Causes of World War I

Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) After Napoleonic Wars, 39 Germanic states Austria/Prussia the largest Prussia defeats Denmark (1864), Austria (1864) and France (1871) Use coordinated train movements and well-trained and equipped military Prussia humiliates France Pay indemnity of 5 million marks Occupation Germany becomes nation in 1871

Characteristics of Great European Powers (ca. 1900) Germany Authoritarian, Military Power, Industrial Power Great Britain Parliamentary Monarchy, Trade, Industry, Sea Power, Empire Russia Autocratic Tsardom, Some Industrialization, Foreign Debt, Huge Population France Democratic Republic, Slow Economic Growth, Empire Austria-Hungary Dual Monarchy, Nationalities Problems Turkey Sultanate, Decline of Empire

Long-Term Causes of World War I After FPW, Germany (led by K Wilhelm I and Chancellor Bismarck) pursued alliances to keep France isolated and avoid conflict. These included: Dreikaiserbund or Three Emperors’ League (1873) Dual Alliance (1873) The Three Emperors’ Alliance (1881) The Triple Alliance (1882) The Reinsurance Treaty

Long Term Causes of World War I The New Course and Weltpolitik Followed by KWII and new Chancellor Caprivi Reinsurance treaty allowed to lapse Leads to Franco-Russian Alliance (1894) Weltpolitik created to establish Germany as a colonial power Called for overseas empire and navy

Long-Term Causes of WWI Imperialism Germany’s ascendance and desire for empire clashed with both GB and France Emergence of the Alliance System Germany passes Naval Law (1900) which calls for creation of 17 ships In response, Britain ends “Splendid Isolation” Forms an alliance with Japan (1902), entente with France (entente cordiale ) By 1907, Britain, France and Russia had formed the Triple Entente The TE and the Triple Alliance split Europe into two camps

Long-Term Causes of WWI The Naval Race Creation of Dreadnought triggered a naval race between GB and Germany British public began to view Germans as the enemy

Long-Term Causes of WWI The Situation in the Balkans An unstable area that created tensions even before 1914; 3 empires had interests there: The Ottoman Empire Once controlled all of the Balkans, but had become much weaker Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia declared independence Struggling to hold onto the pieces Austria-Hungary Losing grip on multi-ethnic empire Southern Slavs (Serbs, Croat, and Slovenes) want to break away and began to look to Serbia for support Russia Saw itself as protector of the Slavs Needed access to warm water ports on the Black Sea What would happen in the Balkans if/when the Ottoman Empire collapsed became known as the “Eastern Question”.

Short-Term Causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) The First Moroccan Crisis (1905) As part of the Entente Cordiale, GB supported a French takeover of Morocco Germans promised to help Sultan of Morocco maintain independence and demanded international conference to discuss the situation At Algeciras Conf. (1906), GB backed up France’s claim to Morocco, Germany had little support and had to admit defeat Huge defeat for Weltpolitik

Short-term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) The Bosnian Crisis (1908) After Anglo-Russian Entente (1907), Germans moved much closer to Austria-Hungary AH annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina in reaction to Ottoman crisis This outrages Serbia who wanted the countries to be part of greater Serbia Russia sympathizes with Serbia and threatens war with AH Germany stands “shoulder to shoulder” with AH, Russians get little support from GB and France and back down Russians are humiliated and begin massive armament program Balkans become much more unstable Serbia becomes much more nationalistic and seeks revenge against AH

Short-Term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) The Second Moroccan (Agadir) Crisis (1911) French sent troops to Fez, at the request of sultan, to put down a revolt Germans see this as beginning of French takeover of Morocco and send a gunboat to Moroccan port of Agadir, to pressure the French into giving them territorial compensation GB sees this as threat to their shipping lanes and warns Germany off Germany backs down and accepts minor French territory in the Congo As a result: Another failure of Weltpolitik leads German public to view their gov’t. as weak Anglo-French Entente strengthened

Short-term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) First Balkan War (1912) Encouraged by the Russians, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro formed an alliance to expel Turkey from their European possessions They accomplished their goal in seven weeks AH is outraged and cannot accept a strengthened Serbia; threaten war British step in, divide up the territories and create Albania to contain Serbia and appease AH More resentment created between Serbia and AH

Short-term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) The Second Balkan War (1913) Bulgaria went to war against Serbia and Greece, over territory Serbia had occupied after the 1st BW They thought there were too many Bulgarians living in those areas AH wanted to get involved on the side of Bulgaria but Germany urged restraint Serbs, Greeks and Turks defeat Bulgaria As a result: Serbia had proved their military might, doubled in size and encouraged their ally, Russia AH was convinced it needed to crush Serbia

Short term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) The International Situation by 1913 Crisis years had deteriorated stability Increased division between the two alliance systems and an increase in armaments Naval race between Germany and GB Nationalism was rising throughout Europe War had been averted, but major resentments lingered

Other developments, 1900-1913 The Will to Make War Citizens throughout Europe were ultra-nationalistic as a result of years of indoctrination Popular press portrayed impending war as one that would be short and heroic

Other developments, 1900-1913 The Arms Race and Militarism Between 1870-1914, military spending by European powers had increased by 300% Conscription had been introduced throughout the continent

Other developments, 1900-1913 War Plans All major countries had detailed war plans, which made their response to crises inflexible The Schlieffen Plan Called for Germany to defeat France within six weeks and then direct their forces toward Russia Based around the invasion of neutral countries (Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg) Depended on slow Russian mobilization