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Creation of Triple Alliance
The Triple Alliance was first a dual alliance and between Austria-Hungary and Germany, and then two years later Italy joined. This was an important event because it left France without many options for allies, especially after the Germans also added Russia to their list of allies. -
Rise of Kaiser Wilhelm
Kaiser Wilhelm took control of Germany when he forced Otto von Bismarck to resign. He took great pride in his large army and Navy and wanted power. Germany was nationalistic because they were patriotic. He let a treaty woth Russia lapse and disapear,which led to Germany having to fight atwo front war agianst Russia and France. The rise of Kaiser Wilhelm is important because it had huge effect on the First World War because he made a lot of executive decisions that changed the course of history. -
Alliance of Russia and France
(formed alliance in 1894 as well) new leader Kaiser Wilhelm did not renew Germany's treaty with France, so the French alligned with the Russians and British. This is important because if Germany had maintained theot treaty with Russia the Germans woul not have had to fight a two front war. -
European Arms Race/ Militarism
(1900-1914)Many Eurpean Countries found pleasure in having large standing armies and because it made them feel powerful. But it intimidated many other countries(for examle the Germans wanted to be a power of Europe). Militarism or the Eurpean arms race was important because creacted many problems and was a main cause of WWI. MIlitarism is the strong belief or desire for a country to have a strong military to use agressively and to protect or defend national interests. -
Creation of Triple Entente
When Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany did not continue to allign with Russia, Russia decided to join France and Great Britain to create the Triple Entente. This is important because it would force Germany to fight a two front war. -
Austria-Hungary annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina
Austria-Hungary annexed the slavic state Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia became mad at Austria-Hungary and said that they would take over Bosnia-Herzgovenia. Serbia was enraged with Bosnia-Herzgovina because Serbia wanted to own the parts of the world that had Slavic people within them. This is important because this event caused tensions to rise between Serbia and Austria-Hungary and Austria was involved in the spark that set off the powderkeg. The chances the war would have started became bigger. -
Britain Declares War on Germany
Britain Declared war on Germany because Britain was in the Triple Entente and Germany was part of the Triple Alliance(agianst TripleE) AND Germany had wrongly invaded through nuetral Belgium. Germany had declared war on Great Britain's allies Russia and France, so Britain might of felt obliged to help out their allies also. This event is important because when Great Britain became involved in the war, it could more easily be considered a full scale war because Britain was a major world power. -
The Assasination of Archduke Ferdinand
The Archduke of Austria-Hungary who was the heir to the Austro- Hungarian throne and his wife were visiting Sarejevo, the Capitol of Bosnia, to try to inspect Imperial forces. He and his wife were killed when a member of the terrorists group "the black hand" shot them at point blac range. The importance of this event is widely acknowledged as the spark for the start of the First World War. This killng led to many countries taking sides against one other since this was an emotion filled time. -
The First Decloration of War (the first day of WWI)
Austria-Hungary used the murder of the of their future king as a reason to attack the Serbians, although it was not a Governmant organized murder. This resulted in the Russians bringing troops to the Austrian-Hungarian border because the Russians were allies with Serbia. The importance of this first decloration of war was that the this was the beginning of a long war to come. This was the event that started chain of actions known as WWI. -
The battle lines are drawn(central powers and allies)
The central powers (in central part of Europe)at first included Germany and Austria-Hungary (Ottomans and Bulgarians join later in hopes of gaining land they lost). The Allies (or allied powers)included Britain, France, and Russia(Japan and Italy joined later). These alliances among countries were important because they defined who was fighting who in the end.
