Name:

________________________________________________

Date: ___________________

Unit 3: World War I

Lesson 1: Causes of World War I
LESSON TARGET
Remember, Lesson Targets are the components or parts of the Unit Mission. After you complete all the lesson
targets, you will have everything you need to answer the Units Essential Question to accomplish the Unit Mission.

Nationalism Virtual Center

With your group, read about nationalism before Word War I. Then, work together to complete the closed passage
below.

________________________ is feeling loyal and proud of your nation and

believing your nation is better and more important than other nations. The
events that led to World War I all began with _____________________ and it
continued to be the _______________________ problem in the events that led
to World War I.

Nationalism began before World War I in ___________________. The

nations of Europe wanted other nations to _____________________ and
______________________ them. They all fought with each other about who
was most important.

In the beginning, nationalism was a positive thing where people just felt love
and devotion to their countries. They were grateful to feel a
________________________ with fellow citizens and happy to be a part of
something bigger, just like college football fans feel about their teams.

Before World War I, rivalries also became ___________________ because

people were reacting to __________________________ and
____________________________ who both tried to capitalize on national
rivalries.

__________________________ saw nationalism as a way to sell more

papers. Newspapers ___________________ on nationalism by using a tactic
called ____________________________. This was when newspapers
exaggerated or embellished the truth about a story to make it seem a bigger
deal than what it actually was.

Newspapers reporters knew that this sort of _____________________ would

sell papers and make them a lot of money. Some people bought the papers
because they feared ____________________________________________.
Others bought papers because they __________________________. They
wanted to prove their nations _____________________.

______________________________ also tried to capitalize on nationalism.

They printed and gave out _______________________ that conjured up
strong emotions in people. This is anidea or statement that is either false or
exaggerated and is spread in order to help a political cause, a political leader,
or a government. It led citizens to approve of government decisions that they
would never have approved of before. Leaders used propaganda to
_____________________ their citizens to approve tax increases for military
expansion and new weapons technology.

Name:

________________________________________________

Date: ___________________

They also used propaganda to convince citizens to support their

_______________________________. One policy in particular was called
________________________. This is when a nation takes over another nation
to rule them and take their natural resources. Government leaders led their
people to believe they needed other places' __________________________
to remain powerful. Leaders also led their people to believe that other nations
would respect their nation more if they supported the idea of
_______________________. This is building up and maintaining a strong,
well equipped military in order to defend, gain power, or achieve goals.
Government leaders made people believe that other nations would respect
them more if they built up astrong military that could win
_________________________ in other lands.

(Put your nationalism center check behind this when you get it back. It will be
page 5 in your Lesson 1 Chronicles.)

Militarism Virtual Center

PART 1: With your group, read about militarism before Word War I. Then, work together to answer the questions
below. All answers must be in PQA format and you must use evidence from the reading to support your answer.

1. Describe a nation that practices militarism.

2. What caused militarism to develop in Europe?

3. Describe the ways rivalries changed nations militaries in Europe before

World War I.

4. Look at the first table under the header, Increasing Military Spending and
Size. What does this chart describe?

5. Look at the second table under the header, Increasing Military Spending
and Size. Why do you think Germany and France had the largest
militaries?

6. Describe the arms race in Europe. What was it all about?

7. What were the two major effects of militarism?

PART 2: Fill in the blanks using what you learned from the reading.

8. Militarism got its start in ________________________________.

9. Militarism was strongest in ______________________________.
10.___________________ controlled 1/5 of the world by having the strongest
navy.
11. __________________ created the first air force.
12. _______________________ was the ruler of Germany who was jealous
of Great Britain, so he worked to make his military strong in order to gain
the respect that other nations gave Britain.

(Put your militarism center check behind this when you get it back. It will be
page 8 in your Lesson 1 Chronicles.)

Imperialism Virtual Center

With your group, read about imperialism before Word War I. Then, work together to answer the questions below.

1. ____________________ is when a nation takes over another nation to rule

them and take their natural resources.
2. The nation that does the taking over is called the ___________________.
3. A/an ____________________ is an area under the control of a mother
country, whose purpose is to provide resources to help the mother country.
4. A/an ____________________ is a country that rules itself but has
important matters decided by a more powerful nation.
5. All of the lands that the mother country rules including the mother country
are called a/an _______________________.
6. How were European nations able to take over other nations so easily?

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

7. What purpose did colonies and territories serve? ___________________

_________________________________________________________

8. Who were the major European nations that competed for land in Africa and
Asia?
9. Imperialism led to _____________________ and ____________________.

10. Name the three major reasons that European nations wanted empires.

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

11. When two empires competed for the same area of land it led to
_____________________________.

12. When nations began to fear war, they looked to form

______________________ with other nations to help protect themselves in
the event of invasion.

Alliances Virtual Center

With your group, read about alliances before Word War I. Then work together to solve the crossword puzzle
below.

WORLD WAR I ALLIANCES

1
2

3
4

5
6

9
10

11

12

13
14

Crises Virtual Center

PART 1: With your group, read about the major crises before Word War I. Then work together to match the
following summaries with the correct crisis.

