Throughout Europe there were also ideologies between the people: Nationalism, Imperialism and Militarism. Nationalism was a movement which had struck all Europe leaving people to think that their country is better than the others. They believed that their own nation's needs must be met before that of other nations. These strong beliefs sometimes became obsessive as nationalists became so proud of their nation that they were desperate for it to become the most rich and powerful country.
Imperialism was also present and it was the desire of the people to build an empire for the benefit of the mother country. It is the wanting to expand their country's boundaries into new areas in order to acquire the opportunities that the new land held.
In the early part of the twentieth century, militarism was as prominent as ever, with the recent industrial revolution being the main factor. People's belief was that the armed forces should take control of the government and policies, and a willingness to build up the army and to consider a military solution for foreign relations problems. Weaponry was now produced with less effort but greater quantity, so countries were attempting to increase their production of warfare.
There were also a few long-term events which underlined the tensions between the countries of Europe. First there was the German Navy Law of 1900 where Kaiser Wilhelm wanted an empire for Germany and, at that time, Britain had the strongest navy in the world. So, to challenge Britain, Germany built Dreadnought battleships which were also really powerful. Britain's navy was now threatened by by Germany's one so an armed race begins. The Anglo-Japanese naval alliance is signed between Britain and Japan. By 1914, the British navy was much larger than the German navy; people argue that then this is not a cause of WW1.
Then what came by was the First Moroccan Crisis, in 1906. Here, France hoped to conquer Morocco, in Africa, and that the British would help them. Although this didn't happen because Kaiser Wilhelm visits Morocco and guarantees its protection. France is now furious with Germany and feels threatened; the British also saw this as another attempt of Germany to build its Empire to rival Britain's Empire. In 1907, Britain, France and Russia are now alarmed by Germany; this is when the Entente is formed.
Then comes the Bosnian Crisis in 1908; Austria-Hungary wants to renew its empire by annexing the Balkans. The Serbian nationalism grows and so does a sense of brotherhood between the Slavic people. There was a revolution in Turkey so Austria-Hungary took advantage of this to take over the Turkish state of Bosnia. Russia is stopped by helping Serbia by France and Britain and is humiliated by Austria-Hungary. Terrorist groups also emerge in the Balkans, such as the Black Hand.
The Agadir Crisis in 1911 was where there was a revolution in Morocco and the French sent in an army to put it down, then took over the country. Germany interfered by sending in the gunboat Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir. Kaiser Wilhelm is although forced to back down from crisis. Morocco is then colonized leaving the Kaiser humiliated and the German intentions are now clear to all.
Just before the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, there are the Balkan Wars between 1912-1913. As Turkey is now continuing to grow weaker, the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria) attacked Turkey and captured almost all the remaining land; only thanks to the Treaty of Bucharest which ended the war. Austria-Hungary feels insecure on the southern borders, also because Serbia became so powerful that felt confident to threaten it by saying that it would now go against Austria.
In 1914, there came the assassination which started a sequence of events leading to WW1. Franz Ferdinand, the emperor of Austria-Hungary, and his wife decided to go visit Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to go and inspect the Austria-Hungarian troops. A Serbian terrorist group called th Black Hand had decided that Franz Ferdinand had to die. Seven young men who had been trained in bomb throwing were placed along the route that Franz Ferdinand's car would follow from the City Hall to the inspection. The first two were unable to throw their grenades because of the crowd. The third one, called Cabrinovich, managed to throw one under the car, injuring the men on board but not Franz Ferdinand or his wife. After having lunch at the City Hall, Franz Ferdinand insisted in going to visit the injured men. However, on their way, another terrorist named Gavrilo Princip fired two shots. One on Franz's wife stomach where she was pregnant, and died almost instantly, the other one on Franz Ferdinand's neck who died a while later.
Now that this happened, Austria-Hungary became very angry and sent an impossible ultimatum to Serbia, with ten impossible conditions. Surprisingly, Austria-Hungary accepted most of them except one; Austria-Hungary refuses this. So, it declares war on Serbia with Germany saying it will fully support it. Russia will then decide to defend their Slavic friends and so start mobilizing their army for war. Germany sees Russia getting ready and so mobilizes its army too. It then declares war to France through the Schlieffen plan. Something though goes wrong because while passing through Belgium, it didn't let it through so had to declare war on Belgium too. Britain though had signed a treaty with Belgium and so declared war on Germany to protect it. Austria-Hungary then declares war on Russia, leaving France and Britain to declare war on it because of their alliance. World War One breaks out!
As you can see, there was a lot of competition between the countries. Everybody wanted to be better that others, wanted to have more so they felt powerful. I think people might discuss that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the main cause. I do agree with this, but not fully. I think that this will never have happened if it wasn't for this wanting to be better, for the competition in fighting between the European countries. If there wasn't any tension, then nobody would have started mobilizing. Just like what happened in the Boer War of 1899-1900 where Britain was fighting a colonial war to conquer South Africa and Germany interfered just because it wanted to, supporting the Boers and announcing that Britain had no right to conquer it. This made Britain develop the idea that Germany wanted to challenge Britain's role as a world empire. I think this was the most important cause out of all.
Does this answer our previous question though? “Is Germany the cause of WW1?”. It might have been since it interfered without minding its own business, but wars do not happen from one day to the other with just one reason for fighting. It takes longer for people to reflect and see what will happen next, like Britain did, it waited to see if Germany really wanted to challenge Britain but ended that many other things came about.
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Beatrice Ferro 9A
Beatrice Ferro 9A
Beatrice Ferro 9A