World War I

The Cause

The Effectand

Imperialism •Imperialism

caused competition among European rulers who wanted to gain more power•Many ethnic groups often had very little say in their government’s decisions.

Militarism • By the time World War I began, most European countries had built up large armies.

• Many leaders believed that force (or even just the threat of force) was the most effective way to achieve their goals.

• If one country mobilized their armies, others responded with similar actions.

Nationalism

•Love for one’s country

•Shifted from love for one’s community, tribe, or cultural group

Alliances• Central powers:

Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria

• Triple Entante: Russia, France, and Great Britain. Later agreements would be made with Japan, America, and Spain.

Gre

at B

ritain

Central Powers

Triple Entante:Russia,

France, and Great Britain

Pre-War Europe

Serbia • Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire at the Congress of Berlin in 1878

• Serbia wanted to gain two territories

• Austria-Hungary took territory

• Russia and Great Britain supported Serbia

• Germany supported Austria-Hungary

Assassination!

Assassination of Arch Duke Franz

Ferdinand on June 28, 1914

The Assassi

n• Gavrilo Princip, 19 year old Serbian nationalist

• Tried to commit suicide

• Was imprisoned but died from TB and infection from arm amputation

The Ultimatum• Austria-Hungary sent

Serbia an ultimatum• 1.) Serbian troops must

be suppressed• 2.) Dismiss all teachers

and books that didn’t support A.H.

• 3.)Dismiss gov. officials that spoke against A.H.

• 4.)A.H. officials must participate in assassination trial.

King Franz Josef

The Mechanism of War

The Red BaronManfred

von Richthofe

n

Toxic Gas

Gassed by John Singer Sargent

Trenches• The armies set

themselves up in trenches along the battle line

• Life was very difficult in the trenches

• Disease, rats, trench foot, etc.

Uncle

Sam

and

Brita

nnia

U.S. entered WWI on April 6, 1917 by declaring war on Germany

December, 1917the U.S. declared waron Austria-Hungary

America Joins Allies

Human Losses• World War I casualties-

approximately 41 million: 21 million

killed and 20 million wounded.

• This includes 9.7 million military deaths and about 10 million civilian deaths.

• Entente Powers lost more than 5 million and the Central powers more than 4 million

Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and 1919

• Death toll for the epidemic was numbered at around 20 million, now believed at 50 million world- wide

Roaring 20’s