What is World War I

• World War I was the first truly modern war.

• More than ten million men died fighting and millions more from disease and starvation.

• Many problems today can be traced to the results of the war.

M-Militarism

-Militarism is the belief that a country should have a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote its interests.

-European countries raised and prepared large armies, navies, and air forces to protect their homelands.

A-Alliances

• To increase their own nations’ security, European powers signed treaties with one another forming alliances.

• Alliances are agreements between nations stating that each country will assist the other if they are attacked.

I-Imperialism

• European countries competed with each other all over the world in the 1800s and early 1900s.

• The search for raw materials to fuel industry and markets to buy goods in far-flung corners of the world led to increased tension in Europe.

N-Nationalism

• Leading up to the World War I, people in Europe started to define themselves based on their nation and in opposition to others. Pride in one’s country was at an all time high.

• Some ethnic groups that wanted to unify but were a part of the few empires left in Europe, created tension by declaring their desire to rule themselves.

A-Assassination

• The immediate trigger for WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by Serbian students in Sarajevo.

• Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and triggered a chain reaction that led to the war.