Britain and Germany were the chief rivals at sea. Under Admiral Tirpitz, State Secretary of the Imperial Naval Office from 1897, a long-term shipbuilding programme began. The German Navy Law of 1898 increased the German battleships from nine cruisers to twelve. In 1900 Germany passed a Navy Law which doubled the German battle fleet.
In the meantime, Britain produced her first Dreadnought (literally, the word means fear nothing). Dreadnoughts were large, fast and heavily armed battleships with 12inch guns. They set a new standard in naval armaments and turned all previous battleships ‘out of date’. The naval race became intense. Between 1909 and 1911 Germany built nine Dreadnoughts while Britain completed 18 Dreadnoughts. In 1913, Germany widened the Kiel Canal to allow the easy passage of her Dreadnoughts from the Baltic to the North Sea while Britain built new naval bases for the Dreadnoughts in northern Scotland.
Colonial Rivalry
After 1870, the European nations began to acquire colonies in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Their imperialistic activities accelerated from 1880 onwards. Between 1895 and 1905 imperialistic expansion reached its peak.
Colonial rivalry was a cause of the First World War. In Africa, all the European powers except Austria and Russia had colonies there. There were many clashes among France, Britain, Germany and Italy. For example, France rivalled with Italy over Tunis and with Germany over Morocco. Italy turned to Germany and Austria when she lost Tunis to France in 1881. Russia and Britain could patch up their differences and form an entente in 1907 as a result of their mutual fear of Germany's expansionist activities in the Balkans. From 1898 onwards, Germany built more battleships. In the first and the second Moroccan crises France and Germany argued over Moroccan protection and war nearly resulted. France and Britain nearly came to war over their rivalry in the Sudan in 1898.
Rivalry of Russia and Austria in the Balkans
Russia and Austria-Hungary resumed their Balkan rivalry, focusing on the Kingdom of Serbia and the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which Austria-Hungary had occupied since 1878. In 1881 Russia secretly had agreed in principle to Austria's future capture of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But in 1908, Izvol'skiy foolishly approved to support formal invasion in return for Austria's support for revision of the agreement on the neutrality of the Bosporus and Dardanelles--a change that would give Russia special navigational rights of passage. Britain obstructed the Russian strategy by blocking the revision, but Austria proceeded with the invasion. Then, backed by German threats of war, Austria-Hungary exposed Russia's weakness by forcing Russia to deny support for Serbia.
After Austria-Hungary's invasion of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia became a major part of the increased tension and conflict in the Balkans. In 1912 Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro defeated the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War, but the acknowledged allies continued to quarrel among themselves. Then in 1913, the alliance split, and the Serbs, Greeks, and Romanians defeated Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War. Austria-Hungary became the patron of Bulgaria, which now was Serbia's rival in the region, and Germany remained the Ottoman Empire's protector. Russia tied itself more closely to Serbia than it had previously. The complex system of alliances and Great Power support was extremely unstable; among the Balkan parties harbouring bitterness over past defeats, the Serbs maintained particular hatred toward the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Short Term Causes
The Assassination at Sarajevo
In June 1914; a Serbian terrorist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, which then held the Serbian government responsible. The Archduke and his wife were driving through the streets of Sarajevo on a visit to the capital city of Bosnia, which by now, 1914, was province of Austria. Serbia had led claim to it in 1908 but that crisis had passed. Many Serbs, though, thought that Bosnia belonged to them and were prepared to fight that Austrians to get it. The car stopped and reversed. The driver had missed a turning. Then a Serbian terrorist, a young man, stepped from the crowd and shot the archduke and his wife at point-blank range. Franz dies within 10 minutes. The murderer was a student named Gavrilo Princip. He was supported by a Serbian secret society, the ‘Black Hand’
Austria’s determination to punish Serbia
Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to Serbia, believing that the terms were too humiliating to accept. The Austro-Hungarian foreign office under Foreign Minister Graf Leopold von Berchtold regarded the assassination as a golden opportunity to crush Serbia. Although the role of the Serbian government in the assassination has never been fully determined, Austria-Hungary viewed Serbia as a threat to the empire’s security. However, Russia was the traditional protector of the South Slavs (including Serbs), and Austria-Hungary by itself was no match for Russia. It therefore appealed to Germany for help. William II promised unlimited support to Austria-Hungary and went off for a cruise on his yacht to attend the annual regatta in the Kiel Canal, obviously not expecting war to break out.
Although Serbia submitted to the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared the response unsatisfactory and recalled its ambassador. Russia, fearing another humiliation in the Balkans, supported Serbia. Once the Serbian response was rejected, the system of alliances began to operate automatically, with Germany supporting Austria-Hungary and France backing Russia. When Germany invaded France through Belgium, the conflict escalated into a world war.
Maria Guisasola 10SB