Russia was politically strong, controlling and strict. They had a huge amount of land spreading across from Europe to Asia, she had a fast growing population and a large army. They were economically strong compared to the Turks and Balkans and had huge amount of respect from the Balkans.
Turkey was a crumbling empire. They were politically weak with poor leadership and they had an ill-equipped army to defend the country. One by one, the outer parts of her empire were gaining independence or were fighting for it.
Austria-Hungary was a great, scattered empire; they were made up of races and creeds that did not mix well with each other. There was almost no industrialization and although they had a large army it was inefficient. The whole empire was ready to fall apart.
The Balkans were a group of small and unstable countries of different races and religions. They were socially disunited and were politically unstable. These tiny states were constantly arguing with each other.
Causes (1)
By 1914, most of the world was controlled by the European Powers. Britain and France had created a huge empire, which stretched from Africa to the Far East. Germany which was relatively a new state had worked hard to become a European power, however she was jealous of Britain’s success and wanted an empire if their own. Thus Germany’s foreign policy was extremely aggressive. The Kaiser’s policy of Weltpolitik meant that he wanted Germany to be a power force and create an unbeatable empire in every possible way. However, Germany was not the only European power that was actively taking part in imperialist expansion. Countries such as Britain, France, Russia and Italy were keen on the African states. The general idea was to gain more land to have new markets and resources. The European powers were interested in taking over China too. Some examples of colonial rivalry were the Moroccan Crisis in 1905. Germany attempted to expand her empire in Africa and Morocco was one of the few areas that were not controlled by a European power. However France was interested in taking over Morocco. The Germans demanded an international conference to determine the independence of Morocco. Germany was diplomatically outmanoeuvred at the conference and France was assured of her rights in Morocco.
Another example would be the Agadir Crisis in 1911. The French government had sent troops to Morocco to put down a rebellion against the Sultan. Germany sent a gunboat to the Moroccan port, as she believed that France wanted to take over Morocco. Germany demanded compensation and was given some parts of French Congo. After that, the Germans agreed to the French control in Morocco.
Causes (2)
Another cause of war was the Arms Race. It started in 1896, when Germany started on her policy of Weltpolitik she aimed to expand her navy so that if there was a war, Britain dared not attack her.
There was intense competition of building ships between Britain and Germany. Germany wanted to build a navy to rival Britain, Admiral Tripitz of Germany wanted to build a strong navy so under his command, Germany had doubled the number of her battleships. Admiral Fisher of Britain had pioneered the Dreadnoughts, which was faster and stronger than any other ship in the world. Thus, both the British and the Germans competed aggressively on building the Dreadnoughts.
Another aspect of arms race was the building up of their army. There was compulsory military training for all man and there were conscriptions. They also had national service in which this ensured they had a large number of reserve units. Furthermore, in Germany and Russia particularly, some of their policies were largely based on military ideas. This increase in militarism helped push the countries involved to war.
There was an increase on military expenditure from each country as each country seeks to create more lethal weapons than the other.
Causes (3)
An alliance between two countries is a partnership to help one another when one country is in trouble, it is a means of security against enemies, to serve as a means if deterrence and a means of protection against outside force. Bismarck started the alliance system by organizing a system of alliances designed to safeguard Germany’s interest and isolate France. France was determined to challenge Germany because France had been humiliated by the Germans and had been forced to cede Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. Therefore Bismarck tried to sign alliances with Austria, Russia, Italy and Britain in order to isolate France. However, Britain was concerned by the growth in German Navy and the aggressiveness of Germany’s policy hence they signed a Triple Entente with France and Russia. Whereas Germany signed an alliance known as the triple alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy. So by 1907, Europe was divided into two arm camps.
I do not believe that colonial rivalry was the most important factor that led to the outbreak of war because, the fact that Germany was unhappy with her imperial gains and jealousy of Britain was too small a reason to suggest that this would trigger off a war. Although there has been disputes with France over Morocco, both crisis has been solved without the means of force, therefore it is highly unlikely that imperial rivalry was the reason why the war begun.
The arms race between European powers although increased a lot of tension between the two camps in Europe, was still not a strong enough reason to suggest that it caused the war, however even if the Germans had intended to start a war with the British through its navy, naval rivalry was definitely not a reason to become a cause of friction between both countries as it was evident from the fact that the British navy far outstripped those of the Germans.
I believe that the Alliance system was the most important factor as this alliance was extremely dangerous, this is because if a dispute broke out between a member of each of the alliance and this may lead to one attacking the other, then members if the alliance would be dragged into the war because they pledged to assist on another if a war occurred and this would lead to a full-scale war across Europe. Both Germany and France created alliances so as to prevent war by making the cost of the war to high, ironically, the alliance system itself led to the war.
Alliance System / System of alliances
The First World War 1914-1918 Vyuyen Brendon
World War I
