The system of alliances: In 1914, the six most powerful European countries were divided into two groups : the Triple Alliance, formed in 1882 (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary) and the Triple Entente, formed in 1907, (Britain, France and Russia). The countries in each of these groups had promised to help each other if they were attacked. Each country had a lot of weapons. They all had reasons not to trust each other. (See the map of Europe on p.1 in the book' A History of the Twentieth Century' by O' Callaghan.)

The Triple Alliance - Germany: Before 1870, Germany had been divided up into lots of little states. Then a man called Bismarck united them (joined them together to make one country). The Germans beat the French in the Franco-Prussian War and took the area of Alsace-Lorraine from them. The French were very angry about this. The new Germany was very successful in industry. It was becoming richer. Germany's leader, Kaiser Wilhelm had big plans for Germany. He wanted it to become a world power and have a big empire with lots of colonies. However, most of the best land had already been colonised (taken) by other countries like France and Britain. In the 1870s, the Kaiser ordered a large navy to be built and soon he had one which was the second largest in the world (Britain's was the largest). The Germans were worried about 'encirclement'. This meant that they didn't like the fact that Russia (to their east) and France(to their west) were allies(friends) . In 1894, Russia and France had signed a piece of paper called the Dual Entente which said they would help each other if Germany attacked them. Germany was also worried because Russia had such a big army.

The Triple Alliance - Austria-Hungary: Austria-Hungary was a huge empire with lots of different groups of people in it:- Germans, Slavs, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs and others. Lots of these groups wanted independence from Austria-Hungary - the Czechs wanted to rule themselves, the Slavs wanted their own state and the Serbs wanted to be joined to their neighbouring state, Serbia. (look again at the map on p.1 in the book called 'A History of the Twentieth Century'.) Serbia was already independent and was becoming powerful in this area. (This area is called the Balkans). Also, Russia supported the Serbs. The Emperor of Austria-Hungary was becoming worried about this and about how to keep his empire together.

The Triple Alliance - Italy: Italy: Like Germany, Italy had been divided into lots of smaller states but by 1914, it was united into one country and wanted to see how powerful it could be. Italy also wanted an empire. Italy joined Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Entente. However, Germany and Austria didn't really trust Italy. Also Italy was not a strong industrial power.

The Triple Entente - Britain: In the 1800s, Britain had kept out of European politics and just concentrated on its empire. This was called 'splendid isolation'. Britain was worried about France and Russia but by the early 1900s , Britain and France began to agree on more things. In 1904, France agreed that Britain could do whatever it liked in Egypt and, in return, Britain said that France could do whatever it liked in Morocco. Russia lost the war it was having with Japan. Britain, therefore, was not so worried about Russia attacking them. Britain was very worried about Germany. They knew the Kaiser wanted an empire and a strong navy and were worried that he would try and take theirs. In 1904, Britain signed an agreement with France. In 1907, Britain signed an agreement with Russia.

The Triple Entente - France: Germany had beaten France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. France was worried because Germany was getting stronger, so the French made their armies bigger and increased their industries. France became friendly with Russia. It wanted to protect itself against attacks from Germany and it also wanted to get back Alsace-Lorraine from Germany. Alsace-Lorraine was a good industrial area.

The Triple Entente - Russia: Russia was very big but not very developed. The country was mostly agricultural (farms). Russia was worried that Germany would try to take Russian land in central Europe to have as part of an empire. Also Russia didn't like Austria- Hungary. This is why Russia was friendly with Serbia. In addition, Russians and Serbs were both part of the same group of people, called Slavs. Many Slavs lived in the Austria-Hungarian empire. Russia wanted to have some power and influence over them. In 1905, Russia lost a war with Japan. Also, in Russia, the position of the Tsar (their ruler) was not very safe - the people did not like him. The Russians began to build up a big army in case of emergencies in the future.

The Crises - First Moroccan Crisis: Between 1900 and 1914, there were several crises(difficult and dangerous times) which made war seem more likely to happen. In 1905, the German Kaiser visited Morocco. Morocco belonged to France but it wanted to be independent. The Kaiser said that Morocco should be independent. He knew that France wouldn't like this but he thought that France's ally, Britain would not support France on this and that the two countries would then argue and stop their alliance. France was, indeed, very angry at what the Kaiser said. There was a conference in Algeciras in 1906 to solve this crisis. However, the German Kaiser was very disappointed because Britain supported France and their alliance continued.

