How

are these two videos similar in their explanation of how WWI started? How are they different?

 Militarism

competing to build more and bigger

weapons
Alliance

System Europe attempted to keep the

peace through a balance of powers

Imperialism

the European powers competed over

fierce pride in ones own country

colonies
Nationalism

History
Spark

Europe has an immensely long history of

killing each other

an event that lit the fire

end of the 19th century saw the European nations scrambling to claim every inch of the earths surface as their own colonies By 1900, even Africa (the Dark Continent) was entirely claimed by Europe and this meant that to get more colonies, you now had to take them from your rivals Russia and Austria-Hungary both sought to extend their influence in the Balkans Germany, France and England all sought to extend their influence in Africa
The

Britain had been unchallenged as the worlds dominant naval power from 1807 and the way they kept this dominance was by their two power formula
Their navy was always to be at least as big as any two other countries in the

world

Naval power = economic power in a world where most trade travels over the oceans Germany was jealous of Britains dominance and thought that by building up their own navy, they could carve out a larger piece of the imperial and commercial pie for themselves Germany, France and Russia all could field massive land armies and were competing to have the biggest of these as well

Italy had become a unified nation in 1861, Germany had finally unified in 1871 Everywhere in Europe, there was a belief in the right of people groups to have national self-determination In the Balkans, the Austro-Hungarians repressed the nationalism of the various Slavic groups (Bosnians, Serbs, Croats, etc.) because they were still subjects of the Habsburg (read Austria-Hungary) Empire Russia encouraged the Slavic groups to rebel against AH because they wanted to control the region for themselves The whole Balkan region was known as the powder keg of Europe

The combination of militarism, imperialism, and nationalism led to a desire for war in Europe. Most people in Europe had not experienced a war in their lifetime and as such, there was a belief that war was essential to realizing their national identity and destiny. People were not afraid of war, they welcomed it.

 Britains

goal in Europe since the end of the Napoleonic Wars had been to maintain a balance of powers so that no one side would feel able to win in a war with the other. Military strength would be the deterrent.
Remember what Blackadder called this???

Officially,

France and Russia were allies while Britain had diplomatic agreements with these guys (without an official if they attack you, well attack them clause) and Germany and AH were allies

 Add

to all this that there were some longstanding national resentments at play
France wanted revenge on Germany for stealing the

provinces of Alsace and Lorraine during the FrancoPrussian War (1870-71) Germany resented Britains huge empire and wanted their own place in the sun Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were both dying a slow death Russia was in an extremely vulnerable position as the monarchy lost its grip on their empire

 In

June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the Crown Prince of AH) went on a state visit to Sarajevo in Bosnia The visit caused a stir amongst Serbian nationalists and one of their extreme (terrorist?) groups, The Black Hand, decided to order an assassination on him

After a failed attempt to bomb his car, a Black Hand member named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed both Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofie

 This

caused a chain reaction of events

FF killed by Black Hand

AH wants to punish Serbia but fears Russian intervention

Germany gives AH a blank cheque of support

AH issues ultimatum to Serbia, Serbs meet demands, AH declares war anyway

Russia mobilizes for war against AH

Germany demands Russia demobilize (they dont)

France demands Germany demobilize (they dont)

Germany declares war on France and Russia

Germany invades France through Belgium

Britain has a treaty to guarantee Belgiums neutrality

Britain declares war on Germany

 Why

did Germany invade France through Belgium?

They didnt want a prolonged two-front war By invading Belgium, they hoped to flank the

French defenses and end the fighting in the west in 6 weeks They could then turn their attention toward the massive power of Russia