Continents: The Long-term

reasons for war

1. The causes of World World war one was the
War One result of a slight push that
I. set off the very high
M Militarism diplomatic tensions that
A Allegiance systems existed between the world’s
I Imperialism two greatest allegiance
N Nationalism systems in to the most
II. deadly war the world had
Pre-World War One seen at the time. The events
African leading up to the war made
colonization any interactions between
The formation of the two sides very critical
allegiances in Europe. in their effects. The long
The build up of term causes for World War
military forces One can be summed up in
III. to one acronym: M.A.I.N.
The assassination of The letter “M” represents
Austria-Hungary’s the militarism. Militarism
Arch Duke Franz played the role of building
Ferdinand up the armed forces of
European nations. “A” is
2. During the war the alliance systems that
I. developed as a result of
New technologies many treaties that made
friends and foes of their
Maritime conflicts
growing neighbors. “I” is
Americas involvement
for the term imperialism,
which is the expansion of a
3. Central Power’s demise
country. African
colonization during the late
19th century was the
expansion of European
powers to claim the
resources the land had. “N”
stands for nationalism.
Nationalism is the strong
patriotic belief of ones
country’s interests which
played a big part in the
development of ones
country.
Colonization of
Africa
Industrialization of Europe
stimulated growth of its
nations. Resources are the
raw materials needed to
grow a country. Since the
Europe was such a small
and densely populated
continent, it was eventually
necessary to acquire
recourses to support it once
limited domestic ones were
exhausted. Africa at the
time was claimed only by
its natives who were
technologically inferior to
Europe. Most major
European nations saw this
as an easy opportunity to
expand their empire.
Colonization is the
militarian take over of
foreign land. By 1900
nearly 90% of Africa was
under European control
(see map on pg-.
Nationalism of citizens
made them feel that their
country was superior and
influenced them to support
its interest. Nationalism
was escalated when
countries conflicted over
territories. The Treaty of
Berlin was a conference
called by Germany to
regulate the colonization
and to monopolize Europe
over Africa in acts like
acquiring important trade
routes and embargoing any
non-European weapons.
Allegiances
Conflicts and competition
from the scramble for
territory in Africa (even
world wide) made countries
in Europe feel threatened
by their neighbors.
Between 1879 to 1914 a
series of treaties were made
to protect each other if
needed. This tangled the
whole continent to where
disputes between two
countries were everyone’s
problem. The two major
allegiances of Europe were
the allied and the central.
The allies consisted of the
countries: Britain, France,
Russia, Portugal, Romania
and Siberia. The allies
geographically surrounded
the opposing allegiance
system, the central powers,
which consisted of
Germany, Austria-Hungary,
the ottoman empire and
Bulgaria. Shown below are
the allies (green), Central
Powers (brown) and neutral
nations (tan) as they were
in 1914. The diplomatic
pressures countries felt led
to militarism. Large navies
between the United
Kingdom and Germany
were assembled and they
armies of both Germany
and France had more than
doubled between 1870 and
1914 dew to treating
growth of each nation.
Military power was
demonstrated when
Germany colonized
European lands in Africa.
The assignation of
Austria-Hungary’s
Arch Duke
The allegiance system set
the stage for a world war.
The event that broke peace
in Europe was the
assignation of Austria-
Hungary’s arch duke Franz
Ferdinand. Franz Ferdinand
was next up for the Austria-
Hungary throne. On June
28th a Siberian nationalist,
Gavrilo Princip shot the
prince and his wife while
they were touring in their
car. Shortly after Austria-
Hungary declared war on
Siberia then Germany
forced its way in to neutral
begum and World War 1
had begun.
During the War
The war had two main
battle fields: the western
and the eastern battle
fronts. The eastern front
was fought between the
borders of Russia, Germany
and Austria-Hungary. After
communist gained control
in Russia, they dropped out
of the war and Germany
could then focus their
military efforts on the
western front. The western
front was largely fought on
the borders of France and
German advancing lines.
Maritime
conflicts
The waters of the North Sea
were dominated by British
ships and German
submarines. Before the war
began, Germany imported
many vital resources from
outside nations, like the
United States, over seas.
When war broke out,
Britain assembled its
massive fleet of war ships
that restricted flow of
economic goods to
Germany. Germany’s way
of breaking this blockade
was to sink British ships
with their large fleet of
submarines. Near the end of
the war Germany was so
resource deprived
(particularly food) that they
declared unlimited
submarine warfare to brake
the British ships barrier.
After the war confirmed
reports of Britain enticing
American ships in to
German u boot territory in
hopes Germany would sink
American ships greatly
influencing The United
States to join the war on the
ally’s side.
New War
Technologies
World war one was
incomparable to the
traditional way wars were
fought in the past.
Efficiently new assault
methods like trench warfare
with new technologies like
gas, flamethrowers,
machineguns, airplanes,
and mobile artery greatly
increased the number of
lives lost.
America’s
involvement
All throughout the first part
of the war where the United
States was not involved in
the war (1914-1916), both
allied and central powers
were constantly trying to
obtain America’s favor of
their side. By 1916 Britain
had rang up a strangling
debt that threatened to limit
war production and
Germany was as equally
limited by their availability
of food. Both allied and
central powers knew that if
America entered the war,
the side they went on would
almost determine who
would win. America was
hesitant to enter the war
because of its isolationist
international policies. The
economic prosperity of
America could be
transformed in to wartime
efforts. The citizens of
America were split when
deciding on whom to ally
with. The large German
immigrant population
favored their mother land
where Irish Americans and
original Americans favored
the ally side because of
their origin and more
democratic forms of
government. The president
at the time, Woodrow
Wilson was in favor of ally
side because of America’s
greater bond our country
with them. The breaking
point was reached when a
German submarine sunk a
British drafted ship called
the Lusitania that carried
American passengers. The
Lusitania along with the
sinking of 7 other merchant
U.S. vessels led Woodrow
Wilson to ask congress to
declare war on Germany in
1917. When America
entered the war it was
severely under prepared.
After a draft of 2.8 million
men, America was sending
France 10,000 fresh solders
a day by the summer of
1918.

The demise of
the central
powers
In august 1918, the allies
initiated the hundred day
offensive that would cut
deep back in to Germany’s
lines. This would be the
beginning of the end for
Germany. War for
Germany ended when the
new chancellor took power.
Prince Maximilian of
Baden soon negotiated at
once and on November 9
1918 under the commands
of the United States,
Germany was exempt from
the war with the agreement
that its governmental
system be formed in to a
republic. Other members of
the central powers soon fell
after.
`

The entire span of the war

from pre-war events to the
central power’s demise.