The First World War

ICSE Class 10 · History & Civics · Chapter 16

What this chapter covers

Europe on the eve of the war
Causes: nationalism
Causes: imperialism
Causes: the armament race
Causes: the division of Europe
Causes: the Sarajevo crisis
The course and end of the war
Results: the Treaty of Versailles
Why the treaty was resented
Results: formation of the League of Nations
Objectives of the League of Nations

Key definitions

Nationalism is the feeling of love, loyalty and pride that the people of a nation have for their country, together with the belief that people who share a language, culture and history should live in one free state of their own.

Aggressive nationalism is the form of nationalism in which a people regard their own nation as superior to others and believe it has the right to grow in power and territory, even at the cost of its neighbours.

Pan-Slavism is the name of the movement to unite all Slav peoples, such as Russians, Serbs, Czechs and Poles, under the leadership and protection of Russia.

Pan-Germanism is the name of the movement to bring all German-speaking peoples together under German leadership.

Imperialism is the policy by which a powerful country extends its control over other lands and peoples, by conquest or by economic and political domination, in order to gain raw materials, markets, wealth and prestige.

Colonialism is the practice of acquiring and ruling colonies, that is, territories governed by a foreign power for its own benefit.

Militarism is the belief that a nation should keep a strong army and navy and be ready to use them aggressively to defend or advance its interests, together with the great influence of military leaders over government policy.

Conscription is the system of compulsory military service under which every young man must train in the army for a fixed period and then remain in the reserve, ready to be called up in war.

Reparations are payments that a defeated country is made to pay to the victors as compensation for the damage caused by a war.

Collective security is the principle that the security of each nation is the concern of all, so that an attack on any one member is treated as an attack on all and is resisted by all members acting together.

Key points

The First World War (1914–1918) was fought between the Allied Powers, led by Britain, France and Russia, and the Central Powers, led by Germany and Austria-Hungary.
About 13 lakh Indians served overseas and more than 74,000 died; the India Gate in New Delhi commemorates them.
Aggressive nationalism, seen in French desire to regain Alsace-Lorraine, German ambition and Serbian nationalism in the Balkans, bred hostility between nations.
Imperialism set the powers competing for colonies; Germany's demand for its "place in the sun" led to clashes such as the Moroccan crises of 1905 and 1911.
The armament race and militarism, including conscription and the Anglo-German naval race after 1898, spread fear and made war seem likely.
Europe was divided into the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, 1882) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia, by 1907).
The immediate cause was the Sarajevo crisis: Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on 28 June 1914, and Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.
The alliance system turned the local war into a general war within a week; Britain entered on 4 August 1914 after Germany invaded Belgium.
Fighting ended with the armistice of 11 November 1918.
The Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) imposed the war guilt clause, reparations of 6,600 million pounds, loss of all colonies and of land in Europe, and severe limits on Germany's armed forces.
Germans resented the treaty as a dictated peace, and this resentment sowed the seeds of future conflict.
The League of Nations came into existence on 10 January 1920 with its headquarters at Geneva; the USA never joined it.
Its objectives were to maintain peace, settle disputes peacefully, provide collective security, promote disarmament, uphold the peace treaties and mandates, protect minorities and promote international co-operation.

Questions answered

What is meant by aggressive nationalism? Give one example of how it caused tension before 1914.

Aggressive nationalism is the belief that one's own nation is superior and has the right to grow in power and territory at the expense of others. For example, France's wish to take back Alsace and Lorraine from Germany kept the two countries hostile.

How did imperialism lead to rivalry among the European powers?

The powers competed for colonies to gain raw materials, markets and prestige. Germany, a latecomer, wanted its "place in the sun" and clashed with Britain and France, for example over Morocco in 1905 and 1911.

What was the "powder keg of Europe", and why was it given that name?

The Balkans were called the powder keg of Europe because the rivalry of Serbian nationalism, Austria-Hungary and Russia there was so dangerous that a single incident could explode into a general war.

What is militarism? Name the British battleship launched in 1906 that intensified the naval race.

Militarism is the belief in keeping strong armed forces and using them to advance national interests, with military leaders having great influence on policy. The battleship was HMS Dreadnought.

Name the members of the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.

Triple Alliance (1882): Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Triple Entente (by 1907): Britain, France and Russia.

Why did the division of Europe into two camps make a general war more likely?

Because members of each camp were pledged to support one another, a local quarrel between two countries would draw in their allies, so that a small war could quickly become a war among all the great powers.

Who was assassinated at Sarajevo, when, and by whom?

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife were shot dead at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student.

Why did Britain declare war on Germany on 4 August 1914?

Germany invaded neutral Belgium to attack France. Britain had guaranteed Belgium's neutrality by a treaty of 1839, so it declared war when Germany refused to withdraw.

