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The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his Wife
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, next in line to become emperor of the austro-hungarian empire and general army inspector went to sarajevo to evaluate the standing armies there. The areas he was visiting were full of discontent due to them being annexed into Austria Hungary’s power. Some of the Serbians there called for independence and their own country and were aggravated that they were denied this request. -
The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand (Continued)
The news of Franz’s visit was enough to get radical nationalists going. A group of students planned his assassination and eventually carried it out. Franz was being transported in a car when the attempt was made, a bomb was thrown by one of the students but it missed its target and left the archduke without a scratch. Two of the students lost the nerve and decided not to carry out their roles. Finally the killing blow made by Gavrilo Princip was revolver shot to the Archduke. -
Germany's Blank Check Assurance to Austria Hungary
An ambassador from Austria-Hungary visited the Kaiser to ask for assistance. Because of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand Kaiser Wilhelm was outraged. He decided to support whatever Austria-Hungary's actions may be towards the Serbains. -
Germany's Blank Check Assurance to Austria-Hungary
With this newfound Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia which stated that it could carry out its own investigation on the assassination, that Serbia would repress all anti Austria propaganda and that serbia would get rid of nationalistic terrorist organizations. Serbia did not meet all these demands and Austria-Hungary went to war with them. -
Militarism Causes pride and arrogance
Militarism was a system of governing that became particularly popular in the the days leading up to World War One. Under this kind of regime a nation would stress military accomplishments and generally work towards a better and stronger fighting force. In this time competitive countries did their best to increase their military power by pump as much money as they could to create weapons, ships and other necessities for war. -
Imperialism causes competition
Imperialism is the practice of taking colonies under a “Mother Countries” Control in order to expand influence and achieve resources. Because Germany had recently been unified Kaiser Wilhelm II decided to gain colonies in Africa. This caused tension between the other large empires who also sought land in Africa, mainly France and Britain. Even control over the deteriorating Ottoman Empire caused tension as leaders greedily tried to divide up land. -
Nationalism causes Tension and Pride
Nationalism is the pride of a common culture. This was a driving force in the buildup for WW1. The main event that supposedly start World War One was caused by this! Slavic people who had been divided by Austria-Hungary’s grabs for land demanded they received their own country. Because of the annexation to where they wanted their country to be by Austria-Hungary the slavic people developed intense hatred for Austria-Hungary. This eventually led to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand -
World War One Begins
Due to the outrage of Austria-Hungary after Franz Ferdinand's death and Serbia's refusal to comply with their ultimatum Austria-Hungary declares war. Austria-Hungary was confident in doing so because of Kaiser Wilhelm's promise of support. Serbia asked Russia to help aid them which they agreed to because of their ties cultural slavic ties. Upon hearing this Germany declared war on Russia and attacked France. -
World War One Begins (Continued)
They hoped to fight and defeat french forces before the Russian army could even get to the battle. This way they would not have to fight the war on two fronts. In the process they violated belgium's neutrality by marching through it to get to France. This caused Great Britain to enter the war under the Treaty of London. Great Britain had promised to protect Belgium in this treaty. -
The Alliance System, a sticky web
Alliances were created between nations out of paranoia. Many feared if they did not join and get support of others they would be taken over by a larger country Ironically Otto Von Bismarck created alliances with other in order to try to prevent future fights after just having unified Germany. His leadership lead to the Triple Alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. In response the Triple Entente was made by Britain, Russia and France. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
Though the U.S was neutral at the time they still traded with Britain and other allies fighting against the triple alliance. Germany started unrestricted submarine warfare to stop the flow of war goods to their enemies. This led to the sinking of the Lusitania, a passenger ship. -
Sinking of the Lusitania (Continued)
It was attacked by a German submarine and ended up killing around 120 Americans. This angered many Americans on the homefront and caused a disdainful opinion of Germany. Strangely enough the ship was actually carrying weapons. Due to a lot of hated caused by this incident Germany had to give up this warfare or possibly be confronted with another enemy. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman Telegram was sent by Arthur Zimmerman. It was sent to Mexico and proposed that if the U.S joined the war on the allied side Mexico would enter on the side of Germany. In return Germany would help them retrieve lost land previously taken from them by the U.S. This message was intercepted by the british government and relayed to the U.S. Outraged the U.S finally decided to declare war. -
