• Germany: 2,200,000 soldiers, 97 warships
• Austria-Hungary: 810,000 soldiers, 28 warships.
• Italy: 750,000 soldiers, 36 warships
• France: 1,125,000 soldiers, 62 warships
• Russia: 1,200,000 soldiers, 30 warships
• Great Britain: 711,000 soldiers, 185 warships
As one country increased their armies, the others were obliged to as well to keep the power balanced. There was a huge rivalry between Great Britain and Germany over the size of their navies. In 1906, Kaiser Wilhelm began to build many new large Dreadnought battleships, which were more powerful than any other ships. The British developed ideas that, Germany wanted to rule the sea and create an empire of their own. They were also scared because they could threaten the British colonies and take over them. By 1914, Britain had won this race and had far more ships than Germany had. This could have caused the war because each country wanted to show who was the strongest and after building up their armies and navies and making loads of weapons they would have liked to use them. Even though this could have something to do with the beginning of the war, it is arguable that it is not a major reason for why the war started.
Alliances
Alliances are important, especially during the war. If an allianced country is being attacked, the members of that alliance have to help that country.
It all started in 1879, when Germany left Russia and concentrated on the alliance between them and Austria- Hungary to create the Dual Alliance of 1879. It then became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined 1882.
In 1894, France made an alliance with Russia. This was so that if there was any trouble with the countries in between, e.g. Germany, they would have nowhere to go and both France and Russia could press through the middle with pressure on either side. In 1902, Great Britain made a naval treaty with Japan so they did not have to worry about their empire in the Pacific. In 1904, France made an agreement with Great Britain called the (= ‘Friendly Relationship’ – not a formal alliance, but a promise to work together). In 1907, Britain made an Entente with Russia thus forming the Triple Entente (France, Russia and Great Britain. The countries in Europe thought that making alliances with other countries would stop there being a war but in fact, it tied the countries together so if one country went to war, so would the others.
Here is a diagram showing the alliances of the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente:
This is one of the reasons why the war had so many countries involved but not exactly a reason to why the war started. When one country decided to go to war, the alliances of the defending country had to help them and then fight back and then the alliance of the attacking country have to help the attackers, so that is how more and more countries became involved.
Nationalism
Everyone was nationalist in those days and this definitely helped to cause a war. Britain and Germany were especially nationalistic. The made the people of the country more warlike. The British sang, ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, and the Germans sang: ‘Deutschland uber alles’ (Germany over Everything). This made the countries wan to show who was better. They did this by, the arms race, colonial rivalry and economic rivalry. Nationalism made the people of the land ruled by Turkey and Austria- Hungary want to be independent countries. The most nationalistic of all were the Serbians. Serbia had become an independent country in 1878, but in 1900 many Serbians were still ruled by Turkey and Austria-Hungary, and Serbia wanted to rule over them. This led to rebellions and terrorism which destabilised the Balkans. One terrorism act was the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
On , , heir to the throne, and his wife, , were shot dead (while travelling in an open-topped car) in , the capital city of , by . He was part of a nationalist organization, whose aim was to kill the archduke, Franz Ferdinand so Serbia could rule themselves, and not be ruled by Austria-Hungary. People believe that this started the war because when they found out that it was the people of Serbia who had killed their ‘to be’ King, Austria- Hungary declared war on Serbia. Then Russia declared war on Austria- Hungary and the Austria- Hungary’s ally Germany declared war on Russia and then their ally France also declared war on Germany and so on.
Colonial Rivalry
There were competitions European nations as to who could acquire the most colonies from overseas. Britain had the biggest empire, covering almost one fifth of the world. This was because Britain was amongst the first to master travelling using the sea. They ruled colonies from Asia, Africa and the Pacific (America). If two countries wanted to take over the same colony, they had to have a small fight to take over it.
Economic Rivalry
There were many economic conflicts between Britain and Germany. Germany was industrializing fast and was competing against British manufacturers. France had lost their main coal producing provinces (Alsace and Lorraine) to Germany so they had to import coal from other countries. Every country wanted to show their superiority though richness but this was also nationalist.
How the Causes are Linked
Why was there a war in Europe in 1914?
Nobody knows for sure, why there was a war in 1914; therefore it is not possible to give the reason. The events that led up to the war are the most likely reason for the war. For example, Turkey wanted revenge from the countries that gained from its collapse so was looking for the spark that would let them go ahead. Many people believe that it was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that caused the war because from there, Austria- Hungary declared war on Serbia, so Russia was brought in to the war, and then so was Germany, Britain- and their empire, India, Australia, Africa, New Zealand- Italy and a lot of the other countries. To be accurate, the war was caused by of all the happenings before the war.
