The First World War

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What?

World War I was a war fought by a lot of countries, which is why it is called a "world" war.

Other names it has been called are The Great War and The War to End all Wars. 135 countries took part in World War I, and more than 15 million deaths happened during this time.

World War I was the first war where tanks, Airplanes, and submarines, or underwater boats (U-boats) were used as common weapons.

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Who?

GermanyAustria-HungaryTurkeyBulgaria

RussiaFranceGreat BritainItalyJapanUnited States (1917)

Central Powers: Allies:

Allies are friends, those who join or unite in agreement and help or support each

other.

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When?

WWI started in 1914 and it

ended in 1918.

The war was ended by the signing of many different treaties, the most important being

the Treaty of Versailles.

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The First World War:Where?

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SOME INTERESTING FACTS…

During World

War One, 230

soldiers died for

each hour of the

four and a

quarter years it

continued.

In Great Britian at the end of the war there were 250,000 wounded soldiers who

suffered total or partial amputation.

In 1916 in the

Italian Alps a winter

avalanche killed

10,000 men. In four

years of conflict on

the Italian Alpine

Front 50,000

soldiers killed by

avalances.

WWI FIRSTS…

First war to be fought on 3 continents. First use of chlorine & mustard gas. First use of the flame thrower. First tank battle. First use of mass airplanes. First use of x-ray in the military. First use of a blood bank. First use of guide dogs by blinded soldiers. First use of trillion in estimating war costs.

It is estimated that over

800,000 horses were killed

in the line of duty with the

British Forces on the Belgium Front.

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WORDS YOU NEED TO KNOW…

Glossary

Alliances Agreements or promises to defend and help another country.

Imperialism Trying to build up an empire.

Empire Where a powerful country controls several less powerful countries.

Militarism Building up armed forces and getting ready for war.

Nationalism Having pride in your country and being ready to defend it.

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The First World War:

Why?

Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his Wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg one hour

before their deaths, June 28, 1914

The first world war began in August 1914. It was

directly triggered by the assassination of the

Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on 28th June 1914 by Bosnian

revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.

This event was, however, simply the trigger that set off declarations of war. The

actual causes of the war are more complicated and

are still debated by historians today.

The main causes of the war will be discussed in this

section.

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CAUSES

There are many different reasons why WWI broke out in 1914. There were long term causes and short term causes.

We have already had a look at the trigger cause that acted to spark the outbreak of the war. We will look into this in more detail later, first we will look at the long term causes of WWI.

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LONG TERM CAUSE 1

Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and

makes them subject to their rule. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. With the rise of industrialism countries needed new markets. The amount of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the

rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late

and only had small areas of Africa. This made the Germans

Jealous and they wanted to have a bigger empire.

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LONG TERM CAUSE 2

Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of

one's own country. The European countries were competing to be the best, the richest, the most powerful

and the strongest nations – they were prepared to go to war to show their

power.The British in particular were proud of their power. Britain became very rich through manufacturing, but Germany

had begun to catch up and was producing iron, steel, coal and cars. By the beginning of the 20th Century, Britain no longer had the economic

lead in Europe.

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LONG TERM CAUSE 3

Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government.

The growing European divide had led to an arms race between the

main countries. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and

1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and

Germany for mastery of the seas.

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LONG TERM CAUSE 4

The main enemies and rivals in Europe were Britain and Germany. They bath

wanted to build and keep big empires and to do this they needed big navies.

Britain has the strongest navy in the world. It used the navy to protect its coastline, its large overseas empire and its trade routes

across the world. The German Kaiser vowed he would build a great navy to

challenge Britain's. The British Then introduced the

'Dreadnought', an effective battleship, in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit introducing their own battleships and U-

Boats. This was called a “Naval Race” with both sides trying to outbuild each other.