Causes of WW1

• Britain was the first country in the world to have an Industrial Revolution
• As a result of the industrial revolution Britain became an industrial power and by 1900 became the world's richest country
• It was during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) Britain became one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world
• Through marriage the royal family was directly connected to Russia, Spain, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Greece and Romania
• Some people had started to call Queen Victoria the Grandmother of Europe before the end of her reign
• By the the of George V's reign (1910-36) the role of the monarchy was largely symbolic .The king had very little political power.
• By 1914, Britain ruled over 400 million people living in 56 different places all over the world.This amounted to approximately 1/4 of the world's population and a 1/4 of the earth's total land area.
• The class divide in Britain was massive and their was no sate sick pay, pensions or unemployment benefit
• There were signs that Britain's satus as world economic leader was underthreat
• Britain 1914 population-41 million
• Other nations were making goods and buying less from Britain
• Britain still had the largest shipping industry but was outpeformed by Germany in the production of iron, coals and chemicals
• Britain 1914 army size-710,000
• Britain 1914 battleships-122
• Britain 1914 submarines-64
• Britain 1914 air force-110 fighter and bomber planes, 6 airships
• Britain 1914 colonies-56
• Britain 1914 population of colonies-400 million
• Britain 1914 size of colonies-27 million square km
• Britain 1914 yearly coal production-300 million tonnes
• Britain 1914 yearly steel production-11 million colonies