Link to black hand
- Prior knowledge of the assassination
- Failed to stop this

Austria - Hungary
- acted very irresponsible
- Deliberately provocative
- Knew the ultimatum was unacceptable
- Historic role in the Balkans
- Imperialist attitudes
- Austria deliberately interpreted the ‘blank cheque’ as a free pass to be
provocative.

Russia
- escalated conflict
- Mobilising her army first.
- Russian war play dragged Germany into the war.

France
- financed Russian railroad development, encouraged Russian mobilisation
- Revanchism after Franco- Prussian war
- Clashes in Morocco

Great Britain
- Driving the arms race
- 2 power standard. (Naval defence act 1889)
- British imperialism leads a desire for them to crush the military might of Germany