Alliances

What was it?

It was all started by Bismarck, the German chancellor, in the 1880s. He was scared of
being encircled by Russia and France so decided to form alliances with other countries
(Austria Hungary and Italy) to protect Germany. This was initially known as the Dual
Alliance of 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungary - which became the Triple
Alliance (or Central Powers Alliance) when Italy joined in 1882.

In response to this strong central bloc:

1. France in 1894 made an alliance with Russia
2. In 1904 France made an agreement with Britain called the Entente Cordiale
(= ‘Friendly Relationship’ – not a formal alliance, but a promise to work
together).
3. In 1907, Britain made an Entente with Russia, thus forming the Triple Entente
(France, Russia, Great Britain).
4. In 1902 Britain made a naval treaty with Japan

Why did it lead to war?

The idea of having alliances was supposed to “balance the power” in Europe. If you
imagine a weighing scales and trying to get equal amounts of sugar in on each side. The
idea with alliances was the same; each side would scare off the other. The only problem
was that the alliance system meant that if one country declared war or had an issue with
another, it triggered a full scale war involving many other countries. A country who had
signed an alliance had to honour the agreement.

What were the main two alliances in Europe?

Triple entente:
Britain, France and Russia

The Triple Alliance:

Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy
 Nationalism
What was it?

Nationalism was the idea that your nation (country) is important. It is also the idea that
people who live in that nation are part of the same culture; using the same language,
having the same colour skin and living in the same way. Nationalism can be strong in
places where people feel they don’t have a national identity.

A snack bar sign for “American fries” changed from “French fries”

Why did it cause World War One?

In the Balkans (an area in Eastern Europe) there were many people who were nationalist.
Serbian people felt that all Serbs should live in Serbia. The problem was that Austria took
over a part of Serbia called Bosnia in 1908. Lots of Serbs lived in Bosnia but now became
part of the Austrian empire. They hated this and the people in Bosnia wanted to be part of
Serbia. Eventually, Franz Ferdinand (an Austrian Prince) was killed by Serb terrorists in
Bosnia.

It also made the people of countries like Britain, Germany and France more bellicose
(warlike) – the British sang: ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, and the
Germans sang: ‘Deutschland uber alles’. French politicians like Clemenceau and
Poincare (who had been around in 1870) hated the Germans. People were enraged
when someone insulted their country.
 Imperialism (also known as colonialism)
What was it?
Imperialism is the desire to have an empire (an empire is made up of countries that
another country controls and has influence over). In the 1870's and 1880's countries started
to build up their empires. Britain had the best navy in the world at that time so could use
this to its advantage and get the best territories in Africa and elsewhere. In 1884, 90% of
Africa was split up between all the great powers of Europe.

Why did it cause World War One?

In 1890, Germany got a new leader, Kaiser Wilhelm I. He wanted Germany to have an
empire like Britain. He was jealous of the empire that Britain had managed to gain and
promised to build up Germany's empire. By 1914, Britain owned 1/3 of the land in the world
where as Germany hadn’t managed to gain much territory at all. This created a lot of
tension between Britain and Germany.

Population Population of Area of

(millions) overseas overseas
colonies colonies

Britain 40.8 390.0 27.0

France 39.6 63.0 11.0

Germany 63.0 15.0 2.5

Austria 50.0 ------ -----

Russia 139.0 ------ -----

Italy 35.0 2.0 2.0

 Militarism (the arms race)
What was it?
Britain and Germany both tried to build more weapons than the other. It started in 1906
when the British built the first ever Dreadnought, an amazing new battleship. The Germans
responded by building some of their own. Eventually, both countries had built dozens of
new battleships and other weapons.

Why did it cause World War One?

The more weapons that were built the more people wanted to use them! It meant that
Britain and Germany were ready for war in 1914.

Dreadnoughts Great Britain Germany

1906 1 0

1907 3 0

1908 2 4

1909 2 3

1910 3 1

1911 5 3

1912 3 2

1913 7 3

1914 3 1

Total 29 17