Hello and welcome to the first unit in this lesson on World War I.

In this unit, we'll be answering the inquiry question, how total was it for people across the British Empire? In the course of this unit, we'll be looking at lots of different things, including the international tension that was building up in the late 1800s, the outbreak of the war, and how it impacted people across the British Empire, but also at home.

However, for this lesson we're just going to be focusing on the building of international tensions.

However, before we get started, you're going to need a pen and paper.

If you don't have that, not to worry, just pause the video, get everything you need, come back, and press play when you're done.

Great, now you're ready.

Let's get started.

As you can see on our slide, we've got our lesson outcome, and today, by the end of the lesson, you can explain how increased tension in Europe towards the end of the 19th century, led to the formation of military alliances.

To reach this lesson outcome, we're going to need some keywords.

And for this lesson, we've got five keywords: alliance, arms race, military, Kaiser, and empire.

Now, before we see these words in the context of the lesson, it'd be really helpful to have a look at some definitions just to get us started.

So an alliance is a relationship between two or more countries for a particular purpose.

An arms race is a competition between nations for military superiority, that's another way of saying important, and the development of weapons.

The military is anything related to the armed forces of a country.

Kaiser is just a German word for emperor.

An empire is a group of states or countries ruled over by a single monarch.

Now we've had a look at some definitions, let's get started on the lesson.

Now, this list is going to be broken down into three parts.

First, we're going to look at the formation of Germany as a new nation.

Now, in order to do this, we're going to go back over 1000 years, not just to 1871, but back to around the year 800, when what we know as modern day Germany became part of the Holy Roman Empire, because what we know as Germany today, has a very, very long history.

When they became part of the Holy Roman Empire, they were a powerful force in Europe.

They replaced what was known as the Western Roman Empire that you may have learned about before, and they remained part of the Holy Roman Empire until the early 1800s.

That was when the Holy Roman Empire began to collapse and what we know now as Germany became a loose collection of 39 different states.

Although they spoke the same language, they were largely independent of each other.

Now have a look at the map on the slide.

What type of problems do you think these 39 different German states would've faced in the 1800s? Have a look at where it's located and think about the size that those states must have been.

Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got an idea.

Great, well done.

Having a look at the size of Germany and imagining that split into 39 different states, you might have had the idea that some of them were larger than others, and you would be right, because Prussia was the largest of the German states, and with some states being larger than others, some would be more powerful than others, and Prussia was definitely one of the more powerful German states, closely followed by a state called Austria.

By the late 1800s, there had been growing support for the unification of these 39 different states into one German nation.

This idea became even more popular when we think about the second problem these 39 states would've faced.

When you had your time to think, you might also have looked at the position of these 39 states and realised they were surrounded by growing European empires.

And so we'll see that unification is exactly what these 39 different states did.

There was a man called Bismarck who was the leader of Prussia at the time.

He led a war against France in 1871.

He then brought together these 39 different states into one unified German nation.

And although the process wasn't smooth, by 1871, a new nation called Germany had emerged in Europe.

The leader of this new nation at the time was a man called Kaiser Wilhelm I.

And he knew that lots of work had to be done if Germany was going to be able to compete with the surrounding nations.

The way in which he thought to do this was with something called industrialization, and in Germany it was very much rapid industrialization.

That means it happened at a very fast speed.

The reason that this happened was because Kaiser Wilhelm I looked at the German economy and realised in 1870 that it was based largely on agriculture, coal, and steel industries.

That worked absolutely fine for the states at the time.

However, if the new nation of Germany wanted to be able to compete with other European empires, they'd need to change this.

They'd need to start producing goods that were much more valuable.

Other countries would want to trade a lot more than the coal and the steel and the farm goods that they were producing in order to make more money for Germany so that they could build a strong and stable economy.

That was Kaiser Wilhelm I's priority, and that's exactly what he did, because by 1900, Germany had switched to mechanical, chemical, and car manufacturing industries.

