WWI

• what were the 4 main causes of WWI?

  militarism, alliances, imperialism, & nationalism
• militarism

  • war is glorified
  • nations built up their military
  • nations raced to increase their numbers of weapons
  • soldiers were mobilized for war during peacetime
  • industrial governments invested in technology
• alliances

  • created to maintain peace
  • protected boundaries of empires
  • agreed to help each other in times of war
• what was the Triple Entente?

  alliance between France, Russia, and Britain before World War I.
• what was the Triple Alliance?

  alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy before WWI
• imperialism

  • industrialization led to control of trade routes and expansion
  • colonies used to gain materials and resources
  • competition among European nations over colonial buildings in Asia and Africa
• austria-hungary and russia fought over the balkans
• what was the balkan peninsula?

  countries in eastern europe such as greece, serbia, croatia, and albania
• nationalism

  • patriotism unified countries
  • led to comercial competition between industrialized nations
  • increased territory struggle
  • competition for industrial power and land increased nationalism
• what is self-determination?


  the idea that people with the same ethnic origins, language, and political ideas had the right to form sovereign states
• nationalism - the balkans

  controlled by the Ottoman empire, but as the Ottoman Empire was falling to Western Imperialism, the Balkans wanted their independence
• serbian nationalism led to conflict between russia and austria-hungary
• russia supported who?

  serbia
• austria-hungary controlled some of serbian population
• the crisis in the balkans led to austria annexing bosnia and herzegovina
• beacause austria took over bosnia and herzegovina, serbian leader decided to mobilize for war with russia backing them up.
• due to serbia being scared of austria taking over them, it led to?

  Gavrilo Princip (serbian nationalist) decided to assassinate Franz Ferdinand (austro-hungarian heir).
• what was the black hand?

  a organization which supported freeing serbs who were under austro-hungarian rule in bosnia.
• Austria-Hungary is now mad and issues and ultimatum by Serbia refuses and declares that they had nothing to do with the assassination
• Austria-Hungary declared war declared war on Serbia which caused Russia to declare war on Austria-Hungary to back up Serbia.
• what year did WWI begin?

  1914
• after austria-hungary, russia, and serbia declared war, other countries in the alliances also declare war. france and germany positions their armies along the western front
• what countries were a part of the central powers (formerly triple alliance)?

  Germany, Austria-Hungary, and later the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria
• what countries was in the allies?

  Great Britain(UK, England), France, Russia, & Belgium. Later Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Serbia, Greece, Portugal, Romania and the United States joined.
• what was the western front?

  border between France and Germany where Germany tried to use the Von Schieffen plan.
• what was the original Von Schlieffen plan vs the one that happened instead?

  original plan: Germany tries to take France quickly in the Western Front and then hoped to turn east to fight Russia (on the Eastern Front)

  instead: Russia attacked Germany while Germany invaded France and there was tremendous loss on this front

  The plan failed -> British and French allied forces to protect Paris -> Germany retreats along its western border with France
• what were some battles along the trench warfare?

  1 Trench warfare which created a stalemate along the western front.

  2 Long bloody battles:

  - Battle of Verdun

  - Battle of Somme
• what was the eastern front?

  border between Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia
• lack of modern technology caused Russia enormous defeats and Germany gained the upper hand over Russian troops.
• austria army pushed russia out of austria-hungary
• What was happening in the Balkan Front?

  the allies abandoned attempts to land in the Balkans after losing in the Battle of Gallipoli. Serbia lost to Bulgaria. The Ottoman Turks defended Istanbul.
• What was happening in the Italian Front?

  Italians joined the Allies in 1915 and fought Austria-Hungary
• United states joined the allies by 1917
• • War ended in 1918
  • English and French forces forced Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire to surrender
  • revolts inside Austria-Hungary and Germany helped end the war quickly
• what was the machine gun?

  -replaced the single fire short range rifle

  -mostly used in the western front
• what was artillery?

  -additional weapons used for support

  -modern cannons, mortar shells, and advanced rifles

  -industrialization increased mass production of weapons
• what was chemical warfare?

  • 75 different types of poison-gas bombs
  • flame thrower
  • airplanes (one & two seater aircraft that held machine guns)
• what were tanks?

  the british introduced the first prototype for tanks to try to mobilize the western front. Little Willie went 2 miles and hour, but went over trenches and was used as a cover against guns
• Submarines?

  Germans invented the U-boat designed to counter and sink enemy ships carrying soldiers and supplies to the Western Front
• • the allies expanded WWI beyond Europe
  • Russia dropped out of the war due to civil war and the rise of communism
  • Eventually in 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk would signed for Russia to pull out of the war, and Russia lost a fourth of their country to the Central Power
  • Meanwhile, propaganda was used to promote nationalism and gain support for the war. It helped the U.S. generate feelings of sympathy for the Allies.