Belief that your country is
better than others... This
made countries aggressive
IMPERIALISM
The desire to conquer
colonies - this brought the
powers not conflict
MILITARISM
The attempt to build up a
strong army gave nations
the means to make war
ALLIANCES
Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the triple
alliance... This alarmed Britain, France and Russia who
formed the triple entente
Assassination of archduke Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was inspecting the army in Sarajevo with his wife Sophie.
Austrian emperor Franz Josef forbade him to be seen with her because she was a. Commoner
28th June 1914 was also Serbia's National Day. Ferdinand's visit was an insult to the Serbs
The conspirators got their guns and bombs from the Black Hand. A Serbs terrorist organisation
Franz Ferdinand was shot on Franz Josef street
The schlieffen plan
Based on the theory that Germany would be
at war with France and Russia
It assumed France was weak and would be easier to beat than Russia
The plan began to go wrong when Russia mobilised its army and France did not
Things got worse when Britain declared war on Germany
German historian Fritz Fischer argued that the German leaders had a 'will
to war', that they wanted to expand German power, and they wanted the
situation in Europe to deteriorate into war.