WW1

Main figures

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Kaiser of Germany during WW1

Tsar Nicholas II

Tsar of the Russian Empire during WW1

Franz Ferdinand

Archduke of Austria, who was assassinated, starting WW1

Gavrilo Princip

The man that shot Franz Ferdinand

 

Glossary

Dreadnoughts

The best battleship in the Royal Navy, making all other battleships look obsolete.

Black hand gang

3 serbian terrorists who intended to assassinate Ferdinand by bombing him, but their plan failed.

Schlieffen plan

Germany's plan for WW1 to prevent a war on two fronts. It said to defeat France first and then attack russia afterwards. The plan required germany to invade belgium in order to get to France, which ultimately caused England to join the war.

Weltpolitik

This was Germany's “World Policy”. It was to take land in Africa and build up its arms, to become a world empire

Ultimatum

A list of unreasonable demands.

Balkans

Referred to a large peninsula sandwiched between four seas, in south eastern europe. On this land mass was a cluster of nations and provinces, including Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Bosnia.

European Alliances and agreements

 

Date

Agreement

Countries

What was it?

Why was it formed

1879

The Dual Alliance

Germany and Austria-Hungary

A firm military agreement

To prevent war with Russia

1882

The Triple Alliance

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy

A firm military agreement

To prevent them from being attacked as attacking  one would mean attacking them all. Also, to keep France isolated.

1894

Entente Cordiale

Britain and France

Friendly understanding

To settle issues between the countries and to allow Britain to have egypt and France to have Morroc, without having a war.

1907

Triple Entente

Russia, Britain and France

A loose military agreement

To protect the countries from the triple alliance.

Why were relations between Germany and Russia so tense before WW1?

Relations between germany and Russia were so tense because originally the countries were part of the dreikaiserbund, but after germany refused to support Russia's attempt to control the dardanelle sea route, the dreikaiserbund was weakened. Then germany and Austria created a formal alliance to protect themselves from Russia making russia and Germany enemies.

How conflicts created tensions

First Moroccan Crisis (1905-06)

What was it?

How did it create tension?

 

Bosnian crisis

What was it?

How did it create tension?

Second Moroccan Crisis (1911)

What was it?

How did it create tension?

Balkan Wars (1912-13)

What was it?

 

How did it create tension?



July crisis

The July Crisis was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914 that led to World War I.

 

Editors

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