SOC SCI

• Causes of World War 1

  • Nationalism
  • Imperialism
  • Militarism
  • Secret Allies
• Nationalism

  Love for country and readiness to start wars
• Imperialism


  Extending power through colonization, diplomacy and military force
• Militarism


  Emphasis on military power and war readiness
• Secret Allies


  Gaining allies to increase strength, leading to suspicion and fear
• Central Powers


  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Austria-Hungary
• Allies


  • France
  • Great Britain
  • Russia
• Serbia was Russia's ally
• Immediate cause of World War 1


  Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand


  • Austria-Hungary's heir to the throne
  • Shot on June 28, 1914 during his visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia
• Assassin


  Gavrilo Princip, Serbian Black Hand Society Member, Sniper
• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914
• Allied Powers Leaders


  • France: P.M. Georges Clemenceau
  • Great Britain: P.M. David Lloyd George
  • Russia: Tzar Nicholas II
  • Italy: P.M. Vittorio Orlando
  • U.S.A: President Woodrow Wilson
• West: France vs. Germany invasion of neutral Belgium
• East: Russia vs. Germany attack on Prussia
• Balkan: Austria-Hungary vs. Serbia Ottoman Empire
• Great Britain vs. Germany: Use of U-boats
• Sinking of Lusitania, British passenger ship
• America loans $1.5 Billion to Allies
• Germany's secret letter to Mexico
• Central Powers defeat
• Emergence of new nations
• Treaty of Versailles signing
• Loss of 8.5 million soldiers, 22 million wounded, 18 million civilians, and estimated 200 billion dollars in damages
• Change in Europe's map with the division of Austria and Hungary
• Liberation of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia in Albania
• Dissolution of four European empires: Hohenzollern, Hapsburg, Romanov, and Ottoman
• Formation of the League of Nations to eliminate wars, protect member countries, solve conflicts, promote global cooperation, and promote peace
• Division of Central Powers' colonies among winners
• Germany's weakened troops and army prohibited war participation
• Germany was obligated to pay WW1 damages
• Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union
• Post-WWII rivalry for global influence
• The US perceived the Soviet Union as a threat
• The USSR believed WWII won
• The USSR sought land as a prize
• Sides of the Cold War

  • NATO- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (USA, France, Great Britain, West Germany)
  • Warsaw Pact- Pro Soviet countries controlled by the USSR
• Capitalism


  Economic and political system of the USA and its allies
• Communism


  Economic and political system of the USSR and its allies
• Hitler ordered Operation Barbarossa, an attack against Russia instead of Britain, in June 1941