• In the late 1800s,
Germany and France were bitter enemies.

• Germany joined Italy and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance.
• This alliance alarmed
Russian leaders because they feared Germany intended to expand eastward into Russia.

• France, Russia, and
Great Britain formed the Triple Entente.

• This system of alliances encouraged militarism—the buildup of armed force between
Great Britain and
Germany.

• Nationalism is intense pride in one’s homeland.
– The main idea behind selfdetermination is that people who share a national identity should have their own country.
• Imperialism led European powers to form empires.
• In Southeastern Europe the
(Balkans) Ottoman Empire and
Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled the Balkans; national groups within these empires began to push for independence.
– Example; Serbia granted independence.

• Austria-Hungary took control of the nation of
Bosnia to stop the Serbs from uniting with it.
– The Serbs were angry.
• In June 1914, a Bosnian member of a Serbian nationalist group killed the heir to the Austro-
Hungarian throne.

• Russia support the Serbian nationalist group that assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand because the Russians belonged to a similar ethnic group called the Slavs and supported their independence from the Austria-
Hungarian Empire.

• Several nations became involved.
• They formed alliances and declared war.
• The first (initial) countries involved in World War I were
Austria; Serbia; Russia; Germany;
France
• Soon Great Britain joined because the German invasion route into
France involved invading Belgium and the British guaranteed
Belgium’s neutrality.
– France France, Russia, Great
Britain, and Italy became the Allies.

• Germany, Austria-
Hungary, the Ottoman
Empire, and Bulgaria became the Central
Powers.
• Eventually, both sides became locked in a stalemate in France.
• In Russia, the Germans and Austrians swept across hundreds of miles of land and took thousands of prisoners.

• As World War I began,
President Wilson declared the United
States neutral.

• However, many Americans supported one side or the other.
• Most Americans favored the Allies.
• However, many Irish Americans sympathize with Germany and the Central Powers because the Irish had ruled their homeland for centuries.
• Most of President Wilson’s cabinet supported the Allies, too.

• The British and
Germans worked to win
U.S. support by using propaganda or information designed to influence opinion.

• Britain also cut the transatlantic telegraph cable from Europe to the United States.
• This limited the news about the war mainly to
British communications.
• Although many reports were exaggerated, many Americans believed them.

• Businesses also supported the Allies because they had ties with businesses in the Allied countries.
• America's prosperity intertwined with the military fortunes of Britain, France, and Russia because American banks had heavily invested in an Allied victory.
• If the Allies won, the money would be paid back.
• If they lost, the money would be, too.

• Although most Americans did not want to enter the war, many events drew the United
States into it.
• The British navy had blockaded Germany.
• They stopped neutral ships to inspect them for contraband, or prohibited materials, headed for Germany or its allies.

• In response, Germany respond to Britain's blockade by announcing that it would sink without warning any ships in the waters around Britain.
• Attacking civilian ships without warning was against international law.

• In May, the British passenger ship
Lusitania, entered the war zone.
• A German U-boat—or submarine—sank the ship, killing nearly 1,200 people. About 128 were
Americans.

• President Wilson still tried to stay out of the war.
• However, he did send notes to Germany telling it to stop endangering the lives of civilians in war zones.
• After a U-boat shot at the French passenger ship
Sussex, Wilson warned Germany to stop its submarine warfare or risk war with the United States.
• Germany did not want the United States to join the
Allies and to keep the United States from breaking off diplomatic relations, they signed the Sussex pledge.
– In the Sussex Pledge, Germany promised not to sink any merchant ships without warning.

• In January 1917, a German official named Arthur
Zimmermann told the
German ambassador to
Mexico to ask Mexico to ally itself with Germany in case of war between Germany and the United States.
• Germany promise to Mexico in return for their support in the war, Mexico would get back the territory it once held in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

• The British intercepted the Zimmermann telegram.
• It was leaked to
American newspapers.
• Many Americans now believed that war with
Germany was necessary.

• When Germany again began unrestricted submarine warfare, it was the event that finally drew the United States into the war
• February 1917, Germany sank six American merchant ships, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany.
– It did so on April 6, 1917.