Causes of the First World War

• Empire building


  The UK had the largest empire in the world in 1900, ruling over 400 million people across the UK, Africa and Asia. This brought the UK huge amounts of wealth and power. France also had a large empire, making them a powerful European rival for the UK. Germany was a relatively new country, formed in 1871, and had ambitions to grow an empire to compete with France and the UK.
• Germany's ambition to grow an empire


  Concerned the UK and France, as they started to see them as a potential threat
• Germany interfered in French attempts to colonise Morocco in 1911, sending a gunboat called The Panther to Agadir, on the Moroccan coast. Germany was eventually forced to back down, but they had shown their intent to challenge the UK and France.
• European nations' desires for vast empires ultimately led to competition and rivalry and so contributed to tensions resulting in the outbreak of war in 1914.
• Alliances


  In 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy entered into an agreement known as the Triple Alliance. In 1894, France and Russia signed an agreement to support each other, forming the Franco-Russian Alliance. In 1904, the UK and France signed the Entente Cordiale. In 1907, the Triple Entente was formed, including the UK, France and Russia.
• The Triple Entente was strategically in a better position, as they encircled the countries in the Triple Alliance. This caused a problem for Germany and led to them creating the Schlieffen Plan to try and deal with this threat.
• Naval Arms Race


  Germany needed to expand their navy to be able to travel across the seas to other countries. This was a threat to the UK, who at the time had the biggest navy in the world. They had adopted a 'two-power' standard, meaning they wanted their navy to be at least as big as the second and third biggest navies combined. This led to a naval race, with countries across Europe building up bigger and more powerful weapons and ships.
• The UK launched HMS Dreadnought in 1906, which was seen as the first modern battleship, and sparked a naval race with Germany, who wanted to challenge the UK's navy.
• Assassination of Franz Ferdinand


  The event that sparked WW1 after years of tension and small-scale conflict was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on 28th June 1914 by a terrorist organisation, the Black Hand from Serbia. When Serbia did not give in to Austrian demands in the wake of the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28th July 1914. The pre-made alliances now stepped into action.
• In order to to build an empire, Germany needed to...

  Expand their navy to be able to travel across seas to other countries
• The Uk was the biggest navy in the world at the time, what standard did they adopt?

  The 'two-power' standard meaning they wanted their navy to be at least as big as the second and third biggest navies combined
• Because the UK is an island...

  A navy is more important than an army for defence
• The UK's navy was significantly more powerful than the following countries... 


  France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary