World War one

from Russian perspective

Made by: Carmen Kreutzelman, Daniël de Haas, Derek Steendijk,

Gido van Heeswijk, Indy van Kuringen, Jasmijn van der Meer, Lena Sandmeier,
Mayke Kreutzelman, Nanette Panhuizen, Selina Mennes and Lisa Klessens
Class: TA3B
Subject: ELC

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 Content
Introduction………………………………………….………………………………………..………………..3
Russia and Serbia……………………………………………………………………………………………..4
Germany’s moves against Russia………………………………………………………………………5
Why did Russia mobilize troobs………………………………………………………………………..6
The Balkan War………………………………………………………………………………………………..7
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
Prezi…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9
Task dividing…………………………………………………………………………………………….…….10

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 Introduction
Previous time, we talked about why it was justified for Britain to go to war, this time it’s all
about Russia. Just like last time, we’ve made you a brochure in which you can find
information about the concerning subjects. We’ll make you understand why the
assassination of Franz Ferdinand was a major factor of Russia joining the war. Just like
Germany and the Balkan Wars.

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 Russia and Serbia
The direct cause of the war was the assassination on Fran Ferdinand. A group of Serbian men
decided to kill the prince of Austria-Hungary. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-
Hungarian Empire was shot to death along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo,
Bosnia. There is even a theory that the guy who shot him was drunk. Because of this scandal,
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
Austria-Hungary seeks German support for a war against Serbia in case of Russian militarism.
Germany gives assurances of support. That sentence may sound like it’s not that important,
but it is, it really is. Because well, Austria-Hungary is the one seeking support but the funny
thing about that is, they were also the ones who declared war on Serbia, not the other way
around. Let me just explain this example a little more to make sure you all understand how
absurd this situation is. Imagine a Dutch men attacking the Belgian King. Would you think
that it’s fair of Belgium to declare war on the Netherlands as response? To declare war on a
whole country while actually only one person is to blame? No right? Well, that’s exactly
what happened between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, no wonder that Russia decided to
come in and help Serbia.

What happened next? Well, Russia helped Serbia in case of attack. But as you probably
already understood, Russia can’t be blamed in this scenario, Russia had an alliance with
Serbia at the time and obviously wanted to protect it’s little ‘brother’ who had a similar
culture and language as Russia and who they had a mutual defense treaty with. which meant
that they were required to help. And well, attacking is the best form of defense.

Franz Ferdinand

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 Germany’s moves against Russia
Some people claim that Russia was the one to start the war, because of the fact that they
mobilized their troops very early, which is something we’ll explain later. But for now,
we’re going to explain why Russia had good reason to take part of this war. And we’ll do
that by using Germany. Because mostly, that’s where it all went wrong.

One other thing people often ‘forget’ to mention before just blaming Russia. Is that before
the great war even started, Germany was on edge with France because of the Franco-
German war which happened 43 years ago. Germany won that war and ever since, France
wanted revenge. There’s no doubt that Germany was the one who started that war. They
weren’t really one country yet and their victory against France really united them. But that
also meant, that the whole country kind of thought they were invincible. And the very best
in everything, winning wars included. But my point is, this event shows that Germany, like it
or not, is a country that’s in for a war. And looking back into history, The Franco-German
war, world war 2 are all things that mainly happened because of Germany, so the question
is, would world war 1 have happened at all, if there was no Germany?

The Russian government considered Germany to be the main threat to its territory. This was
reinforced by Germany's decision to form the Triple Alliance. Under the terms of this military
alliance, Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy agreed to support each other if attacked by
either France or Russia.

After that, Russia joined Britain and France formed the triple entente. Which basically meant
that the countries did not necessarily had to go to war to protect the country in need, but
instead just stated that they had a ‘moral obligation’ to support each other.

Russia wasn’t the one with the intentions to go to war, Germany was. On august the 1st, war
was declared by Germany and they mobilized. Russia had their troops ready early on, on
both land and sea, but that doesn’t mean
that it was an indirect way of telling that
they were declaring war nor was it directed
at Germany. Russia had their troops ready
for safety. Germany however considered
this as a thread, and declared war with
Russia. This was not Russia’s intention.
Russia wanted to make everyone feel safe
by preparing for a battle/attack etcetera.

