CHAPTER 1

9 SECTI

ON 1

THE R

OAD

TO

WAR

CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I

June 28, 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Bosnia

Austria ruled Bosnia

Gavrilo Princip, the man responsible, was a Serbian nationalist who believed Bosnia should be part of Serbia and not Austria

The assassination ignited what was already a decaying situation

Other main causes to the War were: imperialism, nationalism, militarism, and tangled country alliances

Imperialism: Great rush for colonies during the 1800sJapan had won the Sino-Japanese was in 1895 and became a colonial

powerAcquired Korea, Taiwan, and parts of mainland China

Germany realized that the only way for expansion was to take land away from other countries

CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I

Militarism: - aggressive build up of a nation’s armed forces in preparation of war and giving the military more authority the government and foreign policy

Germany, France, Britain, Austria, Hungary, and Russia all prepared for war making war more likely

Nationalism: - devotion to one’s country

Austria and Germany governed millions of Czechs, Slovaks, Pole, and other non-German speaking peoples that ultimately wanted to be a separate country

This led to tensions within the countries themselves

Alliances: Bound countries to come to another’s aid in the event of war

German and Austria were allied. France and Russia were allied. France and England were allied.

ALLIANCES DURING WWI

THE CONFLICT EXPANDS Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination of Ferdinand – declared

war on July 28, 1914

Set off a chain reaction of mobilization – readying troops for war

Russia (Serbia’s protector) began mobilizing – Germany (Austria-Hungary’s ally) warned Russia to stop – they refused

France (Russia’s ally) began mobilizing, as did Germany – August 1st Germany declared war on Russia which meant France declared war on Germany

Germany, as you can see on the map on the previous page is between France and Russia… to avoid having to fight both at the same time – they developed the Schlieffen Plan – a quick attack through France to push them out of the war

Having to pass through neutral Belgium brought Britain into the war on August 4th

Sides were divided into two: Germany and Austria-Hungary as the Central Powers, and Russia, Serbia, France, and Great Britain as the Allies

WORLD CONFLICT

The sweep through France was met by British and French forces that resulted in a bloody stalemate – situation in which neither side gains advantage

Trenches were dug out and created appalling death tolls and rat infested areas

Between the trenches was a “no man’s land” and neither side gained more than a few miles. – This was an extremely horrible site and horrible warfare

Russians invaded Germany’s east side causing forces to be pulled from the west to push back an invasion

At the end of 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, Italy joined the Allies, and the next year (1915) Bulgaria joined the Central Powers

MODERN WARFARE

The machine gun was a new brutal invention that mowed down advancing forces

Generals, having never seen such weaponry, ordered many soldiers to attempt advance – only to lose thousands of soldiers

Poison gases, and artillery shells constantly rained down upon soldiers in trenches

Most Americans opposed the Central Powers

British journalists began writing propaganda – information intended to sway public opinion – in order to have others join their cause

America remained neutral – between 1897 and 1914 - saw their trade multiply by five

Still, even with staying out of the war, the country began preparing for war by training soldiers for combat