Transcript The Causes of WWI

The Causes of
World War I
Country
Profiles
 Before we begin examining the dynamics which led to the first
World War, it is vital to understand the state of each European
power in the build-up to the war.
 The German Empire was one of
Europe’s youngest states,
having only existed since 1871.
 The empire was nominally
ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm II, a
childish, reckless man who
viewed war as a game.
Germany
 In a bid for power, the Kaiser
removed Otto von Bismarck
from his office as Chancellor
so that William could rule
more absolutely. This move
will prove to be catastrophic.
 In every German war game,
tradition expected that
whichever army the Kaiser
commanded would win.
 The Kaiser’s irrationality will
lead his cabinet members to
purposely keep him
uninformed on pressing
national issues.
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Germany
 Germany boasted Europe’s
strongest industrial economy,
had a massive population, and
the best land army on the
continent.
 The slow expansion of the
Imperial German Navy, the
Kaiserliche Marine, will pose a
major threat to Great Britain.
 The core of German foreign
policy was to neutralize Russia
at all costs.
 Germany was constantly
paranoid (justifiably so) at
fighting a two-front war
against France and Russia.
 In the event of a major
European War, Germany
would need to rapidly
neutralize France before
Russia could fully mobilize.
 This will become known as
the Schlieffen Plan.
 Germany’s strongest alliance
was with the Austro-Hungarian
Empire.
 France in 1914 was Europe’s largest democracy.
 France had experienced a century of civil strife, revolution, and
scandal during the 19th Century.
France
 Her humiliation at the hands of the Germans during the FrancoPrussian War (1870-1871) left a deep feeling of resentment and
national shame.
 In the intervening years, France sought to modernize its armies
and strategized extensively for a war of vengeance against the
Germans (this would eventually be known as Plan XVII.)
 The president of France
during this pre-war period
was Raymond Poincaré.
France
 The cornerstone of the
French war plan and foreign
policy was their alliance with
Russia, effectively
surrounding Germany with
hostile states.
 France’s economy,
population, colonial
possessions, and military
capacity will rank it as a firstrate power.
French President
Raymond Poincaré
 Imperial Russia in the years
leading up to WWI was
struggling to maintain its
position as a 1st rate
European power.
 Russia was ruled by the
Romanov Czar Nicholas II.
Russia
 His father, Alexander III’s,
sudden death placed
Nicholas on the throne
with no training or
experience in leading his
country.
 Nicholas will prove to be a
leader incapable of dealing
with the political, social,
and military issues which
will plague his country.
Czar Nicholas II
 Russia was rapidly falling behind
the other European powers in
terms of industrial potential and
modernization.
 Russia’s humiliation during the
Crimean War and the RussoJapanese War revealed the
backwards nature of its armed
forces.
Russia
 During the Russo-Japanese
War, the Russian navy was
effectively annihilated during
the Battle of Tsushima.
 The Revolution of 1905 badly
shook the absolute power the
czar wielded and revealed deep
divisions in Russian society.
 Despite these setbacks, the
enormous manpower reserves
of the Russian army terrified all
the other European powers.
 Austria-Hungary was a
declining power in the early
1900s.
AustriaHungary
 The Dual Monarchy was led
by Emperor Franz Joseph,
who by 1914 had led his
empire for 65 years.
 The Austro-Hungarian
Empire was a polyglot,
ethnically and religiously
diverse European power.
 The heir to the AustroHungarian throne, Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, was disliked
by Franz Joseph for his
political and personal beliefs.
Emperor Franz Joseph
 The heir to the AustroHungarian throne, Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, was
disliked by Franz Joseph for
his political and personal
beliefs.
AustriaHungary
 Franz Ferdinand favored
the opening up of
negotiations with the
Serbian populations within
the empire.
 He also married Sophie
Chotek, a lower noble who
was viewed as “unworthy”
of the Hapsburgs.
 Generally speaking, he was
unpopular both at home
and abroad.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
 The declining Ottoman
Empire was referred to as
“the sick man of Europe.”
The Ottoman
Empire
 Rising nationalism within
the empire, combined with
the sultan’s weak armed
forces, was a recipe for
revolution.
 The ineffective leadership
gave rise to a group called
the Young Turks who
sought to modernize the
Ottoman state.
