Oxford AQA GCSE History (9-1)

Conflict and Tension: First World War 1894-1918

1879 Dual Alliance

1882 Triple Alliance
1892 Franco-Russian Alliance
1904 Entente Cordiale
1905 The First Moroccan Crisis
1907 Triple Entente
1908-09 The Balkan Crisis
1911 The Second Moroccan Crisis
1912-13 The Balkan Wars

1914 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

1917 The USA joins the war
Revolution brings the Bolsheviks to power in Russia

1918 The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The German Kaiser abdicates
The Armistice is signed

Part one: The causes of the First World War

Chapter 1 The alliance system
World powers before the First World War

Government Empire Key issues

Britain
• The monarch
• The Parliament • a major industrial power
• the richest • status was declining
France
• A republic • The second largest empire
• In 1870, Germany defeated France• A leading trading nation
Germany
• A new country created in 1871
• Ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm II • Smaller
• The Kaiser made it his main ambition to build Germany’s empire • The
growth of industry
Russia
• Ruled by Tsar Nicholas II • The largest country
• Too cold
• No overseas colonies • 85% of the population lived in the countryside
• Few rights or freedoms
Austria-Hungary
The emperor • The union between Austria and Hungary in 1867
• Consisted of many nationalities, cultures and languages • Tensions
between the ethnic groups with the empire
• The empire in decline

The alliance system

• Protect themselves against Germany
• Could result in a large-scale war
• Increased tension in Europe but also contributed to peace.

The Moroccan crises

• The first Moroccan crisis, 1905-6
o France wanted to take control of Morocco and Britain supported this.
o The Kaiser visits Tangier in 1905 to pledge support for Morocco’s independence

• The Algeciras Conference, January 1906

o Tensions were very high. War between France and Germany seemed likely.
o To avoid conflict, all major powers met for a conference
o The conference was humiliating for Germany.
o France increases its influence over Morocco.

• The second Moroccan crisis, 1911

o Germany’s Kaiser sent a warship to Agadir in 1911 as a show of strength
o A series of meetings prevented war but tensions remained high
o The Kaiser agreed to back down
o France took full control of Morocco

• The consequences
o Germany’s humiliation
o Showed Germany’s ambition
o Britain began to build up its navy.
o The alliance between Britain and France grew closer.
o Italy’s lack of support for Germany weakened the Triple Alliance.

Problems in the Balkans

• The collapse of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire
• A-H saw this as an opportunity to increase territory.

The Balkan Crisis, 1908-9

• In 1908, there was a rebellion in Turkey
• In 1908, A-H took over Bosnia (included a large Serb population)
• This angered the Serbians, who asked Russia for help
• Russia called for an international conference
• Germany agreed to support A-H
• Russia did not want war and backed down. The alliance system had prevented
war.
• Many Bosnians were angry and secret opposition groups formed

War in the Balkans

• The Balkan League
o Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro formed the Balkan League to gain
independence from the Ottoman Empire
o Russia was very supportive of the League as a useful ally against A-H

• The First Balkan War, 1912-13

o The war between the Balkan League and Turkey
o Turkey was defeated and at a conference in London agreed to withdraw

• The Second Balkan War, 1913

o Bulgaria declared war on Serbia and Greece
o Turkey and Romania joined the war against Bulgaria
o Bulgaria lost

Results
• Serbia doubled in size and became the strongest of the Balkan nations
• Serbia wished to increase its influence, including over the Slav people in A-H
• Many Serbs in Bosnia wanted Bosnia to become part of Serbia
• A-H saw the growth of Serbia as a threat

Chapter 2 Anglo-German rivalry

Britain and Splendid Isolation
• Britain was very wealthy
• Britain had the largest navy: two-power standard (Britain’s navy should be equal
to the two largest navies)

Factors that led to the end of Splendid Isolation

• Germany supported the Boers against the British in South Africa
• Kaiser Wilhelm II began to build military. Germany was a growing threat
• Britain and France made agreement over North African colonies
• The Triple Alliance
• France and Russia formed an alliance

The end of isolation by 1907

• In 1902, Britain signed an alliance with Japan
• The Triple Entente

Kaiser Wilhelm II’s aims and European rearmament

Kaiser Wilhelm II was determined to turn Germany into a global power and build up
military strength.

The aims of Kaiser Wilhelm II

Weltpolitik A large and powerful navy
• Germany should be a global power
• Wanted an empire that could rival Britain and France • Help build an empire
• Wanted to be a rival to Britain
• Went into debt

Consequences
Increased tensions:
• European rearmament
• an arms race

The arms race

Preparation on land Military plans
• conscription • Germany: the Schlieffen Plan
The naval race
• Dreadnoughts (a type of battleship, larger and faster)
Chapter 3 Outbreak of war
The assassination of Franz Ferdinand
• A-H, Serbia and the Black Hand
o The rise of Serbian nationalism: a greater Serbia
o In 1908, A-H took over Bosnia (a large Serb population)
o assassination attempts by the Black Hand (a secret Serb group)
o A-H’s response to the assassination attempts
 Deal with Serbia very harshly
 Franz Josef sent his nephew and heir, Franz Ferdinand, to the Bosnian capital of
Sarajevo to show A-H’s power
This led to…
as a result of this…

• The assassination of Franz Ferdinand, 28 June 1914

o Franz Ferdinand’s visit
o A failed attempt
o A wrong turn
o The assassination

The July Crisis

• After a month, A-H sent a list of demands to Serbia
• Serbia agreed to the demands
• A-H declares war on Serbia
• Russia gets its troops ready to attack A-H
• Germany calls on Russia to back down
• The Tsar refuses. Germany declares war on Russia. The French prepare to join in

