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Militarism
Militarism was a major cause of WW1. It was an "arms race". Every nation wanted to buid up its military to have a higher status and the more nations built up their armies and navies, the more they competed, leading to war. -
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Alliances
Building alliances was another great cause of WW1. Countries of Europe began to make alliances with other countries to protect one another in case of war. They thought it would promote peace. It unfortunately did the opposite. When an argument arose between two countries and started a war, all the other nations had to join the war because of the alliance, creating a world war. The Triple Alliance was Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Entente included Britain, France and Russia. -
Assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
The assasination of Franz Ferdinand triggered the start of WW1. Serbia was controlled by the Austria-Hungary empire since 1908. In 1914 when Ferdinand visited Serbia, a revolutionist Gavrilo Princip assasinated him. Austria-Hungary set an ultimatum for Serbia. When Serbia refused to follow the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared war on it. -
Russia and Germany enter war
Russia enters the war in 1914 to protect Serbia from Austria Hungary when it declared war on Serbia. Germany declares war on Russia through their alliance with Austira-Hungary. -
France enters war
Convinced that France will enter the War to protect its Russian ally, Germany took a step forward and declared war on France. It sent troops to France through Belgium and Luxembourg, which was neutral to war. -
Britain enters war
The German violation of Belgian neutrality gave enough popular support for Britain to declare war on Germany. -
German u-boats sink Lusitania
During the British and German submarine warfare, German u-boats sunk a United States ship, Lusitania, that was heading to Britain to help the allies. More than 120 Americans died, which angered the US and brought it closer to entering WW1. -
US enters WW1
US entered WW1 due to the Zimmerman Telegram. Germany wanted to attack the US from within so it offered Mexico to help claim back some of its previously owned territory in US. The British intercept and decipher the tellegram and inform the United States of Germany's plan. The United States then declares war on Germany. -
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America's impact on WW1
When United States entered World War I, Europe was at a stalemate. The Central Powers and the Allies had been fighting for over 3 years and the war was going no where. The United States helped solve the conflict by bringing over two million soldiers, supplies and weapons in favor of the Allies. The War ended on November 11, 1918 when the Germans had no choice but to surrender to the Allies. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed in Paris that ended World War I. The treaty had the greatest impact on Germany. First, it made Germany take the blame for starting the war. It also made Germany pay for reparations, give up a vast amount of land and limit its military. -
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression started in the United States, but eventually impacted the whole world. Mass unemployment angered many and dictorial governments began to rise. As nations began to build empires, internation conflict and tension arose. As Hitler rose to power in Germany he stopped paying the reperations that Germany promised to pay. The countries that were part of the Allies during WWI were suffering financially, so they could not force Germany to pay reparations. WWII broke out.