 The Young Turks (and the
Ottoman state) will be led
by a military officer named
Enver Pasha during the
First World War.
Enver Pasha
 During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the great European powers
sought to assimilate Ottoman lands into their own empires.
 Russia, chief amongst these, sought to recapture Istanbul
(Constantinople). This would impart two great benefits:
The Ottoman
Empire
 Russia would have an unobstructed and guaranteed passage through
the Dardanelles.
 Russia would also be able to unify all Eastern Orthodoxy under her
leadership.
 Another important dynamic to consider for the importance of the
Ottoman Empire was its control of the massive Arabian oil fields.
 Recently Britain had converted its navy from coal-powered to oilpowered engines.
 This switch in fuel will have significant importance for not only the
coming conflict, but world history up to today.
The Ottoman
Empire,
pre-WWI
 In 1888, Otto von Bismarck said that “One day the great European
War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.”
 The Balkan Peninsula was (and still is) a territory which has a large
amount of ethnic and cultural diversity in Europe.
The Balkan
Peninsula
 The region is inhabited by Albanians, Bulgarians, Bosniaks, Croats,
Greeks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, Slovenes, Romanians,
and Turks.
 With the declining control by the Ottoman Empire, and AustriaHungary’s attempt to acquire more territory there, many of these
ethnic groups sought to rise up and to create their own
independent states.
 This tension between these nationalistic groups and imperial powers
will ultimately create the spark which will set off the powder keg of
Europe.
The Balkan
Peninsula
 During the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) the Ottoman Empire was
effectively kicked out of Europe.
 Serbia will emerge as a growing power in the region.
Serbia
 Serbian nationalists, despising Austro-Hungarian control of some of
their ethnic territory, will begin planning revolutionary activities
against the empire.
 One such nationalistic group, the Narodna Odbrana (“National
Defense”) will form as a reaction to Austria-Hungary’s annexation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908.
 A militant branch of this organization, the Black Hand, will begin
planning more radical attacks against the Hapsburg dynasty.
 It is also important to note that Serbians are ethnically Slavs, the
same ethnic group as Russia. This ethnic bond will create a further
complication in the lead-up to the war.
 Great Britain was the wealthiest country in Europe with
a massive empire spanning across the globe.
 Because of the need to defend their trade and island
nation, Britain was also Europe’s dominant naval
power.
Great Britain
 The British were not overwhelmingly concerned with
the outbreak of war in 1914.
 Most of their attention was focused on the issue of Irish
Home Rule.
 They were also not solidly bound to any treaty with any
continental power in Europe.
 They did have an entente, or agreement, with France and
Russia concerning colonial possessions and a promise of aid in
any future conflicts.
Royal Families
of Europe
Nicholas II and
George V
The Powers of
Europe, 1914
1st Rate Powers
Declining Powers
2nd Rate Powers
Germany
Russia
Ottoman Empire
France
Austro-Hungarian
Empire
Italy
Great Britain
Serbia
United States
(probably a 3rd rate power)
1. Why was Germany so fearful of a two-front war?
2. Why was the Balkan Peninsula an unstable region in
Europe?
Review
Questions
3. Why were the French eager for a war against
Germany?
4. Why was the perception of Russia worse than the
reality of fighting them?
5. Why were the British not overly concerned with a
future continental war?
 Militarism - the belief or desire of a government or people that a
country should maintain a strong military capability and be
prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national
interests.
MAIN Causes
 Alliances - a union or association formed for mutual benefit,
especially between countries or organizations.
 Imperialism - a policy of extending a country's power and
influence through diplomacy or military force.
 Nationalism - The strong belief that the interests of a particular
nation-state are of primary importance. Also, the belief that a
people who share a common language, history, and culture should
constitute an independent nation, free of foreign domination.
 By 1914, Europe had not experienced a continental war since
Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo almost 100 years earlier.
 During the interim years, European nations focused their
economic, political, and military energies on expanding their
global influence and industrializing their countries.
 Militarily, the countries of Europe still modeled their tactics and
strategies off of a Napoleonic-style of warfare.
Militarism
 Technologically speaking, these armies were exponentially more
powerful than they were at Waterloo. Unfortunately, most
European armies only had experience fighting the natives in their
colonies and did not appreciate the killing potential of their armies
against European foes.
