WORLD WAR 1-
The underlying causes for war included intense nationalism, frustrated national ambitions and ethnic resentments, abrasive colonial rivalries, and a general struggle over the balance of power, both in Europe and the world at large. National leaders didn’t want to find themselves alone, so they sought allies with other countries.
MAIN CAUSES OF WORLD WAR 1-
Conceptual/Background Causes-
- Self-determinism, which is inherent in nationalism, is the idea that people with the same ethnic origins, language, and political ideas had the right to form sovereign states.
- The powers that dominated European affairs either ignored or opposed the principle of self-determination.
- The nationalist aspirations of subject minorities threatened to tear apart the multinational empires of the Ottoman, Hapsburg, and Russian dynasties.
- As this was going on, the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary confronted the nationalist aspirations of Slavic people (this included Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes).
- The most menacing were the Serbs, who pressed for unification with the independent kingdom of Serbia.
- Russia added “fuel to the fire” by promoting Pan-Slavism, which was a movement that stressed ethnic and cultural kinship of the various Slav people of parts of Europe and sought to unite those people politically.
- The purpose behind the whole policy was to promote secession by Slav areas, therefore weakening Austrian rule.
- Russia supported Serbia, which supported Slav nationalism, and Germany backed Austria-Hungary, all setting the stage for international conflict (WW1).
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- Economic rivalries, or imperialism in this case, stirred up colonial competition. European nations aggressively searched for new colonies in an effort to boost economic performance.
- The nations stumbled over each other in their haste to conquer and colonize and constantly clashed with each other.
- Basically all of the major powers engaged in the scramble for empire, but the most intense was the competition between Britain and Germany and then Germany and France.
- Public pressures also contributed to national rivalries. The citizens wanted their nation to outshine others.
- New means of communication nourished the public’s desire to see their country “come in first.”
- A series of international crisis and two local wars raised tensions and almost precipitated a general European war. The first crisis resulted from a French-German confrontation over Morocco.
- The Germans tried to isolate the French and the French then threatened war. The Balkan wars also contributed to the growing tensions in European affairs.
- The wars strained European diplomatic relations and helped shape the circumstances that led to the outbreak of the Great War (or WW1).
Alliances-
- The alliances between countries outlined the circumstances under which countries would go to war to support each other. Rival alliance systems created a framework where even a small international crisis could set off a chain reaction leading to global war.
- Europe’s major powers transformed themselves into two hostile camps, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.
- The Triple Alliance, also known as the Central Powers, formed because of the close relationship that had previously developed between the leaders of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The governments of the two empires had formed the Dual Alliance, which was an alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary.
- Then it became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined. Italy was fearful of France.
- The tsarist regime was disturbed by the new alignment of powers and the result was that a combination of nations referred to as the Allies formed the Triple Entente.
- They originated in a series of agreements between Britain and France and between Britain and Russia.
EVENTS THAT CAUSED WORLD WAR 1-
- Gavrilo Princip’s shot triggered the greatest world war in history up to that point. He was a Serbian nationalist who assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand, who was the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
- The assassin was linked to a terrorist group named Black Hand, which was in Serbia and was dedicated to the unification of all south Slavs to form a greater Serbia.
- The biggest thing in their way was the Austro-Hungarian empire, which is why the heir to the throne was a symbolic victim.
- The assassination set a lot in motion that escalated into total war.
- Austrian leaders were determined to teach the Serbs a lesson and they issued a nearly unacceptable ultimatum to the Serbian government.
- The Serbian government accepted all the terms but one.
- Austria-Hungary found Serbia’s reply to be unsatisfactory and they declared war on Serbia. This is when the drift towards war begun.
Declarations of War-
- The events leading up to WW1 were then largely determined by two factors: complex mobilization plans and the alliance system.
- Mobilization called for the activation of military forces for imminent battle and the redirection of economic and social activities to support military efforts.
- The Russian government mobilized its troops to defend its Serbian ally and itself from Austria and then ordered mobilization against Germany.
- The Germans then issued an ultimatum to Russia demanding that they cease their mobilizing and the Russians replied basically saying that it was "impossible" to stop.
- The Germans also sent an ultimatum to France demanding to know what their intentions were in case Germany and Russia went to war and the French never answered.
- Then the Germans declared war on Russia and France started to mobilize. Then the Germans declared war of France and also invaded Belgium.
- The British government the sent an ultimatum to Germany telling them that they needed to treat Belgium's previously-determined neutrality with respect. The German's refused to do this and the British declared war.