Militarism
Militarism is the belief that the government should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests. Between 1870 and 1914 France and Germany had doubled the size of their armies, and Germany threatened British mastery of the seas. To defend their naval superiority, the British developed the Dreadnought, a super-battleship. The Germans responded by building their own dreadnoughts, which corresponded with the international arms race. Germany devised an attack plan that would, theoretically, allow the Germans to topple France in just 6 weeks called the Schlieffen Plan.
Alliances
An alliance is an agreement made between two or more countries to give each other help when needed. Between 1879 and 1914, a number of alliances had been written. Germany and Austria-Hungary formed an alliance with Italy forming The Triple Alliance, Russia, France, and Britain formed the Triple Entente to defend themselves from the Triple Alliance, Russia formed an alliance with Serbia to defend them, and Britain formed an alliance with Belgium.
Imperialism
Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and makes them subject to their rule. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents, and France had control of large areas of Africa. With the rise of industrialism, countries needed new markets, which the colonies served as. The colonies would send raw materials to the mother country, which would use the raw materials to manufacture goods, and then would sell those manufactured goods back in the colonies. Unlike Britain and France, Germany had joined the scramble for colonies late in the 19th century due to its late unification in 1871. When Germany began claiming colonies, most of the world had already been claimed. The only lands the Germans could claim were a few small areas in Africa during the Scramble for Africa.
Nationalism
Nationalism is a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations. Nationalist movements united both Italy and Germany, who despised the rest of the European nations who agreed to leave them as divided states. This sentiment later led to the outbreak of World War One.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Assassinated!!
On June 28, 1914, the Archduke was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand. Princip and six other members attempted to assassinate him. The first three attempted to kill the Archduke using bombs, and the other two never had the chance to attack him. When the Archduke was en route to the hospital to visit the victims of the first attempt at his life, his driver took a wrong turn, and led the car onto the same street Princip was on. While the driver tried to turn around, Princip walked up to the car and shot the Archduke in the jugular and his wife in the stomach. Both died shortly thereafter.