1. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Causes of World War I
2. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
• Describe how international rivalries and nationalism
pushed Europe toward war.
• Explain how the assassination in Sarajevo led to the
start of World War I.
• Analyze the causes and effects of the European
alliance system.
Objectives
3. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and Places
• entente – a nonbinding agreement to follow
common policies
• militarism – glorification of the military
• Alsace and Lorraine – provinces on the border
of Germany and France, lost by France to
Germany in 1871; regained by France after WWI
• ultimatum – a final set of demands
• mobilize – to prepare military forces for war
• neutrality – supporting neither side in a war
4. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
By 1914, Europe had enjoyed a century of relative
peace. Two alliances were formed with the
intention of keeping that peace.
When an Austrian Archduke was assassinated,
a local conflict became an international war
because of alliance obligations.
Why and how did World War I begin
in 1914?
5. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
European powers created alliances in the late
nineteenth century to promote peace.
Triple Alliance or
Central Powers
Triple Entente
or Allies
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Italy
Eventually added:
• Ottoman empire
• France
• Russia
• Britain
Eventually added:
• Japan
6. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
These alliances were based on previous wars, new
economic rivalries, and competition for colonies.
• These rivalries
increased
militarism,
which painted
war in a
romantic light.
• The great
powers began to
increase the size
of their armies
and navies.
7. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Austria-Hungary and
the Ottoman empire
struggled to survive
the threat of growing
nationalism within
their borders.
Growing nationalism and economic competition
also caused tensions within countries and across
European borders.
Germany’s industrial
advances threatened
Britain. Germany
feared that Russian
industry was catching
up to its own.
8. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Nationalism sparked tensions all over Europe.
• France sought to regain Alsace and Lorraine,
provinces that it had lost to Germany in the Franco-
Prussian War.
• Russia supported Pan-Slavism, which held that all
Slavic people, regardless of borders, shared a
common nationality.
• Several Balkan states fought wars, first against the
Ottoman empire, then against one another. The
Balkans were called the “powder keg of Europe.”
9. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
• Archduke Francis
Ferdinand was heir to
the Austrian throne.
• While on a visit to
Sarajevo, the capital
of Bosnia, he and his
wife Sophie were shot
to death by a Serbian
nationalist terrorist.
An assassination on
June 28, 1914, lit the
fuse that set off the
Balkan powder keg.
10. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia.
Serbia agreed to most of Austria’s demands, but
not all of them.
With the approval of the Kaiser William II of
Germany, Austria issued an ultimatum to Serbia.
After the assassination, Serbia and Austria
quickly moved toward war.
11. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
The war between Austria and Serbia soon drew
the great powers into the conflict.
Germany declared war on Russia.
Serbia sought help from its ally Russia, which began
to mobilize.
Although Germany warned France to stay out of the
conflict, France supported Russia.
12. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Britain, which had pledged to defend Belgium’s
neutrality, declared war on Germany on August 4.
Days later, Germany marched through Belgium and
headed south to attack France.
Germany declared war on France.
13. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
At the onset, the war brought a renewed
sense of patriotism.
• Patriotic fever helped governments divert
attention from labor disputes or nationalist
disturbances within their borders.
• Young men rushed to enlist in what seemed like an
exciting adventure.
• But this sense of optimism would not last long.
