1. The First World War
The Causes of the War

2. The Great War
The 11th November 2008 marked the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War. The only three surviving British soldiers went to lay their poppy wreaths at the Cenotaph in London to remember those who had given their lives.
Henry Allingham, 112 years old, RAF
Harry Patch, 110 years old, Army
Bill Stone, 108 years old, Navy
By July 2009, Henry Allingham was the last of these men to finally pass away.
During the Great War 65,038,810 men fought in battle and there were an estimated 9,750,103 casualties. 761,000 British soldiers died in the Great War.

3. Why Study the First World War?
We are a generation who have never lived through a major war.
War effects everyone – soldiers fighting for their country and those back at home.
War changes the course of history – it can destroy countries, create new ones or cause countries to take a different path.
War changes individual lives – a whole generation of young British men were wiped out.
If we do not understand the past, we will end up repeating the mistakes of the past.

4. The First World War In this topic we will cover seven key areas:
The Causes of the War
The Outbreak of War
Trench Warfare
New Technology
The Home Front
The End of the War
The League of Nations

5. The Causes of the War CAUSES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Berlin-Baghdad Railway
Trade Rivalry
Empire Rivalry R A N B E T
CAUSES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Naval Arms Race
Russia and Pan-Slavism
Alsace and Lorraine

6. Rivalry Between the Great Powers
Aims:
Identify the ‘Great Powers’ in Europe before 1914.
Examine their strengths and weaknesses.

7. Before 1914 Europe
was dominated by
five powerful
countries.
Russia
France
Britain
Germany
Austria-Hungary

8. Rivalry Between the Great Powers
Aspects of National Power
Largest
Smallest
Population
Size of army
Naval strength
Foreign trade
Coal production
Steel production
Empire

9. Rivalry Between the Great Powers
Why do you think Britain had a large navy but a small army?
Why would coal and steel production be important to a country?
Which European country do you think was the most powerful in 1914? Give a reason for your answer.

10. Germany: A Growing Power
Germany was a relatively new country in Europe.
Between , Prussia the largest German state fought France in the Franco-Prussian War.
After this war the German states came together and a new German Empire was established. Their leader was the Kaiser or Emperor of Germany.

11. Germany: A Growing Power
France suffered a humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian war.
The Prussians forced the French to:
Pay an indemnity – financial
compensation for the war.
2) Give them Alsace and Lorraine – two areas next to the German border which were rich in coal and iron ore.

12. Germany: A Growing Nation
The French were determined to get Alsace and Lorraine back and they wanted to make sure the Germans did not invade them again.
They increased the size of their army and built massive forts on the border with Germany.

13. Tensions in the Balkans
Aim:
Identify why there was tension in the Balkans between Austria-Hungary, Serbia and Russia.

14. Tensions in the Balkans
There was also problems between countries in South-East Europe in an area called the Balkans.
Turkey, Russia and Austria-Hungary all had large empires in the Balkans.
How does a country end up with a huge Empire?

15. Tensions in the Balkans
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Turkish Empire
Using Mair page 15 make a list of the different groups of people who belonged to each Empire.

16. The Turkish Empire was also known as the Ottoman Empire

17. Tensions in the Balkans
Both the Austrians and the Turks had a huge empire which ruled over millions of people of different races.
These minority groups were treated as second-class citizens e.g. they could not vote and they wanted to be independent and rule themselves.
Most of these minority groups were from the Slavic race and they were supported by Russia the largest Slav country who became known as the ‘Protector of the Slavs’.
Austria and Turkey would not give these minority groups more freedom because they did not want their empires to break up.

18. Tensions in the Balkans
They blamed Russia for encouraging the Slav people in their empires to demand freedom.
Austria was also suspicious of Serbia and worried that many of the Serbs in her Empire would try to break away and join Serbia.

19. Rivalry Between Great Powers
Aims:
Identify why Britain and Germany were rivals over trade and empires.

20. History File Video
As you watch a short clip from the episode ‘Causes of the War’ write down 5 key facts about Kaiser Willhelm II of Germany.

21. Kaiser Wilhelm II
He wanted to show that Germany was a great and powerful nation. This is known as IMPERIALISM.
He believed that the way to do this would be to increase Germany’s empire, expand trade with other countries and build up the German navy.
This caused great tension with
other countries.

22. Britain Before 1914
Britain had a democratic government – most adult males could vote.
The monarch was King George V - he was more of a figurehead and did not have a huge amount of power.
The Liberals were in government and the Prime Minister was Herbert Asquith.
Britain was known as the ‘workshop’ of the world because of the many goods that British factories produced. The British economy was very strong.

23. Empire Rivalry Key Terms:
Empire – a group of countries controlled and ruled by a powerful country.
Colonies – an area of land or country controlled by a more powerful country

24. Empire Rivalry
The British Empire covered a quarter of the globe – Canada, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand.
Colonies provide goods, give you a market to sell goods, extra soldiers to fight in wars and make a country look powerful.
Germany wanted to expand their small empire.
Britain was worried that Germany might try to attack parts of her Empire in order to achieve this.

25. Trade Rivalry Trade is the buying and selling of goods and services.
Germany and Britain were competing against each other to sell goods to other countries.
This was another cause of tension between both countries.

26. Berlin-Baghdad Railway
Germany won the contract to build this railway.
British were concerned that the Germans might try to take over British oilfields in neighbouring Persia (Iran).

27. The Triple Alliance Vs The Triple Entente
Aims:
Identify the two alliances which existed in Europe before 1914.
Understand why this increased the likelihood of war breaking out.
Q. When a country feels threatened by other countries what can they do to protect themselves from attack?

28. The Triple Alliance Vs The Triple Entente
By 1914 Europe was divided into two rival groups.
The Triple Alliance – Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
The Triple Entente – Britain, France and Russia.

