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Nationalism and its Effect
European countries at first formed multinational empires such as Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. With the beginning popularity of Nationalism a lot of nations and countries began to favor being on their own. Also with the spread of Social Darwinism the slogan “survival of the fittest” might have contributed to a stronger urge to be your own country and also be a world power. This urge and pride along with a few other thing was one of the factors that started WW1. -
Imperalism
Each country rushed to get the best and own colonies which provided raw materials. Everyone wanted their country to be part of world politics at this time America was still deciding if they wanted to be involved in world politics. -
Militarism
Militarism began in European countries in the late 1800s and early 1900s. After not having a major conflict for about 100 years nations were sensing tension and began to gather arms and resources needed for war. One of the countries that was getting ready the most was Germany, it had a huge army and some of the deadliest guns in the world by 1914 and they built up their navy to match or even to rival the world's largest. -
Alliances
Countries also prepared for war by forming alliances. A few that were formed were Germany, Austria - Hungary and Italy that formed the Triple Alliance and France, Russia, and Great Britain made up the Triple Entente. The U.S. never really formed an alliance until they started fighting the the actual war then they took the Triple Entente side to fight with. -
Assasination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophie
When the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophie got assassinated in 1914. The Austro-Hungarian empire wanted revenge for the assassination that was planned out and executed by few Bosnians that believed that Bosnia rightfully belonged to Serbia. This assassination started the WW1 because once Austria-Hungary wanted revenge they asked if Germany would back them up in the war and when Germany said yes they declared war. Which later the United States joined and fought in. -
Germany and the Blank Check
After the Archduke and his wife were assassinated, the Austrian-Hungarian empire wanted revenge and they asked if Germany their ally would support them. Germany gave them their unconditional support of anything that Austria- Hungary decides to do. The German Kaiser gave the blank check to Austria-Hungary even though they knew that backing Serbia was Russia and backing Russia was Great Britain and France. -
WW1 Starts
The WW1 was inevitable when Germany invaded Belgium on August 4th so then Great Britain declared war against the Triple Alliance. Before this Germany declared war on Russia and France declared war on Germany. -
Sinking of the Lustania
Germany used its U-boats or submarines to sink a passenger liner called the Lusitania. Which really angered Americans they said that an unresisting ship should not be sank before the passengers got to safety. So then Germany promised that it would not sink any more ships but that promise did not last long. -
Zimmermann Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a telegram sent to Mexico from the German Foreign Minister. Stating that if the United States declared war on Germany then Mexico would declare war on the U.S. In return for that Mexico would get back the states that they lost to the United States but, the telegram was intercepted by the British, who gave it to the American authorities. This note shocked the American people so much that they began to want a war. -
Germany resumes unrestricetd submarine warfare
After German submarines sunk the Lusitania they promised not to use unrestricted submarine warfare. Later they ignored the U.S. and kept on using their submarines in any ways that they wanted. Which forced the U.S. to get ready for war and made the U.S. entrance into the war inevitable. -
U.S. enter the war
At this point the war was inevitable after the Zimmermann note got published. So President Woodrow Wilson asked on April 2nd for Congress to declare war on Germany and Congress did on April 6th. -
Effects of the WW1
Economy after the war boomed with the manufacturing of automobiles, airplanes, radios and etc. After the war Austria and Hungary became separate countries also the Ottoman empire fell apart and Germany gave back Alsace-Lorraine to France. Some new countries that were formed were Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and etc. The total amount of casualties was 22,062,427 and the total amount of wounded was 12,800,706. World War 1 resulted in about 16 million deaths. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles made Germany return Alsace-Lorraine to France and pay reparations costs to countries. Also the Treaty put restrictions on German naval and army forces and banned the use of heavy artillery,gas, tanks and aircrafts. -
The Dawe and Young Plan
The cause of the Dawes and Young Plan was the WW1 reparation payments due to other countries because of Germany and theses plans had a long lasting effect especially the Young Plan which helped in the creation of the BIS. The economic problems and resentment that the reparation payments brought was one of the most significant factors that ended the Weimar Republic and brought Germany under a dictatorship. -
The Great Depression
The stock market crashed because a small amount of people had enough money to buy products and the availability of credit also took part in the crash of the stock market. The uneven distribution of the country's wealth caused economic problems. -
Rise of Hitler
Germany was under troubling economic conditions especially since the U.S. went into debt. Using the resentment that had built up in the people's minds, Hitler began rising to power promising a way out. Many Germans began to believe that they have found their savior.
