chapter 1: causes of the first world war

Question 1

triple alliance

Answer 1

• germany
• austria hungary
• italy

Question 2

germany’s strengths

Answer 2

• large army
• already had 2 colonies

Question 3

germany’s weaknesses

Answer 3

• had the worry of encirlement
• didn’t have the biggest army

Question 4

austria-hungary’s strengths

Answer 4

• allied with germany (power)
• had lots of resources

Question 5

austria-hungary’s weaknesses

Answer 5

• old fashioned
• many groups of ethnicity who wanted different things

Question 6

italy’s strengths

Answer 6

• allied with germany
• alliances meant they had military support

Question 7

italy’s weaknesses

Answer 7

• not entirely trusted by germany or austria-hungary
• weak army & industry

Question 8

triple entente

Answer 8

• britain
• france
• russia

Question 9

britain’s strengths

Answer 9

• no huge rivals
• huge overseas empire

Question 10

britain’s weaknesses

Answer 10

• saw germany’s growth as a threat
• unlikely to stay out of war

Question 11

france’s strengths

Answer 11

• strong army & industry
• strong friendship with russia

Question 12

france’s weaknesses

Answer 12

• neighbours with germany
• previously lost a country to germany (alsace-lorraine)

Question 13

russia’s strengths

Answer 13

• largest of the 6 powers
• large army
• had france’s help to industrialise

Question 14

russia’s weaknesses

Answer 14

• had a long rivalry with austria-hungary
• mostly agricultural not industrial

Question 15

what were kaiser wilhem’s aims in foreign policy?

Answer 15

weltpolitik
- he wanted germany to have more power & influence in world affairs
- to be achieved through a large navy, intimidation, negotiation

Question 16

what were the 3 stages to his policy?

Answer 16

1. a moderate policy until 1935
2. increased activity between 1935-37
3. a more confident policy after 1937

Question 17

what was britain’s foreign policy?

Answer 17

splendid isolation
- avoid getting dragged into alliances in europe
- britain would oppose any attempt by germany to gain colonies or develop its navy

Question 18

what was the naval arms race?

Answer 18

1898: germany had plans for a large navy (still smaller than britain’s)
- insisted it was a defense mechanism for overseas trade but britain saw it as a threat
1906: britain launched HMS dreadnought and then germany followed by launching their own

Question 19

how was germany preparing for war?

Answer 19

• realised that if war broke out, they would have to fight russia and france at the same time
• created the schlieffen plan

Question 20

how was austria-hungary preparing for war?

Answer 20

• relied on the success of the schlieffen plan as they needed the help of germany to defeat russia

Question 21

how was russia preparing for war?

Answer 21

• trying to gather more men to fight (big army but not well equipped)
• planned to overwhelm germany and austria’s army by just numbers

Question 22

how was france preparing for war?

Answer 22

• had a large and well equipped army
• planning to send troops to charge across the frontier & attack deep into germany, forcing them to surrender (plan 17)

Question 23

how was britain preparing for war?

Answer 23

• created the BEF which consisted of 150,000 well trained, professional soldiers
• planned for the BEF to fight alongside france

Question 24

what did every countries plans have in common?

Answer 24

they were all planning for a short war because they believed that none of the powers would be able to survive or afford a long war and it would lead to economic collapse

Question 25

what happened at the 1905 moroccan crisis?

Answer 25

• germany was keen to show that they were an important role in north america
• the german kaiser made a speech in morocco promising moroccan independence
• this angered france as they wanted control of morocco
• a conference was held to settle this dispute but caused more tenstion
• britain and france began to support eachother which made germany fear encirclement

Question 26

what happened at the 1911 moroccan crisis?

Answer 26

• the french tried to take over morocco and said they would compensate germany
• kaiser’s response was to send a gunboat to agadir
• another conference was held and britain and france stood firm against germany
• france got control of morocco

Question 27

what agreement did britain and france make once france had control of morocco?

Answer 27

• french would patrol the mediterranean
• royal navy would defend france’s seas and coasts

Question 28

what was happening at the same time as these conferences making war more likely?

Answer 28

countries were expanding and growing in size, population & power

Question 29

what happened in 1908 over control of the balkans (bosnia)?

Answer 29

• originally influenced by both russia and austria-hungary but becoming unstable
  1908: austria took control of the balkans
• russia and serbia protested but backed down when they realised austria had the support of germany

Question 30

who assassinated archduke franz ferdinand?

Answer 30

a group of serbian nationalists called the ‘black hand gang’
they wanted bosnia free from austria

Question 31

who actually killed the archduke?

Answer 31

gavrilo princip
- 1st attempt failed but due to a change in route of the archdukes car, princip shot him and his wife, killing both

Question 32

what were the consequences of the archdukes assassination?

Answer 32

austria-hungary dealt very harshly with serbia
- tried to reduce serbia’s power as now they were quite powerful and had support from russia
- germany was keen to show its power & influence in europe

Question 33

what happened in the july crisis?

Answer 33

23 july: austria sent an ultimatum to serbia (a list of demands that serbia had to accept or face war)
serbia wanted to avoid war and so accepted 9/10 demands
- the 1 demand they were unwilling to meet was austria being involved in the serbian justice system to punish the assassins
28 july: austria declared war on serbia
30 july: russia mobilised its forces against austria and germany
1 august: germany declared war on russia

Question 34

what was britain’s pre war position?

Answer 34

britain was under no obligation to fight a european war but it was unlikely they would have remained neutral due to their close alliances and the strength they had against germany during the moroccon crises