World War 1 1914-1918 the war to end all wars

1. World War 1 1914-1918the war to end all wars What were the main background causes of WW1? • Rivalry between the great powers of Europe (see map) Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary. • The ‘-isms’: - Militarism - Military buildup ‘arms race’ the idea that force and power were legitimate means for a country to develop itself politically and economically. Wars were good for business in all senses. I Imperialism – desire to control as much of the world as possible, empire building has a long history. Nationalism – national pride at its aggressive worst. Countries wanting to be the best, the most and the richest, even to the point of invading other countries to build their power base.

2. (iii) Alliances – military and economic agreements divided Europe into two heavily armed hostile blocks, conflict seemed inevitable. The war divided Europe into two opposing sides: - ‘Allies’ who formed the ‘Triple Entente’ – Great Britain, Russia and France (and after 1917 the USA); and ‘Central Powers’ who formed the ‘Triple Alliance’ – Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, plus The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) who also bought into the alliance. (iv) A general ‘climate’ of war.

3. What was the ‘trigger’ for the outbreak of war? Sparked by assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria 28 June 1914, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, while visiting Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia. Incidentally, his wife Sophie was also killed but this is not given by historians as any part of the reason for an escalation to war. Austro-Hungarian government blamed Serbia because Serbian terrorists had threatened to kill the Archduke. It sent demands to the Serbian government which were not met so Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The alliances of European countries then came into play and as one declared war others were drawn in as support for their allies. So Russia, allied with Serbia declared war on Austria-Hungary, and its ally, Germany, declared war on Russia. As Germany invaded France and Belgium, Britain honoured a treaty it had with Belgium (Treaty of Washington 1839) and declared war on Germany. Most of Europe ended up embroiled in the war. Even many neutral countries were drawn in during the course of the war.

4. Look at timeline p169 text Declarations of war: - 28 July Austria on Serbia 1 August – Germany on Russia 3 August – Germany on France and invades Belgium 4 August – Britain on Germany and WW1 begins

5. Australia at war Why did Australia go to war in WW1? Allegiance to Britain. Australia was a member of the British Empire. Many Australians saw it not only as duty but an exciting thing to do, a great adventure.

6. Was this the right decision/did we have a decision to make? In many senses we had no decision we were politically and socially part of Great Britain. Even as our own Federated nation (since 1901) with our own constitution we were and still are not a ‘republic’ with complete political independence. The British monarch is still our ‘head of state’ which is why we have a ‘Governor General’, the Queen’s representative in Australia. However, in WW1 Australian troops fought for the first time as the Australian forces not as part of the British forces. ‘For Australia, as for many nations, the First World War remains the most costly conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of which over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner’ (Australian War Memorial website retrieved 7/5/09, http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww1.asp).

7. Australia at war What could Australia gain from going to war? We had a lot to lose. We relied on Britain for our own political safety and our economy was closely tied to the ‘motherland’. Australia supplied a huge amount of primary produce to Britain and our economy depended on continued trade. Much of the Australian landmass was and still is owned by British companies.