1. The Road to War

2.  Nationalism  The belief that a specific nation, language, or culture is superior to all others  Different from patriotism

3.  The Slavs in Austria-Hungary wanted to break away and create a nation of their own  Serbia was Slavic and encouraged them  Russia was also Slavic and supported Serbia

4.  Imperialism  European countries were competing to get the biggest empire

5.  Militarism  Building up armed forces to prepare for war  European countries built up their armies and navies bigger than they had ever been

6.  Balance of power  People believed no country would start a war if it lacked military strength  Triple Alliance = Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy  Triple Entente = France, Russia, Great Britain

7.  Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina  Slavic nationalists had wanted Bosnia to ally with Serbia

8.  June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand (of Austria-Hungary) visited Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia)  Gavrilo Princip – a 19 yr old Serb nationalist – assassinated him

9.  Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and began shelling (the Serbian city of) Belgrade  Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary  Germany declared war on Russia and invaded Belgium to attack France  Great Britain declared war on Germany  Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia

10.  Central Powers  Germany and Austria-Hungary  Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire joined them

11.  Allied Powers  Britain, France, Russia  The U.S. joined later  Eventually another 20+ countries joined too

12.  Most people thought the war would be over in 6 months or less  The Schlieffen Plan – Germany’s plan – called to attack France quickly then attack Russia  Belgians resisted which gave France and Britain time to mobilize their troops  First battle was the First Battle of the Marne where France counterattacked