Transcript Presentation 3

The International System
Before World War I
The ‘Concert of Europe’ (1815-1914)
International Relations from the Congress of Vienna to WW
I
Informally established at the Congress of Vienna
Manage relations among European powers
Basis: Great Powers : Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia
– The Quadruple Alliance (Britain, Austria, Prussia,
Russia) to
defeat Napoleon, block French aggression
enforce the peace settlement.
Quintuple Alliance when France is admitted in 1818
Holy Alliance (Austria, Prussia, Russia) 1815 –
– promote Christian principles in the affairs of nations.
First patterned international org. in modern world
The ‘concert’ and the ‘balance of power’
Great powers meet at Congresses to
agree on policies
Armed intervention against threats to
territory and the status quo –
Shifting alliances to prevent rise of
‘superpower’
Small powers must conform to decisions
taken by Great Powers
Non-Europeans excluded
Upsetting the balance
Germany unifies, 1860-71 & seeks its
‘place in the sun’
Weakening multinational empires
Solidification of alliances > Growing
rigidity, absence of balancing
mechanism(s), rising tensions
German unification and its impact
Germany as disparate collections of states &
principalities
Unification engineered by Otto von Bismarck
Bismarck’s problem: forging unity where there
was none:
– Divide and rule tactics
– Kultuurkampf and anti-Socialist laws
Germany seeks colonies and markets
– Morocco crises: 1906 and 1911
– Middle-East (Berlin to Baghdad railway)
Rising nationalism, the Eastern Question &
the weakening of multi-national empires
Ottoman Empire
– Pressed from within & without
Young Turks
Nationalist demands
Austria-Hungary
– Absence of common institutions
– Rising nationalism
– Decreasing ability of either Austria or Hungary to
contain it
Rigidification
International system nominally
regulated by the balance of
power
But Britain remains more aloof
Alliance system rigidifies:
–antagonistic blocs confront each
other
Triple Alliance v. the Triple Entente
– Triple Alliance:
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Italy
– Triple Entente
France
Russia
Britain
Germany
Wanted its ‘place in the sun’
Weltpolitik (world policy):
– build up navy (Dreadnought class of ships) in order to rival
Britain
Attempts to drive Britain and France apart (Moroccan
Crises (1905 & 1911 ) bring them together
Staunch support for Austria-Hungary
Willing to consider war as tool of policy
– Von Clausevitz: War = politics by other means
– common at the time among great powers,
– necessary to the balance of power mechanism
Wanted to fight before too late – i.e. before Russia
rearms
Austria-Hungary
Multinational empire threatened by
– Demands for popular participation, making it
harder to maintain balance among groups
– Rising nationalism in Balkans
Dependent on external support
Anxious to
– contain Serbia
– prevent states on its border from becoming
too powerful
Russia
Autocratic multinational empire
– Defeated in Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5
– Political system broadened after Revolution of 1905
powers granted to an elected parliament (Duma),
then gradually withdrawn
– Rearming & modernizing military
Aligned with France, Serbia
Interested in access to Mediterranean – via
Dardanelles
France
Wants to reassert self as a great power
Interest in
– Restraining Germany
– Regaining Alsace & Lorraine
Wants to maintain & expand colonial
holdings
Allied with Russia and Britain
Italy
Interest in colonial acquisitions
Interest in territorial gains from Austria
– South Tyrol
– Trieste, Fiume-Rjieka
Nominally allied with Germany and Austria
Does not become immediately involved
(when it does, joins Britain and France)
Britain
Preoccupied with domestic issues
Anxious to maintain naval superiority,
freedom of the seas, Empire
Prefer to remain aloof from continental
conflicts –
– provides the balance the system
Guarantor of neutrals: Belgium &
Netherlands
Causes of war
Continuing debate, multiple explanations,
some better than others:
Arms race & especially those who
benefitted: munitions-makers
Entangling alliances and secret
covenants (Woodrow Wilson)
Nationalism
Capitalism itself (Orthodox Marxists)
A broader view:
Long: industrialization, population growth,
social and political change
Medium:
– changes in the balance of power
– rise of Germany a threat to France and Britain
– decline of Ottoman empire
Short: events of August 1914
A further take
Systemic factors:
balance of power (prevent Germany from
becoming dominant power)
German aggression (Weltpolitik)?
Declining empires?
Failure of the balance of power system
Entangling alliances
Failure of Britain to make its position
clear?
Other factors
Popular pressure because of
nationalism, newspapers,
Inflexible military plans
Willingness of leaders to take great
risks, partially but not fully understood
Or
Slide into war, with consequences not
fully understood
Dynamics of events
June-August 1914
June 28: Assassination in Sarajevo of
Franz-Ferdinand and wife
Austria blames Serbia (parallel with the
1990s)
The German ‘blank-check’ (they believe
Russia will not intervene and if it does
Germany can deal with both Russia and
France –Schlieffen plan)
June-August 1914
Austria’s ultimatum of July 23 (parallel with
Rambouillet). Serbia begins mobilization
July 25 answer is given. July 28
declaration of war. July 29 first shells on
Belgrade.
July 29: Russia calls for general
mobilization (against both Austria and
Germany). Rethinks it and then starts
again.
June-July 1914
July 29: France tells Russia it will stand by
her ally
Germany tells Russia to stop mobilization
and France to declare neutrality
When Russia refuses, Germany declares
war on Aug. 1.
France,
– not believing Germany would respect
neutrality, mobilizes.
June-August 1914
Germany asks Belgium for free passage,
then declares war on France (Aug. 2)
Britain declares war on Germany, Aug. 4.
Italy: seeks colonies, advantage, where it
can get it
War greeted with enthusiasm & nationalist
fervor on both sides
– Last European war, 1870-71, lasted 6 months
WW1: expectations v. realities:
A short war
Failure of initial offensives
– Improper implementation of the Schlieffen
Plan (Von Moltke modifications)
Digging in on the western front: offence
gives way
– Trench warfare
– Tunnelling
Movement on the eastern front
Western Front, 1916
Trenches
War fields - Somme
Battle of the Somme – 1 July
After 16 days of battle – July 16
Hawthorn Ridge mine 1 July 1916
In the trenches
Attack
The tank appears
Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland War Memorial
The Fighting Newfoundlander –St. John’s
Newfoundland Regiment
No. 3 Platoon, A Company
Newfoundland soldiers on St.
John’s Road
Beaumont-Hamel war field
The ‘Danger Tree’
Aerial view of Passchendaele village,
before and after the battle
A common sight in the Somme
Costs in human life
Battle of the Somme
– Allies: 600,000 ( of which over 24,000
Canadians and over 245 Newfoundlanders)
– July 1 alone: 60,000
– Germans: 615,000
Total for WWI 9,000,000
Casualties
Failure of peace initiatives
Desire of France and Germany to maintain
buffer states on borders
Incorporation of new allies with demands
on territory of belligerents
Determining factors:
Supply of food and raw materials
Exhaustion of combatants
Success of British naval blockade
American entry (triggered by German
submarine warfare)
Consequences: an initial view
End of empires in Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg
(Bolshevik revolution of 1917) and
Constantinople-Istanbul.
European economic dislocation, indebtedness of
European countries to the United States and end
of central role of Europe in the global economy
and rise of the US.
Widespread disillusionment