WWI: Part 1 Causes and Why America Joined the Triple Entente

Background  By 1914, Europe was ripe for war  There were several forms of “ammunition” that had been developing for years  Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand = the “trigger”

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand  June 1914  Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo  While visiting, the archduke was shot by Gavrilo Princip  Serbian nationalist  Member of the Black Hand organization  The assassination sparked “The Great War”

Forms of “Ammunition” Nationalism  Extreme pride, devotion and love that people feel for their country or culture  Led to competition for power among countries  The Balkans – home to a lot of nationalism  The Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the Balkans for hundreds of years was starting to fall apart during the 1800s  The Austro-Hungarian Empire saw this as an opportunity to expand and began to push themselves and their power into the region  Many Slavic peoples there, such as the Serbs, did not like the control of these outsiders

Forms of “Ammunition” Imperialism  Growing nationalism also led nations to compete for oversees colonies  Colonies provided markets and rich natural resources

Forms of “Ammunition” Militarism  The world soon also saw the rise of militarism  In 1900 Germany began to build a navy that could help them compete for colonies  They also enlarged their army, supplying it’s troops with the latest weapons  Aware of Germany’s growing supply of weapons, Great Britain, France and Russia worried about Germany’s intensions  Each country began to build its own military in order to defend itself should war break out

Forms of “Ammunition” Alliances  For protection, some nations formed alliances or partnerships  believed to created a balance of power  Germany formed an alliance with Austria-Hungry and Italy  This alliance = The Triple Alliance  Fearful of Germany’s growing power, France, Russia and Great Britain formed an alliance  This alliance = The Triple Entente

Why America Joined the Triple Entente  Propaganda  A form of communication that tries to influence an audience toward a cause or position  It is bias  It is presented in order to gain an emotional instead of a rational response from its audience  Britain had a lot of effective propaganda and they used it to persuade America toward their side  Many of the American people also cared about their “mother country”

Why America Joined the Triple Entente Economic Ties  During the beginning of the war, Britain had established a trade blockade against Germany  This made US trade with the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungry, Italy) limited and trade with the Entente (Great Britain, France, Russia) more dominant  Because America traded more with the Triple Entente, they had more of an investment in their success during/after the war

Why America Joined the Triple Entente Submarine Issue  Germany saw the submarine as a useful weapon against the British blockade and announced that it would begin sinking British, French and Russian ships in war zones  1915-Germany sunk the Lusitania (a British passenger ship) without warning, which happened to have neutral Americans on board  President Woodrow Wilson responded by having notes sent to Germany demanding that they stop attacking unarmed and neutral ships  However, Germany kept sinking ships  1915-Arabic attacked (British passenger ship)  1916-Sussex attacked (French passenger ship  Germany’s unrestricted warfare seriously tested American neutrality

Why America Joined the Triple Entente Zimmermann Telegram  It was a message sent by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German minister in Mexico  The message suggested that if America and Germany went to war, Mexico should fight against the US in order to receive its lost territory of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona  This led President Wilson to declare war against Germany and its allies

Why America Joined the Triple Entente Revolution in Russia  Overthrow of the czars or monarchs of Russia eventually leads the US to joining the war on the side of the Entente  Why?  Because now the US would be fighting among all democratic countries (Russia formed a temporary Republic after the overthrow of the czars)  This would strengthen its ultimate goal of making the world safe for democracy