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Nationalist Ideas
The Revolutions of 1848 greatly spread nationalist ideas all over Europe. In a direct manner, nationalism helped cause WWI because the Slavic people of Bosnia and Herzegnovia wanted to be a part of Serbia, not Austria-Hungary. In a more indirect manner, nationalism helped caused WWI because each European country wanted to prove their dominance and power. -
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New Imperialism
Imperialist powers in Europe clashed because they all wanted control of Africa and parts of Asia for their raw materials. The competitive nature of the Imperialist natons and their growing desire to become even more powerful helped lead the way for World War I. -
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Europe Creates Alliances
To protect themselves, European countries began forming alliances with each other. The first alliance system was created by the German leader, Otto Van Bismarck. As old alliances were broken and new alliances were created, the two main alliance systems to fight in the war, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, were formed. European countries believed the alliance sytems would help avoid war when, in fact, they helped start World War I. When one country entered the war, its ally followed. -
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The Growth of Militarism
European nations became so obsessed with improving their navies that an arms race was essentially developed. Between 1900 and 1914, military expenditure greatly increased in Europe. Each European country felt obliged to increase their navy's size and stock of weapons. As militarism grew, so did each country's confidence that they could eventually enter and do well in a war. -
The Assassination of Archducke Franz Ferdinard
A Serbian nationalist murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinard, the leader of Austria-Hungary. Consequently, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia came to Serbia's aid and Germany came to Austria-Hungary's aid. Other allies soon joined to participate in the war. -
The United States Enters World War I
The U.S. decided to enter the war because Germany invaded an innocent country, attacked unarmed ships, and proposed to steal land from America. Germany invaded Belgium, a neutral country, to get to France and kept attacking commercial ships even though they kept promising to to stop. Also, in the Zimmerman note, Germany proposed to help Mexico steal back the land it lost to the U.S. if they won the war. America saw Germany as a country that needed to be stopped. -
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The United State's Impact on World War I
Americans came into the war ready to fight. The abundance of fresh American soldiers proved too much for German soldiers to handle. Not only did American soldiers help fight, but American citizens helped a lot too. Americans worked hard to provide extra food and fuel for the war. The American government even helped raise money and troops for the war. With the United States' help, Germany was defeated and the war ended quicker. -
Effects of World War I
After the end of World War I, empires began declining. Empires, like the Ottoman Empire collapsed and monarchies, like Germany, became republics. Inflation increased in many countries and on top of that, European nations owed money to their allies. Postitive outcomes of the war include women becoming a more important part of society and people having a greater interest in research as well as technology. -
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles included a term that meant Germany had to pay reparations for the war. As a result, German citizens hated the treaty. German citizens thought thought the treaty was unfair since they were too poor to pay such a high amount of reparations. German citizens wanted a leader who would destroy that treaty and Adolf Hitler promised to do just that. Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany and his actions paved the way for World War II. -
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The Great Depression
The economic instabilty around the world led to political instabilty. Dictatorships and militarist governments arose, most noticeably in Germany when Adolf Hitler came into power. The reggressive foreign policices of these corrupt governments were causes of World War II.
