1. WW1 – Countries & Borders
L.O: To explain who was a great power in WW1 & why.
Starter:
Think about a country you were in for the break
What factors made that country great.

2. The next two weeks we will be looking at:
The Great Powers of WW1
What happened on the Western Front
The Home Fronts
Disarmament
Borders & change

3. The Great Powers in the early 20th Century
Learning Intentions
Success Criteria
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
Name the great powers of Europe
Explain why they were considered to be Great Powers
A properly labelled map of Europe from 1914
Take part in class discussion
Complete the questions

4. Map of Europe Today

6. Great Powers of Europe The Great Powers of Europe were: Task One:
Great Britain
Germany
France
Russia
Austria-Hungry
Task One:
Using the pervious map, label the Great Powers on your own blank map and stick it into your exercise books.
Task Two:
With a partner, decide what you think makes a country a great power. Write down two reasons in your books and be prepared to discuss them! You have 3 mins!

7. How did a country become ‘Great’?
Large army and navy
Strong ruler
Had to control an Empire
Empire building was a big thing in the 19th Century
know as Jingoism
It had to have strong industries at home
Large Empire
Did a country need all these things to become a ‘Great Power’?

8. Great Britain
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Britain was the greatest power in the world
She was very rich and was a powerful industrialised country
Britain had the largest and most powerful navy
She had the largest overseas empire
The British Empire covered over a quarter of the world’s surface

9. Empire: Land outside the border of a nation which is controlled by that nation. These are called colonies and a group of colonies make up an empire.
The British Empire

10. Great Britain
But soon Germany began to compete against Britain for this title
Germany had a larger population that Britain
Many of her industries were more advanced in comparison to Britain
She had more natural resources
Germany was expanding her trade throughout the world: by 1913 she was selling more goods in Europe than Britain
Germany’s Army was on the increase
This began to worry Britain

11. Germany
Germany only became a country in 1871: before this it was only a collection of smaller states
Prussia was the largest and it wanted to unite all the States
But France didn’t allow this
So they went to war!
Franco-Prussian War ( )
France lost the war and Prussia took land from France: Alsace and Lorraine
Prussia was now able to unite all the states: this became known as the German Empire

13. Germany The most important man in Germany was Bismarck (Chancellor)
He knew France wanted revenge for their defeat
Tried to keep on good terms with Britain and Russia
In 1890, he was sacked by Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II
Wilhelm wanted Germany to be the most important country in the world: he described it as ‘seeking a place in the sun’
Began to build an overseas empire in Africa
He began to increase the size of the navy

14. Germany
The German Overseas Empire

15. France
France had been one of the most important countries in Europe until
Franco-Prussian War: France was defeated and had to hand over Alsace and Lorraine
France was not as industrialised as Germany or Britain as she produced less
She had a large empire and army
France wanted revenge for

16. The French Empire

17. Russia At this time Russia was the largest country in the world!
It had a population of 159 million
She didn’t need an overseas empire
Her empire was on her doorstep and consisted of many different peoples and languages
Russia had a large army but wasn’t as industrialised as the other Great Powers
Russia wanted to increase her influence in the Balkans
The people of the Balkans were very similar to the Russians, they were Slavs
But Russia wasn’t the only Great Power interested in the Balkans

18. Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary was a large empire in the centre of Europe and consisted of many different people groups – some of whom did not get on
Many of these groups had their own language, customs and way of life: this made the Empire difficult to rule
Many of these groups wanted to be independent from Austria-Hungary – this was known as nationalism
Austria-Hungary was also interested in the Balkans
Nationalism: a feeling of pride in one’s country. A belief that there is something special about the people who live there, their language and customs

19. So why did this system contribute to the war?
The fact that there were so many ‘Great Powers’ all on each other’s doorsteps was bound to cause trouble at some point – the Franco-Prussian War is evidence of that
All it would take was for one ‘Great Power’ to do something that wasn’t deemed acceptable by the other for issues to arise
If such a situation did appear, all it would need is a spark to set everything alight!

20. Task Using the table on the following slide:
Write down which country was best and give two facts to support this
Write down the combined population, army & navy of Russia & France then Germany & Austria-Hungary
Explain why Russia exported so little coal and steel if they had so many resources.

21. Population of colonies 390 million 15 million 58 million
Country
Britain
Germany
Russia
Austria- Hungary
France
Population
40.8 million
65 million
159 million
50 million
39.6 million
Number of Colonies 56 10 / 29
Population of colonies
390 million
15 million
58 million
Size of army
700,000
4,200,000
1,200,000
800,000
3,700,000
Size of navy
388
281
166 67
207
Coal output each year (million tonnes)
292
277
36.2 47 40
Steel output each year (million tonnes) 11 14
3.6 5
4.6