THE MAIN EVENT:
CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR
World History – Coach Mims
Background Information...
• At the time, the Great War was the greatest catastrophe
to challenge the modern world. It caused the.....
• “Lost Generation”
• Destruction of the land of northern France.
• Destruction of the progress of the 19th Century philosophers and
citizens.
• What was it that led to this catastrophe?
• Militarism.
• The system of alliances.
• Imperialism.
• Nationalism.
Background Information...
• Alliance System:
• Sought to maintain the balance of power, but it actually ensured
that all the major powers would be forced to participate in the Great
War.
• Imperialism:
• The global conquest of our Earth led to conflict (As previously
studied in Unit 8).
• Nationalism:
• “My country: right or wrong, my country” was the attitude behind the
military build up, the conflicts over petty islands in the Pacific, and
the alliances that strove to increase national prestige.
Background Information...
• So what literally sparked the “powder keg”?
• On June 28th, 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by a Serbian
nationalist, creating a diplomatic crisis in which the alliance system,
militarism, and nationalism locked countries into a series of actions
and reactions leading to the declarations of war!
• Because alliances were formed prior to Franz Ferdinand’s death,
nations were pitted against one another in a team system very
similar to gang activity today.
• This “Great War” would eventually come to be known as World War
I (WWI).
Alliances of the “Great War”...
• Let’s take a look at the map...
• Although each nation is a separate, sovereign nation, they
still form “teams” for their own protection.
• These “teams” are called ALLIANCES and are used for
political leverage.
• Let’s take a look at the “Alliance System: 1914” handout
to see who was teamed up with who.
Alliances of the “Great War”...
• Now that we’ve seen which nations were working
together, let’s take a look at the “Action-Reaction Guide:
The Summer of 1914” handout.
• This handout will show you the sequence of events that took place
following the Serbian assassination of the Austria-Hungary
Archduke, Franz Ferdinand.
• You will need to fill your handout in when I switch over to the next
slide...
Causes of war...
• Now that you have a grasp of the sequence of events that
took place to get the “Great War” started, let’s look at the
four fundamental and specific causes of the “Great War”
on your “The MAIN Event: Causes of the Great War”
handout.
• Militarism.
• Alliance System.
• Imperialism.
• Nationalism.
What motivated these “Super Powers”?...
• Ok, so now you know a little bit about the four
factors/causes of the “Great War” (Militarism, Imperialism,
Alliance System, and Nationalism).
• Let’s take a look at how those four factors were present in
each of the “Super Power” nations involved with the
“Great War”.
• Take a look at you “Performance Indicator: Motive Matrix”
handout and fill it out as we go through the next few
slides.