HISTORY NOTES

Lesson 1
Timeline of examined period

World War One: 1914 1918 (also called as the Great War when it finished)
Interwar: Period in which things are happening/existing between the First and
the Second World War
World War Two: 1939 1945

Lesson 2
Long Term Causes of the WWI

Rise of Germany (since 1871 a united nation because of Napoleon)

Rise of Russia in the Balkans
Decline of the Ottoman Empire (also called as the sick man of Europe that
period)
Weakness of the Austro Hungarian Empire (multinational)
The Kaiser himself (Wilhelm II)
Imperialism
Militarism
Alliance Systems
1882 Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, Austria Hungary)
1907 Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia)

Did you know? The first country which went to Africa was Belgium
Lesson 3
Short Term Causes of the WWI

1894 Franco Russian Alliance

1898 Navy code (Admiral Tirpite)
1904 Entente Cordiale (France and Britain decided not to argue for the Africa
issue in order to fight against Germany together)
1905 First Moroccan Crisis (Kaiser tries unsuccessfully to weaken the
relationship between Britain and France they come even closer)
1906 First Dreadnought built (also called as fearless ship / dread = afraid of
sth, nought = nothing very big guns)
1907 Triple Entente (Britain France Russia) [Triple Alliance formed in 1882]
1908 Bosnian Crisis (Austria Hungary takes the opportunity to take Bosnia
as the Ottoman Empire is very weak)
1911 Second Moroccan Crisis and Anglo French Naval Agreement
1912 1913 First Balkan War
1913 Second Balkan War
1914 (28th June) Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Balkan League (Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Monte Allegro)

Panther (The ship that Kaizer sent when Second Moroccan Crisis occurred at
port Agadir)
Encirclement (mostly of Germany)

Did you know? The newest country in Europe is Ukraine

Lesson 4
July Crisis

10 point ultimatum by Austria Hungary to Serbia

Austria Hungary declares war on Serbia (28th July 1914) as Serbia fulfils 8
from the ten requirements

Tsar Nicholas II orders partial mobilization (30th July)

Germany demands Russia to end mobilization (31st July)

Nicholas II refused and Germany declares war on Russia (1st August)

Germany demands France to stay neutral (3rd August)

Germany invades Belgium (4th August)

WWI Begins
BEF: British Expeditionary Force (around 100.000 soldiers experienced from BOER
War in Africa)

Lesson 5
What did countries want?

UK: Stop Germany from becoming a colonial empire

FRANCE: Get back Alsace Lorraine

GERMANY: Break out of encirclement

AUSTRIA HUNGARY (multinational): End South Slav nationalism
Russia: Get Constantinople

Aggressive Mobilization Plans

Germany Schlieffen Plan: Plan of the German Admiral Schlieffen to start

fighting from Belgium and end up at France
France Plan 17: Attack to Rhineland
Russia Plan 19: Attack to Germany and Austria Hungary

Lesson 6
1914

4th August
Germany invades Belgium (with 1.5 million soldiers)
UK declares war on Germany
7th August
BEF supports France (with about 100.00 soldiers)
Battle of the Frontiers begins
France, Belgium Western Europe
Russia against Germany & Austria Hungary Eastern Europe
Frontiers of territory of Italy with Austria
Ottoman Empire
Middle East
Africa
17th August
Russia attacks East Prussia (Germany) [With the Schlieffen Plan Germany had
only one group of troops there and seven at Belgium as they thought that
Russia wouldnt act immediately]
23rd August
Battle of Mons (1st attack of BEF)
Battle of Tannenberg (Germany wins)
7th 14th September
Battle of the Marne (river near Paris): Failure of Schlieffen Plan
Reasons for Failure of Schlieffen Plan
Belgian Resistance
Arrival of BEF
Quick Russian mobilization & attack
Italian Neutrality
September October
Race to the sea
Britain: wants to take ports in order to make sure Germany doesnt go
there
Germany: wants to take ports in order to ensure that Britain can t do
anything
th
19 22nd October

First battle of Ypres: war of movements ends

2nd November
UK starts naval blockade of Germany (German soldiers die from hunger)
24th 25th December
X-MAS Truce: for one night Britain and German soldiers eat together, play
football together etc. (there is chivalry)

1915

January
First Zeppelin raid of UK

February
Germany starts unrestricted submarine warfare: America gets more active (it
is a superpower after 1914 construction completed on the Panama Canal)
ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps)

March
Start of Gallipoli Campaign
Battle of Neuve Chapelle

April May
Second Battle of Ypres

7th May
Lusitania sunk

23rd May
Italy enters War (with Triple Entente) [they hadnt gone from the beginning
because they had signed a paper with Triple Alliance in which there was a
paragraph saying that if Austria Hungary would cause the war, they wouldnt
enter]

1st June
Battle of the Isonfo

July September
Russian great retreat

5th 8th September

Zimmer Wald conference

8th September
Tsar Nicholas II becomes commander in chief of Russian army
From 500.000 soldiers of ANZAC 260.000 died
Why is WWI more important than WWII? Because:

after WWI finished important monarchies fell apart

nationalism had risen

after WWI finished new countries were created

WWI = Mismatch between 19th century strategy & 20th century technology