Britain in WW I (0)

16. Britain in WW I

Causes of WWI:

• Mutual defence alliances (if one country was attacked then allies would rush to help and it snowballed into a war between many countries)
  
  • The alliances at the time were:
    
  • Russia and Serbia
    
  • Germany and Austria- Hungary
    
  • France and Russia
    
  • Britain and France and Belgium
    
  • Japan and Britain
    

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got involved to defend Serbia. Germany seeing Russia mobilizing, declared war on Russia. France was then drawn in against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany attacked France through Belgium pulling Britain into war. Then Japan entered the war. Later , Italy and the United States would enter on the side of the allies.

• Imperialism: empires got bigger and with that the competition between the empires grew. Everyone wanted more areas for themselves.
  
• Militarism: at the start of 20th century , an arms race had started . Nations had more technology and manpower than ever before and started making armies and new weapons.
  
• Nationalism: Much of the origin of the war was based on the desire of the Slavic peoples in  Bosnia and Herzegovina to no longer be part of Austria-Hungary but instead be part of Serbia. But in a more general way, the nationalism of the various countries throughout Europe contributed not only to the beginning but the extension of the war in Europe. Each country tried to prove their dominance and power .
  
• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand : In June 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated him and his wife while they were in Sarajevo , Bosnia which was part of Austria-Hungary. This was in protest to Austria-Hungary having control of this region . Serbia wanted to take over Bosnia and Herzegovina. This assassination led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. When Russia began to mobilize due to its alliance with Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia. Thus began the expansion of the war to include all those involved in the mutual defense alliances.
  

"Splendid isolation"

Splendid Isolation was the foreign policy pursued by Britain during the late 19th century. The term was actually coined by a Canadian M.P. to praise Britain's lack of involvement in European affairs. It basically means that Great Britain was isolated from the rest of