Germany had captured French territory of Alsace Lorraine due to which there was a great enmity fostered between Germany and France. France and Britain were great enemies, however, the realization that Germany was the real threat, led to an alliance between the two nations. In 1898, in Fashoda, Sudan, Britain and France were about the wage war on one another as both nations wanted the land of Fashoda. This land would complete Britain’s north to south colonies and France’s east to west colonies. However, both nations realized that the true enemy is Germany and so they decided to join hands and fight against Germany. This crisis is known as the ‘height of colonialism’ because two enemy nations joint hands to overcome the aggressiveness of Germany. Another incident was the incident in Morocco in which Germany threatened to unleash their warship ‘Panther ‘if France took over Morocco. They later withdrew accepting colonies in Central Africa as they realized that the whole of Europe would be against them. This was an act of stupidity on the part of Germany as this angered Britain and France, leading to them forming an alliance against Germany. Also, the Kaiser instigated the British by sending Kruger a congratulatory telegram on the Boers victory against the British. This further aggravated the British against the Germans and they became bitter enemies of Germany. Being a newly independent country, Germany should not have shown such large amounts of aggression, such as Italy did. This aggressive attitude of the Kaiser helped bringing European nations together against Germany.
Another reason due to which Germany increased the hostilities in 1914 is their foreign policy of ‘Weltpolitik’ which means ‘World Politics’ by which they expanded their naval forces to large extents on the orders of Admiral Tirpitz. They built U-boats and Dreadnoughts, giving the British Navy high competition. Thus, Britain felt threatened and decided to form alliances with nations such as France and Russia. Also, when Germany didn’t sign the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia and formed the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary, it pushed Russia to form an alliance with Britain and France.
Thus, one may say that the unification of Germany led to such hostilities in 1914 as due to the aggressive policies and the Kaiser’s diplomatic failures, the world was divided into the Allied Powers and the Central Powers which led to the First World War. Germany’s aggression led to nations forming alliances to safe guard themselves from Germany. Thus, a nation’s unification was responsible for the hostilities in 1914.
However, the entire blame cannot be put on Germany. Another factor behind the hostilities in 1914 was the disintegration of heterogeneous empires such as the Ottoman Turkish Empire or the Austro Hungarian Empire.
By 1914, the Ottoman Turkish Empire came to be known as the ‘Sick Old Man of Europe’. They had become weak and in the first Balkan War were defeated by four small Slavic nations. After this, these nations fought the second Balkan war amongst themselves to fight for territory. These nations had previously been a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire. Even nations like Germany and Italy emerged from the disintegrating Austro Hungarian Empire. Germany knew that even Austria Hungary was vulnerable and because they spoke the same language decided to form an alliance with them. Austria Hungary had a constant enmity with the Serbs who wished to free all Slavic nations and create their own Slavic Nation. Due to the disintegration of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, nations like Greece and Serbia received additional territory which they desired as they wished to build their own Slavic nation. Due to the fact that these empires were heterogeneous (contained more than one race); there was always uproar against the empire. Bosnia Herzegovina was one such nation. It was a nation which was forced, by the Treaty of San Stefano to be a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire. On June 28th, 1914, when a Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Principe assassinated the heir apparent Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Austria Hungary blamed Serbia. They gave Serbia several ultimatums which Serbia accepted. However, on the insistence of Germany, Austria gave them an ultimatum which required Serbia to give them control of their army which they were not willing to accept. Thus, war was declared on Serbia by Austria Hungary on 28th July 1914 and the World War began.
Thus, due to these disintegrated empires, new nations emerged which were highly aggressive and also due to these empires, struggling sections used violence in act of defiance. Thus, the disintegrated empires contributed a great deal to the hostilities of 1914.
Thus, one may conclude by saying that both, newly unified nations and old disintegrated empires were responsible for the hostility in 1914. Both, these unified nations and disintegrated empires were together during the First World War and faced defeat on the hands of the Allied Powers. These nations aggressive policies and thirst for colonies and large amounts of land led them to cause hostility in Europe which led to a destructive World War.
