Timeline:

First World War events that led to tension in Europe and made war more likely.

1871 - 1912: Long Term causes for war

1871: Franco-Prussian War

1882: Triple Alliance (Germany, A-H, Italy)
1894: Franco-Russian Alliance
1887: German Reinsurance treaty with Russia
1888: Wilhelm II becomes Kaiser
1890: New Course in German foreign policy, Otto von Bismarck retires.
1894: Treaty with Russia to Lapses
1894: Franco-Russian Alliance
1897: Kaiser Wilhelm perseus Weltpolitik
1902: Anglo-Japanese Alliance
1903: New pro-russian Serbian King
1904: Entente Cordiale (France and Britain)
1904-5: Russo-Japanese War
1905: Schlieffen Plan
1905: Moroccan Crisis
1906: Dreadnought (Fear Nothing)
1906: Tariff war A-H Vs Serbia. Blockade of Serbian Pork. Ended 1908
1907: Triple Entente (France, Russia, Britain)
1908: Bosnian Crisis
1910: Japan annexes Korea
1911: 2nd Moroccan Crisis (Agadir Crisis)
1911: Mansion house speech

1870 - 1914: Military spending increases by 300%

1912 - Aug 1914: Short Term Causes for War

Weltpolitik (1897 - 1912)
- Successfully built a large navy including Dreadnoughts
- Failed to attain a large overseas empire.
German War council (December 1912)
October 1912 - May 1913: First Balkan War
July 1913: Second Balkan War
July Crisis 1914:
28th June: Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
5th July: Germany Gives A-H a blank cheque
20th July: French in Russia for military talks
23rd July: A-H sends an ultimatum to serbia
28th July: A-H Bombards Serbia
29-30th July: Russia begins mobilisation
1st Aug: Germany declares war on August
3rd Aug: Germany declares war on france
4th Aug: Britain declares war on Germany.

Key event: Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)

It led to more tension and made war more likely.
For France:
- Humiliation
- Revanche movement (Revenge on Germany)
- Economic cost

For Europe:
- Shift in balance of power - Germany
- Militarism - land armies and railways
- Alliances - search for allies

Key Event: Triple Alliance (1882):

Initially Bismarck tried to ally with the Russians and A-H to form the Three emperors alliance.
This failed due to tensions between A-H and Russia over the Balkans.
- Also known as the Central powers.
 - Germany. A-H and Italy form an alliance.
- The problem with forming an alliance:
- Can make member states more aggressive/Assertive since they have
‘Backup’.
- Less likely to talk or walk away and more likely to stand and hold your
ground/fight.

Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia: (1887)

- Guarantee from Russia that if there were to be a conflict between France and
Germany, Russia would not intervene.
- Consequence of this is that Germany has to suck up to the Russians.
- Has to be renewed every year.

New Course & Weltpolitik: (1890 & 1897)

- Kaiser announces that there will be a new course for German Policy.
- Bismarck Resigns
- Reinsurance Treaty lapses (Invalidated)
- Eventually in 1894 France and Russia signed a treaty, Franco-Russian
alliance.
- Goals of Weltpolitik:
- To gain a large overseas empire
- To build a large navy
- This directly led to conflict with France and Particularly France.
- These goals were announced to the public.
- This ended up dragging the British out of ‘Splendid Isolation’
- Particularly concerned since if the Germans were to build a large navy it
would impede the British ability to protect their homeland and their empire.

Anglo-Japanese Alliance: (1902)

- Alliance formed between Britain and Japan.
- Containment alliance against Russian expansion in Asia.
- Allowed the British to pull back some of their warships from the Pacific.

New pro-Russian Serbian King: (1903)

- The previous king was assassinated for being friendly with the Austro-Hungarian
empire.
- Economy was dominated by A-H.
- Previous King was replaced by a Pro-Russian Serbian King.
- A-H was against this and imposed an embargo.
Tariff War A-H vs Serbia. Blockade on Serbian pork. (1906-1908)
- Frequently known as the pig war since it was mainly based on pork.
- Pork was Serbia's biggest export.
- This backfired since this forced the Serbs to go to different markets like the French.
- Serbs selled pork to France and in return Serbia got weapons from France.

Entente Cordiale: (1904)

- Alliance between Britain and France.
- Not a military alliance
- Led to an agreement that they would stop fighting in North Africa
- France wanted this because they see the Germans as the Bigger problem. Britain felt
the same way.
- Basically a Handshake. France had the west of North Africa like Morocco and Britain
had the east of North Africa like Egypt.

