The ‘Reinsurance Treaty’ was set up in 1887 to double cross Austro-Hungary. It involved Russia and Germany and Germany agreed not to support and Austrian Attack on Russia and Russia agreed not to support a French attack on Germany. Bismarck persuaded Italy to join the ‘Duel Alliance’ and then in 1882 the ‘Duel Alliance’ became the ‘Triple Alliance’. All of the past events encouraged French and British rivalry over colonies.
In 1892 Germany’s General of Military staff, Count Schlieffen, had already devised a plan that would knock out France in one swift move and cause a delay in order to send the full might of the German army face Russia.
In 1904 ‘The Entente Cordiale’ was set up between Britain and France. They settled past colonial differences especially over Egypt and Morocco. This alliance pushed France, Britain and Russia closer together.]
Bismarck’s plans were very secretive and they worked well while he was in power but when he was forced to resign in 1890, by the new Emperor William II, his plans began to fall apart. He said in his defence that his successors were not as skilful as him but infact were not well trained enough. Emperor William II allowed his alliances with Russia weaken by not allowing Germany to make investments in Russian industry. He allowed all treaties with Russia to collapse, so Russia turned to France for help, thus the Franco-Russian defensive was set up. In 1907, as predicted in 1904, the ‘Triple Entente’ was set up between Russia, Britain and France. It further isolated Germany because she was ‘surrounded’. This entente ‘closed the circle’.
The Naval Arms race was another major cause long-term cause of World War One. Admiral von Tirpitz was the creator of the German navy. Tirpitz believed that if Germany was to be a ‘genuine’ world power she had to have a massive navy that would challenge Britain’s. Tirpitz believed that Germany’s navy would not drive Britain into a hostile alliance with them but quite the contrary. They believed it would make an Anglo-German alliance more likely. Unfornatually Britain reacted very differently than expected. Britain felt threatened by the growth of Germany’s navy and it pushed Britain even more into the hands of Germany’s enemies.
In 1906 Britain accelerated the navel arms race by launching the first ‘Dreadnought’ type battleship. Admiral Fisher of the Royal Navy believed that it would give Britain such a lead that Germany may stop in the naval arms race all together. The Dreadnought class was faster, better armed with guns that could fire further and more accurately than any other battle ship in the worlds. It could sink any rival before their guns came into range of the dreadnought. Consequently it made all other warships, including Britain’s, obsolete. Unluckily for Britain, Germany responded very differently. She deepened the Kiel Canal in 1914 to allow for the deeper draft Dreadnought to go down to the sea. Germany speeded up production of the dreadnought at tremendous expense.
The Balkans caused tension between the ‘main’ governing powers. Tension built up so much conflict that a small national crisis occurred in Morocco.
The Balkans was a group of countries consisting of Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Greece and Montenegro just south of Austro-Hungary bordering the Adriatic Sea. The Ottoman Empire controlled most of the Balkans but the Ottoman Empire was becoming weaker and weaker. Austro-Hungary wanted to stop Serbia from stirring up the Slavic people living in Austro-Hungary The Slavs wanted independence from Austrian rule. Unfortunately for Austro-Hungary Russia supported the Slavs for two reasons. Firstly they wanted access to the black sea and secondly, Russia and Serbia were both Slavic countries.
In 1905, one of two small crises’s occurred in Morocco. Firstly, the Kaiser sailed into Tangier and made a fierce speech demanding that an international conference be held and that Germanys interests in morocco be respected. In 1906 Germany left empty handed and France stayed as the dominating European power in morocco. Later in 1911 when the sultan was trapped in the capital, Fez, by rebel tribesmen, France sent 20,000 troops to his aid. The German government also took action in a muddled way. It sent a gunboat to the south Moroccan port of Agadir. It claimed to be defending German business interests but also aimed to scare the French either to giving Germany land or some other part of Africa. Britain intervened because she claimed that the German gunboat was threatening the British naval base in Gibraltar.
Russia and Serbia were furious when in 1908 Austro-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina. Russia felt double-crossed and Serbia believed that the provinces should belong too them. The 2nd crisis in the Balkans was Bulgaria opposing the rest of the Balkan states who were joined by Romania and Turkey, so the 2nd Balkan war was quickly ended.
The main result of the Balkan war was that turkey lost most of its empire, Serbia and Greece gained more land.
Most of the causes of the 1st world war were because of long term tension going back decades, but some causes, and the trigger, only go back a couple of days.
On Sunday the 28th of June 1914 the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia along with his wife. Serbia had planed to assassinate Ferdinand on this trip to see his army, which was on, manuvers. Due to the driver getting lost it gave Gavrillo Princip a chance to shoot the duke and his wife.
This one shot allowed Austro-Hungary to issue a strong ultimatum, which Austria knew that Serbia would not accept. So with the support of Russia, Serbia rejected the ultimatum and Austro- Hungary declared war on Serbia.
After the assignation war broke out very quickly. At first it was just two countries but then because of the alliance systems this “War” quickly escalated into a “World War” because of the alliances between most of Europe.
The 1st World War was a horrific event in the span of history resulting in the loss of millions of lives.
A Hotel in Verdun: Cloister of the Hotel de la Princerie
And After
Death and Destruction
A field of dead French and German troops near Champagne
Ross Clabburn