First World War

Outline
• Introduction
• Causes of the War
• Causes of CP defeat
• End of War
• Impact of SWW on world affaires
 Introduction
• The 1st WW began with the assassination of
Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 th June
1914.
• He was the nephew and heir of Franz Josef, the
emperor of Austria.
• He was on official visit to Sarajevo, the Bosnian
capital when he along with his wife was shot
dead allegedly by a member of secret Serbian
terrorist society, the Black Hand.
 Introduction
• Austria put the blame on Serbian government
and imposed certain strict condition along with
ultimatum of war, if Serbia refused to comply.
• Serbia refused some of the conditions.
• Austria assured of German support, declared
war on Serbia on 28th July 1914.
• Russia sided with Serbia and ordered
mobilization of the troops.
 Introduction
• Upon this, Germany declared war on Russia.
• Germany had already calculated that France would
side with Russia in case of war. Thus they also
declared war on France.
• In order to attack France, Germany had to cross
Belgium which had been declared neutral country
since 1843.
• When Germany attacked Belgium, Britain one of the
guarantors, of its neutrality, demanded their (German)
withdrawal.
 Introduction
• When German ignored this, Britain entered war. Thus
began the 1st WW.
• The sides in war were Central Powers (CP) and Allied
Powers(AP).
• The CP included Germany, Austria – Hungary, Turkey
(entered in November 1914) and Bulgaria(October
1915).
• The AP included Russia (left the war in December,
1917), France, Britain, Italy(entered in May 1915)
Rumania and USA (entered in April 1917).
 Introduction
• The 1st WW continued for more than fours
years and ultimately CP were defeated and the
truce was signed on 11 November, 1918.
 Causes of war
• There is still debate among scholars, strategists and
social scientist as to how a simple conflict between
Austria and Serbia led towards 1st WW.
• Several theories and explanations have been put
forwarded in this connection.
• Some blame one country or the other, while some
blame tense international situation in 1914.
• If an analytical study is made of these theories and
explanation, we may conclude that following were the
causes of 1st WW.
 Causes of war
1. Alliance : In the year that preceded 1st WW,
Europe was divided roughly into two opposing
blocks, Triple Alliance (TA) and Triple
Entente(TE).
• TA was engineered by Bismark, the German
Foreign Minister. In 1879 an alliance was
formed between Germany and Austria-
Hungary. In 1882, Italy also joined to form TP.
 Causes of war
• As a defense to TA, TE was formed by G Britain,
France and Russia in 1907.
• In 1894, France concluded an alliance with Russia.
• In 1904 Britain and France also concluded
agreements.
• Three years later Britain and Russia settled their
disputes and concluded agreements.
• Thus TE came into existence and both were hostile
to each other and Europe was in the grip of tension.
 Causes of war
2. Nationalism: Nationalism had become a strong
force in the countries of Europe during the 19 th
Century.
• Nationalism had once played a constructive role
aiding the unification of Germany and Italy in
19th Century.
• But in the beginning of 20th Century, the
Nationalism had become narrow and destructive
force.
 Causes of war
• The people began to love their nations and
hate other nations.
• This was not conducive for peace and proved
destructive to good relations among Europe,
leading towards WW1.
 Causes of war
3. Militarism: Another factor increasing the
threat of war was the existence of growing
military force in many European Nations.
• This created a feeling of distrust among
European leaders.
• It also led to the existence of a powerful class
of military headed by General Staff.
 Causes of war
• Theses were the people who dominated the
affairs of the countries particularly at the time of
crises.
• Moreover militarism put too much of power into
the hands of the General Staff of every country
and they had an effective say in the decision
making process.
• All this was not conducive to the maintenance
of peace.
 Causes of war
4. Imperialism: It also contributed to strained
relations.
• In the Near East, for example, Russia, France,
GB and Germany all had conflicting interests.
• In other colonial areas, the efforts of nations to
obtain economic or political control also led to
arguments among imperialist power.
 Causes of war
• Frequent economic rivalry and political
ambitions contributed to the tension that
preceded the war.
 Causes of war
5. Diplomatic Errors and Propaganda: The
diplomats of the period before WW1 varied in
their abilities.
• Some were talented, level headed men who
worked conscientiously for peace.
• Others were reckless, emotional men whose
errors of judgments produced dangerous
results.
 Causes of war
• On several occasions diplomats errors
increased tension among nations.
• Propaganda in speeches and the press also
helped to make citizens of one nation hate or
fear those of other nations.
• When it seemed that war had finally come,
most people did not cry out against the
conflict.
 Causes of war
6. The Balkan Crisis: The outbreak of war was
preceded by several crisis in Balkan.
• In 1908 Austria- Hungry annexed the province of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, which angered Serbia
and Russia. However Germany supported A-H.
• The Balkans wars once again erupted in 1912 and
1913. As a result of these wars, tensions increased
between Turkey and the Balkan states , between
A-H and Serbia and between Germany and Russia.
 Causes of war
• The climax of Balkan crisis occurred on June
28, 1914 when the Austrian Archduke Francis
Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated
which led to the WW1.
 Causes of war
7. Quick Mobilization : It means preparing
forces for war quickly.
• Germany was the first country to mobilize its
forces.
• Russia quickly mobilize forces.
 Causes of war
8. Miscalculation. The tragedy of miscalculation
is also considered as one of the reason of
WW1.
• The Austrian miscalculated by thinking that
Russia would not support Serbia.
• Germany also miscalculated the same thing
and extended unconditional support to Austria.
 Causes of war
• It also miscalculated about the intentions of
Britain in joining war.
• Russia also miscalculated that the mobilization
would not necessarily mean war.
• Thus leading rulers and politicians seemed to
be incompetent and miscalculated the tense
situation which ultimately resulted in great
war.
 Causes of CP defeat
1. The German had chalked out a plan to quickly
occupy France but it failed.
2. The sea power of CP was not as strong as that of
AP.
3. The entry of USA as it supplied food, merchant
ships and credit.
4. AP leaders were more competent as compared to
CP leadership. They boasted the moral of their
nation and army.
 Causes of CP defeat
5. The allies of Germany proved burden for it.
During the war Germans had to support
Austria and Bulgaria.
6. During the war CP had to suffer losses in men
and material. Towards the end German troops
were young and inexperienced.