Ch 16 Notes

World History

Sec 1

Long term causes of WWI-

1. Nationalism

a. Caused people within some countries to want to be independent (Slavs in Austria-H, Irish in Great Britain)

2. Imperialism- getting colonies

a. European countries fighting over same colonies

3. Militarism- building up of armies

a. Created tensions between countries

b. Generals anxious to play with their toys

c. People didn’t fear war, they welcomed it

4. Alliances- countries allied with each other out of fear of the other guy

a. Triple Alliance- Germany, A-H, Italy

b. Triple Entente- France, Eng, Russia

Short Term Cause of WWI-

- Franz Ferdinand of A-H shot by a Serb that wanted to see the Slavs of A-H united as one country controlled by Serbia

Steps-

1. Ferdinand shot by a Serb (1914)

2. A-H blames Serbia, declares war

3. Russia helps Serbia

4. Germany agrees to help A-H

5. France agrees to help Russia

6. Germany invades France through neutral Belgium

7. England declares war on Germany b/c Belgium’s neutrality was violated

Stalemate- neither side can move

Old tactics (charging across open ground) + new weapons (machine gun) = Stalemate

- causes each side to dig trenches (long ditches) for protection, guarded by barbed wire

- New Weapons- were created to try to kill everybody in the trenches and break the stalemate

o Poison gas- 1^st used by Germans (mustard gas- burned skin, blinded)

o Artillery- large cannons to kill everyone in trenches

§ Both sides just dug deeper for protection and came out when the shelling stopped

o Tanks- not very effective, too slow, unreliable

o Airplanes- 1^st used for observation, later bombing

§ Zepplins- also used by Germany for bombing

o Tunneling- dig under the trenches and set off large explosion

Fronts- where they fought

- Western Front- Germany vs. Eng/France- trenches, poison gas and stuff

- Eastern Front- A-H/Germany vs. Russia

o Russia gets beaten and gets out of the war in 1917

o