How did WW1 begin?

One of the most brutal, horrific and destructive wars in human history began in Europe in
August 1914. It lasted until November 1918. It led to an appalling death toll – around 9
million people died in the fighting, with millions more permanently disabled and disfigured.
For example, in France 20 per cent of those aged between 20 and 40 were killed. Millions
more died indirectly as a result of famine and disease at the end of the war. A generation
had been lost. What led the ‘civilized’ Great Powers of Europe to go to war with each other?
Why had diplomacy failed to prevent such a catastrophe?

To understand what Europe was like at the beginning of the twentieth century, you should
turn to Chapter 9, pages 199–202. Read through the material on each Great Power. What
key sources of tension can you identify? (these pages have been included below)

Germany
Germany had been a country only since 1871. Before this, there was no such country – only
a collection of small states, each with its own ruler. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the
Prussian statesman, had united these states after defeating both Austria and France in wars.
Following the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, in which France was defeated by Germany,
Bismarck was able to create a new and powerful empire.
Between 1870 and 1914, Germany’s industrial strength grew rapidly and by 1914 it was in a
position to rival the economic strength of Britain. Up until 1890, Bismarck continued to have
a strong influence on German foreign policy. He made sure that Germany did not get
involved in any more wars and he ensured that France – now sworn to revenge its defeat
and treatment at the end of the Franco-Prussian War – was kept isolated. However, this all
changed when a new Kaiser – Wilhelm II – took power in 1890. He dismissed Bismarck and
embarked on a much more aggressive foreign policy. Wilhelm II was determined to make
Germany a world power. He loved the army and enjoyed dressing up in military uniform. He
was jealous of Britain with its empire and believed that Germany should also have ‘a place in
the sun’ with colonies overseas. This also meant building up the German navy, which soon
rivalled Britain’s navy. Wilhelm hoped that this emphasis on making Germany a great power
would detract from domestic problems; workers were starting to join trade unions and join
strikes in an attempt to force the government to improve their conditions. The Socialist party
was growing in strength and this threatened the autocratic power of the Kaiser as the
socialists wanted more power for Germany’s parliament (Reichstag).

1890 Wilhelm II came to power - Aggressive military man who wanted to make Germany a
world power (jealous of Britain) by growing the navy and the empire

Austria Hungary
As can be seen from the map (Figure 9.12), Austria–Hungary consisted of many different
nationalities, each with its own language and customs. The ruler of this multinational empire
was the ageing Emperor Franz Joseph. He was a hard-working emperor who had faced
much personal tragedy, his son having committed suicide and his wife having been stabbed
to death by an assassin. His heir was his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, who had caused a
scandal by marrying a countess called Sophie Chotek – considered to be beneath him.
Unlike Wilhelm II of Germany, Franz Joseph had no desire to acquire colonies. He knew that
all his energies had to be devoted to holding his empire together. Many of the different
national groups wanted independence, for instance the Serbs in the south of the empire,
who wanted to be joined to the neighbouring state of Serbia, and the Czech people in the
north, who wanted to rule themselves. Outside of its borders, Austria–Hungary also faced
problems: the newly independent Serbia was a threat as it encouraged the nationalism of the
Serbs within the empire. The Serbs were also supported by Russia, thus putting
Austria–Hungary and Russia on a potential collision course.

Russia supporting the Serbs who wanted independence and threatened Austria-Hungary.
Emperor Franz Joseph not interested in empire building but holding his current empire
together

Italy
Like Germany, Italy was a recently formed country; the unification of several smaller states in
the Italian peninsular had finally been completed in 1871. By 1914, it felt settled enough to
look for opportunities to expand its power and saw it could do this by gaining colonies. It
hoped to increase its influence also by joining Germany and Austria–Hungary in its Dual
Alliance – thus making it the Triple Alliance. However, Italy remained the weaker partner of
the alliance as it was not a strong industrial or military power.
Italy had been unified in 1871 and by 1914 wanted to expand power and influence.

Britain
Britain at this time was the world’s greatest power. The Industrial Revolution had started in
Britain and, by 1914, Britain was the richest and most powerful nation on earth. Its empire
covered a third of the earth’s surface and the British navy was the lifeline for Britain, allowing
it to dominate world trade between the different colonies and Europe. Unlike the monarch in
the other large powers of Europe, however, the British king, George V, had little individual
power. Britain was a constitutional monarchy, meaning that political decisions were made in
Parliament and by his government of ministers. In the nineteenth century, Britain had
avoided getting involved in European politics and had maintained a policy of ‘splendid
isolation’. It felt it did not need to get involved in alliances and wanted to concentrate on its
empire. However, by 1914, it was becoming concerned about Germany’s growing economic
strength and its desires to obtain a navy and to gain colonies. Thus, Britain signed an
alliance with France in 1904 and with Russia in 1907.
Although twice the size of Britain, France was weaker economically. It had also lost two
valuable, industrial provinces to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War – Alsace and
Lorraine. It was, however, the second largest empire in the world with extensive colonies in
Africa and also in Indo-China. The growing strength of Germany since 1870, however, was a
worry to France, which feared another attack. It thus spent money building up its army and it
also set up an alliance with Russia. Its foreign policy in Europe was dominated by the two
aims of protecting itself from Germany and trying to get back Alsace and Lorraine. Unlike the
other powers of Europe, France was a republic, meaning that its rulers were elected. In
1914, the president was Raymond Poincaré.

