WHAT CAUSED THE FIRST WORLD WAR?

• 1. Who killed Franz Ferdinand? Why did they kill him?

  • Serbian nationalist. The killed him because they wanted to provoke the austro-hungarian empire to declare war on Serbia
• 1. How did the European alliance system help start the war?

  • Allies ensured that if Russia and Austro-Hungary were going to go to war then their allies would have to as well
• 1. How did imperialism help start the war?

  • their motives in joining the war were based on imperialist thought. they wanted to gain strategic advantages
• 1. Why do some argue that industrialization made the war inevitable once preparations were started?

  • everyone believed that with the new weapons and transportation avaliable, the advantage would go to the first country that could mobilize 
• 1. How might the First World War have happened on accident?

  • The First World War could have happened accidentally due to a combination of complex alliances, military build-up, imperial competition, and a series of diplomatic missteps or misunderstandings
• 1. Explain the causes and consequences of WWI.

  • The causes of WWl include militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism
  • Consequences were millions dead, empires dissolved, redrawing of borders, and the rise of new ideologies like communism and fascism
• • the hasburg family had ruled the austro-hungarian empire for almost four centuries 
• • the austro-hungarian empire was a huge, multi-ethnic empire in europe
• • franz ferdinand’s uncle, the emperor, ruled over its many ethnic communities with difficulty
  • nationalism was pushing the community to push for independence 
• • serbs were one of the ethnic group in the austro-hungarian empire
• • serbs were og from the ottoman empire until nationalistic belief set into their heads and fight for their independence which they did achieve
• • many serbs lived in the habsburg province of bosnia
• • serbian nationaoist, both in serbia and bosnia, plotted throughout the early twentieth century to get the habsburg out of bosnia 
• • russia was supportive of ethnic plot
• • serbians hoped russia would leap to the defense of Serbia, defeat the Habsburg armies, and help the Bosnian Serbs win their independence
• • the july ultimatum were unreasonable requirements that violated serbian national sovereignty 
• • triple entendre = russia, france, britain
• • triple alliance = austro-hungary, germany, italy
• • central powers = ottoman empire
• • nationalism promoted the idea that national pride and glory were good enough reasons to go to war
  • EX: France hoped that by joining Russia in its war, they could defeat German rivals and reclaim territory and pride they had lost to Germany in a previous war
• • Nationalism examples 
  • Britian only joined the fight after German troops had invaded neutral Belgium on their way into France
  • British agrument was that they had to defend belgian sovereignty 
  • Russia entered the war to protect Serbian sovereignty
• • imperialism examples
  • russia hoped to gain control of the straits of dardanelles from the ottoman empire, giving their fleet acess to the mediterranean sea for the first time
  • britian and france wanted to control over parts of the ottoman empire
  • japan joined the entendre bc they hoped to sieze some german colonies in the pacific ocean
• • railroads could now transport large numbers of troops, weapons, and equipment to the borders quickly, but only along carefully prepared timetables. once begun, they could not be halted without giving the enemy an advantage
• • when Austro- Hungary began to mobilize against Serbia, Russia and France had to hurry up and put their plans in motion. that meant Germany had to move quickly as well
• • all of the “who starts the mobilizing first” meant that once one power began moving troops or military machinery then the others would quickly follow. then, there would be no going back and the war would begin