EUROPEAN HISTORY

Unit 11

Causes of the First World War

Form 4

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Unit 11.1 The European Alliances System, 1871-1914

1. The situation of the Great Powers in 1871

had no ties with other countries for it gave more importance to the building of Britain her colonial empire. Britain was said to be in ‘splendid isolation’. Germany, Austria- These were tied to each other by an agreement called the Three Emperors Hungary and Russia League. had very few friends because she had been defeated by Prussia in 1871 France (Franco-Prussian War) and it was still licking her wounds. Had just been united and it was still not strong enough. It was trying, however, Italy to build up her army and her Mediterranean navy. The Ottoman Turkey was in rapid decline. It had lost most of her lands in the Balkan Empire peninsula. By this time it was called ‘the sick man of Europe.’

2. How the European Alliance came into being

Agreement 1 Agreement 2 This three-way friendship worried 1879 The Dual Alliance 1882 The Triple Alliance France and Russia that they could be GERMANY GERMANY attacked by three powers acting AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AUSTRIA-HUNGARY together. So in 1892 they agreed to ITALY help each other if either of them was attacked. For a while, agreement no. 3 calmed their fear.

But soon it was Britain’s turn to become worried. During the Boer War in South Africa, Germany showed sympathy with the Dutch Boers against the British. Britain started to mistrust Germany and looked for France for a friend in Europe. In 1903 King Edward VII visited France and signed the Entente Cordiale, meaning ‘Friendly Understanding’. This meant that Britain was no long in ‘splendid isolation’.

Agreement 3 Agreement 4 Agreement 5 1892 The Franco-Russian Alliance 1904 The Entente Cordiale 1907 The Triple Entente FRANCE - RUSSIA FRANCE - BRITAIN FRANCE - BRITAIN - RUSSIA

Three years later, Britain made a similar agreement with Russia who was already in alliance with France. So by 1907 the European Great Powers were grouped into two opposing armed camps.

Alliance No 2 Alliance No.4 Alliance No.5 2

Unit 11.1 - The European Alliance System 1871-1914

1. Europe’s Alliances in 1914

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Unit 11.2 Planning for War on Land and Sea

1. The Schlieffen Plan 2. German dreadnaughts

1. The German Schlieffen Plan In 1905 the German General Alfred von Schlieffen prepared a plan of how Germany could fight her enemies if a war broke out in Europe. His plan was aimed to avoid a war on two fronts. If war began, the whole German army should invade France by travel at high speed through neutral Belgium and capture Paris. Having defeated France in six weeks, the German army would then be sent in on the eastern front to fight the Russians. Although it was a simple plan, it actually made a war on two fronts even more likely. By attacking France first, Germany made certain that France would not remain neutral in a war between Germany and Russia. Schlieffen had made sure that any war fought by Germany would be a ‘European’ war.

2. The French Plan Seventeen The French had been planning a war of revenge against Germany. They made many plans. Finally, in 1913, General Joffre came up with Plan Seventeen – if war broke out, the French army would make an all-out attack on their lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. They would then cross the River Rhine and head for Berlin. Plan 17 relied also on high speed.

3. Other plans Britain, Russia and Austria-Hungary also had their war plans. Britain formed an Expeditionary Force whose task was to cross quickly to France as soon as war was declared. Russia started to build up her armies in 1909. Austria started making enormous cannons in their Skoda arms factory.

By 1914, the rival alliances were armed to the teeth and ready to fight each other using detailed plans for high-speed attacks. What remained was the excuse to start a fight.

4. The Anglo-German Naval Race The naval race began when Kaiser William II wanted Germany to become a great world power. To achieve this, she needed a navy that challenged Britain’s largest navy in the world. Britain, however, was not prepared to allow this. She needed a large fleet to protect their colonies and her trade routes. So the British naval chiefs decided to enlarge the Royal Navy even more. The race began in 1900 when the German Navy Law ordered the building of 41 battleships and 60 cruisers. The German Naval League was set up to make the people more informed and interested in the navy. Britain responded by building a new type of battleship called Dreadnought. She was faster, had thicker armoured plates and fired within a range of 32 km.