1914 Britain is richest and most powerful nation on earth. Growing concern about German
strength.
1904 Signed alliance with France
1907 alliance with Russia making Triple Entente

Russia
Russia was the largest country of all of the six powers, but in 1914 it was also the most
backwards in terms of economic development. Despite a huge population and vast
resources, industry was late in developing and the size of its empire and weak transport links
made progress difficult. Vast amounts of land were too cold for farming and much of the
coastline was frozen for six months of the year, which limited the use of the navy. The
empire was also made up of many different nationalities, which made it difficult to govern.
Russia’s military weakness was highlighted when it was defeated by Japan in 1905; its
concern not to be humiliated again led to the development of a much larger army by 1914.
The Russian Empire was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II, who attempted to gain total power over
his people despite growing unrest and demands for more political freedom. He survived a
revolution in 1905, after which he was forced to allow a Duma (parliament), but this failed to
result in any fundamental changes. Demands for political change were fuelled by the
appalling conditions for workers in the towns and the primitive agricultural conditions which
meant life was extremely hard. Russia shared France’s and Britain’s concerns regarding
Germany’s strength. It was also a rival to Austria–Hungary as it hoped to expand into the
Balkans – an area that Austria–Hungary was also interested in. For this reason, and also
because they were fellow Slavs, the Russians supported Serbia against Austria–Hungary.
1905 Japan defeats Russia and it starts to develop much larger army. Tsar Nicholas survives
revolution. It wanted to expand into Balkans (Austria-Hungary were also interested in the
same area so it joined forces with the Serbs)

------------------------
By 1914, some of these sources of tension had developed further, and there were also new
areas of disagreement.

The key factors which created tension were as follows.

THE ALLIANCE SYSTEMS
The European powers had formed two rival alliance blocks by 1907: the Triple Alliance of
Germany, Italy and Austria–Hungary and the Triple Entente of France, Russia and Britain.
These two alliance systems were a significant cause of tension and anxiety. Therefore, the
alliance systems were one key causal factor in the build-up of tension between the European
states that would ultimately lead to a general war in 1914.
ANGLO–GERMAN RIVALRY
One of the most serious causes of tension in Europe in the lead-up to 1914 was the naval
rivalry that existed between Germany and Great Britain. The Second Naval Law passed in
Germany in 1900 called for a doubling of the German battleship fleet by 1916, including the
building of 41 battleships and 60 cruisers. This significantly threatened Britain’s leading
naval position. It also meant that Germany could potentially be a major naval power as well
as the strongest land power. Britain needed a navy to protect its empire. Germany did not
have such an empire, and so why did it need a large navy if not to threaten its neighbours?
Britain responded by increasing its navy and also, in 1906, building a new battleship, the
HMS Dreadnought. This was a new class of warship which made other battleships obsolete.
Germany at once started to build its own fleet of dreadnoughts, starting a full-scale naval
race. By 1914, however, the intensity of the race had calmed. Britain remained in the lead,
with 29 dreadnought-class ships compared to Germany’s 17.
THE INCREASE IN MILITARY SPENDING
The naval race was part of a wider arms race that took place between all the powers of
Europe. In the period 1900–14, the main European countries more than doubled their
spending on their armies. The introduction of conscription on the continent after 1871
allowed for the creation of huge standing armies and, to support these armies, more
destructive weapons were developed. Attempts to stop the massive arms build-up took place
in The Hague in 1899 and in 1907. However, the nations were unable to agree on limiting
armaments production, though agreements were made on the practice of war.
THE NEED TO PLAN FOR WAR
The growth of armies increased the feeling that war was likely to happen sooner or later.
Thus all the European powers developed detailed plans for what to do in the case of being
attacked. Mobilization (getting the army ready for war) was key to any successful plan, which
meant railways played an important role. Only the railways could transport these vast armies
quickly to the battle front. However, this meant detailed timetabling, the success of which
depended on rigid implementation. Once a plan was set in motion it could not be altered or
stopped without creating chaos. The common feature of these plans was that they all
assumed that war would be a speedy affair. No one had anticipated a war that would last
more than a few weeks. Germany: The Schlieffen Plan The key problem for Germany was
how to fight a war on two fronts – against France and Russia – at the same time. Count von
Schlieffen thus came up with a plan that would involve attacking France quickly and then
moving all forces to Russia in time to meet the mobilized Russian army on its eastern front.
This plan made several assumptions: that Russia would take six weeks to mobilize its
troops, that Germany would need to fight a war with two countries rather than just France or
Russia, and that invading France through neutral Belgium would not provoke the British who
were a guarantor of Belgian neutrality.
France: Plan 17
France’s Plan 17 involved a high-speed mobilization of its forces and a speedy attack to
capture Alsace and Lorraine before crossing over the Rhine into Germany.
Austria–Hungary
Austria–Hungary had Plan R and Plan B – both involving attacks on Russia and Serbia.
Russia
Russia had a complex plan to attack Austria–Hungary and Germany – which ultimately relied
on overwhelming the German and Austrian armies by sheer weight of numbers.

