"Of all the factors that led to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, imperialism was by far the most important." How far do you agree with this statement?

AS and A Level History

Tim Bell

History

05/10/04

Outbreak of World War I

“Of all the factors that led to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, imperialism was by far the most important.” How far do you agree with this statement?

One cannot conclude that one factor was more important than another in the outbreak of World War I. A gradual combination of more than one factor led to a ‘time-ticking bomb’ ready to explode at any time. Imperialism was a factor leading to war, yet not the most important. As one looks at the time period before the war, one can see the Allicance System, Militarism, Economic Rivalry, and Nationalism also as reasons for disruption among the European powers. One could argue – as many historians due – that the cause of the war was sparked by one single event – the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, yet one must look at events previous to that which would have allowed such tension for such an event to take place in the first place. As David Thomson states, “The most important thing about the First World War is that it was the unsought, unintended product of a long sequence of events which begin in 1871”. Therfore, you cannot put importance on a causing factor to the Great War as it was a sequence of chained events.

Perhaps one of the first events leading to the Great War was the war of 1870-1871, or more commonly known as the Franco-Prussian war; a war won by the German Empire, known as Prussia at the time. The effect of this war was the loss of French historic land – Alsace-Lorraine. Not happy with the effects of the war, France seeked to gain revenge against Germany. The most important factor for this strive for retalliation was nationalism. Nationalism played a very strong role in the cause of the First World War. Nationalism was also present and intense in the Balkans. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was given the authority of administering Bosnia-Herzegovina for the Turkish Ottoman Empire, though in 1908, Autro-Hungarian Empire annexed the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. And again, due to nationalism, tensions were created between Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Serbian state. Due to the Balkan wars, Serbia increased drastically in size. This would later lead to a threatened Austro-Hungarian Empire causing a state of hostility between the two. Because of the good relations between the Serbs and Russians, Russia would not allow the Austro-Hungarian Empire to invade Serbia. This created a new tension between Russia and Austro-Hungarian Empire. In July of 1914, Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the thrown of Austrio-Hungarian Empire, visited the city of Sarajevo in the newly annexed state of Bosnia. This was a perfect opportunity for nationalistic Serbs to accomplish an assasination. Successfully, a member of a Serbian nationalistic union known as the Black Hand assasinated the Archduke and his wife. This gave Austro-Hungarian a good reason to finally invade. One cannot stress the importance of the assasination. One can see that the sequence of events in the Balkans were due to the sole reason of nationalism, though nationalism wasn’t the sole reason for the cause of the First World War

What is commonly known as ‘The Alliance System’ was also a leading factor in the outbreak. One of the first essential alliance systems was created in 1873, shortly after the Franco-Prussian war, known as the ‘Dreikaiserbund’ (League of Three Emperors). This was to assure for defence against France, yet Russia pulled out of this alliance after 5 years in 1879 leaving Germany and the Austo-Hungarian in ‘The Dual Alliance’. This alliance ensured at least neutrality in the case of an attack by Russia or its ally towards any of the two nations. Three years after the formation of ‘The Dual ...

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What is commonly known as ‘The Alliance System’ was also a leading factor in the outbreak. One of the first essential alliance systems was created in 1873, shortly after the Franco-Prussian war, known as the ‘Dreikaiserbund’ (League of Three Emperors). This was to assure for defence against France, yet Russia pulled out of this alliance after 5 years in 1879 leaving Germany and the Austo-Hungarian in ‘The Dual Alliance’. This alliance ensured at least neutrality in the case of an attack by Russia or its ally towards any of the two nations. Three years after the formation of ‘The Dual Alliance’, Italy joined them forming a new ‘Triple Alliance’. Because of the occupation in Tunis, Italy felt more secure in alliance with a common enemy. The ‘Triple Alliance was merely against France, not Britain. In 1887, a reinsurance treaty was signed between Russia and Germany which meant neutrality between them unless a direct attack by Germany on France was made, or an attack by Russia on Austria-Hungary. This would ensure Germany not to have a hypothetical two-front war. The treaty was not renewed after 3 years, due to a lack of interest by the new German Kaiser. Russia and France now feared the ‘Triple Alliance’ therefore creating an alliance amongst them known as the Franco-Russian Alliance. The purpose of this alliance was to act as a defense against the ‘Triple Alliance’. In 1904 an alliance was created between Britain and France. This was a weak alliance which only created a diplomatic support and agreement on areas of mutual interest such as Egypt and Morocco. The three fold alliance known as the ‘Triple Entente’ was completed when Russia and Britain signed an agreement compromising over Persia. The new balance of power would help to keep peace between the ‘Triple Alliance’ and ‘Triple Entente’. This wasn’t the case and fear for war grew between the two alliances. “Europe was divided into two armed camps: the Entente Powers and the Central Powers, and their populations began to see war not merely as inevitable but even welcome.”As stated by historian, Dr Gary Sheffield, this alliance system was inevitably bound to start a war. As the two alliances were afraid of a war, a new factor of the cause of the outbreak came into play – militarism

Due to the two alliances in Europe, countries started to focus on militarism, and buliding up a strong army. In 1889, Britain’s ‘Two Power Standard’ stated that the British Royal Navy should be at least twice the size to the two nearest rivals. Britain controlled the sea during this time, and wanted to keep it that way. Britain’s navy was seen as a large advantage by the Germans and immediately, Germany started to improve their navy. The ‘First Navy Law” was introduced in 1889 strongly increasing the German navy, while Tirpitz was in charge; and in 1900 a ‘Second Navy Law’ allowed Germany to have build 38 ships over 20 years. Britain reacted strongly and in 1903, Admiral John Fischer became in charge of the Royal Navy. Three years later, a newly developed ship known as the Dreadnought was created - a very advanced ship with an 8km radius cannon, thick armour, and a Tri-pod mast allowing stability. With fear of the new Dreadnought, Germany started to develop their own, and released a German Dreadnought in 1908. This race had a great effect on the outbreak of war, as both Germany and Britain feared each others’ navies. The years before the war, Britain was the largest economy in the world. This changed when Germany reacted and six-folded their coal production in 1913. That same year, Germany increased its standing army for few reasons. Russia and France took a further step towards war and inreased their military service years. At this point, a war seemed even more likely due to the focus on militarism. Countries started to think about creating war plans. A man named Alfred Von Schlieffen was responsible for German’s plan. The plan would take into account the allied system between France and Russia and a hypothetical two-front war. This plan would allow for a fast and hard knock towards Paris through neutral Belgium, and take out France before Russia could mobilize their troops on the Eastern front. Although this plan was top-secret, it showed that German surely expecting a war, therefore ready for an outbreak.

Therefore, although imperialism played an important role in the outbreak of the war, one cannot forget all the other factors involved. Imperialism did not play the most important role in the outbreak of the war. It was a combination of nationalism, the alliance system, militarism, and imperialism that led to the outbreak of the war. One could perhaps argue that without the alliance system, without militarism, without imperialism, or without nationalism there would not have been a war, but all of them are surely directly related and I do not think importance of a factor is relevant to the outbreak of the Great War.