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Militarism
Militarism has to do with nations pulling together large military strengths. It was a rush to get as big of an army, and as many weapons as you could. Militarism became popular when many nations were racing to gather as many natural resources as they could, and were competing to have the best economy and biggest empire. Many countries anticipated a war to break out, so that is how militarism shot up. Germany ended up in 1914 taking the lead with the largest army and biggest weapon collection. -
Imperialism
Imperialism is the system where powerful countries take control over weaker countries. The weaker countries are referred to as colonies.Many countries in Europe had colonies in Asia and Africa. Big countries used their colonies for natural resources. This is what led into the big rush to grab colonies, and then into militarism. They used militarism to protect their colonies from getting taken. -
Alliances
An alliance means that in case of war, the countries involved will be promised to back each other up. In the midst of a big war about to break out, these were important. Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary joined together to become the Triple Alliance. This scared other countries, so to protect themselves, they too made their own alliances. The Triple Entente was made of Russia, France, and Great Britain. -
Nationalism
Nationalism is loyalty and love to your own country. This can also be described as a patriotic feeling. Germany used nationalism to fuel their desires to control as many countries as possible. They wanted to expand Germany's empire as far as possible. Many countries were like Germany, including France and Belgium, having the same idea. Great Britain and Germany were big competitors. -
The asassination of the Archduke and his wife
Francis Ferdinand was an archduke of Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary had ties over Bosnia, and a couple men who were loyal to Bosnia believed that Ferdinand was a tyrant. A man named Gavrilo Princip decided to shoot Francis and his wife, Sophie, after spotting them traveling down a road. The people of Austria Hungary were very upset, and Germany declared the would support them if war broke out. Austria Hungary decided to declare war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. -
Blank Check
When Germany vowed to back Austria-Hungary no matter what choices they made. this was referred to as the "Blank Check". William ll, the emperor of Germany, agreed to this. -
The start of World War 1
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, and Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. The first attack was in Belgium by Germany. This was because Germany had to travel through Belgium in order to reach France. Great Britain was then involved in the war, because of their alliances with France and Belgium. The German army were stopped by French and British forces before they could invade France. -
Germany and unrestricted submarine warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare is when ships attack other ships out on the water without any warning. Germany openly announced that they would be doing this around Britain. Germany did end up using this method. Notably on the Lusitania on May 7, 1915.After sinking the Lusitania, Germany said they would stop using unrestricted submarine warfare, but they broke this promise that November. This ended up leading the United States into joining the war. -
The Lusitania is sunk
A British ship traveling to New York on May 7, 1915 was torpedoed and sank by a German Boat. Over 1,000 people died, some of which were American. -
Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman telegram was a secret message from a man named Arthur Zimmerman, a German secretary, to Mexico. He was asking if Mexico would like to start an alliance with Germany. Germany promised that if they won the war against the U.S., that they would give Mexico land back from the U.S.. Great Britain intercepted the message and informed the American government. -
U.S. enters WW1
After Germany had attempted to turn Mexico against them, and lied about ending submarine warfare, America decided it was time to go to war. The U.S. entered the war on April 6, 1917. The first U.S. troops started off in France, and at the end of the war more than 2,000,000 soldiers from the United States fought. America contributed lots of supplies to it's allied countries, and raised money and got more volunteer soldiers through propaganda. America really helped the other countries win. -
Effects of WW1
During the war, Women and African- Americans found many job opportunities and were able to take a more active role since a lot of the men were off to war. But this changed once the men returned.The Ottoman Empire collapsed after the war. Many countries were created after ww1, including Lithuania, Ethiopia, Poland, and Finland. Russia and Germany tied for the most casualties, but the total number between all countries was 16.5 million. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was what brought an end to WW1. It also made Germany claim all responsibility for the death and destruction caused from the war. It was written up by the allies in early 1919. It also downsized their army and took away some of their land and colonies. Germans were upset about taki.ng all the blame -
Dawes Plan and Young Plan
Germany was required to pay a lot of money by the Treaty of Versailles for repairs caused by WW1. The problem was it was more than Germany could handle. Germany was struggling. The Dawes plan, by Charles Dawes, was constructed to help Germany eventually be able to pay off their debts by boosting their economy. It helped, but more needed to be done. The Young Plan, which was made in 1929, reduced the amount owed and gave them 59 years to pay it off. But in 1931, Germany was released of any debt. -
The Great Depression
WW1 created a boom for product sales, and after it was over there was a sudden drop that affected many farmers. The Rich took most of the money in the economy, but the rich weren't purchasing enough goods to support the economy. A lot of people were purchasing things with credit, and ending up with a lot of debt. On October 24th, after the stock market prices crashed due to dropping sharply, many people took their money out of the stocks they had invested in. Tons of money was suddenly gone.