What were the short-term causes of the First World War?

The system of alliances backed up by increased military spending and war plans created
much tension in Europe in the years after 1900. However, this tension increased dramatically
– due first to the actions of Wilhelm II in Morocco and then through events in the Balkans.
THE MOROCCAN CRISES, 1905 AND 1911
Morocco in North Africa was one of the few parts of Africa not controlled by a European
power. In 1905 France was getting ready to change this situation and to make Morocco one
of its colonies. Britain, now an ally, had agreed to allow France a free hand here, but
Germany decided it would oppose the move. This was partly because Wilhelm II did not
want France to extend its empire and partly because he wanted the world to see that
Germany was an important power in North Africa as well. It was also because he wanted to
test the new alliance between France and Britain: would Britain come to the aid of France?
The Kaiser visited the Moroccan port of Tangiers in 1905. He was clearly determined to
make an impact, as he rode through the streets of Tangiers on a white horse accompanied
by a military band and Moroccan troops. He then made a speech saying that Germany
supported independent Morocco. The French were furious; they refused to back down but
did agree to the Kaiser’s demand for an international conference to discuss the future of
Morocco. The conference took place at Algeciras in Spain but was a disaster for Wilhelm.
Only Austria–Hungary supported his views. Britain and Russia supported France. It was
decided that France could have special rights in Morocco, even though it could not have
Morocco as a colony. More seriously for Wilhelm was the fact that the friendship between
France and Britain had been strengthened and in fact they began secret military talks after
the conference.
1905 The Kaiser Wilhelm visited the Moroccan port of Tangiers in 1905 angering the French
Conference to discuss future of Morocco - British supported france angering Germans
THE AGADIR CONFERENCE, 1911
Five years later, Kaiser Wilhelm interfered again in Morocco. In 1911 Moroccan rebels
attacked the town of Fez. The Sultan asked the French for help, who responded by sending
a French army to help put down the rebellion. Wilhelm accused the French of invading
Morocco and sent a warship, the Panther, to the port of Agadir to protect German interests.
Once again, this was an over-reaction by Wilhelm and, indeed, was seen as a warlike action
by the other European countries. The British, already annoyed by Germany’s naval build-up,
was now concerned that Germany was planning to build an Atlantic base which would
challenge Britain’s navy base at Gibraltar. Thus, Britain supported France again and
preparations for war were made. At the last moment, Germany backed down. France took
control of Morocco and Germany accepted land in central Africa as compensation. This
crisis had important results:
• It left Germany humiliated and less likely to back down in any future crisis. The Kaiser
started to be concerned that Germany was becoming ‘encircled’ by hostile countries.
• British opinion became more hostile towards Germany. Britain was now convinced that
Germany wanted to dominate Europe.
• A secret agreement was reached between France and Britain, by which France would
patrol the Mediterranean and the Royal Navy would defend France’s Atlantic and North Sea
coasts.
PROBLEMS IN THE BALKANS
The Balkans was a very unstable area. Turkey was the ruler of this area at the start of the
century but, once a great empire, it was now known as ‘the sick man of Europe’. Its declining
status meant that its power over the Balkan peoples was weakened. The various national
groups in the Balkans were keen to get independence for themselves, but Russia and
Austria–Hungary were also interested in taking advantage of Turkey’s weakness and
asserting power in this area. Figure 8.7 shows a map of the different conflicting interests in
this area.

