Causes of World War I

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Causes of World War I

• The Arms Race

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The Arms Race

• The Naval Arms Race
• One of the most important causes of tension after
  1900.
• Britain felt threatened because Germany began
  building a large navy.
• Britain feared that Germany might use its new,
  powerful navy to capture parts of the British
  Empire
• In 1906 Britain launched HMS Dreadnought. A
  very powerful ship. Germany started building her
  own.
• The British responded by building more and more
  dreadnoughts. Germany tried to keep up.

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The Naval Arms Race

• Dreadnoughts
• The launch of Dreadnoughts in 1906 was
  significant because these new battle ships could
  easily destroy the older type ships that made up
  a large part of Britains naval force.
• The race was to build the most DREADNOUGHTS

• Naval Arms race reached its peak in 1909.
• Germany refused to agree on the number they would
  build.
• Britain saw the German fleet as a direct threat
  to their interests overseas.
• Public pressure forced the British Government to
  build 8.
• We want eight wont wait

4
Result of the Naval Arms Race

• The naval race did a lot to make the British
  resent the Germans lead Britain into better
  relations with France

5
The Arms Race

• The build up of armies, 1900-14
• Military leaders argued that the only way to
  ensure peace was to have strong armies capable of
  preventing an attack by another country
• Apart from Britain all other powers therefore
  increased the size of their army in this period.
• Conscription (compulsory military service) was
  introduced by all except Britain. (see diagram)
• Russias army was expanding the quickest and this
  worried Germany. However, it was badly equipped.
• Germanys army was probably the most powerful
  best equipped.
• Germans took great pride in this

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SummaryRelations between the Great Powers

• 1904 Entente Cordiale
• 1905 First Moroccan crisis
• 1906 Launch of the Dreadnought
• 1907 Triple Entente
• 1908 Bosnian crisis
• 1911 Agadir crisis