WWI

BACKGROUND ESSAY

VOCAB
WHY DO THE CAUSES OF WWI MATTER?
 REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR

Our nation is attacked

 REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR

A nation with who we have a

mutual alliance is attacked
 REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR

Our president is assassinated by a

terrorist from an unfriendly
country
 REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR

Our President tells us that a

country is planning an imminent
attack on us
 REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR

A country has just had a

fundamentalist revolution and is
sending fighters into a oil-
producing nation in the region
 REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR

An unfriendly nation has just

tested a nuclear weapon in
violation of a sign UN agreement
 REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR

A US naval vessel is sunk in a

foreign harbor by government
agents from that country
 Answers to Background Essay
Questions
1. What is Europe
meant by the believed they
phrase "In were free to
1900
use the world
Europeans
believed the
in any way
world was they pleased.
their oyster"?
 Answers to Background Essay Questions

2. World 1914-1918

War I lasted
four years.
What were
the war
years?
 Answers to Background Essay Questions

The population of It is about one

Chicago is about
3,000,000. How
tenth (1/10,
does that compare derived from
to the total number 3,000,000/30,
of 000,000
dead and wounded
in World War I?
(Give your answer
as a fraction.)
 Answers to Background Essay Questions

4. Why With power

might a about even,
balance of neither side
could expect
power
easy victory.
prevent war?
 Answers to Background Essay Questions

5. Otto von Bismarck Yes. The

once said that a great assassination of
war might someday the Austrian
be caused by “Some
Archduke
damned
foolish thing in the
Ferdinand that
Balkans:' Was he triggered World
right? Explain. War I occurred in
the Balkan country
of Serbia.
 Answers to Background Essay Questions

How did the Austria was, of course,

angry at Serbia and
assassination of wanted an apology.
the Archduke of Serbia, fearing trouble,
got a promise of help
Austria-Hungary from Russia. When
lead to war Austria-Hungary
between Russia declared war on Serbia,
Russia came to Serbia's
and Germany? aid. Germany then came
to Austria's aid. Russia
and Germany were at
war.
 BALANCE OF POWER

Distribution of power where

no nation can dominate
another
 ENTENTE

An agreement between two or

more governments
 BALKANS

ABOUT 10 COUNTRIES
LOCATED ON THE Balkan
peninsula between Italy and
Turkey, including Serbia,
Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia,
Kosovo, Macedonia,
Montenegro, Albania, and
Greece
 NATIONALISM

Love and devotion to one’s

own country based on shared
history and culture
 ETHNIC

Usually relating to a racial or

cultural group
 SPARK

Event that triggers a larger

event
ASSASSINATION OF FRANZ
FERDINAND