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CLSM · World History · Progress Check 4
Causes of World War I
Read the situation. Connect the ideas. Show how you know.
Name ___________________________Class __________ Date __________
01 Recall, then make a connection.
Ultimatum
Mobilization
Escalation
How could an ultimatum and mobilization contribute to escalation? Explain why describing those mechanisms is more precise than claiming that war followed automatically from a single event.
Read the situation.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 triggered a crisis in a Europe already shaped by imperial rivalry, military planning, nationalism, and alliance relationships. Those conditions mattered, but they did not remove leaders’ choices. Decisions during July and August expanded a regional crisis into a much wider war.
02 Organize the information.
The dated dispatch rail
Use these exact supplied dates.
Put the dispatches in chronological order.
23 July 1914: Austria-Hungary sends an ultimatum to Serbia.
28 July 1914: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
4 August 1914: Germany invades Belgium and Britain declares war on Germany.
28 June 1914: Franz Ferdinand is assassinated.
Write the letters in order:
→→→
Explain why one step or event belongs where you put it.
CLSM · World History · Progress Check 4
What does the evidence show?
Causes of World War I
03 Follow the evidence.
Test the alliance-only claim
Claim: “Alliance commitments automatically explain every decision, so leaders had no choices.”
Select all evidence that challenges it.
Diplomatic correspondence debates alternative responses.
A government delays or qualifies support while weighing its interests.
A map shows the existence of two alliance groupings.
An alliance text lists assistance obligations but does not record how leaders interpreted them during the crisis.
Name the useful records and explain how they answer the claim.
04 Apply the idea.
The explanatory headline
Which headline best fits the evidence?
Choose a precise synthesis.
A regional trigger became a wider war through interacting pressures and government decisions.
One assassination mechanically caused every later event without choices.
Long-term rivalry alone makes dates and decisions irrelevant.
Choose a conclusion and explain why it fits the situation.
05 Carry the idea forward.
Write a July Crisis explanation linking one long-term pressure, the assassination, and two later decisions. Explain one policy mechanism that increased conflict while avoiding a claim of inevitability.