The First World War had both long-term and short-term causes.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] It was between Russia, France and Britain.
2. [1] It developed from the Franco-Russian Alliance, the Entente Cordiale and the Anglo-Russian Entente.
3. [1] It was not an alliance.
4. [1] It was a friendly agreement between countries.
5. [1] It came into being in 1907.
6. [1] It was meant as a balance to the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
7. [1] It was formed to protect themselves.
8. [1] It was important because it was a big event that was known all round the world. It changed the situation completely.
9. [1] It was important because it was more powerful than any other ship at the time.
10. [1] It was a great symbol of British national power.
11. [1] This accelerated the naval race with Germany.
12. [1] It was faster than any other battleship at the time.
13. [1] It gave Britain clear naval supremacy.
14. [1] It led to Germany starting to build dreadnoughts in 1907.
15. [Explanation L3] It was important because it was so fast and powerful. It had more powerful guns than ever before and could fire further with more accuracy. It could also fire torpedoes. It was driven by steam turbines. This made it faster than any other warship. It was also protected by thick armoured plating and so was difficult to sink. The dreadnought was a revolution in the development of battleships and no other ships at the time stood a chance against it.
16. [1] The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was more important because it led to the war breaking out. No other event did this.
17. [1] The Austrian ultimatum was designed to lead to war.
18. [1] Serbia rejected the ultimatum and Austria declared war.
19. [1] The assassination was a direct challenge to Austria and its empire.
20. [1] The assassination gave Austria the chance to engineer war with Serbia.
21. [1] The assassination gave the upper hand to those in Austria who wanted to attack Serbia.
22. [1] Austria blamed Serbia for the assassination.
23. [Explanation L3 (Ultimatum more important)] The Austrian ultimatum was more important in causing the war. It was deliberately designed to make sure Serbia could not agree to all the demands and made war inevitable. Until this point, it was not inevitable. It led to Russia, who was friendly with Serbia, mobilising and then Serbia rejecting the ultimatum. This immediately led to Austria declaring war on Serbia. Within days Germany had declared war on Russia and the First World War had started.
24. [Explanation L3 (Assassination more important)] The assassination was more important because it started the whole movement to war. The assassination was carried out by Serbs and the Serbian government was probably involved. Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian throne and so the assassination was seen as a direct attack on Austria and its empire. Serbia had long been a problem for Austria and the assassination gave the upper hand in Austria to those wanting to take tough action against Serbia. Germany then gave Austria the 'blank cheque' allowing it to do what it liked with Serbia. All this made war inevitable and started the July Crisis which directly led to war.