2. Europe at the time (1914)
In 1914 Europe was
divided into a number of
different states:
•United Kingdom: The greatest
empire of the epoch and the
history.
•France
•The German Empire
•Austro-Hungarian Empire
•Balkan countries
•Russian Empires
3. Imperialism
The utmost part of the world at
that time belonged to each one
of the European countries.
Russia controlled a vast part
Asia. France and Germany had
various colonies in Africa. The
Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled
almost the entire East Europe.
Meanwhile the British
territories covered a quarter of
the planet.
There was a huge thirst of
dominating new territories
amongst these states.
4. The armed forces of the nations came to dominate
the national policies. This was a glorification of the
military and war itself. For instance the Germans
built their own Imperial Navy . There was some
kind of fierce military competition between Britain
and Germany, like the Anglo-German naval arms
race.
Militarism
5. Alliances
The nations began to sign
treaties in where they involved
pledges to defend each other if
attacked by an aggressor. Basically
they agreed to help each other.
This picture from the magazine
Punch illustrates the British-
American alliance during the war
with the phrase: “As Between
Friends”.
6. Balkan Nationalism
The kingdom of Serbia
was independent at the time, it
was beside the Austro
Hungarian Empire, exactly
beneath Bosnia, a huge Balkan
region belonged to the empire.
Both Serbia and Bosnia wanted
the independence of their own
countries.
This was obviously a fiasco for
the empire, nevertheless it was
beneficial for Russia.
7. Assasination
On Sunday, 28 June 1914 meanwhile Arch
Duke Franz Ferdinand was doing an official
visit in Sarajevo he was assassinated by
Serbian rebels that wanted the independence
of Bosnia.
As Franz Ferdinand was the heir of the Austro-
Hungarian empire (inheritor of emperor Franz
Joseph I of Austria). This caused the Central
Powers (including Germany and Austria-
Hungary) and Serbia's allies to declare war on
each other.
9. Central Powers
The Central Powers consisted of
the German Empire and
the Austro-Hungarian Empire at
the beginning of the war.
The Ottoman Empire joined the
Central Powers later in 1914. In
1915, the Kingdom of
Bulgaria joined the alliance. The
name "Central Powers" is
derived from the location of
these countries.
10. Allies
The original alliance opposed
to the Central Powers was
the Triple Entente, which was
formed by three Great
European Powers: United
Kingdom, France and Russia.
Later on Italy and Japan would
enter into war, forming the
Great Five Powers.
