Slide
to War June-August 1914
Events leading to the
outbreak of war.
Make sure you have detailed factual knowledge about AND HAVE
THOUGHT ABOUT the following issues and topics:
WHY DID THE SARAJEVO ASSASSINATION LEAD TO THE OUTBREAK OF
WAR IN 1914?
1. A description of the slide
to war, 1914.
Note that you may need to use your
knowledge of the
events
leading to the
outbreak of war for two questions.
Firstly
- as here -
simply if you are asked to describe the events
leading to war. But secondly as part of an argument that the
slide
to war
was a consequence of the Sarajevo assassination.
Overview
1.
Austria blamed Serbia for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
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2. The
Austrians went to Germany for help - Kaiser Wilhelm promised to support
them, whatever they did (the so-called 'blank cheque').
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3. The
Austrians sent Serbia a ten-point ultimatum. The Serbians
accepted every point but point 6.
Austria invaded Serbia anyway.
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4.
Russia mobilised its army to support Serbia; but this involved
mobilising troops against Germany as well as Austria-Hungary.
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5. The
Germans were scared by Russia's mobilisation - according to the Schlieffen Plan
they had to fight France before Russia. So they
invented an excuse and declared war on France anyway.
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6.
Because the German army went through Belgium, Britain entered the war.
Facts
1.
The Austrian ultimatum
was so
harsh that they expected Serbia to reject it.
By
accepting every point but point 6, the
Serbians turned the tables on Austria.
2.
Germany's
Schlieffen Plan was based on the idea that Germany had 6 weeks to defeat
France whilst Russia was still getting ready for war - now Russia was
getting ready before Germany was at war with France!
3. Britain
went to war to protect Belgium because the the Treaty of
Westminster, 1839. 'You would go to war because of a
scrap of paper', asked the amazed Germans.
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Revision Focus
This is a Paper 1
topic, so concentrate on learning:
1. WHAT
happened
2. EFFECTS/
Importance
Links
e-book on events leading to the outbreak of WWI.
Spidergram:
• How
did international relations deteriorate?
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