World War I M.A.N.I.A

Causes of the First World War

M - Militarism

King George V inspecting munitions factory

• The belief that a country should have a strong military, with the capability to use it aggressively to defend or promote itself at a moments notice

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• Nations and Empires began to feel threatened by neighbouring militarism, which spurred on their own military expansion and this vicious circle continued across Europe

• Increased military strength would also allow empires to gain more colonies versus other industrialized powers they were competing with

H.M.S Dreadnought

A - Alliances

• Countries and Empire’s signing secret alliances
• Entente signed in 1907
• Alliance signed in 1882

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• These alliances meant that if one nation or empire was brought into a conflict, many more would be brought in as a result.

N - Nationalism

• Nationalism is the extreme pride in one’s country/culture/history/language
• Nationalists believe their culture is superior to others

• People will identify with their regions or their ethnic groups as opposed to their ruling empires

• More people began joining the military to support their countries efforts to expand

U.S Enlistment Poster

In the Middle East

• the Ottoman Empire was rapidly crumbling under nationalist pressure
• Syria was under Ottoman rule, but began pushing for autonomy with British backing
• Palestine was also under Ottoman rule, but pressure from European zionists who were again backed by the British created even more internal nationalist issues

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• Iran remained neutral throughout the war, but was occupied by the Ottomans, Russians and British during various periods

I - Imperialism

• Nation’s and Empires began claiming land across the world to gain access to natural/raw resources while expanding their spheres of influence
• Countries had exhausted their own natural resources but were thirsty for more

• Stronger countries began extending power through military force and using it to conquer large portions of land (Africa especially)

Political cartoon from 1882 depicting

Britain as the ‘octopus’ of imperialism

• Poland, for example, did not exist during this time, it was instead split between Germany, in what was then known as Prussia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Russia

• In Asia, Japan had annexed Korea in 1910 and parts of China
• the Philippines were under United States rule after the Phillipine-American War of 1899-1902

A - Assassination

• Gavrilo Principe
• Serbian nationalist from Bosnia, working for the terrorist group the Black Hand

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is murdered along with his wife in Sarajevo (modern day Bosnia)

• Austria-Hungary presents Serbia with an ultimatum to remove all anti-Austrian propaganda and that Austria-Hungary be allowed to conduct their own investigations into the murder
• Serbia conceded to these demands – but Austria went ahead with a military response

C - Crisis

Political cartoon from 2 October 1912 entitled, “Boiling Point” ->

• First Balkan War (1912)
• Second Balkan War (1913)

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• Fragility and insecurity left by the receding Ottoman Empire

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• Romania gained its independence in 1877 from the Ottomans
• along with Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia

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