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Militarism before World War I
Before World War I even started, militarism was strong as ever. Most of the European governments were either influenced, or controlled by military leaders. Germany was a prime example of this. The Kaiser relied heavily on his military commanders, who then advised the Kaiser to rely heavily on their military. Fueled by previous losses in different wars, many different European governments raced to build new and better weapons. This lead to stronger militaries. -
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Nationalism before World War I
Nationalism is an extreme form of loyalty to one's country. Before WWI, many people believed that their country was the best. Many newspapers included exaggerations of other countries abilities. Due to the extreme amount of nationalism that was prevalent in civilians, this feeling of superiority carried over to governments and government leaders. -
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Imperialism before World War I
Imperialism was another huge factor to the start of World War I. Imperialism is where a nation gains territories to expand its power. A lot of European nations had empire, but the UK was the largest. During the late 19th century, many countries raced to gain more territories. Some of the nations that participated in the "territory race", were Britain, France and Germany. Most of these territories were in Africa, and due to these three nations racing to get the same territories, rivalries began. -
Allies of World War I
In 1907, three militaries signed an entente. The three militaries that signed the entente were the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom. These three nations signed the entente due to the trouble that the growing nation of Germany was causing. -
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie
On June 28th, 1914, one of the most impactful assassinations occurred. Franz Ferdinand was in a motorcade, when an assassin named Gavrilo Princip shot the Archduke and his wife. There was another attempt on the Archduke's life earlier that day, but it failed. Princip was in the middle of trying to find out how he could kill the Archduke, when the Archduke's motorcade stopped in front of him. Princip fired into the car, kill Franz and his wife. This lead to a string of events, which lead to WWI. -
The Central Powers
The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. Before the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined, it was the Dual Alliance of Austria-Hungary and Germany that started it all. In 1897, these two nations joined forces, and used imperialism and militarism to further their control of Europe. The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria didn't join the Dual Alliance until after World War I started. -
Germany's blank check to Austria-Hungary
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Germany gave a "blank check" to Austria-Hungary. This "blank check" was their unconditional support for any punishment Austria-Hungary would perform on Serbia. This was a fatal error as Austria-Hungary then proceeded to declare war on Serbia. -
World War I begins
Austria-Hungary was furious at Serbia after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Equipped with Germany's unconditional support, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. On behalf of Austria-Hungary, Germany invaded France. Britain did not want to enter the war, but due to Germany invading France, it entered World War I on August 4th, 1914. -
The Sinking of the Lusitania
The RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk by a German submarine. At that time, the presence of German submarines was rising. In fact, the seas around the UK were declared a war zone. The Lusitania wass was sailing 11 miles off the coast of Ireland, when a torpedo hit the ship. Minutes later, an internal explosion sent the ship to the seabed. This attack led to the death of 1,198 people. -
Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare
Two years after the sinking of the Lusitania, Germany announced that it would resume the act of submarine warfare. This announcement led to the US breaking diplomatic relations with Germany. A german submarine then proceeded to sink the American liner, the Housatonic. Luckily, none of the crew was killed, the crew was then picked up by a British steamer. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
After the sinking of the Housatonic, Germany started to prepare for the possible entry of the US into World War I. A telegram was sent from Germany, to Mexico. British intelligence intercepted the message, and found out that Germany was trying to create an alliance with Mexico. Germany wanted Mexico's support to fight against the US if they entered in the war. When the content of the message was released to the US public, it created a large amount of outrage against Germany. -
US entry into World War I, and the impact of the entry
Before the sinking of the Housatonic and the Zimmermann telegram, President Woodrow Wilson declared neutrality in World War I. However, after the sinking of the Housatonic and the Zimmermann telegram, the US officially entered World War I on April 6th, 1917. The United States inclusion in World War I was very important. The United States aided Britain on the battlefield, and some people believe that if the US would not have entered World War I, Germany would have won the whole war. -
End of World War I, and the effects of World War I part 1
An armistice was signed on November 11th, 1918. This armistice ended all fighting between Germany and the Allied powers. There were 68,208,171 soldiers that served between both the Allied Powers and Central Powers during World War I. On the Allied side, there were 5,525,000 dead, and 12,831,500 wounded. There were also 4,121,000 missing. All together, there were 22,477,500 soldiers that were KIA, MIA, or WIA. On the Axis side, there were 16,403,000 soldiers KIA, WIA, or MIA. -
End of World War I, and the effects of World War I part 2
After World War I ended, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. This created nine new countries. These nine new countries were Finland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Also, there was a lot of disillusionment. Many people started questioning why the US entered the war, and that there were false reasons on why the war started. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important peace treaty signed at the end of World War I. After Germany surrendered, they signed this treaty. The treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. This didn't end the actual fighting, the armistice signed in November 1918, ended it. However, the Treaty of Versailles is still considered to be a historical treaty. -
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The Rise of Hitler
In September 1919, Adolf Hitler joined the German Workers Party. Hitler's skills in propaganda was appreciated by the party's leader. In the German election of 1928, the National Socialist German Worker's party only secured 12 seats in the Reichstag. Hitler felt like people needed to know his goals better. When the Great Depression started, Hitler was able to gain popularity by vowing to end democracy. Hitler than became the chancellor of Germany, a position he used to create the Nazi Party. -
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The Great Depression
On October 29th, 1929, Black Tuesday happened. On that day, the Stock Market crashed in the US. Before this happened, a large amount of people lost confidence in banks, this led to many people withdrawing their money and holding it. Since everybody was withdrawing money and holding it, the money supply went down. The value of money also decreased, which led to many people losing most or all of their money. The Great Depression lasted a long 10 years. -
The Dawes Plan and the Young Plan
As part of the Versailles Treaty, Germany had to pay a lot of money due to the damages they caused. However, Germany itself found themselves in massive debt. As a result of this, the Dawes Plan and Young Plan were created as a way to help pay the debt. This also caused, the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic. This hyperinflation is what caused the massive debt in Germany. It lasted for a long three years.
