World War I

World War I = The Great War

1. Causes:

a) Systems of alliances

A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879 and 1914.

b) Imperialism / Nationalism:

The struggle for colonies led to more nationalists countries.

c) Militarism:

Militarism means that the army and military forces are strengthened.

d) Internal problems:

Conservatism vs. Socialism

This conflict caused the alliances among nations with the same interests to fight their domestic problems.

2. Key Event:

28 June 1914

A Serbian nationalist student, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife.

The Austrian government blamed Serbia for the assassination and declared war.

Russia was allied with Serbia and mobilised asking France to mobilise too.

3. Two alliances:

• Triple Alliance: Germany and Austria- Hungary made an alliance with Italy.

• Triple Entente: Russia, France and Britain (vs. Germany).

4. The Schlieffen Plan:

The Schlieffen Plan was a strategic plan for victory in which the Germans would be fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east.

5. US enters the war:

USA declares the war to Germany because they sank the British ship Lusitania which had American passengers.

6. Russia out of the war:

Russia had to leave the war because of the internal problems: Communists doing revolts against the government. The Russian Revolution happened.

7. Tactics and strategies in WWI:

War in the air: airplanes, zepellins

Trench warfare

8. End of the war:

11 Nov 1918

At 11 am, in France, the Armistice was signed bringing the war to an end.

9. Treaty of Versailles

England, Italy, France

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