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 Why did Russia mobilize its troops?
An argument that’s often used why Russia began the first world war, is the fact that they
were the first to mobilize its troops, but now we’re going to discuss this with you and
prove that Russia had good reason to mobilize.

Looking at the map you can see that the Balkans are right next to the Dardanelles, the straits
that give access to the black sea. Russia needed to maintain influence there in order to
ensure traffic through those straits. Because as you can see, it’s a very Especially if the
Ottomans were going to form an alliance with the Germans… which they did.

Also, at least in its own estimation Russia was in danger of becoming a laughingstock in
European politics: their humiliating loss to Japan in the Russo-Japanese war was followed by
Russia’s inability to stop Austria from annexing Bosnia from the Ottomans in 1908.

Its history of prior weakness meant that Russia’s foreign policy makers feared that without
some decisive action, Russia wouldn’t be taken seriously anymore.

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 The Balkan War
In the world war one it seemed that a lot of countries wanted to have power in the Balkans.
For example; Russia, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and even the British.

The importance of the Balkans lay in the geographic location of the peninsula. It was situated
at the crossroads of three major empires (The Ottoman empire, the Russian empire and
Austro-Hungarian empire). It even had access to several important waterways. Because of
this the Balkans had been a gateway between East and West for centuries. This meant that
the Balkans were very important. The Ottoman Empire had ruled the most of Eastern
Europe, including the Balkans. Western European powers (Britain, France, Germany and
Russia) developed a strong interest in the Balkan states, which was based on concerns about
what could happen if the Ottoman Empire fall apart.

Russia didn’t have a port at warm water. That’s because Russian ports usually freeze during
the winter. That’s one of the reasons why Russia wanted to have the Balkans. In order to set
their war ships in the sea they need permission from NATO, which they didn’t have a good
relationship with. NATO is an international organization which consists of the USA, Canada,
Britain, and other European countries. All of them have to agree to support one another if
they are attacked. So they were looking for allays in the Balkans who have access to warm
waters, but they have been recently “betrayed” by Montenegro (which joined the NATO).

The Balkans had been occupied by Muslim Turkey for centuries. Then in the 19th century as
a result of several Russian-Turkish wars, Turkey had to withdraw (especially after 1878 war).
This resulted in liberation of Christian countries (Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece,
Macedonia). They all appeared on the map as independent countries only because of
Russian efforts and Russian military victories. If not for Russia the Balkans would be still a
province of Turkey and repressed (or genocide).

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 Conclusion
You may have noticed that we avoided the words ‘good guy’ and ‘bad guy’ in our arguments.
We did this deliberately. The motive of a war is always that two people/groups don’t agree
with each other. This means that there are to different opinions or different ideas. But that
doesn’t mean that one of them is right, and the other one is wrong. When you disagree with
the other, you will see the other as a bad person. But in their eyes, you are the person who is
wrong. A war is never just someone’s fault but always consists of a series of events that lead
to a particular outcome.

I mean, it clearly was the fault of the Ottoman empire right? If they could’ve just stopped
Austria from annexing Bosnia none of this would’ve happened. On the other hand, there
wouldn’t even have been an Ottoman empire without those stupid Romans. And of course
the Roman empire was largely dependent on Constant expansion and looting, so if only the
Gaul’s could have defeated Caesar, we wouldn’t have had all those problems right now.

Actually, no wonder Caesar was assassinated he was about to start the first world war in
1900 years… you get my point yet? And of course things could’ve gone different if other
choices were made and some countries were more wrong than others. But when it’s about
screaming someone’s name because ‘’he’s the bad guy’’ just think about this quote: There
ain’t no good guys there ain’t no bad guys, there’s only you and me, and we just disagree.

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 Prezi

https://prezi.com/view/GL2qC5GObSL4rEHfjvSe/

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 Task dividing

Names Tasks
Daniël de Haas Russia and Serbia
Derek Steendijk Russia and Serbia
Gido van Heeswijk Russia and Serbia
Indy van Kuringen Germany’s moves against Russia
Jasmijn van der Meer Why did Russia mobilize its troops
Lena Sandmeier Germany’s moves against Russia
Nanette Panhuizen Conclusion
Selina Mennes The Balkan War
Lisa Klessens Introduction
Carmen Kreutzelman Russia and Serbia
Mayke Kreutzelman Germany’s moves against Russia
Why did Russia mobilize its troops?
The Balkan War
Word-document
Prezi
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