Causes of WWI Vocab 7-4.1 1. Militarism 2. Alliance 3. Imperialism 4. Nationalism 5. Front 6. Trench Warfare 7. Stalemate 8. Bolshevik 9. Isolationism 10. Neutral

The Causes of World War INotes

Standard 7-4.1

Setting the Stage…

A. Europe had no major wars for almost 100 years!

B. In 1914 Europe exploded!

1. MAIN Causes of World War I

A. Militarism – Countries were building huge armies and weapons.

B. Alliances – Agreements among competing nations to help each other if war broke out.

C. Imperialism – Race for empires and opening up new markets.

D. Nationalism – Intense national loyalty. People wanted independence from empires and creation of their own states.

2. The AlliancesA. Triple Entente or Allied Powers:

France, Great Britain, and Russia.

B. Triple Alliance or Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire

Objective: To examine the horrors of trench warfare.

3. The Balkan Crisis

A. The first “spark” in the war took place in the “powder keg” of the Balkans.

B. Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife were shot and killed in Sarajevo, Bosnia June 1914.

C. The assassin was Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, and a member of the terrorist organization “The Black Hand.”

A Family Feud…..Tzar Nicholas I of Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm

II of Germany, and King George V of England were all cousins – descendants of Queen Victoria. They were on opposing sides in the war.

4. The Battle ZoneA. There were 3 main fronts: The Western, the

Eastern, and the Italian.

B. The Western Front was a battle zone between France and Germany. This is where much of the fighting took place. The French and English fought the Germans.

4. The Battle Zone Continued.C. The fighting on the Eastern Front was

between the Germans and Russians.D. The fighting on the Italian Front was

Italy and France against Germany and Austria-Hungary.

E. Russia withdrew from the War in 1917. This made it easier for the Central Powers to attack the Allies.

5.. Trench WarfareA. Both sides engaged in Trench Warfare.

B. Soldiers fought from 2 lines of trenches or ditches. The trenches reached from the English Channel to Switzerland.

C. Eventually, the 2 sides reached a stalemate which lasted until 1917.

Trench Warfare – type of fighting during World War I in which both sides dug trenches protected by mines and barbed wire

Trench Warfare

Cross-section of a front-line trench 

British trench, France, July 1916 (during the Battle of the Somme)

French soldiers firing over their own dead

All Quiet on the Western Front – trench warfare (9:27)

An aerial photograph of the opposing trenches and no-man's land in Artois, France, July 22, 1917. German trenches are at the right and bottom, British trenches are at the top left. The vertical line to the left of centre indicates the course of a pre-war road.

Officers walking through a flooded communication trench.

A photograph of a man suffering from trench foot.

6.New WeaponsA. New types of weapons were used in WWI.

These made the war more deadly:1. Machine guns2. Poison gases3. Gas masks4. Submarines5. Airplanes6. Flame throwers7. Long-range artillery8. Tanks

B. The human cost of war reached into

the millions.C. Battlefield deaths and civilians deaths soared to record

numbers.

Tools of War The cannons had to be

pulled by horses to the battle site.

Camouflage was used to disguise the location.

Other new weapons included barbed wire, trenches, airplanes, grenades, submarines,

tanks, and poison gas

War Becomes More Modern World War I was the first time

the airplane was used in combat

Air combat and heroics by pilots created a new class of hero – the Ace

Here a British plane drops a torpedo on a German boat

Zeppelins, similar to blimps, were also used for observation and bombing

Soldiers digging trenches while protected against gas attacks

'Gassed'. Painting by John Singer Sargent, 1918/1919.

British Vickers machine gun crew, western front, World War I.

7. The Bolshevik Revolution A. Prior to WWI, the Russians were unhappy about their

lives. Their complaints were high taxes, poor working conditions, and few political rights.

B. When Russia joined WWI, things got even worse for the Russian people.

C. In 1917, Czar Nicholas II was overthrown and his family was executed.

D. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, withdrew from the War, broke their alliance with Britain and France, and signed a peace treaty with Germany.

E. This left the British and French in dire need of more help along the Western Front.

8. Where is the United States?

A. At first the United States tried to stay neutral but it was difficult.

B. We felt a loyalty to Britain and we wanted to trade with Germany

C. The United States’ entrance into the war would have a major impact on the eventual victory of the Allied Powers.

9. The LusitaniaA. The Lusitania was a British passenger

ship that was sunk by German U-boats.

B. 128 Americans were killed.

C. The U.S. still didn’t enter the war.

D. Wilson’s

campaign slogan

in 1916 was “He

Kept Us Out Of

War!”

10. The Zimmerman TelegramA. In 1917, a German

official sent a telegram to Mexico asking them to join with Germany.

B. Finally, in 1917, the U.S. declared war on Germany and sent troops to Europe.

11. The United States Joins the War

A. The American Expeditionary Force went to the Western Front to help Britain and France.

B. Finally, Germany was defeated.

C. An armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 officially ending the war.

Propaganda