The Triple Entente became the root of Bismarck’s greatest fear: a war on two fronts. With Russia and France either side of Germany, Bismarck considered his country very vulnerable and believed that such a war on two fronts would cripple Germany. However, Bismarck did not attempt to make alliance with Russia and making an alliance with France was out of the question, as he believed that there was still bitterness over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian war. The reason Bismarck did not try to ally Germany and Russia was that Ottoman had lost much power in Turkey. This had left many countries out of his control and many had self-determined themselves forming the Balkans.
Russia greatly desired the Balkans for their access to the Mediterranean Sea. The Balkans would allow Russia great prospects of trade. However, Austro-Hungary also wanted the Balkans, as it feared communities in Austro-Hungary would also try to self-determine themselves. This kept Bismarck from allying with Russia, as the two countries were irreconcilable.
In 1870, Bismarck had two great worries. At this time Bismarck set out to control the seas and in 1870 the Anglo-German Naval Race. Britain and Germany were competing to make the most warships and have control of the oceans. By 1914 Britain had won the race. His other objective in 1870 was to keep France and Russia from uniting. He did this with the reinsurance treaty. However, in 1888 the new German emperor took over, Kaiser Willhelm II.
Willhelm had had a harsh childhood and was brash arrogant and inconsistent. Bismarck foresaw the conflict that would arise between the two. Bismarck threatened to leave and Willhelm let him. By 1890, Bismarck had left office. Willhelm did not renew the reinsurance treaty between Germany and Russia, which left France able to ally itself with Russia. The uniting factor between the two countries was the common fear of Germany. By 1894, France and Russia were allies.
At this time, Britain was fighting the Boer war. Britain came out from this increasingly unpopular. Britain set out to ally itself in attempt to end the anti-British attitude. In 1904 Britain allied with France and in 1907 it was allied with Russia forming the Triple Entente. This was Bismarck’s greatest fear coming true.
Another argument for the start of the war was the fact that Britain and France’s empires were so huge. They both held huge areas of land in Africa. As well as this, Britain owned all of Canada, India, Australia and Egypt amongst others. By 1914, Germany had given up on global politics and predominantly focused on Germany’s security in Europe.
The last of the main theories of why war broke out is the growing nationalistic views in Europe. There were two types of conflicting nationalistic movements, the pan-Germanist and the pan-Slavist movements. The pan-Germanist movement was sweeping Southeasterly through Europe. The desired result of this was a Berlin-Baghdad railway, which would open an important trade route for Germany allowing trade with the east. The pan-Slavist movement was born in Serbia, which gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878.
After becoming an independent country, Serbia was instantly hostile towards Austro-Hungary. Serbia looked to Russia for Slav support. Serbia really wanted to encourage ethnic groups in Austro-Hungary to break away and self-determine themselves. By 1914 Austria had become increasingly angry at Serbia. The pan-Slavist movement was heading south westerly. It became obvious that the two movements were going to collide. The point at which this collision would take place was the Balkans. In 1914, came the Bosnian Crisis were Austria attempted to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia looked for support from Russia and Russia complied.
In conclusion I believe it was an intertwined tapestry of these events that ultimately led to the war. I do however feel that the most important of these factors was the arrival of the new German Emperor Kaiser Willhelm II. With his introduction came an upset in the peace. Germany lost its security within Europe and France was able to unite with Russia losing Germany its military advantage within Europe.
