Causes of World War One

Which pair of countries were allied to each other before WWI?

• USA and Britain

• Russia & Germany

• Austria-Hungary & Ottoman Empire

• Britain & France

The names of the two major alliances before WW1 were:

• The Axis & The Allies

• The Triple Alliance & The Triple Entente

• The West & The East

• Oceania & Eurasia

Alliances meant that ...

• A small war could quickly expand into a much larger war

• Europe was guaranteed not to fight a major war

• Countries didn't feel the need to build up their armies

• Small countries were too afraid to start wars

Allied with Britain and France in 1914 was this third 'great power'

• Germany

• Austria-Huungary

• Italy

• Russia

This country switched sides - it was allied with Germany & Austria before the war but ended up joining Britain & France in 1915

• Italy

• Switzerland

• The United States

• Australia

Nationalism is ...

• a belief that all nations have equal rights

• a sense of pride & love in one's nation

• a belief that nations have become too powerful and need to be overthrown

• a belief that different groups of people (languages, religions) can coexist peacefully in the same country

Nationalism served to ...

• Unite German speakers in Germany but divide French speakers in France

• Unite German speakers in Germany but divide different ethnic groups in Austria-Hungary

• Unify all countries behind their government

• Pull apart all countries

Nationalism helped spark WWI because ...

• groups who wanted Bosnia to leave Austria assassinated the Austrian heir to the throne

• nations wanted to test their armed forces against countries that they thought were weaker

• Germany wanted to unite all of Europe in one country, like the European Union today

• France felt its national honour had been insulted by Germany

Austria-Hungary was politically very unstable due to...

• climate change leading to failure of many crops

• the economic chaos caused by the great depression

• grinding poverty and a big gap between rich and poor

• being a multi-ethnic country, with many groups wanting to leave Austria & form their own nations

The trigger cause for WWI was the assassination of ...

• Archy Duke by an Ostrich while on safari in East Africa

• Archduke Ostrickt in August 1914, by German secret agent

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo

• Archduke Ferdinand Marcos while watching a play in Vienna