THE BOSNIAN CRISIS, 1908

In 1908 Austria–Hungary took advantage of growing chaos within the Balkans and added
Bosnia–Herzegovina to its empire. This created another international crisis following on from
the Moroccan Crisis of 1905. Most of the inhabitants of this area were Serbs and disliked
Austria; indeed, Serbia had hoped to make Bosnia part of a ‘Greater Serbia’. Russia joined
Serbia in condemning the move but, when Germany made it clear that it supported
Austria–Hungary, Russia had to back down. They were not prepared to risk war over this
issue. However, although the crisis itself did not end in open conflict, the consequences had
a serious impact on the international situation. Russia, determined not to have to back down
again, intensified its rearming programme. It also drew closer to France and Britain. Serbia
was also furious and wanted revenge on Austria. Meanwhile, Austria grew in confidence as it
believed that Germany would now support it in any future disputes with Serbia and Russia.
THE BALKAN WARS OF 1912 AND 1913
Between 1912 and 1913, there was a series of local wars within the Balkans. A key result of
these wars was that Serbia doubled its size. This had serious consequences for the area:
• Serbia was now even more determined to unite all Serbs into a Greater Serbia.
• The growing threat of Serbia made Austria–Hungary even more determined to crush the
Serbians.
THE JULY CRISIS, 1914
Although we have seen that the events of 1900–14 considerably increased tension between
the Great Powers, in fact it should not be seen that war was ‘inevitable’. By mid-1914, the
naval race between Germany and Britain had calmed down and a Royal Navy squadron
even paid a goodwill visit to Germany in June of that year. The crises that you have read
about had also all been resolved. Thus the events of July 1914 in the Balkans and the
actions of the Great Powers during this month can be seen as crucial in bringing about the
major European war that started in August. The assassination at Sarajevo On 28 June 1914,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was visiting the capital of
Bosnia, Sarajevo, to inspect army exercises in the area. He was with his wife Sophie and it
was their wedding anniversary. He arrived at Sarajevo Station at 9.28a.m. Among the
cheering crowds lining the streets was a group of Serbian men who planned to assassinate
the Archduke. They belonged to an organization called The Black Hand – which was
dedicated to the cause of getting rid of Austrian influence and creating a Greater Serbia. The
assassination attempt failed. One of the Serb terrorists, Cabrinovic, threw a bomb at the car
which was carrying the Archduke and his wife. However, it exploded under the car behind,
injuring several people. The Archduke’s car sped off to the town hall; meanwhile the police
pulled Cabrinovic out of the river. He had taken poison but it had not worked. A fateful error
then occurred. After an official visit to the town hall, the Archduke’s chauffeur took a wrong
turning. One of the terrorists, Gavrilo Princip, now found himself right by the Archduke’s car
as the chauffeur started to reverse to get onto the correct route. Princip stepped forward and
fired his revolver, killing both the Archduke and his wife. What was the reaction of the Great
Powers? Austria–Hungary Austria–Hungary was outraged at the assassination and
immediately blamed Serbia for the terrorist attack. It seemed like an opportunity to punish
Serbia by crushing the country once and for all. However, Austria–Hungary needed to know
that it had Germany’s support in case Russia should come to the aid of Serbia. At a meeting
in Berlin on 5 July, Germany reassured Austria–Hungary that it would support it in whatever
action it decided to take; this became known as ‘the Blank Cheque’. Backed up by the
promise of Germany’s unlimited military support, Austria–Hungary then drew up an
ultimatum to present to the Serbian government. This was intended to be so harsh that
Serbia would not be able to accept its demands; it was finally presented to Serbia on 23 July
– almost one month after the assassination. Serbia agreed to all but the most extreme
demands; however, this conciliatory reply was not enough for Austria–Hungary, which
declared war on Serbia on 28 July and started a bombardment against Belgrade.
Russia
Russia was now determined to fully support Serbia. On 30 July, the Tsar ordered Russia’s
mobilization. This accelerated the pace of events and made it much harder to reach a
peaceful settlement. Germany With Russia mobilizing, Germany could not waste any time.
The Schlieffen Plan dictated that France had to be defeated before the German army
attacked Russia. Thus, on 31 July, Germany gave the French an ultimatum: unless they
promised to remain neutral in the event of a Russo-German war, Germany would declare
war. Russia was also given an ultimatum: 12 hours to demobilize. When the ultimatum to
Russia expired, Germany declared war and began to mobilize. On the same day the French
rejected their ultimatum and started to mobilize. On 2 August, the Germans presented
Belgium with an ultimatum demanding the right to send troops through their country. Britain
As an ally of Russia and France, it was likely that Britain would get involved in the war.
However, the trigger for Britain’s involvement was the German invasion of Belgium following
Belgium’s rejection of Germany’s ultimatum. Britain was a signatory of the 1839 Treaty of
London, which guaranteed Belgium’s neutrality. Although the Kaiser considered this Treaty
to be just ‘a scrap of paper’, it ensured that when the Germans started to invade Belgium on
Tuesday 4 August, Britain kept its promise to protect Belgium and declared war on Germany.
In just five weeks, a dispute between two countries in the Balkans had escalated into a
European war; eventually nations from all continents would become involved.

JULY CRISIS, 1914