Events Leading to WWI

By Satesh
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    German Imperialism

    Imperialism helped to reform the European alliances. This massively contributed towards the increasing tensions between Germany and Great Britain which would have likely contributed to the outbreak of WW1.
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    The Balkan Crisis

    The Balkan Crisis was a major contest for many major European powers as they fought over trade, colonies, and military strength. These led to the Balkan Wars which caused the pressure that contributed to the outbreak of WWI.
  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

    There was an assassination plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand as he was considered a threat to prevent Serbian independence. Despite a failed attempt to bomb his car, he was shot from a point-blank by Gavrilo Princip on the 28th June 1914.
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    German Militarism

    At the time of WW1, Britain had the world’s strongest navy. The ruler of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm, wanted to make their navy the strongest in the world instead of Britain’s. This caused a race to increase naval power and further increased the tensions between the two countries which may have been a factor which caused WW1.
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    Chain-Ganging

    When Austria-Hungary started a war against Russia, Russia called its allies to help. Due to this, Austria-Hungary also called its allies to help. This resulted in a war between just two nations becoming a war with many nations.
  • The Fischer Thesis

    The Fischer Thesis was first published by Fritz Fischer in 1961. This mentioned that Germany had the most responsibility for the outbreak of WW1.
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    The Fischer School + Accusations

    The so-called Fischer School was a group of historians who were influenced the Fritz Fischer's ideas. This later started accusations about the Fischer School betraying Germany.