World War 1 - The Great War (1914-1918)

A. Causes

1. Nationalism - pride or love of one’s country

2. Imperialism - caused competition in Europe over land resources in Africa and Asia

3. Militarism - glorification of military and readiness to go to war

4. Alliances - divided Europe into 2 armed camps

5. Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire

6. Allies - England, France, Russia

7. June 28,1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austrian throne) was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip (member of a Serbian Nationalist group)

   1. significance - caused a series of events in Europe that led to the outbreak of war

B. Steps to Warn

1. “Blank Check” - Germany promised to help Austria with any action against Serbia

2. “48-hour Ultimatum” - Austria wanted to investigate the assassination or else would go to war with Serbia if they did not cooperate

3. Serbia - refused to allow an investigation, so Austria declared war on Serbia

4. Russia - mobilized to help Serbia

   1. mobilization - moving military forces into action

5. Germany - declared war on Russia and France

6. After Germany invaded neutral Belgium, England declared war on Germany

7. August 1914 - World War 1 began in Europe

C. Western Front

1. Schlieffen Plan - strategy used by Germany to try to quickly defeat France before Russia could fully mobilize

2. Battle of the Marne - French & British forces stopped a major German attack on France

   1. Ended German hopes of quickly winning the war

   2. Saved Paris from being taken over

   3. Beginning of “trench warfare”

3. Battle of Verdun - longest battle of the war that lasted 10 months

   1. Major German offensive against the French

   2. French victory saved Verdun from takeover and boosted French morale

   3. 800,000 casualties on both sides

4. Battle of the Somme - largest and most destructive battle of the war

   1. Main Allied offensive against Germany

   2. Over 3 million soldiers fought on both sides

   3. Over 1 million casualties

5. War was at a stalemate - many losses but neither side was winning