HOW SIMILAR WERE GERMANY AND BRITAIN BEFORE 1914?

ROYALTY

(Similarities)

• Both were creating an anti foreign policy for the opposing country
• Both Kaiser Wilhelm II and George V are related to Queen Victoria

ROYALTY

(Differences)

• Kaiser Wilhelm II was more agitated
• Kaiser was a passionate supporter of German militarism and imperialism
• Edward VII saw a new, less formal and austere society
• Edward VII was known as Edward the Peacemaker

ECONOMY

(Similarities)

• Both countries had trading policies which ensured their financial prosperity
• Both had created a large empire which had contributed to its wealth
• Both economics were one of the strongest in the world 

ECONOMY

(Differences)

• Britain's budget of 1911 had led to an increased taxation of the super rich allowing liberals to pay for the next tranche of reforms and the 8th Dreadnought
• Germany had varying levels of taxation allowing the imperialist government to pay for the huge army and navy

POLITICS

(Similarities)

• Both have strong governments
• Both are introducing social reform

POLITICS

(Differences)

• Britain's Herbert Asquith wanted to keep out of politics and focus on problems at home
• Britain wanted to improve the life of the working man
• Kaiser preferred to concentrate on the break down of the alliance system

NAVY

(Similarities)

• Both used their navies for protection
• Both countries felt threatened

NAVY

(Differences)

• Germany had a small navy
• The British navy protected their empire
• The German navy protected growing trade
• Britain had a large navy

PROBLEMS FACED BY GERMANY BEFORE 1914

SOCIAL

1. Women took the men's jobs in factories. Some thought it would ruin tradition
2. The war had divided the people of Germany
3. People started to get weary and tired
4. People were short on food, medicine and clothes because the British used their ships to stop supply ships get to Germany
5. The war left 60,000 widows and 2 million orphans

ECONOMIC

1. The economy was short on food, medicine and clothes
2. German factories started producing weapons instead of goods to sell abroad
3. Germany relied on loans from abroad(USA) to finance the war
4. Some factory owners made a fortune 
5. Germany had to lend money to her allies with the risk of never getting it back

POLITICAL

1. War pensions cost the Government a fortune in the future
2. Mutiny and revolution replaced former stability and peace 
3. Widespread belief that German people were betrayed by politicians
4. Many ex-soldiers believed that they would have won the war if supported by their government

LONG AND SHORT TERM CAUSES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

MONARCHY

• King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II did not like each other
• Wilhelm was jealous of George's role in the British monarchy
• Wilhelm visited Britain twice; one for the unveiling of Queen Victoria's memorial and again for George's coronation  

MILITARISM

• Germany and Britain were frightened by each others weapons and battleships
• They started competing as to who could build the most and more dangerous. This was called the Arms Race
• The British launched a stronger and faster type of ship called a Dreadnought
• Germany quickly decided to start building similar ships

EMPIRE

• European countries wanted a large empire
• This would make them see powerful and prestigious
• The British empire was large whereas the German empire was small

BALKAN CRISIS

• The Balkans were a very poor area of south-eastern Europe
• The Turkish empire was very weak
• Other powers wanted influence in countries Turkey controlled; Germany wanted to build a railway through the Balkans whereas Austin-Hungary wanted to stop Serbia stirring up Serbian nationalism
• Russia wanted access to the Mediterranean whilst Italy to control the other side of Adriatic
• In 1908, Austria - Hungary annexed Bosnia. They made a deal with Russia
• Russia would support the annexation and Austria- Hungary would support Russia's bid to control straits
• The subsequent wars created tension
• Serbia wanted to unite all Slavs and were angry about the annexation 

NATIONALISM

• Germany and Britain believed that their country was better than the other
• The British people were very religious and believed in the importance of their king and traditional ways of doing things
• The German were the same

ALLIANCES

• Alliances were formed to support each other in times of war
• The central powers was made up of Germany, Austria- Hungary and Italy
• Germany was worried about being attacked by France or Russia
• The triple Entente developed after France formed an alliance with Russia in 1893
• Britain joined them in 1907

ASSASSINATIONS

• Austria took over Bosnia
• A few Serbian people were upset because they didn't want to be ruled by Austria
• Apis (chief of the Serbian Secret Services) hates Franz Ferdinand, who is about to be made emperor
• He want him dead so he hires The Black Hand gang to kill him
• They travel to Sarajevo to assassinate him
• Cabrilloric fails to kill him so he tries to kill himself only to be revived by a policeman
• Princip is shocked by his friend's failure so he goes to get something to eat
• However Ferdinand's driver takes a wrong turn and drives straight past Princep
• Princep fires two bullets; one hitting Ferdinand in the neck and the other in his wife's stomach

THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

ARTICLE 231

• Germany were forced to sign Article 231 also known as the war guilt clause
• This stated that Germany accepted sole blame for starting the first World War and all the damage caused during the fighting 

REPARATIONS

• Germany were forced to pay reparation of 6.6 billion for all the damage caused during the fighting
• As well as that they had to pay for the costs of burying the War dead 
• The reparations were payable in gold and coal because the Allies did not trust Germany to pay in cash
• It was paid in installments of 50 million a year
• The final payment was made in May 2010

DEMILITARIZATION

• Germany's armed forces were reduced to 100,00 soldiers, 6 destroyers and no planes, tanks or submarines
• Conscription was banned

LOSS OF DOMESTIC TERRITORY

• Germany was made physically smaller-losing territory form the western and eastern borders

Alsace

• Lorraine was returned to France, Danzig and Posen went to Czechoslovakia and the Sarr Coalfield became a man dated territory under the leagues of nations
•  As a result of these charges, over 11 million German speaking people now found themselves living in new countries with new nationalities

LOSS OF OVERSEAS EMPIRE

• Germany's empire was broken up and shared between Britain and France 
• They were both allowed to keep their existing empires and increase them in size