The Great War Begins - Mr. Anderson's IB History

The Great WarBegins

FranzFerdinand Austria had taken control of Bosnia, a Slavicnation. The Archduke of the Austrian empire, FranzFerdinand, decided to do an inspection of theBosnian capital city of Sarajevo. Serbia was a small nation to the east ofBosnia, also Slavic, that did not especiallylike Austria. Many people in Serbia wanted to free theirSlavic neighbors and decided that killing thearchduke would be the best way to do it. On June 28, 1914, members of a Serbianterrorist group called the black hand plottedto kill Franz Ferdinand. Gavrilo Princip, killed the archduke and hiswife Sophie. The assassination started a chain of eventsthat, within weeks, would pull Europe intothe largest war the world had ever seen.

Militarism Throughout the 1800s and early1900s, European countries hadundertaken a massive militarybuildup. This is called militarism. It was caused by a desire toprotect overseas colonies fromother nations. The size of the armed forcesand navy’s of Europe increaseddramatically, especially inGermany. In this nervous environment,even a minor disagreement hadthe potential to turn into armedconflict.

Alliances Seeking to protect themselvesagainst opposing armed forces,the nations of Europe formed aseries of alliances. The Triple Alliance unitedGermany, Austria-Hungary, andItaly. France, Russia, and later GreatBritain feared the growingpower of Germany, so they tooformed an alliance called theTriple Entente. Leaders hoped that thesealliances would help preventwar.

Imperialism The quest to build empires inthe late 1800s had created alot of resentment among thedifferent nations of Europe. Germany, Austria-Hungary,Russia, France, and GreatBritain all viewed themselvesas great imperial powers. They could not stand thethought of standing by andletting another nation gainmore power and territory.

Nationalism Nationalism is a strong devotion toones nation or group. In the Balkan nations of southeastEurope was the home of many ethnicgroups. In the early 1900s some of these ethnicgroups were trying to break free of theOttoman Empire, which had ruled theBalkan nations for hundreds of years. Serbia was one of these nations thatwas successful in breaking free. Balkan Serbian leaders wanted toexpand their borders and unite theirpeople into a “greater Serbia”. This comes to head when the blackhand assassinated the heir to thethrone of the Austria-Hungary empire.

War BreaksOut After Ferdinand was killed,Princip was arrested. When it was discovered Principwas a Serb, Austria decided itwas good excuse to punishSerbia. They leveled a series ofhumiliating demands on Serbia,and when they refused, theydeclared war on July 28, 1914. Russia had promised to supporttheir Slavic brothers the Serbs. Germany, Austria’s ally,declared war on Russia, andthen France because they wereallied with Russia.

Fighting Begins Germany faced a two front war. Russia inthe east, and France in the West. German military planners developed theSchlieffen Plan, which called for Germantroops to quickly defeat the French, and thenturn and fight the Russians. Germany began with a quick strike intoBelgium, who was neutral at the time. Great Britain had a long term alliance withBelgium to help protect British shores, sowhen Germany invaded, Great Britaindeclared war. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the OttomanEmpire made up the Central Powers. Great Britain, France, Russian, and Serbiawere known as the Allied Powers.

Fighting in1914 Germany’s plan for a swift victoryfailed, and soon the war became abloody stalemate. During the Battle of the Frontiers,both sides took heavy losses, butthey were German victories. Russia tried to attack Germanyfrom the east, but the results weredisastrous. The Battle of Tannenburg theGermans crushed the Russianinvasion. Although a failure, Tannenburg diddistract the Germans and allowedthe French and the British tocollect themselves and ready acounter attack.

Trench WarfareBegins In the Battle of the Marne, theallied troops forced the Germansback. After retreating, German soldiersdug a series of deep ditches alongthe Aisne River. From the strongly defendedtrenches on the Aisne, the Germanswere able to fight back. The Allied forces soon dug theirown trenches. As a result, German and alliedpositions would change very littlein the coming months. The deadlocked region in northernFrance became known as theWestern Front.

Great Britain had a long term alliance with Belgium to help protect British shores, so when Germany invaded, Great Britain declared war. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire made up the Central Powers. Great Britain, France, Russian, and Serbia were known as the Allied Powers.