This proved to be hugely successful, because although Germany had barely been a nation for 30 years, they had one of the most powerful economies in Europe because people were coming from far and wide to trade with these new, valuable industries.

Now we're going to take a moment to pause with a quick question just to check our understanding.

Which of the following did Kaiser Wilhelm I want for Germany? Was it A, to improve Germany's relationship with Britain and France, B, to give Germany time to build up a small, but strong military, or C, to use industrialization to grow Germany's economy into the largest in Europe? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an answer.

Fantastic, well done.

We've just learned that Kaiser Wilhelm I wanted to use industrialization to grow Germany's economy into the largest in Europe.

We know that so far, we haven't heard anything about Germany's relationship with Britain and France.

That wasn't a priority for Kaiser Wilhelm I, and he wasn't focused on giving Germany time to build up a small, but strong military.

We do know that his priority was to grow Germany's economy into the largest in Europe.

He wanted to use industrialization to be able to compete with other European empires.

Now that we've had a quick check for understanding, we can put what we've learned into practise.

So for the first task for this lesson, I would like you to explain what Germany needed to do in order to compete with other European empires.

And I'd like you to write your answer as a short paragraph.

So pause the video here, give yourself 5 to 10 minutes to write your paragraph, come back, and press play when you're done.

Really great work.

Let's now have a look at what your answer may have included.

As Germany was a new nation, they needed to industrialise quickly so that the Kaiser would have money and military power to build an empire that could compete with other European empires.

And as you can see here, there's three keywords used in this short answer.

If you weren't able to use any keywords in your answer, not to worry.

I'm sure you still did a great job, but let's have a go at trying to include some in the next practise.

Now, in the next section of this lesson, we're going to be looking at arms race.

Remember, this was one of our keywords, and an arms race is a competition between two or more countries for military superiority, another way of saying importance.

In the previous part of our lesson, we just learned about how Kaiser Wilhelm I made it his priority to use industrialization to make Germany one of the strongest economic powers in Europe.

Now on the slide, we can see Kaiser Wilhelm II.

His ideas and his intentions were very different to Kaiser Wilhelm I.

His priority was not focused on building a strong economy.

And we know this from his very famous quote, "Germany must have her place in the sun." What do you think this quote means? Pause the video, have a think, and come back when you have an idea.

Great, well done.

You might have been thinking about what it might mean to have a place in the sun.

You might have thought that it means having a place of importance or having a place of glory or taking centre stage, being in the spotlight.

And you would be right, because from this quote, we know that Kaiser Wilhelm II was determined to make Germany a great world power.

Other European empires, like we'd seen in the first part of our lesson, have been expanding even before Germany became a nation.

And Kaiser Wilhelm II believed it was now Germany's chance to build a strong military, to build a strong empire, and to have her place in the sun.

However, this would not prove as easy as he expected.

Part of the reason for this was by 1900, Germany only had half a million soldiers.

Now, this wasn't very many compared to other European nations, and it would be very difficult for Germany to have her place in the sun with only half a million soldiers.

So what Kaiser Wilhelm II decided to do, was take the process of industrialization that had been started by Kaiser Wilhelm I, and use the money being made from that, not to put it back into the economy, to make Germany a strong economic power, but to put it into the military, the armed forces, and the Navy, so that Germany would be a strong military power and be able to expand her empire.

And this proved very successful, because by 1914, Germany had 4.

9 million soldiers.

The only two nations more soldiers than Germany by 1914 were France and Russia.

So Kaiser Wilhelm II was succeeding in his plan.

So much so, that even Britain, who was believed to have the largest empire of all of these nations at the time, would've had to use soldiers from their colonies to be able to compete with Germany.

And this wasn't where Kaiser Wilhelm II stopped.

The competition between European powers reached its peak at sea, because Kaiser Wilhelm II wasn't just trying to expand the military on land, he was also trying to expand the German Navy.

And this became a huge threat to Britain.

And at this point, the arms race began.

