Causes of the First World War

Written by Ariane Knüsel

Contents	Powerpoint presentation with additional handouts that highlight the causes of the First World War
Suitable for	Gymnasium
Prerequisites	knowledge of Europe in the 19th century (political, economic, social and cultural transformations), including imperialism and nationalism.
Time	2-3 lessons

What's it about?

These lessons focus on the various factors that contributed to the outbreak of the First World War and allow students to work with different types of sources. The Powerpoint presentation includes a mind map, which lists the main factors that contributed to the First World War. Individual slides contain cartoons, maps and tables which can be analysed in detail by the students in groups before they are discussed with the entire class, interpreted by the whole class together or covered briefly by the teacher. Some of the slides are also available as a handout. Please note: the “blank check” is mentioned in the mind map and also on an individual slide but the actual text of the “blank check” telegram is only available as a handout.

Downloads

Causes of the First World War
	Powerpoint Presentation	Powerpoint [9 MB]
	Alliances before 1914	Word [33 KB] · PDF [96 KB]
	Text blank check	Word [124 KB] · PDF [91 KB]
	Table powers in 1914	PDF [70 KB]