A brief overview of the causes of World War 1. The powerpoint starts with key terms my students were required to know (these could be deleted if not needed)
9. World War I -
Overview
Inquiry Question:
Why did World War 1 begin?
10. Main focus
World War I was one of the most important events of the
twentieth century. It created enormous change in the
nations that took part in it, including Australia.
Why it’s relevant today
Australians continue to draw on experiences in this war to
locate their defining national characteristics. It is
important, therefore, to study it closely.
Inquiry questions
• Why did World War I happen?
• What was Australia’s role?
• What was the war’s impact on Australian homefront?
11. Germany’s lack of colonies
• Germany only formed as
a country in 1870s
• Missed out on getting
colonies in the ‘New
World’
Above: German colonies prior to WW1
and
Right : French colonies prior to WW1
• Victory over France would
give Germany control of
French colonies.
12. 2. Military Build-Up
• Industrialisation and imperialism led to massive increases in military spending
• Britain felt threatened by the expanding German Navy
13. 3. Alliances & Military Agreements
The Triple Entente v. The Triple Alliance:
France Germany
Britain Austria
Russia Turkey
14. How did a chicken sandwich start WW1?
A 19 year old Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, shot Austrian
Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Serbia in June 1914.
• Princip’s action started a chain of events that would lead to the
loss of 8 500 000 lives.
1. Austria invaded Serbia due to the assassination
2. which led to Russia mobilising to support Serbia.
3. Germany then declared war on Russia
and France.
4. Trying to quickly defeat France,
Germany invaded neighbouring
Belgium
5. Britain joined the war due
to the invasion of Belgium
All within 2 months What about the chicken sandwich?
15.
16. Why did Australia join this European
War “half a world away”?
Australia’s interests were seen as identical with
Britain’s because:
• We had only stopped being British colonies in
1901 (14 years before)
• Our head of state was the British monarch,
• We possessed no diplomats of our own and
• Our foreign policy was in the hands of the
British Government.
Notas del editor
New Zealand Soldiers fought as part of the Australian Army.
World War 1 saw the introduction of mechanised warfare with the introduction of the machine gun making cavalry charges obsolete. Heavy artillery pounded the trenches with some of the biggest non-nuclear bombs ever made.Poison gas was so devastating that it was outlawed by all sides after WW1Tanks were introduced later in the war, but struggled for reliability.
The Government wanted to introduce conscription twice during WW1, but the Australian public voted against it in two different referenda in 1916 and 1917
Armistice Day (11/11) is acknowledged each year as it was the day WW 1 ended.
World War I changed the entire course of world history. In Australia’s case, it transformed the society. It unfolded as an enormous tragedy in which hundreds of thousands of Australian lives were directly affected and tens of thousands were killed. Within Australia, the war experience led to serious division and conflict on the homefront. After the war, much social mending was needed. The ANZAC legend was born and new definitions of Australian nationhood were proposed.
Germany was a new nation that was growing economically, but it had few colonies so it needed more raw materials (resources).
The rise of Industrialisation and the massive profits made by the European Empires led to huge increases in military spending to both conquer and defend their Colonies. Britain’s navy famously ‘ruled the waves’ and felt increasingly threatened by German naval build-up, using diplomacy to attempt to limit the size of Germany’s navy.
The countries of Europe were involved in a number of diplomatic alliances and agreements that committed them to war if any one of them were attacked.So these three factors were meant that Europe in 1914 was a “donkey on the edge” (Sorry Shrek) where any small thing could lead to all out war…guess what happened?
Both Franz Ferdinand and Gavrilo Princip would probably by consigned to the dustbin of history if Princip had not shot Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia in Sarajevo, Serbia on June 28, 1914.Answer:When the earlier attempt at assasination of Franz Ferdinand had failed, Gavrilo Princip ducked into Schiller's Delicatessen for a quick bite to eat. Quite by accident, when he left the shop, the Archduke's 1911 Graf and Stift touring car was backing up beside him after making a wrong turn. Princip whipped out his pistol and fired two shots. (No cheese sanwich meant no accidental meeting, no assasination and no WWI.)
Australia, as a self-governing Country within the British Empire, saw itself as automatically at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary as well.