Causes of World War 1

Causes and Origins of World War One Who was guilty? Germany * Invasion of belgium (Self protection) * Signing the blank cheque with Austria 6th July 1914 to go to war with Serbia (Justification might be, self protection because they were encircled) * 1870, Germany also wanted to create an empire like Britain * Needed to go through Belgium into France so that they'd beat France before the Russians arrived, in this case they'd be able to cope with the Russians (Schlieffen Plan) * Wanted a railway for oil, trade from the Bulkan area * Had hegamony and this destabilised power in Europe * If its Germany's fault, you look at how the leader, in this case the Kaiser acts. Austria-Hungary * Russians needed access to the Bulkan area so that their navy could get through to the mediterranean sea. * France Ferdinand was Austria's elect. Was assaninated by a serbian terrorist. * Austrians sensitive about what Serbs do because they might have broken down the multi racial empire. * if people in Serbia broke away, austria was scared many other countries would wanna do the same * was also scared of being weak if many countries broke away * Attacked Belgrade * Issuing an unreasonable ultimatum * protection of their multi national empire from serbia's rising Nationalism Britain * Had hegamony because of the industrial revolution and wanted to keep their premier position * Wanted to be neutral only untill 1902 * Allies with the French and Russia (tripple ententre) ;secret treaties and agreements * Britain wasnt clear about their intentions, they believed the brittish would not support the French, therefore the russians *Alliance Clarity * Excuse - Fought for Belgium to help but really, needed to support the French so that they would not lose an ally. Serbia * Wanted to create an empire by taking Bosnia to double their size * Would stir trouble with the serbs living in Austria * France Ferdinand killed by a serbian terrorist in Bosnia. (28th June 1918 War trigger) - Serbian gov did not do enough and some Government officials might have known. * Austrian ultimatum was unreasonable * Nationalist aspirations which threatened Austria Russia * Had an interest in countries close to the black sea * Wanted access to the bulkan area so that their navy can get through * Had a right because people in the bulkan area and russia were both slavs ie * Wanted to influence bulkans from a trade point of view, and ralationship ie bulkans * Was allies with the french ie creating a hostile alliance around germany * 31st July, partial mobilisation ordered by the saar because they needed time to get their troops across so they are blamed because the mobilised early. Justification is they were goin to be late for the war if they hadnt, had already faced a lot of humiliation in the Bulkan are. They didnt want a war really because their army hadnt reached their full capacity Ottoman/ Turks * Started moving towards the Bulkan area * Declining - leaving power vacuum France * Stronger and in alliance with Russia thus could support Russia because of their power (Chapter 3 Wilmot) * Want revenge because of Alsace Lorraine (Justification - Serbia needed support) * Gave support to the russians like BC * Attacking of Belgium and Belgrade Belgium * Not being considerate to German needs ie they needed to go through Belgium to defend themselves from France * However Belgians wanted to obtain their neutrality etc Collective responsibility, ie its everyone's fault. When it comes to WW1, controversy is "who was guilty."