The Crises - Balkan Crisis 1908: The Balkans were an area which had been ruled by Turkey for a very long time. Now, however, Turkey was not so strong. The new governments in this area (which included Bulgaria, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia) were always quarrelling. The area had lots of different nationalities in it. Russia and Austria-Hungary wanted to control the area because it was near the Mediterranean. In 1908, a group of young Turkish officers took power in Turkey. They wanted to rebuild the Turkish empire. They wanted to take Bosnia and Herzegovina back from Austria who had controlled them since 1878. The Austrians now annexed (added) Bosnia and Herzegovina to their empire. Serbia was angry and got ready to go to war. Serbia asked Russia for help. They couldn't fight the Austrians alone. Russia called a big conference to discuss this but Austria refused to go to the conference. Then Germany helped Austria - it said that Russia must accept the annexation. Russia had no choice - it backed down and accepted it. The Russian army was too weak at that time to fight the German army. After this, however, Russia started to increase its army. Serbia began to get stronger. Austria was worried about this and by 1914 it was looking for an excuse to attack Serbia.

The Crises - First Balkan War: In 1912, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro joined together to form the Balkan League. They soon attacked the Turks and defeated them. Austria was very shocked and worried about this. 'What if the Balkan League attacked the Austrian empire ?' they thought. The Austrian generals wanted to crush the Balkan League but they knew that this might start a big war because of all the alliances that existed in Europe. They weren't ready for this. They forced (pushed) a peace plan on the Balkan League. Austria made a new country (Albania) on the coastline and the Balkan League shared out the Turkish lands it had won.

The Crises - Second Balkan War 1913: The Balkan League started quarrelling about the Turkish lands. Bulgaria quarrelled with Serbia and Greece. In June 1913, the Bulgarians attacked Serbia and Greece (its former allies) but were quickly defeated. Bulgaria had to give all its Turkish lands to Serbia and Greece.

The Crises - Sarajevo 28 June 1914: On this day, a man called Gavrilo Princip killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Archduke was the heir to the Austrian empire. Sarajevo was in Bosnia - part of the Austrian empire. However, Princip was a Serb, like many people in Bosnia. The Serbs wanted independence from Austria. They wanted to be part of the independent country of Serbia. When the assassination (killing) happened, Austria blamed Serbia. Germany agreed to support Austria - they were both in the Triple Alliance. Austria declared war on Serbia. The other countries in Europe all had their allies they had promised to help in case of war - the First World War had begun.

Causes summary - Nationalism: This is when you feel very strong love and pride in your country. Sometimes nationalists also feel that their country is better than any other country. Nationalism started Germany's war with France and this led to Germany taking the area of Alsace-Lorraine. France hated this and French nationalists wanted revenge. Nationalism caused trouble in the Balkans. Russia encouraged the Slavs to ask for independence. It supported Serbia. Serbia wanted to join together all southern Slavs under its rule. The Russians and Serbs were all part of the Slavic race ( A 'race' is a group of people sharing things like the same culture, language or physical appearance.)

Causes summary - Imperialism: This is when countries want to build an empire and have lots of colonies. (Vocabulary note: an EMPIRE is a group of countries that have one ruler or or ruling country. A COLONY is a country or area which is ruled or controlled by another country.) Imperialism caused lots of quarrels amongst the big powers. They had lots of disagreements about colonies and trade.

Causes summary - Militarism: The army leaders of the big powers said that if they had a big army and were ready for war, this would be a way to keep the peace. They said that if an army was strong, no other country would attack it. If a war DID start, they said, the country could defend itself. Nationalists, imperialists and weapon-makers supported this idea. The result was an arms race. Each country kept increasing its armies and weapons.

Causes summary - The system of alliances: Countries also tried to be stronger by getting allies (friends). European countries had lots of these alliances by 1914. This was dangerous because they caused fear and suspicion between countries. They didn't trust each other. Also, these alliances meant that if a war started between two countries, many other countries would probably get involved, too as they joined in to support their allies.

Summary written by Judith Goebel, Frankfurt International School