Causes of Wwi
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“In your opinion, what was the most important influence in bringing about the start of the First World War?”
Once the First World War (WWI) ended, blame was attached to some countries, particularly Germany, for bringing WWI into being. Over time historians have looked more critically unto what (or who) caused this first “global” war. Some have cited nationalistic and imperialistic growth and demands; some have said the arms build-up was to blame, and others, the alliances between nations that established the climate for the re-war crises and stand-offs, and ultimately the days of July, 1914. WWI and its aftermath are important because they established the structure of the world, especially Europe, for the 20th century. It is important to understand what led to the first significant war of the 20th century.
Nationalism was a major cause of the First World War, and had implications for each of the Powers. Some of them, such as Germany and Italy, were new countries, with no national identity. Germany, for example, was formed in 1871 from many different states, and the nationalism within the new nation was that of war, as in, war was what unified them – Bismarck had engineered the Franco-Prussian War in the late 1800s to unify the states into one nation. Austria-Hungary, an internally conflicted nation, was formed in 1867. It comprised of many modern nations, including Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Croatia. Three different parties, the Hungarian government, the Austrian government, and the administration under the monarch, ruled the nation. Also, each ethnic group was not required or encouraged to learn the language and culture of any other, which caused great division between them. Social Darwinism developed, in which ethnic groups competed against each other in a kind of “survival of the fittest”, applying Darwins Theory of Natural Selection to races and ethnicities. Thus instead of it being the “were the best nation in the world” kind of nationalism, where the nation is united, it was the brand of nationalism where its one ethnic group against another inside one fragmented nation. The most restless of these groups were the Slavs, those who populated Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. They were different from the Austrians and the Magyars (Hungarians) who populated much of Austria-Hungary, and thus it caused great unrest when the Hapsburg Empire tried to annex them.
Imperialism was also a cause of the Great War. The scramble for colonies in the 1880s caused tension between colonising nations, with each nation wanting its place in the sun. Germany came into the colonising business relatively late, and was trying to expand colonially. But it was hindered by Britain, who already had established trade routes in the most valuable areas. In the conflict between Britain and the Transvaal Boers of modern-day South Africa, Germany indirectly opposed Britain by giving the Boers arms.
There were a number of pre-war crises that exacerbated the situation in Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm II supported Moroccan independence from France, Britains ally and trade partner. This support, outlined in a speech, sparked the Tangier Crisis of 1905. Wilhelm had seen Britains affirmation of Frances influence in Morocco as a hindrance to Germanys interests, and thus he made a speech to test the Ententes strength. Then, in 1911, the German naval presence caused the status of Morocco to be unsure again.
The web of alliances that covered Europe from 1879 onwards was a cause of the First World War. 1879 saw the birth of the Dual Alliance, a German-Austrian treaty, and then Italy joined in 1882. Italy was seen as the weaker third of this alliance, and was therefore only supposed to come into conflict in the event of a defensive war. In 1894 the Franco-Russian Entente came into being, and from that came the Triple Entente, which was less formal than an alliance. The Triple Entente was an agreement between Britain and France, and Britain and Russia. When Russia proclaimed itself ally and protector of Serbia, and war thus brought into the Balkan conflict, it brought Britain and France into the war too. Italy managed to stay out of WWI, saying that as it was not a defensive war on the Alliances behalf, it was not required to take a side. It later joined the Entente powers and came into the war that way.
Another cause of WWI was Germanys militarism. Germany was a militaristic state, and was endlessly training for war. It threatened Britain with its lust for colonies and arms, challenging its naval authority. By 1914 the Alliance powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary had between them 95 000 personnel, 20 naval vessels, and 1 268 000 in tonnage. The Entente powers, in contrast, had 331 000 personnel, 43 naval vessels, and 3 264 000 in tonnage. Britain perceived this to be a hostile move on Germanys behalf, as it had no need for a large army, unlike the British homeland, which is of course isolated. And thats how the British wanted it, with their policy of Splendid Isolation and their rule over the oceans until this point, but Germany challenged this. Germanys government knew that war would eventually come, and saw that it was facing a war on two fronts, war with both France and Russia simultaneously. Thus the former Army Chief of Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen, crafted a plan to dodge this, naming it the Schlieffen Plan after himself. The plan was to, before Russia could mobilise, attack France through Belgium, knocking it out of the war. Then it would turn to attack Russia. However, the then-Army Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke changed the plan at the last minute, splitting the German army into two. The first army was to guard the Franco-German border, enticing the Franks towards it, and the bulk of the German army was to move through Flanders (Belgium) and take out the Franks from behind. But Germany didnt take into account the Belgian army, nor did it take into account the long-standing treaty between Belgium and Britain, which would ultimately pull Britain into the war. On top of this, Germany presented a “blank cheque”, a pledge of unconditional support, to Austria-Hungary in regards to its newly proclaimed