-
Alliances
(1900s) Before the war started, countries started forming alliances with other countries. This way if they went in to fight, they knew that they had support. The Allied Powers was an alliance between Great Britain, Russia, France, and Serbia. The Central Powers were all alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. -
Nationalism
In the 1900s countries had a growing sense of pride. Countries wanted to rule themselves without foreign influences. Imperialism and nationalism worked against each other, which led to the war between countries. -
Imperialism
(1900s) Imperialism was a major factor leading to World War I. Imperialism is when a country spreads its power through diplomacy or military force. Many countries wanted power, which is why they build up their militaries and created alliances. -
Militarism
During the 1900s, countries started to create large armies and navies. They collected many weapons and tried to have the largest army. In 1914 Germany had the largest and most deadly collection of weapons in the world. -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 8th, 1914 was a major event leading to the start of World War I. They were on a trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina where they were attacked and killed by a group of Bosnians. Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum and declared war on it on July 28th, 1914. -
Germany's Blank Check
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Germany pledged its support for Austria-Hungary. The Kaiser’s pledge to support Austria-Hungary in whatever action they take is known as the “blank check”.Germany had the largest collection deadly weapons, knowing that they could fully support them, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. -
World War I Begins
On July 28th, 1914, World War I began. It started between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, but because of alliances the war quickly spread. Russia who was allied with Serbia joined the fight, and Germany allied with Austria-Hungary joined the battle. Soon all the allied powers were fighting against each other in a great war. -
Germany Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
In early 1915 Germany proposed that the area around the British Isles was a war zone. This meant that German submarines would attack any ships in that area, even ones from neutral countries. President Woodrow Wilson sent a strongly worded letter to the German government telling them to end the attacks against unarmed ships. Germany, however, did not accept these terms. -
Lusitania
The lusitania was a British passenger ship that set out from New York to Liverpool on May 1, 1915. On this ship were nearly two-thousand passengers as well as contraband for the British. On May 7 a German submarine fired a torpedo into the side of the boat. Over a thousand passengers died, 128 of those were Americans. -
The Zimmermann Telegram
A telegram from the German foreign secretary to the German ambassador to Mexico was intercepted in March 1915. The telegram told the ambassador to offer financial aid to Mexico if they agreed to fight with Germany against the U.S. The note went public and congress started to arm it’s ships in case of a German attack. This was the last straw that finally pushed American to enter the war. -
America enters the War
The United States joined the war on April 6, 1917 and fought with Britain, France, and Russia. Although many Americans wanted to remain neutral, they had to enter the fight. The United States entry into the war greatly helped the Allied powers. More than two million American troops served in the war. -
End of World War I
World War I finally ended on November 11, 1918 when Germany surrendered. More than fifteen million people died all together. The war cost $186 billion dollars in direct costs and over $150 billion in indirect costs. The influenza virus spread throughout the world and killed many more millions of people. The European economies were disturbed and America became the world’s leading industrial power. -
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty of Versailles officially ended World War I. The treaty gave Germany new boundaries and made them pay reparations for the war. The treaty was written by the Allies and forced Germany to give up territory, it forbade them from joining the League of Nations until 1926, and reduced Germany’s armed forces drastically. It made them take all responsibility for the war and burdened them with many financial responsibilities. -
The Dawes and Young Plans
(1924-1929) The Dawes Plan was created by Charles G. Dawes to help Weimar Germany out of hyperinflation and to lower Germany’s annual reparation payments until they could afford it. France and Belgium would evacuate the Ruhr and foreign banks would help loan Germany money to boost their economy. The Young Plan proposed to reduce the total amount of money Germany had to pay to almost $29 billion and in fifty-eight years. A loan of $300 million would come in from foreign banks. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression lasted for ten years and was the worst economic downturn in the history of the western industrial world. The stock market crash of 1929 started the economic downfall, when millions of shares ended up worth nothing. Industrial production had dropped by fifty percent and millions were unemployed. In early 1933 thousands of banks had closed. Finally, in 1938 the economy started improving again. -
Hitler's rise to Power
After the end of World War I, Germany was in a great depression along with the rest of the world. Germans now lacked confidence in their government, which gave chances for new leaders to come to power. The Nazis appealed to those who were unemployed, young or members of the lower middle class and in 1932 they had won 33% of the votes for German Parliament. In 1933 Hitler was appointed as the head of the government.
