Causes & Events Leading to WWI

Key!!!

Yellow- vocab, Blue- people, Purple- dates

Militarism

• Aggressive military preparedness

• Celebrates war & armed forces

• European powers competed for dominance

• Grew partly out of Social Darwinism- survival of the fittest

• Fiercest rivalry between G.B. & Germany

• Arms Race- machine guns, poison gas, armored tank, aircraft, zeppelins, U-Boats, and convoys.

Alliances

• Secret alliances formed for protection

• Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy

• Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, Russia, and later Italy

• Entente: non-binding agreement to follow common policies

Nationalism

• Strong feeling/pride in one's country/identity

• Belief in each ethnic group having its own nation

• Multinational empires faced nationalist movements

• Self-determination sought by ethnic groups

• Balkans referred to as the "Powder keg of Europe"

Imperialism

• Domination by one country over another

• European powers competed for colonies

• German industrialization threatened British supremacy

• Russian interests in the Balkans threatened AH & Turkey

Final Straw- Assassination

• Competition between AH (Austria-Hungary) and Russia for the Balkan Peninsula

• Archduke Francis Ferdinand of AH announces visit to Sarajevo

• Serbian nationalists view Austrians as foreign oppressors

• Members of the terrorist group (Black Hand- anti-AH, remove their presence) vow to assassinate the archduke

• Archduke and wife killed by Black Hand member Gavrilo Princip1914