Germany's Resumption of Submarine Warfare
Despite the initial fear of having to fight other possible new allies such as the United States Germany was pushed into a corner. The allied forces set up a blockade, the german people were at the end of their rope, and Germany needed to take every advantage they could to have any hope of winning. With some convincing from the commanders of Germany's army Kaiser Wilhelm decided to reinstate the policy. -
The United States enters World War One
Due to the renewal of Germany’s U boat warfare and the Zimmerman telegram the U.S’s opinion of Germany was highly disdainful. In light of this the U.S Declared war on Germany and its allies. It was not ready immediately however, it took time in order to be able to pay the price to go to war. -
The U.S enters World War One (Continued)
Through taxes and “Liberty Bonds” though the American army was able to get off the ground. By aiding their allies in important battles such as the battle of the bulge and various confrontations in france America was able to quickly get Germany to surrender effectively ending the war. -
Effects of World War One (Continued)
The great war also inspired revolts that toppled monarchies and revolutions. Finland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia created to group distinct ethnic groups out of Ottoman Empire as well as some land that had been taken from Germany. -
Effects of World War One
At the end of World war one about seventeen million are dead and European economies are devastated. Because of this along this, it’s already growing economy, and time spent neutral the U.S becomes the number one creditor and manufacturing leader. People become “disillusioned”, they questioned if the motives going to war were really as ethical and patriot as they were made out to be, and what the future may hold with many loved ones being dead. -
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles which ended the war was a bit chaotic, different power wanted different things. Some wanted to cripple Germany and make it impossible for them to ever go to war again while others wanted a treaty that kept them from wanting to go to war. In the end it created the league of nations, shrunk Germany’s land, decreased their military, took their colonies, and made them pay for massive reparations. -
The Treaty of Versailles (Continued)
Germany was forced to sign and they did so with great malice. Germany was left with a huge debt and no way to pay it back. People's quality of life degraded but this harsh time did bring Germany together in political unity. Nationalism sprung up as a result of this also. -
The Great Depression (Continued)
Because of this large amount of money pumped into these stocks sometimes largely exceeding the earning they expected to make these stocks crashed especially due to the large amounts of credit. Many citizens pulled out their money because of their loss of confidence in their banks and stocks. Thought this wasn’t the only factor it definitely had a large effect. The president at the time, president Hoover did very little to combat this. -
The Great Depression (Continued 2)
During the next election Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected by a landslide because of his promise of the New Deal. In this he promised many new federal programs which would employ many in public projects and safeguard people's money and opportunities. This process called “Pump Priming” would reinvigorate the economy by putting money back in consumers hands. The New Deal slowly brought the U.S out of depression and renewed faith in the banks. -
Dawes and Young Plans
The Dawes Plan was a slightly more reasonable way of helping Germany pay back its incredible debt. This policy stated that the payments made to others would slowly increase as the economy became stronger. In addition Germany would be given some land back as well as a 200 million dollar loan to help get back on their feet. -
The Great Depression
The Great depression was a time of economic hardship worldwide. Because of the U.S’s leadership in the economy as a creditor and manufacturer the world followed as they fell into this depression. Though the 1920’s were a booming and fantastic time for U.S many factors ended up leading to the depression. It had become normal to buy things on credit, or borrowed money, even stocks! Americans did so with great vigor because of the success stories of others gaining large sums of money off of stocks. -
The Dawes and Young Plans (continued)
Under the Young Plan Germany’s debt was reduced and the careful eye of foreign armies was taken off of it, clearing out many soldier from the area. The bank of International settlements was made also to divide up Germany's payments. This plan however had to be scrapped to the great depression, many did cancel the debt owed to them by Germany. Though Weimar Germany initially was looking better than ever it all collapsed because of the not so Great Depression. -
The Rise of Hitler
Hitler, who was the head of the National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the Nazi party, gave rousing public speeches to convince his fellow country men that there was possibility for change and a better life. The people who were desperate wholeheartedly believed him because he gave them something to hold on to and believe in. He made a point of disregarding the massive debt and punishments put upon them by the league of nations. -
Rise of Hitler (Continued)
At one point he even tried to overthrow the government but this ended him up in jail where he wrote “Mein Kampf." Though at first the movement was not popular it picked up steam as time went on eventually landing Hitler the position of Chancellor. He then slowly strong armed his way to dictator and the rest is history.