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Unit 11.3 Two Tests of Strength – The Moroccan Crises

1. The Kaiser 2. Sultan Abdulaziz 3. Sultan Andulmehid

4. An Entente Cordiale Poster 5. The German Panther at Agadir, 1911

1. The Tangier Crisis, 1905 In 1905 the French were getting ready to make Morocco into one of their colonies. Kaiser William opposed this and went personally to Tangier to promise the Sultan of Morocco against a French attack. As the news spread all over Europe, people wondered whether it would lead to war between Germany and France. For several weeks there was tension in Europe, until in the end they decided against war. Instead they decided to hold a conference in the Spanish town of Algericas. The conference was a great disappointment for the Kaiser. France gained special rights in Morocco, but that country remained independent. But the Kaiser found out want he wanted to know – that Britain and France would support each other by diplomacy, but would not join together to fight a war against Germany.

2. The Agadir Crisis, 1911 Five years later, the Kaiser interfered again in the affairs of Morocco. In 1911 Moroccan rebels attacked the town of Fez. The French government sent an army to help the sultan drive them out. William accused the French of invading Morocco and so he send a German warship to the Moroccan port of Agadir. Britain feared Germany would turn Agadir into a German naval base close to Gibraltar. The Royal Navy was made ready for war. This time it seemed that there would be war between Germany and Britain. At the last moment, the Kaiser gave way and ordered the German warships to leave Agadir. War was avoided but the incident scared both Britain and France. One result of this crisis was that the race to build breadnoughts became even more frantic. Both countries prepared themselves for the next confrontation.

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Unit 11.4 The Balkan Problems

1. How the Great Powers became involved in the Balkans 2 an 3. Poster of the First Balkan War, 1912

1. The Crisis over Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1908 The powerful countries surrounding the Balkan Peninsula (Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy) were all interested in what was going on in Turkey. They could take advantage of Turkey’s weakness to grab land and increase their influence in that area. The chance to do so came suddenly in 1908.

In that year the Young Turk Revolution broke out in Turkey. A group of army officers took control of the government in Constantinople and forced the sultan to grant a liberal constitution. On hearing of what happened in Turkey, the King of Bulgaria declared his country independent from Turkey. The people of Crete broke away from Turkey and united with Greece. But it was Austria-Hungary that took the most advantage by seizing the provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina from Turkey and joined it with Austria-Hungary. But this turned out to be a fatal mistake – the people of these provinces were mostly Serbs who wanted to unite with Serbia not with Austria- Hungary. This development was to bring more trouble in the Balkans, this time between Serbia and Austria- Hungary.

2.The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913 After the Young Turk Revolution, Turkey grew more and more weak. The Balkan countries now saw a chance to drive out the Turks out of Europe. In 1912 the Kings of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro joined together in the Balkan League and attacked Turkey. The First Balkan War was cruel and costly. The League proved stronger and after only 50 days of fighting Turkey surrendered. Turkey gave up their remaining lands in the Balkans and these were shared between the four victors. A new country, Albania was created. But now the four kings of the League quarrelled about their share of the land. This quarrel brought about the Second Balkan War in 1913. Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania and Turkey joined against Bulgaria which was attacked from four sides.

The country which came out best from the two Balkan Wars was Serbia. King Peter of Serbia had doubled the size of his country and his people. The Serbs living in Bosnia-Hezegovina became restless and wanted more than ever before to unite with Serbia. The Austrians became even more worried that these people would rebel. 6

Unit 11.5 The Sarajevo Murders, 28th June 1914

1. The last living moments of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, 28th June 1914.

1. The Black Hand In 1911, in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, ten young army officers founded a secret society named Unity or Death, more commonly called The Black Hand. Their aim was to unite all the Slav peoples in the Balkans into a single country called Yugoslavia. They made sure that frontier guards on the border between Bosnia and Serbia were Black Hand members. Once in Bosnia, Black Hand terrorists would plant bombs or shoot enemies and slip safely back into Serbia.

The Austrians were outraged and feared that the Black Hand would start a rebellion in Bosnia. In this tense situation the Austrian Government made a foolish decision. They announced in the newspapers that the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, would visit Bosnia in June 1914 to watch army exercises and go to Bosnia’s capital Sarajevo. The Black Hand made plans to murder the archduke. Three weeks before the visit, Gavrillo Princip, 19 years old, and two other students slipped to Bosnia and went to Sarajevo.

2. The Archduke’s visit and murder at Sarajevo. 28th June 1914 Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie arrived at Sarajevo railway station at 9.30 am. They travelled in an open-topped car to the Town Hall. Crowds lined the streets. The Black Hand terrorists were in the crowd waiting for the right moment to act. As the car approached, one of them stepped forward and threw a bomb at it. Ferdinand managed to deflect it into the road where it exploded under the car behind. Ferdinand became furious and the town mayor decided to cancel the rest of the visit.

