Download WWI: Part 1

WWI: Part 1
Causes and Why America Joined the Triple
Entente
Background
 By 1914, Europe was ripe for
war
 There were several forms of
“ammunition” that had been
developing for years
 Assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand = the
“trigger”
Assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand
 June 1914
 Archduke Franz Ferdinand
visited the Bosnian capital of
Sarajevo
 While visiting, the archduke
was shot by Gavrilo Princip
 Serbian nationalist
 Member of the Black Hand
organization
 The assassination sparked
“The Great War”
Forms of “Ammunition”
Nationalism
 Extreme pride, devotion and love that people feel for
their country or culture
 Led to competition for power among countries
 The Balkans – home to a lot of nationalism
 The Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the Balkans for
hundreds of years was starting to fall apart during the 1800s
 The Austro-Hungarian Empire saw this as an opportunity to expand
and began to push themselves and their power into the region
 Many Slavic peoples there, such as the Serbs, did not like the control
of these outsiders
Forms of “Ammunition”
Imperialism
 Growing nationalism also led nations to compete for
oversees colonies
 Colonies provided markets and rich natural
resources
Forms of “Ammunition”
Militarism
 The world soon also saw the rise of militarism
 In 1900 Germany began to build a navy that could help them
compete for colonies
 They also enlarged their army, supplying it’s troops with the latest
weapons
 Aware of Germany’s growing supply of weapons, Great
Britain, France and Russia worried about Germany’s
intensions
 Each country began to build its own military in order to defend itself
should war break out
Forms of “Ammunition”
Alliances
 For protection, some nations formed alliances or
partnerships
 believed to created a balance of power
 Germany formed an alliance with Austria-Hungry and
Italy
 This alliance = The Triple Alliance
 Fearful of Germany’s growing power, France, Russia
and Great Britain formed an alliance
 This alliance = The Triple Entente
Why America Joined the Triple Entente
 Propaganda
 A form of communication that tries to
influence an audience toward a cause or
position
 It is bias

It is presented in order to gain an
emotional instead of a rational
response from its audience
 Britain had a lot of effective
propaganda and they used it to
persuade America toward their side
 Many of the American people also
cared about their “mother country”
Why America Joined the Triple Entente
Economic Ties
 During the beginning of the war, Britain had established
a trade blockade against Germany
 This made US trade with the Triple Alliance (Germany,
Austria-Hungry, Italy) limited and trade with the Entente
(Great Britain, France, Russia) more dominant
 Because America traded more with the Triple Entente,
they had more of an investment in their success
during/after the war
Why America Joined the Triple Entente
Submarine Issue
 Germany saw the submarine as a useful weapon against the British
blockade and announced that it would begin sinking British, French and
Russian ships in war zones
 1915-Germany sunk the Lusitania (a British passenger ship)
without warning, which happened to have neutral Americans on
board
 President Woodrow Wilson responded by having notes sent to
Germany demanding that they stop attacking unarmed and neutral
ships
 However, Germany kept sinking ships
 1915-Arabic attacked (British passenger ship)
 1916-Sussex attacked (French passenger ship
 Germany’s unrestricted warfare seriously tested American
neutrality
Why America Joined the Triple Entente
Zimmermann Telegram
 It was a message sent by German
foreign secretary Arthur
Zimmermann to the German
minister in Mexico
 The message suggested that if
America and Germany went to war,
Mexico should fight against the US
in order to receive its lost territory
of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona
 This led President Wilson to declare
war against Germany and its allies
Why America Joined the Triple Entente
Revolution in Russia
 Overthrow of the czars or monarchs of Russia eventually
leads the US to joining the war on the side of the Entente
 Why?
 Because now the US would be fighting among all
democratic countries (Russia formed a temporary Republic
after the overthrow of the czars)
 This would strengthen its ultimate goal of making the
world safe for democracy