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?

• Britain controlled Morocco, but France also wanted control, so they agreed that France would give up Egypt in return for territorial rights in Morocco. Germany wanted control over north Africa and saw France gaining control over Morocco as a threat to its plans.
• So in order to stop France and disrupt the friendship between France and Britain, Wilhelm II visited Morocco to say that Germany supported Morocco's independence
• A conference was held over who controlled what, and with Britain and spain on France’s side, Germany was defeated. Morocco was declared independent but with France having special rights

How did it create tension?

• This weakened relations between Germany and France. And Strengthened the Entente Cordiale into an actual military agreement

 

Bosnian crisis

What was it?

• Austria annexed Bosnia which outraged Serbia, as Serbia considered the land to be theirs.
• Serbia with the help of Russia, demanded for the land to be split equally between them and Austria. But with Germany's support Austria rejected the demands and  kept the land

How did it create tension?

• Austria now knew they could rely on Germany's support
• Serbia felt annoyed that there land had been lost.

Second Moroccan Crisis (1911)

What was it?

• French troops deployed in Morocco. They said this was to fight against a tribal resistance, but in reality the main reason was to take control of Morocco. Germany send the “Panther” battleship to Agadir, to make sure the french did not do so.
• Germany thought France would submit but instead a convention was held to discuss the problem. France gained the support of the british, leading to France being allowed to control morocco.

How did it create tension?

• Germany felt isolated as relations between them and other european countries weakened.

Balkan Wars (1912-13)

What was it?

• Two wars between countries in the balkans. In the first the Ottoman Empire lost and in the second Bulgaria lost. Serbia's land increased dramatically thanks to these wars.

 

How did it create tension?

• Austria was against Serbia for having so much land as it threatened there stability. So Austria became determined to go to war with Serbia in order to take its land.

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.

 

• On June 28th 1914 Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbians.
• A month later, Austria gave Serbia an ultimatum after being given support by Germany in the form of a blank cheque. Serbia refuses the demands, as they are unreasonable and Austria declares war on Serbia.
• Russia mobilises because it’s a fellow slavic country and wants Serbia to help her in future
• Germany gets alarmed by the mobilisation of the Russian army and gives an ultimatum.
• This was ignored by Russia and Germany was forced to declare war to protect their plan.
• Germany declares war on France after it mobilizes its army.
• Britain mobilizes there are army as Germany invaded their ally Belgium, which they had a treaty with.

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