On the way back to the railway station, the chauffeur took a wrong turning. Quite by chance, Princip was standing in that very street. As the chauffeur reversed, Princip stepped forward and fired two pistol shots. One bullet hit the Archduke in the throat, the other hit Sophie in the stomach. The royal couple died a few minutes later in the Governor’s palace. Princip tried to commit suicide by swallowing poison, but it failed to work. He was arrested, questioned and beaten up by the police. He was later tried and hanged by the Austrians.

2. Colonel Apis, founder of 3. The arrest of Gavrilo Princip moments after the Sarajevo murders the Black Hand 7

Unit 11.6 - The Countdown to War

1. The results of the Sarajevo murders The Sarajevo murders led directly to another war in the Balkans. The Austrian Government decided to teach the Serbs a lesson for secretly helping the Black Hand. The Austrian Government sent a long telegram to King Peter of Serbia, saying:

‘The Sarajevo assassinations were planned in Belgrade, the arms and explosives…were given to them by Serbian officers…and the passage into Bosnia of the criminals and their arms was organised by the chief of the Serbian frontier service…’

‘The Austro-Hungarian Government expects the reply of the Royal Government at the latest by 6 o’clock on Saturday the 25th July.’

King Peter had 48 hours to make up his mind and send a reply. The telegram was an ultimatum, or final demand. If he did not agree to its demands, Austrian forces would invade his country. Shortly before the time expired, King Peter replied. He agreed to do all the Austrians demanded, but with one big exception: he would not allow Austrian officials into Serbia for that would mean the end of Serbia’s independence. When they received the reply, the Austrian Government declared war on Serbia and the next day Austrian cannons bombarded Belgrade.

The Serbian Government then asked Russia for help because the Russians were Slavs like the Serbs. So on 29th July, Tsar Nicholas II ordered the Russian army to prepare for war to help Serbia against Austria-Hungary. His order started a countdown to the biggest war the world had ever known.

2. The countdown to war

When Kaiser William heard that the Russian 6 days to war army was preparing for war, he sent an Thursday th ultimatum to Tsar Nicholas, ordering him to 30 July stop. Nicholas refused and so Germany declared 4 days to war war on Russia. Saturday As France was an ally of Russia, the French 1st August Government ordered the mobilization of the French army and declared war on Germany. The Kaiser ordered France to stop its 3 days to war mobilization. When it refused, Germany Sunday declared war on France and started putting 2nd August into practice the Schlieffen Plan by invading neutral Belgium.

2 days to war The British Government honoured their promise to protect the neutrality of Belgium. Monday rd It sent an ultimatum to the Kaiser ordering 3 August him to call back his army. That evening, British politicians sat in the 1 day to war Cabinet room waiting for an answer. But no Tuesday answer came from Berlin. That night Britain In 1915 and 1916 the war in Europe 4th August declared war on Germany. continued to spread as more countries joined the Central Powers and the Triple Five of the Great Powers of Europe were Entente (see map above). By 1915 there 0 days to war now at war with each other: the Central were to main fronts were the most fighting Wednesday Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) 5th August against the Entente or Allied Powers took place: the Western and the Eastern (Britain, France and Russia). Fronts.

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Unit 11.1 – 11.6 The Causes of the First World War (1)

1. Use different colours to match the three columns together. (5)

a Germany and Austria-Hungary The Triple Alliance 1892

b France and Russia The Entente Cordiale 1904

c Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy The Dual Alliance 1879

d France, Russia and Britain The Triple Entente 1907

e Britain and France The Franco-Russian/Dual Alliance 1882

2. During the First World War the alliance made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were referred to as the ______Powers, while that of Britain, France and Russia became known as the ______Powers. (2)

3. (a) Which Great Power came up with the Schlieffen Plan? ______(1)

(b) What was the main plan of this plan?

______(1)

4. (a) What was the main aim of France’s Plan Seventeen?

______(1)

5. (a) Name the Great Powers that were involved in a naval race in the early 20th century.

______(2)

(b) Why was there a naval race between these two powers?

______

______(2)

6. The Tangier and Agadir Crises are also known as the ______Crises (1)

7. These two crises were mainly a test of strength between ______and ______(2)

(a) Which of these Great Power came out as the loser and why? ______

______(2)

8. The Balkan Problem is also referred to by historians as the Eastern Question. What was the main cause of this problem?