Letter of the
description
________

________

________

________

Crises

Moroccan Crisis
Fashoda Incident

Boer War

Bosnian Crisis

Descriptions

a war between the British and the Dutch over

Transvaal and the Free Orange State in
Southern Africa

a conflict between Germany and France over

control of Morocco

an international conflict that occurred when

Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia
andHerzegovina

a dispute over territory between France and

Great Britain over an area of the Sudan south
of Egypt

PART 2: With your group, read about the major crises before Word War I. Then work together to fill in the blanks
to complete the results of each crisis.

The Moroccan Crisis

The Moroccan Crisis ended with ______________________ controlling Morocco; increased tension
between the nations of ______________________ and _________________________; and an alliance
between _________________________ and __________________________.
The Fashoda Incident
The Fashoda Incident ended with ______________________ controlling the Sudan;
_______________________ control of West and Central African; and increased friendship between the
nations of ______________________ and _________________________.
The Boer War
The Boer War ended with ______________________ controlling South Africa and
__________________________ losing colonies in Africa.

The Bosnian Crisis

The Fashoda Incident ended with ______________________ losing control of Bosnia and Herzegovina to
_________________________; _______________________ declaring their independence from
_________________________; and increased tension between ___________________________ and
____________________________ that would eventually lead to the assassination that sparks World War I.

PART 3: Fill in the blank with the correct vocabulary word.

1.) ____________________ became more important to European nations than any efforts to keep peace.

2.) Great Britain agreed to allowFrance to have a ____________________________________in

Morocco in exchange for backingdown and allowing the British toclaim eastern Africa.
3.) When Bosnia and Herzegovina were ________________________ by Austria-Hungary, the Bosnian
Crisis began.
PART 4: With your group, answer the question below.

What were the three outcomes of the crises that occurred before World War I?
1.)

2.)

3.)

Assassination Virtual Center

With your group, use the reading to solve the crossword puzzle.
1

4
5

10
11
12
13

14

15

16

17

ACROSS
2
the Serbian terrorist group that

planned and carried out the


assassination of Archduke


Franz Ferdinand (2 words)
5

the person who will become the king or

queen of a place when the current king
or queen dies

Germany's plan for fighting a two front

war with Russia and France where
Germany would invade France through
Belgium in a surprise attack; beat them
quickly; and move to the Russian front
before the (2 words)

the two nations annexed by

Austria-Hungary (3 words)

DOWN
1
bringing together military forces to

prepare for war
3

a region in which active warfare is

taking place in two places at one time
(3 words)

a region in which active warfare is

taking place

an agreement between two or more

nations

to kill a famous or important person

usually for political reasons

when several nations form alliances

with several other nations (2

words)

10 the heir to Austria-Hungary's throne

whose assassination sparked World

War I (2 words)
14 the reason America entered World

War I was to make the would safe for

this
15 to add an area or region to a country,

state, or city
16

the nation in which Austria-Hungary

declared war that started World War I

17

the member of the Serbian terrorist

group, the Black Hand, who

assassinated Archduke Franz
Ferdinand (2 words)

11 when one event sets into motion a chain

of similar events where each event is

triggered by the previous event (2

words)
12 the name given to World War I before

anyone knew there would be a World

War II (3 words)
13 a nation that does not participate in a

war

Self-Interest Virtual Center

With your group, fill in the outline of the reading.

Self-Interest Sparked Would War I

I.)

Self-Interest

A.)

Defined: _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

B.)

The _________________________________ cause of World War I

C.)

immune: _______________________________________________

II.)

Militarism Is About Self-Interest

A.)

Self-Interest was the motive _________________________________

B.)

Self-Interest In Militarism

1.) ___________________________________________________

2.) ___________________________________________________

3.) ___________________________________________________

4.) ___________________________________________________

III.)

Nationalism Is About Self-Interest

A.)

Nations felt that their nations were __________________________

______________________________________________________

B.)

Self Interest in Nationalism

1.)

__________________________________________________

2.)

__________________________________________________

IV.)

Imperialism Is About Self-Interest

A.)

Taking over another nation for their natural resources is _________

______________________________________________________.

There was no concern for _________________________________.

V.)

Alliances Were About Self-Interest

A.)

_____________________________________ were made between

nations to increase the chances that they would win in a war.

B.)

______________________________________ were made between

nations to decrease the chances of another nation invading and to

help defend each other in the event of invasion.

VI.)

Assassination Was About Self-Interest

A.)

________________________________ plotted to assassinate the

Archduke because they wanted their nation to be as important as

Austria-Hungary.

B.)

If ________________________________ had never annexed

Bosnia into their empire, there would have been no assassination in

the first place.

VII.) Crises Were About Self-Interest

A.)

Every crises was a result of one nation _______________________

______________________________________________________.

B.)

The ____________________________________ was about who

would control Morocco and gain their rich farm lands and mining

country.

C.)

Austria-Hungary _________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

VIII.) Self-Interest Was Not a Bad Thing

A.)

Nations have to put their nation ____________________________.

B.)

It is human nature to protect _______________________________

______________________________________________________

C.)

_____________________________________ is a natural tendency

toprotect yourself from harm or death.

D.)

The nations of Europe tried to build nations in which ___________

_______________________________________________________

E.)

They built armies and formed alliances to _____________________

______________________________________________________

F.)

They took over other nations to ensure that their citizens had ______

_______________________________________________________

G.)

thrive: _________________________________________________

H.)

They built up the citizens and ______________________________

______________________________________________________

I.)

Unfortunately, what was best for one nation might not be ________

J.)

It was a _____________________________________ that started

World War I.

K.)

conflict: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________