Causes of World War I Part 1

Cause #1 – Alliances Why Alliances? Maintain balance of power Would be a deterrent to war To benefit your country Alliances were kept secret, so parliament wasn’t consulted Diplomats came from the upper classes because they were expected to throw parties for other diplomats, so they weren’t necessarily the best people for the job

Cause #1 – Alliances After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, there was a balance of power in Europe France was defeated by Germany in 1870-71 (Germany got Alsace-Lorraine); ended balance of power because Germany was united

Cause #1 – Alliances Germany was now: First in military, education, and scientific discovery 67 million people – 2nd to Russia Produced much coal, iron, and steel Were catching up to Britain Agricultural output doubled Industry production quadrupled Trade tripled

Cause #1 – Alliances: Dual Alliance (1879) (Germany & Austria) Germany’s reasons Austria-Hungary had many Germans living in them Austria-Hungary could be more easily dominated Their territory could be used as a path to the Middle East Germany wanted to maintain a balance of power in their favor It would alarm the Russians into making better relations with Germany Austria’s reasons It meant an additional guarantee of the empire’s stability The maintenance of Austria-Hungary as a Great Power depended on the alliance

Cause #1 – Alliances: Dual Alliance (1879) (Germany & Austria) The maintenance of Austria-Hungary as a Great Power became a major foreign policy goal for Germany because Austria was seen as Germany’s only reliable ally The incorporation of Bosnia-Herzegovina was seen as a way to strengthen Austria-Hungary’s position as a Great Power, but it was a blow to Serbia’s objective of making a Greater Serbia Map of Europe today

Cause #1 – Alliances: Triple Alliance (1882) (Germany, Austria, & Italy) Italy switched from a policy of internal improvement to nationalism/imperialism when they united in 1866 France had acquired Tunisia before Italy could get it, so they hoped an alliance would help them get territory They wanted – Trentino and Trieste, Nice and Savoy, Tunisia and Tripolis, Corsica, and Balkans The alliance and territory would appeared to give Italy status as a Great Power

Cause #1 – Alliances: Dual Entente (1893) (France & Russia) Bismarck closed the German money markets to Russian loans (for military and industrial development) in 1885 in order to discourage their engaging in a war in the Balkans, so the French replaced them. Bismarck was supporting Austria-Hungary by his actions France was upset about losing Alsace Lorraine and wanted it back This alliance would counter the threat of Dual Alliance

Cause #1 – Alliances: Entente Cordiale (1904) (France & Britain) France couldn’t maintain both a fleet equal to Britain and an army equal to Germany (British navy would concentrate on the English Channel; French navy would concentrate on the Mediterranean) Both were concerned over Germanys growing power Britain felt that if they didn’t maintain a close relationship with France, they might turn to Germany (at the expense of the British Empire)

Cause #1 – Alliances: Triple Entente (1907) (Russia, Britain, France) The Russian defeat by Japan made the Russian government anxious to improve relations with Britain Britain and France could strengthen the fledgling parliamentary system in Russia Gave the Russians hopes of British support for their aspirations in the Balkans Settle imperial differences in the Middle East between Britain and Russia Britain wanted to maintain their empire

Cause #1 – Alliances: False Beliefs Bethmann Hollweg, Chancellor of Germany, believed that if Russia started the war, then Britain would not intervene Franz Conrad, the Chief of Staff of Austria-Hungary, believed that Russian support for Serbia might turn out to be bluff Russian officials believed that if they supported Serbia, Germany wouldn’t intervene

Cause #2 – Militarism Why Militarism? Germany had biggest army, while Britain had biggest navy Everyone wanted to catch up to each other to maintain balance of power and they also felt threatened by one another, so an arms race results Mindset was that all great powers had a big military - The Influence of Sea Power in History (1905) by Thayer Mahan The military was needed to maintain empire

Cause #2 – Militarism Why militarism? All countries felt threatened by one another, so a large military would act as a deterrent Industrialism – countries could produce weapons fast and that are more deadly (arms races) Countries felt like war was eminent as it got closer and closer to 1914, so they all developed war plans

Cause #2 – Militarism: Germany The Prussians formed the dominant element in the army and they had a tradition of strong military values This affected the whole of German society after unification In addition, Germany still had individual states (Landers), that possessed important powers over day-to-day life of their citizens, so foreign policy was seen as a way to unify the country

Cause #2 – Militarism: Germany Weltpolitik was the German policy to find their “place in the sun” that was fitting to their rising power Part of this policy was to maintain an empire. They would do that by making a navy which would rival, or even exceed, the UK’s Royal Navy in strength This policy was sought by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. He convinced the Reichstag that without the navy, German decline was certain

Dreadnoughts – early form of battleship By 1914: Britain – 32 Germany – 19

Cause #2 – Militarism: Germany Arguments for the fleet: Because of Britain’s many worldwide commitments, a battleship fleet only 2/3 the size would bring victory Fleet would act as a deterrent, ensuring Britain’s neutrality in any future conflict Other countries would only respect and deal with Germany fairly when Germany’s navy was built up that much

Cause #2 – Militarism: Germany The results of Weltpolitik were: It led to an Anglo-German naval race where each sought to outbuild the other in dreadnoughts Led to Britain’s fear that they would lose the balance of power and their empire, so they began a naval building program in 1889 Britain and other countries refused to end warship construction because they were afraid they’d lose overseas markets and natural resources

Cause #2 – Militarism Germany’s Schlieffen Plan Developed when Russia had been defeated by Japan in 1904-05 and Russia was in their first revolution Dependent on quick mobilization and defeat of France, then defeat of Russia They thought it would take Russia 40 days to mobilize Wanted to go through neutral Belgium

Schlieffen Plan

Cause #2 – Militarism: Austria Austrian Naval League (1905) – explained that Austria-Hungary ought to follow the path taken by Germany By 1912, the largest budget in Austro-Hungarian history was approved New military laws guaranteed their armed forces an annual contingent of 181,000 men, with increases over the next 5 years

Cause #2 – Militarism: Austria Wanted to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina Plan B (Balkans) - Planned a campaign to crush Serbia quickly before Russia could get involved Plan R (Russia) - Another plan developed later that would attack Serbia, prevent Russian assistance to Serbia, deploy troops to Russia, and leave northern A-H up to Germany to protect