What Caused the Great War ?

1. What Caused the Great War?

2. Nationalism, Rivalries, Alliances Self-determination – same ethnic origins, language, and political ideals form sovereign states • Belgium (1830), Italy (1861), Germany 1871 • Eastern Europe and Balkans seek self-determination • Slavs – Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes • Russia = pan-Slavism = weaken Austria-Hungary • Germany backing Austria-Hungary

4. Nationalistic Competition • Colonies, foreign markets, British industrialization, military (navy, new tech.) • Central Powers – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottomans, Bulgaria • The Allies –Britain, France, Russia

5. Allies Additions • Japan gains Jiaozhou, Qindao, Mariana Islands, Palau, Carolines • New Zealand and Australia take portions of Somoa, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea • Mustafa Kemal forces Greek, British, French, and Italian forces out – Republic of Turkey • Mandate System • Article 22 – people unsuitable to handle conditions of modern world need tutelage • French – Syria, Lebanon • British – Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan • German colonies in Africa

7. Central Powers Undermined • Austria, Hungary, Ottoman reduced in size • Germany forced to be weak (military reduction, debt, non-consolidation with Austria) • Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland – extremely large minority populations • Wilson’s Fourteen Points denied because it compromised secret wartime agreements to distribute defeated nations lands • Wilson’s call for self-rule, Russia’s example to gain independence