Mud, waste and technology

 On each sheet, put down your questions,

facts you know and your expectations about
what we’ll learn and do
 Imperialism – the ‘Great
Powers’ of Europe
invaded other countries in
order to establish
economic outposts

 Germany struggled to be
as strong an imperial
power as Britain or France
 Militarism – you need military strength to
acquire territories and subdue populations and
keep others from stealing your colonies

 Alliances – there were a series of agreements to

provide military support in case of war in Europe
 The Triple Alliance included Germany, Austria-
Hungary and Italy (the Ottoman empire)
 The Triple Entente included Britain, France and Russia
 Nationalism – intense,
passionate loyalty and
identification with a
cultural group coupled
with a desire to live
independently

 Competing
international interests
in the Balkans
complicated
nationalist zeal
 Russia, Austro-Hungarian Empire and
Ottoman Empire struggled for control over
the area
 Russia wanted Pan-Slavism – access to warm
water ports
 A.H. wanted to maintain power (had Slavic
nations under control)
 The Ottoman Empire had controlled the area
for over a century
 War was seen as purposeful

 There were opportunities for war to be

avoided

 What is political is also personal

 Using MAINB as your guide, create a
mnemonic to help you remember the events,
people and pressures that contributed to the
outbreak of war in 1914
 Use your textbook, pages 26-30
 Use information from videos
 Use images from the internet or your imagination
 Austria issued an ultimatum to Serbia
because of the assassination of Franz
Ferdinand
 Serbia accepted some but not all of the demands
and this led Austria to declare war against Serbia
▪ This was in line with expectations – war was wanted
 There was a failed bid for peace mediation
because Kaiser Wilhelm II didn’t want to
accede to Britain
 With the ultimatum rejected Austria-Hungary
declared war with Serbia
 It was weeks after the initial declaration of war
that the Austro-Hungarian army was ready to
fight and this gave Kaiser Wilhelm II the chance to
persuade Russia not to get involved
 “Nicky, I share your wish that
peace should be maintained.
It would be quite possible for
Russia to remain a spectator
of the Austro Serbian conflict
without involving Europe in
the most horrible war she ever
witnessed. I think a direct
understanding between your
government and Vienna
possible and desirable and my
government is continuing its
exertions to promote it.”
 Russia had an alliance with Serbia and yet had
initially agreed to call off mobilization
 Fear of looking weak, apprehension about
domestic politics and the pressure of the military
leaders led Tsar Nicholas to begin mobilizing
forces
 Germany declared war on France because of
its alliance with Russia
 In the likely event of war with Russia
Germany would launch a harsh offensive
attack on France.
 The fear was that Russia in the near future
would become invincible (though it was weak
after the Russo-Japanese war)
 France was strong militarily and would come
to the aid of Russia – gack! It’s war on two
fronts!
 The expectation was that Russia would take a
long time to mobilize troops so by the time
Germany was done with France they could
fight Russia without being caught in a war
with two fronts.
 Fatal Flaw: Belgium is between Germany and
France…to get to France they would have to
go through Belgium
 Belgium refused to
give permission to
Germany so
Germany invaded

 Britain had a treaty

with Belgium and
once the Schlieffen
plan was in motion
Britain was involved