Causes of WWI

MANIA swept through Europe

  • Militarism: emphasis on preparedness for war (even when there isn’t one approaching

    • Back and forth competition between Britain and Germany

      • arms race

      • Britain feared Germany outdoing them

      • Germany wanted to compete with Britain

    • Lesser nations feared militaristic nations = don’t want to fight them

  • Alliances: mutual protection

    • Weak nations want to pair up with greater nations

    • Two major alliances formed by 1914

      • Triple Entente/Allied Powers: France, Great Britain, Russia

      • Triple Alliance/Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary

  • Nationalism: people of a common culture should unite under one control without foreign influence

    • Balkans: Austria

      • Serbian Slavs: independence from Ottomans (ultra-nationalists)

        • Pans-slavism: all slavs come together

        • Wanted to convince Balkans to give Basnia for a greater nation of Slavs

    • All nations want to grow their nation and defeat rivals

  • Imperialism/Industrialization

    • Industrialization: need of raw materials > colonies (imperialism)

      • Colonies = profit

      • By 1914, mostly everywhere in the world had been colonized

      • Winner can claim losers colonies

  • Assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand

    • Black Hand: terrorist serbian group to get Basnia

    • Austria is led to believe Serbia government ordered this attack

2 Major Alliance Systems (1914-1918)

  • Complex alliance systems developed during 1800s

    • Allied Powers (Triple Entente)

      • Britain, France, Russia

        • Italy, Republic of China, Japan, USA

    • Central Powers (Triple Alliance)

      • Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire

        • Poor location: exposure to the Eastern and Western Fronts

A New Kind of War

  • Trench warfare

    • little movement

    • either side of no mans land

  • Industrial warfare

    • barbed wire

    • tanks

    • airplanes

    • submarines “u-boats”

    • machine guns

    • chemical weapons: mustard & chlorine gas

  • Little gain after long periods of time and massive casualties as a result

  • non-Europeans participate

    • colonists as troops and laborers

Spanish Influenza Pandemic 1918-1920

  • 20-50 million dead

  • Starts in Kansas