LONG/SHORT TERM CAUSES OF WORLD WAR 1

1. Understand the short and long term
causes of the Great War

2. The First World War was a deadly war
that killed millions of people.
At the time, people in Britain and France
had no doubt that Germany was to blame
for starting the war.
Nowadays, many historians ask whether
other countries should share the blame.

3. LONG TERM CAUSE 1
THE RISE OF GERMANY
After 1871
The new German Empire was set up.
Wilhelm I was the Kaiser of Germany (emperor)
and his prime minister was the famous Bismarck
(who became chancellor).
Between 1871 and 1914
The German economy went from strength to
strength. France become the sworn enemy of
Germany but Bismarck managed to isolate France.

4. LONG TERM CAUSE 2
THE NEW KAISER AND WORLD POWER
Around 1914
Germany was the equal of
Britain in terms of wealth
and industry. Some
Germans wanted to have a
great empire, like Britain.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, who
came to power in 1888, was
a great believer of a Great
Germany. Other countries
began to see Germany as a
threat.

5. LONG TERM CAUSE 3
THE ARMS RACE
After 1897
The German government started building up a huge navy
that could challenge the mighty of the British navy. In
1900, Germans passed a law ordering the building of a
fleet of 41 battleship and 60 cruisers. The British, French
and Russians responded with increasing the size of their
army.

6. LONG TERM CAUSE 4
THE TWO ALLIANCES
Germany signed a treaty of alliance with Austria-Hungary
in 1879. They remained allies in the years to come.
Russia join forces with France. They agreed to an alliance:
if either country was attacked by Germany, the other
one would go to war against the Germans.
Britain established friendly relationships with France in
1904 and Russia in 1907.
The link was not an official alliance but a TRIPLE
ENTANTE (an anti-German grouping of France,
Russia and Britain).

7. SHORT TERM CAUSE 1
THE KILLING IN SARAJEVO
The so-called "July Crisis" actually spans the period from
the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian heir to the
throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on 28 June 1914, to
the general declaration of war in early August.
Elements within the Austro-Hungarian government had
been itching to strike at Serbia during the immediate pre-
war years, but had lacked a credible excuse to do so.
The assassination of Franz Ferdinand provided the Austro-
Hungarian government with a ready made excuse to
launch (what it believed would prove) a limited war
against the manifestly weaker Serbians.

8. SHORT TERM CAUSE 2
THE GERMAN DECISION FOR WAR
What was Germany to do? To allow a country to
mobilise against you without response, said the
Germans, was like allowing someone to hold a
loaded gun to your head without doing anything.
The Germans knew what they were going to
do. They had had a plan - called the SCHLIEFFEN
PLAN after the German Chief of Staff Alfred von
Schlieffen. The Schlieffen Plan was Germany's
Plan for mobilisation.

10. SHORT TERM CAUSE 2 - cont.
THE GERMAN DECISION FOR WAR
The Schlieffen Plan was based on three ideas:
• If there was a war, Germany would have to fight France and Russia.
•France was weak (Germany had defeated France in ten weeks in 1870).
• Russia was strong but slow (Schlieffen estimated that it would take
Russia 6 weeks to mobilise her army).
•1 August: The Kaiser, therefore, gave the order to mobilise and Germany
declared war on Russia.
•3 August: claiming that French planes had bombed the German town of
Nuremberg, Germany declared war on France.
•4 August: with German troops on the march to invade France, the French
declared war on Germany.
•

11. SHORT TERM CAUSE 2 - cont.
THE GERMAN DECISION FOR WAR
1 August: The Kaiser, therefore, gave the
order to mobilise and Germany declared
war on Russia.
3 August: claiming that French planes had
bombed the German town of Nuremberg,
Germany declared war on France.
4 August: with German troops on the
march to invade France, the French
declared war on Germany.

12. SHORT TERM CAUSE 3
CONFUSION ABOUT THE BRITISH POSITION
The British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward
Grey, had spent the crisis trying to get the
different countries to negotiate.
•1 August: Grey proposed to Germany that
Britain would stay neutral if Germany did not
attack France. Kaiser Wilhelm wanted to agree,
but when he tried to pause the invasion, his
generals told him that he couldn't.

13. SHORT TERM CAUSE 3 – cont.
CONFUSION ABOUT THE BRITISH POSITION
2 August: The Schlieffen Plan had a error. It planned for
the German army, when it attacked France, to go through
Belgium. The day after declaring war on Russia, therefore,
the Germans asked permission for their army to pass
through Belgium. The Belgians refused! So the next day,
Germany invaded Belgium.
4 August: Britain was obliged (by the Treaty of London,
1839) to help Belgium in the event of an
invasion. Therefore, Britain sent Germany an ultimatum.

14. This cartoon - 'A Chain of Friendship' - appeared in the American
newspaper the Brooklyn Eagle in July 1914. The caption read: “If
Austria attacks Serbia, Russia will fall upon Austria, Germany upon
Russia, and France and England upon Germany.”

15. VIDEO STUDY
‘Causes of the First World War
The July Crisis 1914’
6 minutes BBC 2 documentary about the
causes of the First World War.
Source: Mr Allsop History's educational site.