What is this about?
Causes and consequences of World War I
- Lasted from 1914-1918
- No other war before this involved so many people, countries, and deaths
- The end of the war further increased national sentiments as well as causing an increase in the desire for self-rule amongst people in colonies
- Militarism
- European nations heavily emphasized military development and strength
- Alliances
- Tangled alliances would cause everyone to be involved in what would otherwise be a small conflict
- Imperialism
- Competition for raw resources in Africa and Asia skyrocketed
- Empires also wanted to expand, often at the cost of others
- Nationalism
- Nationalist sentiments amongst people and governments increased, and people wanted to see their country at the top and have the glory
Immediate Causes of the Great War
- Immediate cause was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip, a terrorist part of a movement for Serbian independence
- After assassinations, Austria-Hungary told Serbia to stop the anti-Austrian sentiments
- Serbia refused, so Austria-Hungary asked Germany for help
- Serbia in return asked Russia for help
- Germany then declares war on Russia, then France
- Britain declares war against Germany
- Notice how the entangled alliances caused this small event to balloon into something huge
Long Term Causes of the War
Militarism
- Prior to the war, Britain and Germany spent a lot of money building up their militaries
- Dreadnoughts = really powerful battleship initially built by Britain but Germany also started building them, causing both countries to build these ships at a massive rate
- Industrial Revolution also allowed weapons to be mass produced
- War and military were celebrated as positive things as they would “bring glory”
Alliances
- European nations also formed alliances, where if one country got attacked, the allies would stand up for them
- Triple Entente = Britain, France, Russia
- Were largely unified on their hate for Germany
- Became known as the Allies when the US, Japan, China, and Italy joined the Triple Entente
- Central Powers = Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire
Imperialism
- European powers were desperate for global domination
- One way to generate wealth and assert their power was to own overseas colonies in Africa and Asia
- In the late 1800s, the Scramble of Africa took place, where European nations scrambled to conquer African territories
- After all the land was taken, Europeans started fighting over one another for already conquered land
- Colonies were also important as they provided raw resources
Nationalism
- Nationalist sentiments grew all over Europe
- Continued to grow after World War II
- Multinational empires like the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian empire had to deal with rising movements that dealt with self-determination
- Self-determination = idea that peoples of the same ethnicity, language, culture, and political ideals have the right to form an independent nation-state
- Serbia’s self-determination movement in particular was the immediate cause of World War I
Consequences of the Great War
- World War II led to the downfalls of four monarchies: Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire
- The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Germany also led to the redrawing of the maps of the Middle East and Germany
- Ottoman provinces of Iraq, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon came under the control of Britain and France
- Germany lost all of its overseas colonies
- European economies were completely disrupted, leading to a global power shift from Europe to the US
- The war also led to the rise of more authoritarian regimes
- Led to the rise of communism and fascism
- Germany was given all the blame for the war, which made Germany very furious; these sentiments would later bring the rise of Nazism