Causes of WWI

•M---militarism•A---alliances•I---imperialism•N---nationalism

Imperialism

• Competition for land increased.

• Mistrust between nations increased.

• War was on the brink…

Militarism• Militarism:

Glorification of the military

• Intense arms race between European Nations.

• Germany and Britain competed for strongest navy

• Strong army made citizens feel safe and patriotic

• BUT…pushed nations toward war

Standing Armies in Europe, 1914

“The Triple Entente”

Alliances

• Alliances: agreement between nations to support each other in affairs

• Triple Alliance: Germany, Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary (Central Powers)

• Triple Entente: France, Great Britain and Russia (Allies)

What were the causes and effects of the European alliance

system?

Distrust led the great powers to sign treaties pledging to defend one another.

These alliances were intended to create powerful combinations that no one would dare attack.

The growth of rival alliance systems increased international tensions.

Nationalism

• Definition: Extreme pride for one’s nation

• Having colonies made countries feel more important and successful than other countries

• Examples:– Great Britain had powerful unified

empire– France wanted their powerful

empire back

Logs for the Fire

• M---militarism• A---alliances• I---imperialism• N---nationalism

• What’s needed to start the fire?

“Spark” of WWI

• Nephew of the emperor of Austria-Hungary, Francis-Ferdinand, visited Bosnia (mainly Serbians lived in this area)

• Serbia and Austria-Hungary were in opposite alliance systems (Serbia is a part of the allies. Austria-Hungary is a part of the central powers).

• “Black Hand:” terrorist group killed Francis and his wife by gunfire in his car on June 28th, 1914.

As a result…

• A domino effect occurred. • Countries started to point blame.• Nations were forced to rely on

their allies. • War quickly broke out.

U.S. View of ConflictU.S. View of Conflict• The USA was trying to decide whether or not to

get involved and if so what side would they be on.• Cultural ties

– Some Americans supported the Allies• Felt ties of culture and language to Britain• Sympathized with France as another democracy

– Some Americans supported the Central Powers• German Americans felt cultural ties to Germany• Irish Americans resented British rule of Ireland• Russian Jewish immigrants did not want to be allied with

the Czar

• Final decision came after continued submarine warfare and the Zimmerman note

• The USA decided to side with the allies.

TRENCH DIAGRAM• What is in a

Trench?• Barbed wire:

to make running at the trench difficult.

• Sandbagged parapet: to stop the trench collapsing.

• Parados: to stop ‘shrapnel’ getting into the trench.

• Fire step: to shoot from.

• Duck Boards: stopped the bottom of the trench getting very muddy and slippery.

Machine Guns

Airplanes

Submarines

Tanks

Poisonous Gas

Propaganda