30. The Alliance System
The Alliance system was supposed to act as a deterrent to war. Neither side would want to start a war because their rivals had the support of other countries
The danger was that if two countries started to argue, the others could be dragged into war.
There was a key difference. The Triple Alliance was a military alliance. The Triple Entente was a ‘friendly understanding’ – the countries involved made no definite commitment to each other.

31. The Alliance System Agreement Year Countries Involved Dual Alliance
Franco-Russian Alliance
Entente Cordiale
Triple Alliance
Triple Entente

32. The Arms Race Aims: Identify why there was an arms race before 1914.
Examine the naval arms race between Britain and Germany.

33. The Arms Race Key Term: Arms Race
When countries compete with one another to
build up their armed forces.
As tensions grew between European countries, each country increased spending on its armed forces.
A well-equipped army was vitally important to defeat a major powers.
France and Germany developed huge conscript armies. Britain concentrated on maintaining her position as the world’s greatest sea power.

34. Naval Arms Race Why did Britain have a large navy?
Why did Germany want a large navy?

35. The Naval Arms Race In the 1870s Germany began to build more warships.
In 1889, Britain adopted the two power standard – the British navy had to be larger than the fleets of the next two largest navies combined.
In 1895, the Kiel Canal was opened giving German ships easier access to the North Sea.
In 1898 Germany began a major ship building programme – the British saw this as a direct challenge.
1904, Admiral Sir John Fisher was appointed First Sea Lord and he decided to modernise the British Fleet.
In 1906 a new type of battleship was launched the ‘Dreadnought’.

36. The Dreadnought The Dreadnought made all other warships obsolete.
It was bigger than faster than another battleship with modern turbine engines.
It had ten massive 12 inch guns which allowed it to fire in any direction and thick armour plating to protect them from attack.
The Germans launched a similar type of ship in 1908 – the Nassau.
By 1914 Britain had 22 Dreadnoughts and Germany had launched 15.

37. The Naval Arms Race Year British Policy German Policy 1889
Britain adopts the two power standard
1895
1898
1904
1906
1908
1909

38. Preparing for War
As tension grew in Europe countries began to plan for war.
In 1897 Germany began to draw up their plan for war.
Their worst fear was facing a WAR ON TWO FRONTS with France and Russia. Why?

39. The Schlieffen Plan
By 1905 Count Von Schlieffen, the Chief of the German General Staff had drawn up the Schlieffen Plan.
The Germans planned to use 90% of their forces to knock out France while the other 10% defended their border with Russia.
The plan was based on a number of assumptions:
The Russian army would take 6 weeks to mobilise.
France could be defeated in 6 weeks.
Belgium would not resist any German attack.
The British would remain neutral.

40. The Balkans: Flashpoint For War
Aims:
Examine how the Balkan Wars created growing tensions between Serbia and Austria.

41. The Bosnian Crisis 1908 Bosnia
Tension continued to growth in the Balkans before war broke out in 1914.
Bosnia, part of the Turkish Empire had been fighting a terrorist war against the Turks for many years.
Turkish rule in Bosnia was so weak that the Austrians occupied the province in 1878.
In 1908 the Turks finally gave up on Bosnia but instead of giving Bosnia independence they transferred the province to Austria.
The Bosnians were horrified and begged the Russians to help their Slav brothers.
However Russia was not ready to fight in 1908, having just lost a war against Japan in 1905.
Bosnia

42. The Balkan Wars
In 1912 Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria (the Balkan League) joined together to drive the Turks out of Europe in the First Balkan War (1912)
Bulgaria won most of the land that had been taken from Turkey.
However the Balkan League soon quarrelled about other lands that had been taken from Turkey.
This led to the Second Balkan War (1913). Bulgaria was defeated and forced to give up land.
By the end of the Balkan Wars Serbia was stronger and had gained more lands.
Serbia was keen to unite all Serbs including those living in Austria-ruled Bosnia.

43. The Sarajevo Assassinations
Aims:
Examine the events leading to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Explain why this event led to the outbreak of war five weeks later.

44. A Royal Visit to Sarajevo
28th June 1914 the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie visited Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia.
Important Austrian officials had already been assassinated in Bosnia.
The Archduke wanted a procession through Sarajevo with an open top car.

45. The Assassins
A Bosnian terrorist group, the Black Hand planned to assassinate the Archduke.
This group was trained and funded by Serbians.
Seven assassins travelled to Sarajevo with bombs, pistols and poison in their possession.
Two were schoolboys and two were teenagers.

46. The Assassination
The first two assassins lost their nerve. The third threw a bomb, it bounced off the Archduke’s car and landed on the car behind. The Archduke wanted to visit the hospital where the victims of the bomb were.
His car had no police guard, his driver took a wrong turn and reversed outside a café where one of the assassins, Gavrillo Princip was.
Princip seized his opportunity and fired at the car, killing the Archduke and his wife at point-blank range.

47. The Outcome All of the assassins were caught.
They were far too young for the death penalty and sent to prison.
Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died in April 1918 aged 23 of tuberculosis.
Austria-Hungary’s Emperor Franz Joseph had lost his son and heir to the throne. He blamed Serbia and was determined to crush her.

48. One tragic event on one hot summer’s day.
One assassin, one gun, two victims.
Within five weeks the whole of Europe was at war

49. The Missing Events Germany declares war on France
Austria declares war on Serbia
Germany declares war on Russia
Russia orders partial mobilisation of the Russian army to support Serbia.
Germany says she will support Austria in whatever action she takes against Serbia.

50. Germany Austria-Hungary Russia Serbia Britain
In your opinion which country was responsible for the outbreak of war?
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Russia
Serbia
Britain