The Causes of the First World War
1. There were 4 MAIN causes of World War I. What were they?
2. When did Germany become a united country?
3. Describe two ways in which Germany humiliated France when France lost the
Franco-Prussian War?
4. Why was the Austrian-Hungarian Empire so unstable?
5. What is imperialism?
6. Britain and France had very powerful Empires. Which adjective would you use to
describe Germany’s attitude towards Britain and France?
7. What kind of competition began between Germany and Britain?
8. What did Austria do in 1908 to try and re-establish her Empire in Europe?
9. Which country was afraid of Austrian power expanding?
10. Why did Russia choose to support Serbia?
11. Annotate the map below to show the two main alliance systems in Europe: The
Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance [Bonus points for labelling them correctly!]
12. How was the Schlieffen Plan supposed to work?
13. Why was the Schlieffen Plan invented?
14. Who was assassinated on 28 June 1914?
15. Who was the assassin? (a description is fine, you don’t need his actual name)
16.
Below is a map showing the order in which countries became involved in war in
1914. Explain why each country became involved in the war.
4 August
1 August
29 July
2 August
Who assassinated him?
28 July
28 July
You can start your answer however you like. If you do want a starting phrase, you can
start with “The first country to become involved in war was Austria, because…..”
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I – EXTENSION CHALLENGE A
This cartoon - 'A Chain of Friendship' - appeared in the American newspaper the Brooklyn
Eagle in July 1914. The caption read: “If Austria attacks Serbia, Russia will fall upon
Austria, Germany upon Russia, and France and England upon Germany.”
What is the meaning of this cartoon?
WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR:
TRAFFIC LIGHT
PARAGRAPHS
[IN BRACKETS YOU WILL SEE THE MARKING YOUR TEACHER WILL TO SHOW THE FEATURES S/HE
HAS SEEN IN YOUR WORK]
ASSERTION - You have identified the meaning []
EVIDENCE – you have described which bit(s) of the prints reveal this key
message []
EXPLANATION – you have explained what was going on in history that
would have made the artist think this message was important []
Have you proof-read your work to check for:
Capital letters
Omitted (left-out) words
Punctuation
Spelling
 T
TARGET