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The Triple Allience
These new ideas in Europe began to cause tension. To keep peace, Europe started to create alliance systems. Otto Van Bismarck, Prussia's chancellor, wanted to take as many allies away from France as possible. To do this he created the Triple alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Also, he signed a treaty with Russia. -
An Era of European Competition
In Europe feelings of nationalism, imperialism, and militarism brought upon positve and negative effects. Nationalism was positive in a way because it brought a sense of pride to people about their countries but it also caused fierce rivalries. Imperialism, pushed countries into warfare because they felt they had no other options. Militarism, the policy of glorifying military power, made people feel confident that their army could do anything. These Ideas essentially sparked the war. -
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Triple Entente
In 1890 everything changed when Kaiser Wilhelm II, the ruler of Germany, forced Otto Von Bismark to resign. He drasticlly changed Germany's foreign policies and to show the world how powerful Russia had become he got rid of his treaty with Russia. In 1907 Britain created another allience called the Triple Entente, between Brittain, France, and Russia. This ment that there were two major alliences in the world which was sure to cause rivelry. -
The First Shot
Tension worldwide was high after new alliances were created, the Ottoman Empire was in decline and countries such as Serbia were eager to expand. On June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife went to Sarajevo to visit. But, during a parade they were shot by a 19 year old Serbian man. Austria used this to punish Serbia and on July 23, 1914 Serbia was faced with many demands and agreed to some of the rules but that was not good enough for Austria and on July 28th war was declared. -
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The span of World War 1
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The Beginning of World War 1
Austria had just declared war on Serbia and their ally, Russia, began going into Austria’ s territory to defend them, presuming that Germany would also join Serbia they started to move along the German border. The German’s took this the wrong way and they declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. After this, countries were divided it was Germany and Austria-Hungry known as the central powers and Great Brittan, France, and Russia known as the Allies. -
Eastern and Western Front
The western front was in north France while the eastern front was in the German and Russian boarder's, both of these fronts were deadly. The weastern front used trench warfare which was fighting while in dug trenches which were like giant wholes in the ground. Conditions were horrible and many peopke died. In the eastern front fighting was very mobile unlike in the west. -
America Becomes Part of the War
Because of submarine warfare, Germany sunk a British ship with about 128 U.S. passengers aboard. Pesident Wilson sent a strong protest against Germany. Germany finally agreed to stop attacking passengers and neutral ships. Since they were desperate for an advantage over the allies, Germany took chances that their blockade would starve Britain. Despite the warnings by President Wilson, Germany sunk three other American U-boats. The U.S. entered the war on the side of the Allies. -
Women Enter the War
As never before, governments turned to help from women because they were at total war. Men were replaced by thousands of women in factories, offices, and shops. They also built tanks and munitions, plowed fields, pave streets, and ran hospitals. Women supplied troops with food, clothing, and weapons. Even though most women left the work force when the war came to an end, women being involved changed many people’s views on what they were capable of doing. -
The Allies Take a Victory
War-related shortages of food and fuel in Russia forced Czar to step down. Russia refused to fight any longer. Germany decided to mount one final massive attack on the Allies in France and destroyed everything that came in their path. With Paris fairly close, victory seemed within reach but the German military had weakened. The Central Powers started to collapse as well. First the Bulgarians then the Ottoman turcks surrendered. Kaiser Wilhelm stepped down and declared Germany republic. -
The Treaty is Signed
When the Paris Peace conference opened, Britain and France hardly showed any signs of agreement to Wilson's fourteen points. A huge concern for both nations was national security and stripping Germany from its power of war making. Heated arguments emerged from the differences of Britain, France, and the U.S. Finally, The Treaty of Versailles was signed between Germany and the Allied powers.
