InNo+seank2013+11.09.10

=Revision guide=

A. The Great Powers of Europe before 1914
//Great Britain//: //Germany//: //Russia//: //Austria-Hungary//: //France//:
 * had the largest of all overseas empires, including India, Canada and much of Africa. Ruled by **King George V**.
 * he spent 15 years in the Royal Navy before becoming King in 1910
 * had colonies in Canada, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan, Aden, Somaliland, East Africa, South Africa, India, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, N.Borneo, New Guinea, Australia, new Zealand
 * their problems were:
 * unemployment
 * strikes
 * riots and demonstrations
 * Conflict in Ireland
 * Home Rule vs. Protestants
 * a new powerful country ruled by **Kaiser Wilhelm II**. Had ambitions to make Germany into the leading world power.
 * King George V's cousin
 * Spent most of his youth in the army
 * Very popular among his subjects
 * was jealous of the British Empire
 * had colonies in Togo, Cmaeroons, Germany, East Africa, South West Africa, KiaoChow, Kaiser Wilhelm Land
 * their problems were:
 * workers being unhappy of the low wages, expensive food and bad working conditions
 * they started to organize strikes
 * some socialists wanted to overthrow Kaiser in a revolution
 * an enormous empire of many peoples with a huge population. Ruled by **Tsar Nicholas II**, the people were desperately poor and ready to rebel against him.
 * was easily influenced by poor advisers
 * autocrat
 * had no colonies
 * their problems were:
 * dreadful weather conditions
 * life was hard for peasants and the Tsar didn't help
 * they were ready to rebel
 * a 'patchwork' empire of many discontented races ruled by the aged **Emperor Franz Joseph**.
 * had a very sad life
 * many of his family members died by murder or suicide
 * was well liked by his subjects
 * had no colonies
 * their problems were:
 * people hated the rule of Franz Joseph's government
 * riots
 * a powerful republic with a large overseas empire. The President was **Raymond Poincare**.
 * He was well respected but people didn't like him very much
 * had colonies in West Africa, Madagascar, Indo-China and French Guina
 * their problems were:
 * French had a desire for revenge against the Germans who they had lost their national pride to as well as their rich province of Alsace and Lorraine.

1) The Alliance System During the thirty-five years before 1914, the empires of Europe made a number of alliances:
1879 - The Dual Alliance (Germany and Austria-Hungary) 1882 - The Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary) 1892 - The Franco-Russian Alliance (France and Russia) 1904 - The Entente Cordiale (Britain and France) 1907 - The Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia)

The alliances split the empires into two rival 'camps':

The Triple Alliance The Triple Entente Germany The Great Britain Austria-Hungary France Italy Russia

a) Planning for a war at sea
1900 - The German Navy Law ordered the building of 100 new warships. 1905 - HMS Dreadnought was launched, making all other battleships out of date. This started. . . 1906-14 - a 'naval race' between Britain and Germany in which Britain tried to maintain a 'two-power standard' while Germany followed the 'risk theory' 1914 - Britain had twenty-nine Dreadnought class battleships. Germany had seventeen.

b) Planning for a war on land.
1905 - The Schlieffen Plan (German) aimed to avoid a war on two fronts by defeating France in six weeks and then turning to fight the less well-prepared Russians in the east. 1906 - Haldane began improving the British army. He set up an Expeditionary Force, a Territorial Army and OTCs. 1913 - Plan Seventeen (France) wasfor an all-out attack on the 'lost provinces' of Alsace and Lorraine.

3) The moroccan Crises The alliances tested each others' strength in
1905 - The Tangier Crisis. Britain and France stood firm against German threats at. . . 1906 - The Algeciras Conference. 1911 - The Agadir Crisis almost started a war when the German warship Panther was sent to Agadir, making the British fear that their rival naval base in Gibraltar was under threat.

1) The rivalry between the two alliance systems was made worse by the Balkan problem:
//Russia// wanted to grab Turkish landin the Balkans so that she could have sea-ports on the Mediterranean.

//Austria-Hungary// wanted to get control of the rebellious Slav peoples in the Balkans because she feared that a rebellion in the Balkans would spread into Austria-Hungary and tear the 'patchwork empire' apart.

//Germany// wanted to build a berlin to Baghdad railway through the Balkans.

//Italy// wanted Balkan land on the other side of the Adriatic Sea.

2) The Balkan problem became worse in 1908 for two reasons:

 * The 'Young Turk' revolution in Turkey caused chaos in the Balkans; e.g. Bulgaria broke away from Turkish control and declared independence.
 * Austria-Hungary took advantage of the chaos to seize the Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

3) The Balkan Wars of 1912-13
1912 - Four kings (of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece) formed the Balkan League and made war on Turkey 1912 - The First Balkan War lasted fifty days. Turkey was beaten and her Balkan lands were divded among the four members of the Balkan League, and a new country - Albania - was created. 1913 - The Second Balkan War was caused by Bulgaria's ambition to get more land. Bulgaria was beaten and was left resentful and wanting revenge against Serbia.

4) The Sarajevo murders
In June 1914 three Bosnian students were sent by the Black Hand to kill Archduke France Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, in the Bosnian city of Sarjevo. The murders of Ferdinand and his wife Sophie gave Austria-Hungary the excuse it wanted to take over the Balkans. On 23 July the Austrian government sent an ultimatum to Serbia. When the Serbians refused to accept part of it, the Austrian army invaded Serbia.

D. How the war in Serbia became a world war.
28 July - Serbia asked Russia for help. 29 July - Tsar Nicholas agreed to help and mobilized the Russian army. 30 July - Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia demanding a halt to the mobilization. When Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia.The French then mobilized their armies 2 August - Using the Schlieffen Plan, Germany began an attack on France by invading neutral Belgium whom Britain had promised. 3 August - Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany ordering a halt to their invasion. 4 August - Germany did not reply so Britain declared war on Germany.