And this was taking place while Germany was building up these millions of soldiers we were just talking about, because it was in 1906, that Britain released the HMS Dreadnought.

Think about the word dreadnought.

To dread something is to fear it, and nought, in some cases, is another way of saying nothing.

So even just the name of the battleship suggests that the ship fears nothing.

And this was true if we look at the size of it.

In 1906, this was a very impressive battleship, more impressive than many that had been seen before.

It was so impressive, that the ships that were built after the British Dreadnought that tried to imitate the same style of ship, also became known as Dreadnoughts.

One of these was the German ship.

One of these was a German battle ship built in 1908, known as Nassau.

The German ship was also called a Dreadnought.

Now, although this shows that the German Navy was trying to imitate British ships, this was still a huge threat to Britain, because they felt that if Germany could truly imitate their style of ships, then they would be a huge threat to them at sea.

And given that the British Navy had been boasting for decades that they had ruled the seas, this was not something that they were pleased with.

And the arms race only intensified.

Now, before we see what this arms race led to, we're going to have a quick question just to check our understanding of this part of the lesson so far.

Which of these statements best describes the arms race between Britain and Germany? Is it A, that Britain was not threatened by Germany's growing military and took no action? Was it B, that Britain was threatened by Germany and used their Navy to assert their power? Or C, that Britain was threatened by Germany and increased their number of soldiers? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're done.

Great work, the answer is B.

Britain was indeed threatened by Germany and use their Navy to assert their power.

If we remember, that was part of the reason that they released the HMS Dreadnought.

Remember the name.

It means that they feared nothing.

They were clearly trying to assert their power.

We know that A is not true, because Britain was threatened by Germany's growing military and did take action.

C is closer, in that Britain was threatened by Germany and their increased number of soldiers, but it's not the best statement to describe the arms race because the focus here between Britain and Germany was at sea.

Now ,let's put what we've learned into practise.

Starting with the earliest, I'd like you to sort these events into chronological order, with one being the earliest event.

Pause the video now, go and sort the events into order, come back, and press play when you're done.

Fantastic work.

Let's have a look at these events in the correct order.

So we know that the unification of Germany came first in 1871, when that loose collection of 39 states became the single nation of Germany, led by Bismarck of Prussia and Kaiser Wilhelm I.

Then, we know that after Kaiser Wilhelm I, came Kaiser Wilhelm II.

He declared his plans for an empire in the statement, "Germany must have her place in the sun." Then, we know that Britain built the HMS Dreadnought in 1906 as a result of their fears of German expansion at sea.

And then finally, we know that it was by 1914 that Germany had 4.

9 million soldiers.

Well done, now we can move on to the third and final part of our lesson.

In this part of the lesson, we'll be looking at the formation of alliances and growing tension in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Remember, alliances is one of our key terms, and an alliance is when two or more countries form a relationship for a particular purpose.

So let's have a look at some of the relationships that were formed across Europe and what the purpose of these relationships were.

So the first alliance that was formed was known as the Triple Alliance, and the Triple Alliance was formed in 1882.

We can tell from the name, it's going to have three main countries involved.

And as we can see on the map here, the three countries involved were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

You've probably already had the thought, or maybe have realised already, that 1882 is not very long after unification of Germany.

And that's because one of the problems, if you remember from the beginning of the lesson, was that those 39 German states were surrounded by growing European empires.

So soon after they became one single nation, the leaders of this new nation realised that they would need protection against these other empires, especially France, because as you remember, Bismarck had defeated them in a war just a year before they're unified.

So Germany sought an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy to protect themselves in the case of war or even just a threat from other European empires.

So as we can see here, the purpose of this alliance was for protection.

These three nations in Central Europe were looking to protect themselves in the case of war or simply the threat of other growing nations.

Now, despite those intentions, a second alliance system emerged 15 years later, known as the Triple Entente.

From the name, we know that it also involved three nations, however, entente is another word for a friendly understanding or informal alliance.

