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Alliances
There were two major alliances during WWI; the Triple Alliance formed between the countries of Germany and Austria-Hungary and the Triple Entente formed between Britain, Russia, and France. Alliances were formed between countries to back each other so if an allied country were to be involved in war all of the other countries within the alliance would be forced to back that country in war. These alliances are one of the main reasons WWI started and after the war these alliances were disbanded. -
The Roosevelt Corallary
In 1904 the Dominican Republic governement went bankrupt fearing that Germany and other nations might intervene forceably to collect their debts. President Theodore Roosevelt issued the Roosevelt Corallary(to the Monroe Doctrine) as part of the 1904 message to Congress. This is an example of imperialism and how an outside nation took over another nation. -
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Militarism
Militarism was a main cause of World War I, because if one nation increased the overal size for their armed forces other nations felt they had to respond by increasing theirs to either match or excede other nations. For example Great Britiain had a great navy then Germany wanted to increase the size of their navy. -
Assination of Archduke Franz Ferninand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and his wife, had decided to inspect Austro-Hungarian troops in Bosnia. The Black Hand supplied a group of students with weapons for an assassination attempt to mark the occasion. This marked the start of World War I. -
Germany's Blank Check to Austria-Hungary
The Blank Check Germany gave Austria-Hungray is a way of saying that Germany would completely support all of Austria-Hungary's war efforts in response to the assination of Archduke Frenz Fredinand. This promise by Kiaser Wilhelm II marked a decisive moment in the chain of events leading up to the First World War in Europe during the summer of 1914. Without Germany's backing, the conflict in the Balkans might have remained localized, but with Germany's backing all bets were off. -
World War I Begins
World War I also known as the Great War started on July 28,1914 when Austria-Hungary decided to declare war and invade Serbia. With this the war was on and Germany now in the thick if decided to declare war on Russia and France. By deciding to fight the war on two fronts Germany invaded neutral Belgium leading Great Britian to respond by entering the war. The U.S. entered the war later after German U-boats sank U.S. passenger ships. -
Nationalism
Nationalsim was another main caause of WWI. Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of one's country. For example in the settlement at the end of the Franco-Prussian war France was left angry at the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany and eger to regain their lost territory. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to differing nationalist groups, all of whom wanted freedom from the their states. -
Germany Declares Unrestricted Submarnie Warfare
Germany declared the area around the British Isles a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, would be attacked by the German navy, this was the start of submarnie warfare and the U.S. entering the war. Attacks on merchant ships followed, culminating in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915, carrying over 120 Americans. The incident prompted President Woodrow Wilson to send a note to the German governemnt for it to stop. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
Less than a year after World War I (1914-18) began across Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the more than 1,100 passengers and crew members on board that lost their lives more than 120 of those passengers were Americans. This sparked a turning point in public opinion against Germany, both in the United States and Britain. -
Zimmerman Telegam
British code breakers intercepted an encrypted message from Zimmermann intended for Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador to Mexico. The code gave the ambassador a set of instructions for Eckardt approach was to offer Mexico’s president a secret wartime alliance. The Germans would provide military and financial support for a Mexican attack on the United States, and in exchange Mexico would be free to annex “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.” -
U.S. formally enters WWI
Two days after the U.S. Senate votes 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U.S. House of Representatives endorses the decision by a vote of 373 to 50, and the United States formally entered World War I. The American entry into the war saved Great Britain, and the rest of the Triple Entente, from bankruptcy.
The United States also reinforced the strength of the Allied naval blockade of Germany, and attempted to crush the Germany economy. -
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty, negotiated was written by the Allies with almost no participation from Germany. The negotiations revealed a split between the French, who wanted to dismember Germany to make it impossible for it to rhave another war with France, and the British and Americans, who did not want to create reasons for a new war. The eventual treaty included fifteen parts and 440 articles. -
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment as failing companies laid off workers. By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its climax, some 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed.