______(2)

10. How did the Turkish nationalists try to stop the decline of the Ottoman Empire in 1908?

______(2)

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9. Match the aims of the Great Powers during their involvement in the Eastern Question: (5)

a Austria-Hungary to extend her influence over the Turkish Empire.

b Germany to stop Serbia from becoming stronger in the Balkans.

c Russia to preserve the balance of power in the Balkans.

d Britain to annex Albania and extend its influence in the Adriatic. to annex Constantinople and obtain a Mediterranean seaport e Italy for its Black Sea fleet.

11. Why did the Bosnian Crisis of 1908 lead to greater tension in the Balkans?

______(2)

12. What was the aim of:

(a) the First Balkan War of 1912? ______

______(1)

(b) the Second Balkan War of 1913? ______

______(1)

13. (a) What was the Black Hand? ______(1)

(b) Why was it founded? ______(1)

14. Which did it accomplish in June 1914? ______

______(1)

15. What direct consequence did this bring:

(a) upon Serbia in July 1914? ______

______(1)

(b) upon Europe in August 1914? ______

______(1)

16. Explain the meaning of the term ‘mobilization’ in the context of the events of the summer of 1914.

______(1)

17. Who do you think was to blame for the outbreak of the Great War of 1914: Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Germany or Russia?

Give a reason for your answer.

______

______(2)

(Total Marks: 40) 10

Unit 11.1 – 11.6 The Causes of the First World War (2)

N.B. You need to re-read pages 2 to 8 in order to be able to answer the following exercise.

(b) In Column A: Fill in these causes for the outbreak of World War I, starting with the one that you think was the most important causes and ending with the least important cause.

(c) In Column B explain how each cause contributed to the outbreak of the war.

List of causes to rearrange in order of importance in Column A.

The System of Alliances The Moroccan Crises

The Bosnian Crisis of 1908 Kaiser William II of Germany

The Assassination at Sarajevo The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913

The Naval Race The Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia

The Schlieffen Plan The invention of more deadly weapons

Column A Explanation of each cause List of Causes of World War I

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

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Unit 11. 7 - Origins of the First World War

1. The year 1871 marked a turning point in the diplomatic relations between the ______Powers of Europe.

2. The defeat of ______by Prussia in 1871 left her isolated while ______

was more concerned with colonial problems and internal social reform.

3. After 1871 Chancellor Bismarck started building up a system of ______to keep

Germany dominant in Europe and keep ______without allies.

4. In 1893 the France and Russia formed the ______Alliance against the

______Alliance made up of Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy.

5. Once the Franco-Russian Alliance came into being, ______would be forced

to fight a war on two fronts at the same time.

6. A ______race then developed between Britain and Germany over which one of them

was to have the largest and most powerful navy.

7. In 1904 ______abandoned her former policy of splendid isolation when she

signed the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904.

8. The two ______Crises of 1905 and 1911 nearly brought war between France

and Germany.

9. In 1907 Britain, France and Russia signed the ______Entente to defend

themselves in a future war against the Triple Alliance.

10. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 made the Balkan peoples more determined to break

away from the ______Empire.

11. Austria-Hungary annexed ______in 1908, a land which Serbia wanted

for herself to create a larger Slav state called Yugoslavia.

12. The incident that brought war between Austria-Hungary and ______was the

assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at ______on 28th June 1914.

13. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28th July 1914, France and Russia

supported Serbia while ______supported Austria-Hungary.

14. Britain declared war on Germany when Germany invaded neutral ______

as part of the German ______Plan to defeat France.

15. By 3rd August 1914 the five Great Powers had entered the war on two opposing blocs, with

the exception of ______and Turkey which joined in the war in 1915.

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Unit 11. 8 - Origins of the First World War – Essay Questions

Read carefully the following essay titles and answer any ONE in about 200 to 300 words. Essays carry 20 marks each.

PAPER 2A

1. Explain the reasons why the Great Powers of Europe went to war in 1914? (Oxford GCE)

2. ‘By 1907 Europe was divided into two armed camps.’ Why was this so? What was the consequence of this division? (Oxford GCE)

3. Identify the European alliances and alignments that preceded the First World War. Explain why they led to war. (SEC 2010)

PAPER 2B

1. (a) What were the main reasons for the outbreak of the First World War? (12) (b) What were the main provisions of the resulting peace treaty? (8) (SEC 2009)

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