The Entente Cordiale was formed in 1904 between Britain and France; it was a colonial alliance to settle disagreements; it improves relations but it has no military obligations. Their original agreements were colonial over their rivalry in Africa. However, the alliance only became anti-German as a result of German aggression; even after ‘military conversations’ between British and French Generals, Britain had no obligation to help France.
The Anglo-Russian alliance was only a colonial agreement, not a binding alliance; it was formed in 1907. It was in both countries’ interest to improve relations because Russia was weak after their defeat from Japan and Britain did not want to risk a Franco-German-Russian alliance. However, this alliance did not really have much importance because during the Bosnian Crisis, Britain did not help Russia.
The alliances were a very important factor in causing the war because they increased distrust and tension between the states and restricted states’ actions because they were binding. However, not all of the alliances were military, but they caused Germany to think that it was the case; this encouraged Germany to risk starting a preventative war because they were fearful of encirclement. The alliances divided Europe, creating the basis of the two sides. We cannot say that it was the alliances alone that caused the war because some of them were defensive, for example, the Ententes were colonial and some links between states were not formalised, such as the Entente Cordiale. Another reason is that there was no alliance between Russia and Serbia; Russia just felt that it was in their interests to intervene. Also, the alliances reflect other factors such as expansionist policies and finally, alliances could be
broken; Italy did not defend the Triple Alliance in 1914. The alliances expanded the scale of the war from a local Balkan dispute to a European/Continental war. This brings to light two other factors that could have contributed to the war: Germany and the Balkans.
The 3 main causes in relation to the Balkans are Balkan nationalism, the decline of the Ottoman Empire and Austro-Russian rivalry.
Balkan nationalism fuelled the Bosnian crisis of 1908; Bosnian Serbs wanted to be apart of Serbia, Austria did not want to lose any part of its empire because they feared that it might encourage other nationalities to break and want to become independent. Austria humiliated Russia by annexing Bosnia whist in negotiations with Russia to settle the problem; Russia could do nothing but accept the annexation despite claiming to be the protector of Slav people.
The Balkan War in October 1912 began with an attack by the Balkan League, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro on the Ottoman Empire; the Turks were defeated and this worried both Austria and Russia. Austria and Serbia had to cooperate to ensure that Serbia didn’t become too large and that Bulgaria didn’t get access to the Straits. This crisis however, showed that Austria and Russia could work together; also there was no German intervention to escalate the problem unlike in 1908 and 1914. In the longer term, Bosnian discontent caused terrorism; it was a Bosnian terrorist who assassinated Franz Ferdinand in august 1914.
It could be argued that war broke out in 1914 because of rivalry over the Balkans. The decision is really taken in Berlin to use the opportunity in the Balkans to go to war. Also, Russia could not afford to back down this time; they had to intervene against Austria because they backed down the first time.
Germany was another key factor as a cause of the war. Germany could be seen as the main reason of the start of war because they issued Austria with the ‘Carte Blanche’ which enabled Austria to declare war on Serbia. Also, Germany was going through their phase of Weltpolitik, their new aggressive foreign policy. It could also be argued that Germany wanted war to benefit their poor economic system and because they had domestic problems such as the failure of their parliament. Germany is an important factor because of their aggressive foreign policy-Weltpolitik and because they issued the ‘Carte Blanche’ and they played a key role in the July Crisis.
Another factor is the economic role; from previous studies, I understand that Kaiser Wilhelm was jealous of Britain’s superior sea power and rich colonies. I believe that the struggle and effort to create colonial empires was a key factor in the European struggle for economic power. Historians believe that this competition for colonial empires between the states led to war. There are a few other factors with minor contributory roles in causing the war. Arms and steel manufacturers were to gain much money as a result of the powers’ growing need for industrial expansion. Economic alliance was of great importance and in time, led to political links instead of financial ones; an example of this is the Franco-Russian alliance which was held together by French loans.
However, war would disrupt trade between the states, and it becomes apparent that economic factors are not enough on their own to cause war.
German, Austrian and Russian aggressive national policies can be a factor to consider as a cause for the First World War. There was great power rivalry between
Austria and Russia; Austria saw Serbia as a threat and their aggressive national policy was the reason that they annexed Bosnia during the Bosnian Crisis. At the same time they humiliated Serbia and Russia, causing further tension and rivalry between Austria and Russia. Austria’s aggressive annexation of Bosnia triggered the assassination of Franz Ferdinand by a Bosnian terrorist.
Again, the rivalry between Austria and Russia could have possibly sparked the aggressive national policies. Russia was made to look stupid by backing down after Germany gave support to Austria over the dispute with Serbia. Russia’s hate for Austria thickened as Bosnia was annexed. Russia only responds to events and doesn’t even enter the July Crisis until the ultimatum was sent.
It can therefore be argued that Russia’s aggression was an affect of the alliances and German and Austrian nationalism. They were also affected by their economic factors.
Austria can also be slightly discredited for starting the war as it was Germany that supplied them with the ‘Carte Blanche ‘; if Austria had been given that support, chances are that war would not have broke out. Also Serbia could have accepted the ultimatum even though it was unacceptable. Nationalism is a very important factor to consider although all the factors together can be said to have caused the war; there is no one factor that cause war alone.
In conclusion, the alliance system was a key factor in causing the war, yet there are other more important factors that also contributed to causing the war.
The alliances themselves were very important because they increased the scale of the war significantly, this was not a cause of the war, but it involved many more countries when it could have just remained in the Balkans.
The other factors played an important role because they contributed more to actually causing the war; German foreign policy is an example, it created tension with other powers and encouraged alliances to take form. Balkan nationalism is also an important factor because it is basically the reason for the war in the first place.
Finally, the alliances were a significant factor, but they are more valid when positioned with the other factors.
