Causes of WWI Trivia Quiz

Answer: HMS Dreadnought

The arms naval race was principally between Britain and Germany. The land race, however, was between all the key European powers: Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Each power wanted to have the biggest and most skilled army.

Answer: Greece

Austria-Hungary felt deeply threatened by the growth in land and power of Slav nations (especially Serbia and Russia). Austria-Hungary was an empire made up of many nationalities, and most of whom wanted independence. Many of these peoples were Slavs, and they looked to Serbia and Russia for inspiration and support.

Answer: They had only just achieved unification

Many European nations certainly kept on losing colonies in wars with other European nations, although in the case of Germany and Italy, these lands tended to be border wars on the European continent.

Germany and Italy were desperate for the opportunity to acquire colonies. Until the last half of the nineteenth century, Germany and Italy were made up of smaller independent states, and so were only really just getting the opportunity to gain colonies in Africa. These colonies tended to be areas that Britain and France didn't want.

Answer: Russia

Britain, France and Russia made up the Triple Entente. The other major alliance before the First World War was the Triple Alliance, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Portugal and the Netherlands tended to be neutral countries.

The histories of the various alliances are complicated. The Triple Entente combined the Franco-Russian Alliance and the Entente Cordiale. The Triple Alliance was initially the Dual Alliance between Austria-Hungary and Germany. Italy only joined later. The alliances provided the framework for the two sides (the Allies and the Central Powers) in the First World War, each of the other powers including other allies and their colonies. Britain, for example, called on her colonies and her Dominions, including Canada, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Answer: Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria's many children married into other royal families. King George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II, monarchs of Britain, Germany and Russia respectively, were cousins. Despite being family (or maybe due to being family) Nicholas and George still went to war with Wilhelm, and George refused Nicholas and his family asylum just before the Bolshevik Revolution.

'Eagle on Bill's head' refers to Kaiser Wilhelm's military obsessions.

Answer: Austria-Hungary didn't supply enough manpower

The Schlieffen Plan was devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen. He knew that if Germany went to war with either France or Russia, the other would attack. Therefore, he came up with this plan, whereby German troops would advance quickly into France through Belgium and take Paris within 6 weeks (which he estimated would be the minimum time Russia would need to mobilise fully), then turn back and attack Russia. Mobilised fully, the Russian army would be too large for the Germans to defeat. Unfortunately for Germany, the Russian troops were too efficient in marching, and their supplies were left behind. Belgium, a neutral country, wasn't expected to put up much of a fight. Russia had already begun mobilising after the tension between Serbia and Austria, and so Germany had to divert a significant number of its troops in the other direction. Britain also came to Belgium's defence and sent in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

Other countries had plans of action in place in hope of a quick war. Britain put together an elite taskforce (the BEF) of highly-trained professional soldiers. France had Plan 17, whereby she would attack Germany in the Rhineland and seize the Ruhr. Russia hoped to defeat the Central Powers through sheer weight of numbers.

Answer: Assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, as a member of the Serbian terrorist organisation, the Black Hand, fired two shots with a pistol, killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia. This sparked off a series of events leading to the outbreak of the First World War.

Answer: 1839 Treaty of London

In 1839, Britain, France and Prussia promised, through the Treaty of London (also known as the Treaty of Westminster), to uphold the independence and neutrality of Belgium (just granted independence from the Netherlands).

The 1827 Treaty of London ended the Greek War of Independence.

The First Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1814 confirmed Dutch colonies after British occupation during the Napoleonic Wars. The Second Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1824 resolved some of the questions that arose due to the first treaty in 1814, and other disputes between the Dutch and the British.

Answer: The huge British losses in the Battle of the Somme in 1916

Although the British did lose many men during the Battle of the Somme (famously 60,000 casualties - dead, wounded, taken prisoner - on the first day alone), this is not seen as a reason for the American entry.

A German U-boat sank RMS Lusitania in 1915. It was not a merchant, or a war ship, and was carrying many American passengers. The ship may have also been carrying weapons, however. In 2006 the BBC produced and screened a docu-drama on the sinking of the Lusitania, starring John Hannah.

The German request to Mexico is also known as the Zimmermann Telegram. Britain had just recently broken the German military code, and discovered the request, informing President Wilson and Congress asap. The telegram didn't actually invite an unprovoked attack, but instead informed Mexico of the German plan to resume unrestricted submarine warfare. Despite this, Germany hoped that the US to remain neutral, and so it asked Mexico, if the US did enter the war against Germany, to invade the border states with German diplomatic and financial aid. The Telegram also suggested a further alliance with Japan. Thanks to player Ignotus for your useful notes on the Zimmermann Telegram.

Germany practised unrestricted submarine warfare at the beginning of the war, until the US called it a breach of human rights. Until the sinking of the Lusitania, Germany only attacked Allied shipping. After the Lusitania, she stopped attacking passenger liners, instead concentrating on merchant and war ships. By 1917, however, Germany realised that the US would enter the war sooner or later, and so reassumed unrestricted submarine warfare.

Answer: The Allies

Until the 1915 Italy was technically been a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. She decided to stay neutral at the outbreak of war. By 1915, she had received enough persuasion from the Allies (in the form of land) to enter the war on the side of Allies.

Italy wanted the South Tyrol, Trieste and various part of the Croatian coastline) and hoped for further rewards.