[jennzie]

hi everyone.
sorry i am very stuck..
this half term i have to do my history assessment on the causes of world war 1 and well i am finding it hard to link all the reasons together.
i wrote about the assassiation of Franz Ferdinand... i wrote about the triple alliance and the triple entente and the naval race..

but i cant explain the scramble for africa and the kaiser & weltpolitik... also the morrocon crises

it is really confusing

please help me

thank you

[Mr. D. Bryant]

jennzie, on Oct 29 2009, 12:56 PM, said:

this half term i have to do my history assessment on the causes of world war 1 and well i am finding it hard to link all the reasons together...
but i cant explain the scramble for africa and the kaiser & weltpolitik... also the morrocon crises

Have a look at this thread. It will give you some ideas about the Scamble for Africa. Then do a forum search on Morocco which should give you some more leads.

Then ask yourself the following questions:
Why did Germany feel left behind in the build-up of empires?
How is France going to feel about Germany poking its nose into Morocco?
How is Britain going to feel about Germany building up its navy and creating its own empire?

This should give you some ideas of the way to go: I know you are very keen on working things out for yourself. Good luck and if you need more help let us know. And remember, there's no need to apologise about asking for help; it's what we're here for.

[jennzie]

thank you so much for your help, i will go through it and see if i can understand it all.
for some reason whenever i try and forum search something it just says there's a problem and it would close, which is why i cant forum search.
by the way, what has the Kaiser and Welpolitik got to do with the war? and how does it link?



thank you for your help.. it is greatly appreciated

[jennzie]

hi again,
i am finding it difficult to structure my essay and at the same time linking it...
the question of the essay is: What were the causes of World War I?

i want to include :

• The Alliance system
  
• War plans - British, Schieffen plan, the Russian plan
  
• the battle of marne
  
• why war wasnt over by Christmas
  
• Naval race
  
• imperialism in Africa/ Scrambe for Africa
  
• Germany's invasion over Belgium
  
• France's desire for revenge against Germany
  
• the size of the British Empire
  
• Germany's desire to dominate Europe
  
• suspicion between the main powers in Europe
  
• the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and countdown to war from that
  
• the Kaiser & Weltpolitik
  
• Crisis - Morrocan, Bosnian, Agadir and Fashoda

i know this a long list and that is why i need to find a way to link them and a way to structure them..
at first i was thinking of listing the long term then short term causes but i wont be able to link it that way.

please please help me! i am so stressed... it is really important i get a high level.

thank you so much for your time

[Mr. D. Bryant]

I don’t know why you are having trouble searching the forum. Remember, the search engine won’t let you search for words with fewer than four letters.
There is a brief introduction to Kaiser Wilhelm II on the excellent Spartacus Schoolnet site here. Have a look at the quote from the Daily Telegraph interview of 1908. This should give you some clues as to why the Kaiser’s policies led to war with Britain.

‘Weltpolitik’ literally means ‘World Politics’ or ‘World Policy’. There has been a lot of arguments among historians about precisely what it means. However, for your purposes it essentially means that the Kaiser and leading German politicians wanted Germany to become a world power. This meant building up the German Navy and creating a German overseas empire.

Hopefully this should make things clearer.

[MrJohnDClare]

You can omit:
- the battle of marne
- why war wasnt over by Christmas
they aren't about the causes.

Otherwise it is an EXCELLENT list - good research, and good analysis into causes.

What I would do then in your situation is:
1. Put your list of causes in chronological order.
2. Write about them in that order - allocate a paragraph for each cause.
3. Remember to PEE every paragraph - say that this point is a cause, then put your facts about that cause, then EXPLAIN how that issue actually helped to cause the war. Remember that the better the explanation, the better the mark.
4. HOWEVER, make sure ALSO that you start every paragraph (except the first, of course!) by commenting on those previous causes which you have mentioned which link into this new point you are making, and briefly explaining why they link int it, And ALSO that you finish every paragraph (except the last, of course!) with a couple of sentences looking ahead to the other points which emanated from this cause.
5. Finish with a conclusion which is at once a summary, but which also weighs the causes and chooses the most important and says why.

There are many other ways you could find your way through the maze, but this is a simple one which will work.

[Marx]

I don't know if it will help, but I make my paragraphs like this :

Fact - What are you going to explain to the reader in this paragraph ? Explain the fact of the paragraph.
Consequence - What were the results of this fact ? What did it acctually DO ?
Analysis - Relate to the question, how was this a cause of WWI ?
Link - Link to the next paragraph


"Although *the FACT of your paragraph* was a cause of WW1, other factors existed such as *what you're going to look at in the next paragraph*."

[jennzie]

thank you so much for the help, both of you...
i was able to structure at the end thanks to you... you gave really good ideas

[MrJohnDClare]

You always say thank you, Jennzie.
Thank you.

[jennzie]

thanks, lol i cant help it!!!!!!

[jennzie]

thank you so much for your help....
all of you.. it helped me loads

thanks