Past board exam questions

ICSE 2027 sample paper · 1 mark

Choose the option which shows the correct match: | Column A | Column B | |---|---| | 1. Militarism | A. Intense pride in one’s nation | | 2. Alliance System | B. Glorification of military power | | 3. Nationalism | C. Division of nations into rival groups |

1-B, 2-C, 3-A
1-A, 2-B, 3-C
1-C, 2-B, 3-A
1-B, 2-A, 3-C

Show answer

1-B, 2-C, 3-A

ICSE 2027 sample paper · 1 mark

Read the description and choose the correct option- A major global conflict broke out in the early twentieth century, beginning in Europe and soon spreading to other parts of the world. Powerful nations formed rival alliances, and an assassination triggered widespread fighting. The war reshaped political boundaries and weakened old empires. Its immediate cause was___________.

Formation of alliances
Annexation of Austria
Imperialism
Sarajevo Crisis

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Sarajevo Crisis

ICSE 2027 sample paper · 4 marks

The unfair Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of dictatorship in Germany. Mention any four clauses of this treaty to justify this statement.

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Any four: 1. Germany was declared guilty of aggression (war-guilt clause) and had to pay war reparations of 33 billion dollars. 2. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, and the Saar coal mines were given to France. 3. The Rhine valley was demilitarised and the German territory west of the Rhine was occupied by Allied troops for 15 years. 4. Germany lost all her colonies to the Allies. 5. The German army was restricted to 1,00,000 men and the navy to 15,000 men and 24 ships; the air force and submarines were banned. 6. Danzig was made a free port; Germany lost territory to Poland, Belgium (Eupen-et-Malmedy) and Denmark (Schleswig). These humiliating terms created resentment that Hitler …

ICSE 2026 board paper · 1 mark

Identify the odd one out of the following signatories of the Triple Entente.

France
Russia
Japan
England

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Japan

ICSE 2026 sample paper · 3 marks

Look at the picture given below and answer the following questions: (The picture is the front page of the newspaper The Evening Herald, with the headline 'ASSASSINATION MAY LEAD TO WAR' and the sub-headline 'Austrian Arch Duke is killed, believing that Emperor will die; gigantic murder plot is feared'.) How did the assassination mentioned above become a cause for the First World War?

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1. Archduke Francis (Franz) Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated with his wife at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, on 28 June 1914. 2. The assassination was carried out by a member of a secret society, the 'Union of Death' (Black Hand), formed by extremist Serbian nationalists who wanted to unite all Serbs into one state. 3. Austria served an ultimatum to Serbia with 11 demands; Serbia accepted most but refused those that would mean loss of sovereignty. 4. On 28 July 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia; the alliance system drew in Russia, Germany, France and Britain, and the First World War began.

ICSE 2026 sample paper · 3 marks

Look at the picture given below and answer the following questions: (The picture is the front page of the newspaper The Evening Herald, with the headline 'ASSASSINATION MAY LEAD TO WAR' and the sub-headline 'Austrian Arch Duke is killed, believing that Emperor will die; gigantic murder plot is feared'.) Mention any three points to analyse how Europe was reorganised because of the war triggered by this incident.

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Any three: 1. Three ruling dynasties – of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary – were destroyed, and the rule of the Ottomans came to an end. 2. Austria and Hungary became separate independent states. 3. New states such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were created. 4. Monarchies collapsed and democracy rose in many countries. 5. European supremacy ended and the USA emerged as a world power; discontent later led to the rise of dictatorships.

ICSE 2026 board paper · 3 marks

Look at the newspaper headline given and answer the following questions: Headline (The Evening World, War Extra): "GERMANY DECLARES WAR; ALL EUROPE IS IN ARMS" Explain the immediate cause of the war associated with this headline.

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The immediate cause of the First World War was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife at Sarajevo (Bosnia) on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist of the Black Hand society. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia, sent it an ultimatum and declared war on 28 July 1914. Russia mobilised to support Serbia; Germany then declared war on Russia (1 August 1914) and on France, and soon all Europe was at war.

ICSE 2026 board paper · 3 marks

Look at the newspaper headline given and answer the following questions: Headline (The Evening World, War Extra): "GERMANY DECLARES WAR; ALL EUROPE IS IN ARMS" According to the Treaty of Versailles, mention the following: (a) The war reparation to be paid by Germany. (b) Two ways in which France benefitted from the Treaty.

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(a) Germany was held guilty of the war and had to pay war reparations fixed (by the Reparations Commission, 1921) at £6,600 million. (b) 1. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France. 2. France got the coal mines of the Saar Basin for 15 years (the Saar being placed under the League of Nations); the Rhineland was demilitarised, securing France's border.