Russo-Japanese War: (1904-1905)

- War fought between Russo-Japanese war over control over Manchuria and Islands in
the east.
- Complete and total defeat for Russia, Navy was defeated, Army was defeated.
Furthermore humiliation from being defeated by an inferior race.
- Navy was defeated by the superior Japanese navy due to British
development.
- Led to more Militarism in Russia in response to this humiliation
- First case of a Major European power being defeated by a Non European power.
- First Major Russian Humiliation

War Plans: (1905)

1905: German - Schlieffen plan
- Avoid war on 2 fronts
- Swift attack on France in west
- 6 weeks to knock out French as Russians slow to mobilise
- Send troops to east to fight russians

1st Moroccan Crisis / Tangier Crisis: (1905) HL

- Germans wanted to prove that the British and the French had a weak alliance and
potentially gain some colonies.
- They started a conflict in Morocco to attempt to prove this.
- They started a revolution
- Britain ended up standing with the French and backed up the French so that they
wouldn’t have to face a standoff with the Germans.
 - Led to strengthening of Triple entente and the First Humiliation of Germany.

Triple Entente: (1907)

- The catalysts were the Germans upsetting the Entente Cordiale in Morocco.
- This strengthened the French and British position that Germany was out of
control.
- Furthermore, The British invented the dreadnought leading to a total game changer
in terms of Naval power.
- The dreadnought made the rest of the Navy. It took the Naval game down to
Zero. Basically ruining British Naval power.
- The big danger of the Dreadnought was its Massive Range, its speed was
quite fast and it had heavy armour.

Bosnian Crisis (1908):

- A-H sent soldiers into Bosnia to annex it due to the security threat it presented.
- Russia declared this illegal and called for a conference.
- This conference led to a Second Russian Humiliation since its Allies
(France and Britain) Did not support its claim
- A-H was supported by the Germans forcing Russia to back down.

2nd Moroccan Crisis / Agadir Crisis: (1911) HL

- The German plan is the same as the first Moroccan crisis.
- The only difference is that they have sent a gunboat to more directly confront
the French.
- The German belief was that the British wouldn’t get involved and that France
would back down, giving the Germans more colonial power.
- Led to more unity in Triple entente.
- Second German Humiliation.

Mansion house speech: (1911) HL

- For the first time in British history, it was made clear that French interest would be
British interest.
- Basically made clear that Britain would support the French if a war broke out.

German War council (December 1912) HL

- German high command and the Kaiser meet to discuss the situation in Europe.
- To examine why Weltpolitik has not been achieved and to strategize how to
break encirclement.
- Topics discussed:
- War against Serbia and Russia is inevitable
 - Germany had to go to war before Russian expansion of armed forces and
railways was completed.
- Admiral Tirpitz argued for 18 months, that afterwards the navy would then be
ready for war with Britain.
- Complete U-boat base at Heligoland
- Widen Kiel Canal for German Dreadnoughts
- This means that ‘Der Tag’ or the day would be in June 1914.
- A Crisis in the Balkans could be used as an Excuse for war.
- The cause of war could be anything, but it will be because of
something in the Balkans.
- German action after conference:
- Navy began to prepare for war with Britain
- Army bill passed for expansion of German land forces
- Kaiser informed diplomats that war was likely in the next couple of years.

First Balkan war (October 1912 - May 1913)

- War between Balkan league (Headed By Serbia and Bulgaria) to kick the Ottomans
out of the balkans.
- This conflict led to the Ottomans being nearly entirely kicked out of the
Balkans, still holding some territory near Constantinople at the end of the war.
- Severely reduced influence of the ottomans
- British Intervention:
- Helped negotiate.
- Prevented a larger war breaking out.

Second Balkan War (June - July 1913):

- War between Serbia, the Ottomans against the Bulgarians.
- Resulted in the Bulgarians losing and both Serbia and the Ottomans annexing
land.
- Serbia doubled in Size in both the First And Second Balkan wars.
- Serbia also demonstrated its military power
- This led to Austria Hungary viewing Serbia as a nation that had to be crushed
since Serbia was gaining power.
- War was necessary for A-H to survive.
- Demonstrated Ottomans Empire military weakness.
- German Intervention:
- Helped negotiate.
- Prevented a larger war Breaking out.