Transcript The Great War 1914-1918

There were five great powers in Europe at the start of the 20th century:
1.
Germany
2.
France
3.
Great Britain
4.
Austria-Hungary (the Habsburg Empire)
5.
Russia
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Germany had become
much stronger at the end
of the 19th century:
Prussia had united all the
German states into an Empire
ruled by the Kaiser (emperor)
Prussia had defeated France
in a war in 1870-1 and taken
the French provinces of
Alsace and Lorraine
Germany had become an
important industrial
nation whose production
was now greater than
Britain’s
The Kaiser William II
wanted Germany to have
a great overseas empire
like Britain
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Alsace-Lorraine
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Unlike Germany, Russia and
Austria-Hungary, France
was a democratic Republic
France was alarmed by the
Kaiser’s military build up
and his attempts to create an
overseas empire
The French were bitter about
their defeat by Germany in
the war of 1870-1
They wanted AlsaceLorraine returned
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Britain had a vast overseas
empire, which the Kaiser
envied
Britain needed a very large
navy to protect the empire
and trade
Until the Boer War 18991902, Britain had felt very
strong, not needing foreign
allies
But, when the Kaiser
started to build a large
German navy in 1900 the
British government became
very alarmed
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Austria-Hungary was a large
empire in the middle of
Europe
It was ruled by the Habsburg
Emperor Franz Joseph (since
1848!)
It had once been very
powerful, but since the
creation of Germany in 1871,
was much weaker
It contained many different
national groups, with their
own languages. Who resented
being part of Austria-Hungary
The Bosnians, in particular,
wanted to break with the
Empire and join the
independent country of Serbia
Austria was determined not to
let them
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Russia was the largest of
the Great Powers
It was ruled, personally, by
the Czar,Nicholas II, who
was not a very clever ruler
Russia was very backward
and not industrialised
Russia also contained
many different national
groups
Russia was in constant
dispute with Austria over
Serbia and the rest of
Balkans, where their two
empires met.
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The Triple Alliance (1900): Germany, Austria-Hungary and
Italy
The Triple Entente (1907): France, Russia and Britain
Each alliance was formed because of fear of the other side,
and resulted in both sides preparing for war
The alliances meant that a dispute between two country
would be likely to draw in the others
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HMS Dreadnought, launched 1906
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The Naval Race -Britain’s
navy was vital for the defence
of the Empire and the island
of Britain, but when the
Kaiser began to build up the
German navy Britain had to
respond
Both sides began a race to
build more and more of the
new class of battleship, the
Dreadnought
Armies –After 1871 all the
great powers except Britain
introduced conscription and
created bigger and bigger
armies
All the powers drew up War
Plans
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Morocco In 1905 the Kaiser
tried to stop the French
expanding their Empire, but
only Austria-Hungary
supported him – GB, and
Russia backed up the French
Bosnia 1908-9 Austria seized
Bosnia, angering Serbia.
Russia backed Serbia,
Germany backed Austria, but
on this occasion Russia
backed down – she would not
back down again! Austria
kept Bosnia
The Agadir Crisis 1911 The
Kaiser sent a gunboat to
Agadir in Morocco to prevent
a French takeover. Again
Britain supported France.
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Gavrilo Princip’s arrest after the
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
This was the spark that
finally ignited the war
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the
Austrian throne, was shot
dead on a visit to Sarajevo,
the Bosnian capital
He was killed by a group of
Serbians who thought Bosnia
should be part of Serbia, not
Austria
Austria blamed Serbia and
saw this as a chance to go to
war with Serbia
Serbia accepted Austria’s
demands, but Austria still
declared war on Serbia on
28th July 1914
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Bravo Belgium- a British cartoon
From August 1914, showing little Belgium
defending against the German bully
28th July - Austria
declared war on Serbia
30th July - Russia, wanting
to defend Serbia,
mobilised her army
1st August - Germany
backed up Austria and
declared war on Russia
3rd August - Germany put
her war plan into
operation and declared
war on France
4th August – German
troops entered Belgium, a
neutral country, so Britain
declared war on Germany
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Germany’s war plan had been drawn up years before by Count von
Schlieffen
Germany was frightened of having to fight a war on two fronts, against
France and Russia, at the same time
So the plan was to attack France first, by surprise, through Belgium,
capture Paris and defeat France in 6 weeks. They could then move all
their armies to the east to fight Russia
The plan assumed that Russia would be very slow to organise an
attack, that Belgium would not fight, and that Britain would not get
involved
The plan meant that as soon as Germany was at war with Russia her
armies would enter Belgium and attack France!
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Britain’s “Entente” with
France and Russia did not
force Britain into war if
they were attacked
No one in Britain really
supported Russia
Some thought we should
help France
But, Britain was committed
to the protection of
Belgium. This dated back to
the Treaty of London 1839
The Kaiser called this “a
scrap of paper” and could
not believe that Britain
would go to war over
Belgium