 Military advisors would accompany other armies when they went off
to war, most notably during the American Civil War, the RussoJapanese War, and the Crimean War.
 The couplet “Whatever happens we have got, the Maxim gun, and
they have not” no longer rang true when both sides had Maxim
guns.
 The pervading feeling among the European powers was a
paranoia about their mobilization process.
 Mobilization is the act of assembling and making both troops and
supplies ready for war.
Militarism
 Each nation planned extensively for how long it would take to
mobilize. In each case, days and even hours mattered.
 There was a great fear of having war declared and an enemy nation
being able to field an army before you could.
 If this was the case, your nation would be conquered.
 German war planners were able to perfect the mobilization
process and align all of the necessary pieces in order to go to war
as quickly as possible.
 The anticipation of a coming European war will be referred to (under
hushed breaths) as Der Tag (“the day”).
 Once mobilization plans were put in place it was almost
impossible to stop them.
Naval
Expansion
 In 1890 an American admiral,
Alfred Thayler Mahan, wrote
an influential book called The
Influence of Sea Power Upon
History: 1660–1783. This
book outlined the rise of
major world powers
throughout history and was
hugely influential in
impacting naval policy in
countries like the United
States, Japan, Great Britain,
and Germany.
 The most advanced warship
of the age, the dreadnaughtclass battleship, became a
crucial symbol of
international power.
HMS Dreadnaught
Anglo-German
Naval Arms
Race
Country
Naval
Strength, 1914
Personnel
# of
Dreadnaughts
Tonnage
Russia
54,000
4
328,000
France
68,000
10
731,000
Britain
209,000
29
2,205,000
331,000
43
3,264,000
Germany
79,000
17
1,019,000
Austria-Hungary
16,000
3
249,000
TOTAL
95,000
20
1,268,000
426,000
63
4,532,000
TOTAL
GRAND TOTAL
 The war departments of the major powers subscribed to the idea
of offensive wars (wars in which you are constantly attacking no
matter what the cost.)
Military
Philosophy
 This mentality will take a firm hold in strategic planning and
tactically considerations in the years leading up to the war and in
the first few years of the conflict.
 In reality, technological advancements had made defensive
capabilities in warfare much more efficient and deadlier than these
planners imagined.
FrancoGerman
Border
Defenses
The Schlieffen
Plan &
Plan XVII
 The complex web of European alliances (b0th defensive and
offensive) meant that any issue arising between two countries
would then entangle the entire continent.
 Diplomacy was centered around the belief in a 5-power war,
where it was vital to be on the side with 3.
Alliances
 National self-interest also determined whether or not an alliance
needed to be followed, exploited, or ignored.
 Allied nations also exerted influence on one another either directly
or indirectly.
 It is also important to note that the main diplomatic
communication being done between these nations is through
their ambassadors. Any future conflict would be brought into
being by them, not the people of their country.
Alliances
Alliances
Germany
Germany
Russia
Alliances
France
Great
Britain
AustriaHungary
Serbia
Russia
France
Great
Britain
AustriaHungary
Serbia
 Conflicts abroad between European nations also had the potential
for causing a continental war.
 If an imperial power felt their colonial possessions were at risk,
hostilities could commence.
Imperialism
 When the Ottoman Empire began to recede across northern
Africa, the French began to establish colonies along Africa’s
Mediterranean coast.
 As part of the Entente Cordiale, Britain and France agreed to divide
up Northern Africa amongst themselves.
 The Germans, angered at being shut out from these negotiations,
took it upon themselves to take a more aggressive position in Africa.
 This will trigger what will be known as the Moroccan Crises, an
escalation which will push Europe even closer to war.
Global Empires
and Alliances
 The 1st rate powers were in a struggle for European (and global)
supremacy.
 Each nation had a motivation behind provoking a European War and
through honor, interest, or fear wound up starting one.
Nationalism
 The struggle between old, decaying states and young, rising
powers will also prove to be a vital aspect surrounding the
outbreak of World War I.
 Serbian nationalism and independence, hard won during the Balkan
Wars, was severely challenged by the Ottoman and AustroHungarian Empires.
 The Black Hand, the Serbian nationalist group, began planning the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand when he planned on
visiting Sarajevo in June 1914.
FRANZ
FERDINAND
AND SOPHIE,
SARAJEVO,
1914