Long Term and Short Term causes of war
• Militarism
• Arms Race
• Alliances
• Imperialism
• Nationalism
Think
MAAIN to remember the
causes of WWI

Militarism
This was the belief that
it was acceptable for
counties to fight wars
to get what it wanted.
For example Germany
prepared the
Schlieffen Plan
for an attack on France
Competing countries
increase and improve
their armaments in an
attempt to gain
weapons superiority
over another country.

Russia had been allied with Germany and
Austria-Hungary in ‘The League of the Three
Emperors’ which had been created in 1873 by
Tsar Alexander II (Russia), Emperor Franz
Joseph I (Austria-Hungary) and Kaiser
Wilhelm I (Germany).

Look at the map provided to see where these
countries are
Chancellor Bismarck wanted to use The alliance (The
League of Three Emperors) to isolate France
diplomatically. France had lost territories to Germany
in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war and Bismarck was
concerned that France would try and regain these
areas (Alsace and part of Lorraine). Look for this area
on your map, it is on the border of Germany and
France.
 The League of Three Emperors was not renewed after
1885 (despite Russia’s attempts to have Germany
agree to a renewal) because there was growing
tensions between Russia and Austria-Hungary.

KAISER WILHELM I
CHANCELLOR , OTTO VON
BISMARCK

In 1887, Bismarck (Germany) signed a secret
treaty with Russia called the ‘Reassurance
Treaty’. In this, both parties agreed to stay
neutral toward each other should war break out.
Despite having this secret treaty with Germany,
Russia was concerned that it was becoming
politically isolated, and so, in 1892 they entered
a treaty with France called the ‘Franco-Russian
Alliance’. Two years prior to this in 1890,when
the new German Kaiser, Kaiser Wilhelm II, had
came to power , he stood Bismarck down and
let the ‘Reassurance Treaty’ lapse.

The ‘Duel Alliance, also called the ‘Franco-Russian
Alliance, was a political and military pact that
developed between France and Russia. While each
side had their own reasons for wanting this pact, a
central theme was to join together against Germany.
Germany assumed that the differences in belief and
lack of common ground (France was now a republic
and Russia had absolute monarchy, were the Tsar
ruled completely, absolutely with no power being
given to anyone else), would keep France and Russia
apart and so, Germany allowed the ‘Reassurance
Treaty ‘ to lapse.





Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary had been on
the one side but this broke down in 1885.
Germany and Russia had created separate and secret
pacts but they didn’t keep them going.
Germany thought they didn’t need to worry about
Russia and France getting together because they were
SO different
However, Russia had decided to join up with France
because they recognised that Germany was a threat.
Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary had, in 1882,
created their own little group, called ‘The Triple
alliance’.
Like Germany, Italy had been formed from a
collection of former states. At first, its main concerns
were to get its government established. In 1882 Italy
joined the German, Austrian-Hungarian alliance to
form the Triple Alliance, partly in anger at the French
seizure of Tunisia in 1881, which many Italians had
seen as a potential colony and partly to guarantee
herself support in case of foreign aggression: the
alliance compelled any signatory country to support
the other parties if two other countries attacked.
 However, Italian public opinion remained
unenthusiastic about their country's alignment with
Austria–Hungary.


In the years before World War I many
distinguished military analysts predicted that
Italy would change sides. This prediction was
strengthened by Italy′s invasion of Tripoli,
bringing it into conflict with the Germanbacked Ottoman Empire. There is some
evidence that Germany and Austria–Hungary
did not entirely trust their ally.

Italy would not continue to become allied with
the ‘Central Powers’ as they came to be known.
Italy was thought to have an agreement with
Great Britain, Britain needed access to the
Mediterranean, so that she could access
her African and Indian colonies easily. Because
Italy is surrounded by the Mediterranean, it
could not afford to fall out with Britain. This is
thought by many leading historians to be
another reason that Italy changed sides.
Countries
competed with
other to gain
colonies (territory
and people)
around the globe.
For example the
Dutch ruled over
Indonesia whilst
the British ruled
over India
In 1900 countries in
Europe felt if they
wanted to be great and
powerful they had to
colonise
Imperialism
The result was that in
the years up to 1900
competition between
the great European
powers grew intense.
They all wanted extra
land and money.
During the 19th Century
Britain and France had large
empires and they continued
to grow.
In the 1870s Italy
and Germany
became united
countries. They too
wanted overseas
empires

Nationalism
More than just love
of a nation.
Nationalists wanted
to be seen as a
strong and
important country.
This often led to
aggressive behavior
by that country
Summary
Long
Term
Causes
Could 2 bullets cause
13 million deaths?

Austrian Archduke
Francis Ferdinand was
the heir apparent and
nephew of AustrianHungary Emperor
Francis Joseph. While he
and his wife, Czech
Countess Sophie Chotek,
rode in an open car in
Sarajevo, Bosnia, they
were assassinated by
Serbian nationalist
Gavrilo Princip. The act
precipitated World War I.

http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=lbfhH6aK8
vI