Why Did War Break out in Europe in 1914?

Activities

Read this presentation carefully. Then, have a go at answering the questions on some of the slides and on the worksheet linked to this PowerPoint presentation. It has the same title!

There is also a second worksheet entitled ‘How did the First World War start?’ There are three differentiated sections telling the same story in a slightly different way, and a number of questions for you to have a go at “Two bullets; twenty million deaths.”

Who, or what, was to blame for the outbreak of WW1 in 1914? Once upon a time there was a camel (called Alphonse). For various reasons (relating to an unfortunate accident during his birth) the camel had terrible back problems. This was not the end of his bad luck, however, because he had an evil owner (who he and the other camels called Frank the Camel Killer) who regularly overloaded his camels before taking them on long trips up and down mountains on his way to deliver goods to his customers. Alphonse found it shocking that these customers, shockingly, did not seem to care about the rights of camels and were not angry with Frank for his cruelty to camels. Well, one Friday, Frank had just finished loading-up Alphonse and his poor fellow camels for yet another tiring and totally unnecessary round trip up and down the mountains. He had piled and piled and piled up the goods onto Alphonse’s back and was taking a break and reflecting smugly on his handiwork, chewing a straw. On a whim he decided to add the straw he had been chewing to Alphonse’s load. Alphonse then groaned, he looked at Frank the camel killer with disgust and keeled over and died of irreversible back collapse. Activity

Have a go at answering the questions on the worksheet linked to this PowerPoint presentation. It has the same title Challenge

What does the story of Alphonse the camel have to do with the First World War? Cause and Consequence • What killed Alphonse was a combination of a short term trigger and a series of long term factors

• All of these contributed in some way to his unfortunate and untimely demise

• WW1 was similar in that it was the consequence of multiple causes which together formed a complex, interwoven web of causation The Murder at Sarajevo

• Read the story about Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary

• Highlight names, dates, places and key events

• Make a note of up to three questions you would like to ask in order to understand it more fully You have been provided with a copy of this story on one of the two worksheets linked to this presentation. Using your copy of this account, read it carefully and highlight any important or suspicious information. Look out for dates, key events and the names of people or places. Do you have any questions about the events that took place that you might like to find out the answers to? Watch this short film about the assassination of Franz-Ferdinand

The story of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife is a little bit like the story of Alphonse the camel. The placing of the last straw on poor Alphonse's back was a serious event but it wouldn't have led to his death had it not been for his longstanding back problem and all the years of abuse he had previously received.

Likewise, the shooting was a serious event but it might not have resulted in the outbreak of WW1 had it not been for the tense atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion between countries that had built up over a period of several decades. The seriousness of the shooting was exacerbated [made much worse] by what had taken place years before. Activity

Have a go at answering the questions about the assassination on the following slide The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand Question Answer What was the name of the gang that wanted to kill the Archduke?

What was the name of the leader?

Who were they taking orders from?

Why did they want to kill him?

Why was he in Bosnia?

How did he make himself more vulnerable to being targeted?

Why did the first assassin fail?

How did GP get the opportunity to finish the mission?

How did Austria react when they found out what happened? The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The first world war began in August 1914. It was directly triggered by the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on 28th June 1914 by Bosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip. This event was, however, simply the trigger that set off declarations of war. The actual causes of the war are more complicated One trigger…..

Many other causes…………….. Each one of these factors made the relationships between countries in Europe very tense. Countries grew increasingly suspicious of one another. The slightest thing could have set off an argument or a disagreement…..or a war! Militarism Militarism means that a nation’s armed forces are given a high profile by the government. The growing European divide had led to an ‘arms race’ between the main countries. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas. The British had designed the 'Dreadnought’, an effective battleship, in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit and built their own battleships to compete with them. All the main powers were competing to build stronger armies and navies

Alliances An alliance is an agreement made between two or more countries to give each other help if it is needed. When an alliance is signed, those countries become known as Allies A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879 and 1914. These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies declared war first! Agreements, or alliances, between countries Alliances

• In 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungary joined a defensive alliance known as the Dual Alliance, to limit the chance of a war between them. Also, Germany was surrounded by two countries it did not get along with; Russia and France. They wanted greater protection. In 1892 Italy joined the alliance to create The Triple Alliance

• Russia wasn’t happy that two countries on its borders were now in an alliance. They also wanted protection so they joined an alliance with France in 1884. Then, in 1904, Britain decided to join an alliance with France. Previously they had been a neutral country that didn’t want to pick sides. In 1907, all three countries joined together to create The Triple Entente

Explain the message of this cartoon Imperialism Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and makes them subject to their rule. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. With the rise of industrialism countries needed new markets to sell their goods to and get resources from. The amount of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies later than them Which country seems to have had the strongest empire?

Explain the message of this cartoon Activity

Have a go at answering the questions about alliances and the arms race on the following slide European Alliances and The Arms Race Question Answer Which countries were in the Triple Alliance?

Why did Germany want to be part of an alliance? Which countries were in the Triple Entente?

Why do you think Britain stopped being neutral after 1904?

Why might Britain want to form an alliance with France and Russia?

Which country had the biggest army in 1914?

Which country was spending the most on arms? Why do you think each country wanted bigger armed forces? Which alliance appeared to be the strongest on the eve of war in 1914? Nationalism Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of your country. Strong nationalist elements led to the unification (separate states becoming one country) of Italy in 1870 and Germany in 1871. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to differing nationalist groups, all of whom wanted freedom from the empires in which they lived. Nationalism can also mean a belief in the superiority of your nation and thinking that you have a right to rule others [Imperialism!] There were two kinds of nationalism then in 19th Century Europe:

(i) the desire of subject peoples for independence:

This led to a series of national struggles for independence among the Balkan peoples

(ii) the desire of already independent nations for dominance and prestige over others Look at this map of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. What would be the problems for an emperor trying to control this empire? Explain the message of this cartoon Plenary

• You have studied four factors all of which played a part in causing the war

• For each one, try to explain how it made a contribution to the outbreak of war

• Complete the boxes on the following slide and try at the same time to put them into an order of importance starting with the one you think was the most important ______Fuse 1 ______Fuse 3 ______

______Fuse 2 ______Fuse 4 ______So, as a consequence of the tensions that had been building up between nations since the latter part of the 19th century, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was the trigger in a chain of events that in less than six weeks dragged a number of major European powers into a conflict that would last for a little over four years

The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot 28 June by Serb terrorists on a visit to inspect Austrian troops in Bosnia.

Germany promised total support for Austria- 5 July Hungary.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia – this 28 July angered Russia.

Russia mobilised her army – this alarmed 30 July Germany.

Germany implemented the Schlieffen Plan and 3 August invaded France through neutral Belgium.

Britain declared war on Germany because of an 4 August agreement with Belgium.