The Cause of the First World War

Moran Smithwick

The summer of 1914 changed Europe forever. It started in Sarajevo with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria. This seemed to the Austrians as a terrorist attack from Serbia. At the time, the Balkan wars had recently finished leaving Serbia with a frightening amount of power, especially from their close ties with Russia. Austria-Hungary had close allies, like Germany, who had been determined to become a world power, and found this a good excuse to defeat the smaller powers. After war was declared on Serbia by Austria-Hungary on July 28th 1914, it didnt take long for other European powers to get involved. Germany was always alongside Austria-Hungary but they officially declared war on Russia closely after. Most historians will blame Germany for the war, because they are the root of the cause. They did add to it immensely. It was nearly inevitable that Germany would be involved. The First World Wars blame goes to Germany because they encouraged it, and added to the brutality. Other people would argue that Germany was not the cause of the first world war, because other countries had a huge effect on the war. When talk of the war became a threat, countries like Russia and France were large contributors. They werent a s prepared as Austria-Hungary and Germany, but their tactics and plans were made to benefited when it occurred. Nicholas II said very aggressively that The Austrians should be forgiven nothing and that They must be made to pay for everything. Not only did this show that he was willing to make them pay, he also was not ready for negotiation. After the Bosnian crisis of 1908, Russia had always had a fear of AustriaHungary because they showed a great sense of power. Russia also had incentive in the

war because they had recently lost to Japan in hopes to expand more east, so if they were to fight their western enemies, they could grow that direction instead. They had been growing their military as well, and were in the middle of an expansion which was to be finished in 1917. Russians were also the first power to begin mobilizing, which was a surprise to Germany, for they were expecting a much slower process from them. They werent alone in the aggression though. France didnt help the peace either. Poincar e said in 1912 that France does not want war although it does not fear it. They had recently increased their military conscription too, which was a threat to surrounding countries. They gave a blank cheque to Russia during the Balkan Crisis, so they were bound to Russia in means of war. All of this, while important, was not the biggest part of the issue. Germany knew that they wanted to be the dominating power, and was more prepared for a full out war. Germany had been intimidating European countries for decades. Since creation of Weltpolitik, the other powers felt angry, especially Russia, because it broke their treaty. France and Russia were then put in alliance because of the common enemy. This foreign policy angered Europe, and when the Sarajevo incident occurred, it gave Germany a good excuse to finally show real power. In the late 1800s, Prussia became Imperial Germany. Since then they had been growing into an empire. They had ties in the East Pacific, Asia, and Africa. This made them more powerful, but also a larger threat to the concept of a world war. The Great War was so large in size because of everything that was happening in Europe at the time. France and Britain were empires as well. They had outlying land which gave them global power. This led to external conflict, and gave an unavoidable expansion to the war. Another large problem was the

Balkan Wars. This conflict distributed power throughout Europe separate from the usual northern powers. The fact that Serbia had ties with Russia scared Germany and Austria-Hungary. They both found the Sarajevo incident almost a good excuse to finally destroy that impending source of fear. The First World War almost seemed destined to happen because of the expansion of militaries, industrialization, and the fact that at the time there were five huge global powers in one very small space. All five of them were ready to fight too. Germanys determination was what made them a huge cause of the first world war. In September of 1914, they were drafting and actively planning to get world domination, starting with defeating countries. They planned of defeating France and Russia first, because they were the largest threat at the time. The Germans also had an expanding colony in Africa, giving them much more power. This statement was after the war started though, so it cant be true evidence that they anticipated The Great War previous to the beginning. They had large contributions to the war though. They gave a blank cheque to Austria-Hungary after the Sarajevo incident, to deal with Serbia. This was an incentive to Austria-Hungary that war was inevitable and hopeful with the support of Germany. Although they didnt declare war first, they were the reason it was safe for Austria Hungary to push forward. The power that Germany held caused to war to be huge, brutal, and bloody. Their constant strive for power was the root of the cause of this huge war. Without their existence, the war would have not happened. It could be estimated that the Sarajevo conflict wouldnt have caused such a huge problem, because Germany wasnt they to be Austria-Hungarys safety.