1. The Great War
A Prelude

2. What do you think of when you hear
the word war?
Think/Pair/Share
● Take a minute to write down all the things
that come to mind from that question.
● Then, with someone sitting next to you,
share what you came up with. What was
similar and what was different.
● Finally, share with the class what you came
up with.

3. What was the cost of the Great War?
● Overall (Counting the War itself and the
Russian Revolution) there were 24 million
dead
● If you count the Spanish Flu that followed,
which was likely contracted by those at the
front and carried back home, you can add
another 50-100 million dead
● What caused so many people to die?

4. First Cause: The “ism’s”
● Militarism
○ Naval arms race
between Great
Britain and Germany
○ The H.M.S.
Dreadnaught
■ All big gun ship
■ Made all other
ships obsolete
■ Allowed
countries like
Germany to

5. First Cause: The “ism’s”
● Imperialism
○ Empire building
■ Scarcity
●
a finite amount of
land for many
different empires
○ The European
powers were going
to come into conflict
over the land

6. First Cause: The “ism’s”
● Nationalism
○ a feeling that people
have of being loyal
and proud of their
country often with
the belief that it is
better and more
important than other
countries

7. Third Cause: Alliances
Triple Alliance:
● Germany
● Austria-Hungary
● Italy
Triple Entente
● Great Britain
● France
● Russia

8. Third Cause: A Misunderstanding of
War
“Wars are short”
● Franco-Prussian
War
○ 1870-1871
○ French Loss of
Alsace-Lorraine
● Russo-Japanese
War
○ 1904-1905

9. The Assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand
Sunday, June 28,
1914
●
●
The Archduke was riding
through Sarajevo.
A Serbian Nationalist group
called The Black Hand wanted
Franz Ferdinand dead
○
Gavrilo
Princip
●
Was a representative of the
Austrian government
Went through a botched attempt
early allowing the royals to
escape
○
After the royal family took a wrong
turn and had to back up, Gavrilo
Princip shot both the Archduke and
his wife

10. The Alliance System Comes into
Play
● Austria-Hungary uses Princip’s ties to Black Hand, the
Serbian Nationalist group, to blame Serbia for the
assassination
○
Declares war on Serbia
● Russia, who sees Serbia and the other Balkan states as
under its protection, declares war on Austria-Hungary
● The Triple Alliance is called in and Germany Declares
war on Russia
○
Russia in turn declares war on Germany
● The Triple Entente is called in and France declares war
on Germany and A-H
○
Germany in turn declares war on France
● Germany invades Belgium and Great Britain declares
war on Germany and A-H, and vice versa