And this alliance was formed in 1907 between Britain, France, and Russia.

And the reason that this alliance was formed was for protection.

However, it was the need for protection in the context of growing tension across Europe, because as we've seen, Britain was threatened by Germany's growing power at sea.

And remember, in the early 1900s, France and Russia were the only two nations with more soldiers than Germany, and they feared the possibility that Germany may continue to expand and grow their military forces even larger than France and Russia's.

Therefore, the Triple Entente was formed between these three nations to protect themselves against the growing threat of Germany's power in Central Europe.

Now, before we move on to our final practise task, let's have a look at a couple of quick questions just to check our understanding so far.

Which of these four nations was part of the Triple Entente? Was it A, Austria-Hungary, B, Germany, C, France, or D Italy? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an answer.

Great, well done.

It was France.

Remember, France was worried about the growing power of the German military.

They were part of the Triple Entente with Britain and France, who shared these fears.

Let's have a look at another question.

Which of these nations was part of the Triple Alliance? Note here, we are looking at the first alliance system that we spoke about earlier.

Was it A, Austria-Hungary, B, Britain, C, France, or D, Russia? Pause the video, have a think, and come back when you have an answer.

Great, well done.

The answer is Austria-Hungary.

Remember, they were part of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Italy, formed in 1882, not very long after the unification of Germany.

But as we know, Germany was looking for protection against the surrounding European empires Although, this hope of protection soon only increased tension in Europe.

The first task I'd like you to do is to list five causes of tension in Europe from 1871 to 1914.

So that means you can use anything from the unification of Germany, right up until 1914.

Pause the video, have a thing, write down five causes, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Absolutely brilliant work.

Let's have a look at some of the things you might have included in your list.

You might have included the industrialization in Germany, as Kaiser Wilhelm I used it very successfully to grow Germany into a strong economic power very quickly after unification in 1871.

You might have then included the formation of the Triple Alliance that came very soon after the unification of Germany, as the strong force of countries in Central Europe would only have further threatened Britain, France, and Russia, therefore, increasing tension.

You might have included the creation of the Britain and German Dreadnoughts.

Remember, dreadnought means to fear nothing.

So this assertion of power shows that Britain and Germany were truly trying to become the strongest power at sea and on land.

You might have then included the formation of the Triple Entente, which as you remember, was the formation of an alliance between Britain, France, and Germany, who all feared the growing threat of German power.

And finally, you might have included the growth of the German military.

As we know, that didn't just threaten Britain at sea.

It also threatened France and Russia, which links back to the formations of Triple Entente.

Very well done for your work so far.

Now, for the final task I would like you to do in today's lesson is to answer the following question in a short paragraph.

How did growing tensions in Europe lead to the formation of alliances? You can now pause the video, give yourself 5 to 10 minutes to write your paragraph, and remember to try and use a few of the keywords we've been talking about through this lesson as we've seen in other practise tasks.

Off you go.

See you soon.

Absolutely great work.

You've done so well this lesson.

Let's have a look at what your final response might have included.

As the Kaiser grew Germany's military, they formed the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1882, to protect themselves against other European superpowers.

However, as Germany grew more powerful, Britain felt threatened and tension across Europe increased as Britain tried to maintain her power through alliances of her own.

This eventually led to Britain forming the Triple Entente with France and Russia in 1905, to protect themselves against the growing German military.

As you can see here, we've got in three keywords in this paragraph.

You can highlight where you've used keywords in your paragraph.

So to summarise what we've learned in this lesson, Germany only became an Asian in 1871, but very quickly became a threat to Britain through things like industrialization introduced by Kaiser Wilhelm I.

We know that an arms race began between Germany and Britain as they raced to have the greatest military in Europe.

And finally, we've learned that as tension grew, alliances were formed.

First between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in the Triple Alliance in 1882.

Then between Britain, France, and Russia, as they formed the Triple Entente in 1907.

You've done an absolutely fantastic job today.

Really well done.