Chapter 4 The Schlieffen Plan

The failure of the war plans

• The original plan
o To help Germany avoid war on two fronts by quickly defeating France then
concentrate on defeating Russia
o To outflank (moves around the side of an enemy) the French
o dependent on Russia’s slow mobilisation (preparing for war)
• The plan’s failure
o Belgium gave significant resistance
o The British honoured its treaty with Belgium and sent the BEF
o The Russian army was ready in 10 days.
o A war of two fronts was established

The first weeks of the war

• The Battle of the Marne
o The German retreat
• The race to the sea and the establishment of the Western Front (the line of
trenches running from the English Channel to Switzerland)
o Stalemate (a deadlock)
• The Eastern Front
o German success against the Russians
o Russian success against A-H
o Led to the creation of the Eastern Front

Chapter 5 The Western Front

Military tactics and technology
• The trench system
o No man’s land
o Trench life: trench foot, shell shock
• Weapons of trench warfare
o Artillery (large guns)
o Poison gas – first used in 1915
o Tanks – first used in 1916
o Machine guns (one was equivalent to 100 rifles)
o Rifles (guns), bayonets (knife), grenades (small, hand-held bombs) and
flamethrowers (could create a wall of fire)
• Attacking the enemy
o Large artillery bombardment 
o Soldiers went ‘over the top’
• War of attrition (to wear the enemy down over time)
o Counter-attack

Key battles on the Western Front

• The Battle of Verdun 2-12/1916 (Verdun, France) 凡爾登戰役
o A German offensive against the French
o Maintained the stalemate

• The Battle of the Somme 7-11/1916 (the River Somme in France)

o A British and French offensive against German forces
o The German army weakened

• The Battle of Passchendaele 7-11/1917 (the city of Ypres, Belgium)

o A battle for the hills of Ypres
o A mutiny (when soldiers refuse to follow orders) by French troops
o Heavy rain, thick mud

Chapter 6 The wider war

Gallipoli (1915) and its failure
• Turkey joined in on Germany’s side in 1914
• Britain and France were keen to gain control of the Dardanelles (to get supplies
to Russia by water) and distract Germany
• Winston Churchill (the head of the British Navy) created the invasion plan
o The plan was for the Navy to destroy Turkish forts to the Dardanelles with
minesweepers (ships detecting explosive mines) 掃雷艦
o A failure for the Allied forces
 ANZAC
 Trenches
 Bulgaria joined on Turkey’s side

The war at sea

Control of the sea was vital to ensure supplies

• The blockade of Germany

o A lack of coal, oil and steel damaged German industry
o Food shortages

• The Battle of Jutland, 5/1916 日德蘭海戰

o Decoded
o The North Sea

• The U-Boat campaigns

o U-boats (submarines) by the Germans
o British Q-ship (warship disguised as a supply ship)
o convoy system (supply ships protected by warships)
o The sinking of the Lusitania (a passenger liner) by a German U-boat
The war in the air
• The first aeroplanes
o reconnaissance (spotting) 偵察
• Fighter planes
o dogfights (air battles)
• Bomber planes
o To drop bombs
• Airships
o German Zeppelins (large bomber airships)

The war in the wider world

Italy • Joined in support of the Allies in 1915

• 11 battles 1915-1917
• In 11/1917, Germans defeated Italy at the Battle of Caporetto
The Balkans and Greece • Bulgaria joined the war in 1915
• The Allies sent troops to help Serbia
• Stalemate
The Middle East • British and Indian troops fought the Turks in Mesopotamia
(Iraq, Kuwait)
• Arabs also attacked Turkish troops using ‘hit and run’ tactics supported by T E
Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’)
• British and ANZAC troops defeated the Turks
The Far East and the Pacific • Japan captured German colonies
• ANZACs captured German colonies
German colony • Togoland
• Cameroon
• German South West Africa (Namibia)
• German East Africa (Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania)

Chapter 7 Changes in the Allied forces

Russia leaves the war
• The effects of the war on Russia
• Revolutions 1917
o The Tsar abdicated
o Bolsheviks led by Lenin overthrew the govt in 10/1917
• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918
o Russia withdrew
o Russian land lost: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Brest-Litovsk, Ukraine
• The impact of Russian withdrawal
o Left Germany with a war on one front
o Ease the problems caused by the British naval blockade

The USA enters the war

• American neutrality
o Despite being neutral, American banks lent to the Allies
o Ships transporting American supplies were a target for German U-boats
• The USA enters the war 4/1917
• The impact of US involvement
o a blow to the Germans

Chapter 8 Military developments in 1918

• Sea warfare
o Anti-U-boat technology:
 the use of mines
 depth charges
 Q-ships
 the convoy system
 The hydrophone (a microphone which allowed U-boats to be detected)
 Floatplanes (aeroplanes fitted with floats instead of wheels)
 The first aircraft carrier
• Air warfare: more powerful planes
• Tanks: German defeat
• Artillery: special shells, the ‘creeping barrage’ tactic, mine warfare, powerful and
more accurate guns
• Infiltration tactics: decreased the number of casualties
• The unified command structure: allowed the Allies to act quickly

The Spring Offensive and the Hundred Days

Ludendorff’s plan
• Hurricane bombardment followed by a ground attack by stormtroopers

The Spring Offensive begins 3/1918

• Broke the stalemate on the WF
• The rapid advance of the stormtroopers left them vulnerable

The Allied counter-attack

• the Hundred Days