A) Explain how the Schliefen Plan was meant to work
Tension began to mount in Europe when the nations started competing to take colonies for trading overseas. Each nation was trying to prove that it was the most powerful - this was Nationalism. Two European alliances were formed: the Triple Entente (the Allies), which consisted of Britain, France and Russia; and an opposing alliance, the Triple Alliance (the central powers), which consisted of Germany, Austria and Turkey. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in June 1914 in Sarajevo by Princip, a Serb member of a secret organisation, known as the Black Hand, the outbreak of war was triggered.