Download The world at War: Causes of World War I

THE WORLD AT WAR: CAUSES OF WORLD
WAR I
STANDARD
SSWH16 The student will demonstrate an understanding of long-term
causes of World War I and its global impact.
A. Identify the causes of the war; include Balkan nationalism, entangling
alliances, and militarism.
B. Describe conditions on the war front for soldiers; include the Battle of Verdun.
C. Explain the major decisions made in the Versailles Treaty; include German
reparations and the mandate system that replaced Ottoman control.
D. Analyze the destabilization of Europe in the collapse of the great empires;
include the Romanov and Hapsburg dynasties.
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I: NATIONALISM
Balkan Nationalism:
The people of the Balkans believed that
Bosnia should be part of a new Slavic state,
but European powers placed Bosnia under
Austro-Hungarian control.
Russia, which shared a common ethnic and
religious heritage, secretly helped finance the
assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.
This event was a catalyst for WWI.
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I: ALLIANCE SYSTEM
Entangling Alliances:
In the late 1800s and early 1900s,
many European nations made alliances
with each other to end conflicts.
Unfortunately, the alliance system
caused some countries to feel an
obligation to aid their allies in the
event of war.
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I: MILITARISM
Militarism:
Militarism: maintaining a standing
army, navy, air force.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s,
European countries like France,
Germany, and Great Britain were
engaged in an arms race.
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I: MILITARISM CONTINUED
France and Germany doubled the
size of their armies during this
period.
Great Britain and Germany fought
for naval dominance by introducing
battleships to the seas.
The Japanese fleet off the coast of China in 1914.
CONDITIONS ON THE WAR FRONT FOR SOLDIERS
More than 65 million soldiers were
mobilized by more than 30 nations, with
battles taking place around the world.
Industrialization brought modern weapons,
machinery, and tactics to warfare, vastly
increasing the killing power of armies.
Battlefield conditions were horrific, typified
by the chaotic, cratered hellscape of the
Western Front, where soldiers in muddy
trenches faced bullets, bombs, gas,
bayonet charges, and more.
Battlefield in Chateau Wood, near Hooge, Belgium, on October
29, 1917. During the Battle of Passchendaele.
The front in France, a scene on a battlefield at midnight. Opposing armies were
sometimes situated in trenches just yards apart from each other.
CONDITIONS ON THE WAR FRONT FOR SOLDIERS
Trench Warfare: a form of
land warfare using occupied
fighting lines consisting largely
of trenches, in which troops
are significantly protected
from the enemy's small arms
fire and are substantially
sheltered from artillery.
A British officer leads the way "over the top" amid the bursting of German shells.
CONDITIONS ON THE WAR FRONT FOR SOLDIERS
The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was the
longest single battle of World War I.
The casualties from Verdun and the impact
the battle had on the French Army was a
primary reason for the British starting the
Battle of the Somme in July 1916 in an effort
to take German pressure off of the French at
Verdun.
The Battle of Verdun started on February
21, 1916 and ended on December 16,
1916, lasting 10 months.
WORLD WAR I AS A BAR FIGHT
Who started the fight and how did the “bar” fight begin?
Why did Australia get involved in the “bar” fight?
Why did the United States claim that it won the “bar” fight?
What was Hungary’s justification for aiding Germany in World
War II?
12.
18.
Using your acquired
knowledge about
World War I,
complete your
worksheet using this
political cartoon.
From left to right:
Serbia
Austria
Russia
Germany
France
Great Britain
THE MAJOR DECISIONS MADE IN THE VERSAILLES TREATY
(SSWH16C)
The Treaty of Versailles required the
defeated Germany to pay for the
damages the war had inflicted on the
Allies.
This provision meant that Germany
would have a difficult time recovering
economically in the post-war period.
Many Germans felt that they were
being personally punished for the actions
of their government.
THE MANDATE SYSTEM
The Mandate System replaced
Ottoman control in the Middle East.
 To gain Arab support against the
Ottoman Empire during the war, the
Allies promised to recognize the
independence of Arab states.
 However, some western powers
changed their minds and established
the mandate system.
THE MANDATE SYSTEM
 Under
the mandate system,
France controlled Lebanon and
Syria while Great Britain controlled
Palestine and Iraq.
 These nations did not officially
own the territories.
DESTABILIZATION OF EUROPE AND THE
COLLAPSE OF THE GREAT EMPIRES (SSWH16D)
The Hapsburg Dynasties
 The Hapsburgs ruled the
Austro-Hungarian Empire at the
time of WWI.
 Archduke Francis Ferdinand,
was the heir to this empire and his
assassination was a catalyst for
the war.
DESTABILIZATION OF EUROPE AND THE
COLLAPSE OF THE GREAT EMPIRES (SSWH16D)
The Hapsburg Dynasties
 Their
downfall was largely due to
the inability to create an identity
among the people of the empire and
their apathy toward including the
growing middle class in decisionmaking.
DESTABILIZATION OF EUROPE AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE
GREAT EMPIRES (SSWH16D)
The Romanov Dynasties
 Russian Czar
Nicholas II was the
last of the Romanov
family to rule Russia.
He stepped down
in 1917 and was
assassinated in
1918.
DESTABILIZATION OF EUROPE AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE
GREAT EMPIRES (SSWH16D)
The Romanov Dynasties
 The downfall of Czar Nicholas
II was due to his military
ineptness, his tendency to listen
to the advice of his wife and
Rasputin (a holy man under
whose influence his wife was
held), and inability to handle
the economic crises facing
Russia.
THE CAUSES AND RESULTS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
(SSWH17B)
The Rise of the Bolsheviks under Lenin
 Russia
suffered military and economic
failures during WWI.
 These failures forced the Czar to step
down and Russia instituted a provisional
government.
 A party of soviet councils of workers
and soldiers called the Bolsheviks were led
by V. I. Lenin.
They saw an opportunity to seize power
from the weak provisional government.
THE BOLSHEVIKS
 The
Bolsheviks were a political
party of soviets who captured power
from the provisional government of
Russia without much violence.
 The Bolsheviks made promises to
the Russian workers to gain support.
 Some of these included transferring
ownership of factories from the
capitalists to the workers and ending
Russia‘s involvement in the war.
V.I. LENIN
 Lenin was the leader of the
Bolsheviks which held the real power
of Russia as the head of the Council
of People‘s Commissars.
 He became increasingly unpopular
during the Russian civil war because
the people lacked food and were
conscripted into the Red Army on the
threat of death.