Long Term Cause:
Rivalry with Astro-Hungarian Empire. Both empires wanted more land. They were both keen to increase their influence in the area known as the Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, etc).
Population: 164 million
Soldiers: 1,200,000
Warships: 30
Money Spent on Military: £67 million
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente is the name known to the diplomatic and military alliance that was produced between Great Britain, France, and Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was made mainly to equal the military union known as the Triple Alliance, (which had been done earlier by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). France started the negotiations that lead to the arrangement of the Triple Entente for their revenge of hate of Germany as they conquered France had Germany lost two of their regions- Alsace and Lorraine.
The French government visited Russia, and in the late 1880s the granting of important French loans to quicken the development of Russian transport and industry that showed the existence of an understanding between the two powers. The treaty was sighed in 1894 and made public in 1895.
The Triple Alliance
The Triple Alliance was formed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in 1882. The basis for this alliance was laid in 1879, when the German chancellor Prince Otto von Bismarck negotiated a secret defensive pact with Austria-Hungary. The alliance served a double purpose: it strengthened Germany in its relations with France, which had reached a peak in hate because of the French loss of their two regions, and it gave Austria-Hungary a powerful ally in its resistance to the developing expansionism of Russia (although in fact Bismarck had intended it as a means of restraining Austria from sudden action). The Italians, angered by the French occupation of Tunisia in North Africa, joined the two allies in 1882, thus forming the Triple Alliance.
I have now covered the general concerns for the countries and how they formed into their alliances; but their main question of this essay is what were the main causes for World War I:
THE ARMS RACE:
One of the causes of World War One was the build-up of weapons and armies in Europe. There were a number of reasons why this was happening, mainly the usual reason for an arms race was: paranoia. For instance, if you're France, you look over and see that Germany has, 15,000 troops ready to move at a moment's notice. You only have 10,000. The natural reaction in this situation is to make it so that you have more standing troops than Germany, so you step up your army. Now let's say that you're Germany. You see that France just doubled their army, and has more troops ready than you do. So, of course, you need more. Things rotate from here. When you've got an entire continent doing this over more than forty years, it's easy to see how the situation can quickly get out of hand.
A good illustration of this is the fact that, from 1870-1914, the standing armies of France and Germany doubled. In 1889, Great Britain decided that it was a matter of necessity to have a navy two and a half times larger than anyone else. In response to this, Germany increased their production of naval units.
THE VON SHLIEFFEN STRATEGY:
One of the key causes of the war was Germany's planned response to Russian aggressions. Germany decided to respond by invading France through Belgium before either France or Russia could mobilize. This plan was feasible due to the fact that Germany needed only three weeks to organize their army, whereas France needed six weeks and Russia needed three months. This plan was known as the von Schlieffen Strategy. It is generally agreed upon that this was one of the major causes of the war. It successfully made it impossible for Germany to get involved with one country at a time.
THE ASSASSINATION OF ARCHDUKE FRANZ-FERDINAND:
On June 28, 1914, a Serbian terrorist assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne. Germany then gave Austria-Hungary its full support and encouraged war with Serbia. Russia backed the Serbs and France sided with Russia. As planned, Germany moved against France through Belgium. This effectively involved everyone.
The assassination itself could have gone by unnoticed in less turbulent times, but Europe was already an innocent animal waiting for a predator to pounce. The assassination simply provided the spark necessary to ignite the continent.
Many sources make the assassination out to be more that it really was. In reality, it was just the trigger for a war that was, due to the immense pressure building up in Europe at the time it was going to happen anyway.
FALLING DOMINOES:
Europe was a domino effect waiting the last fall in which being the commencement of the World War. Unsatisfied, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. On July 29, Russia ordered a partial mobilization only against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia, which worsened into a general mobilization. The Germans threatened war on July 31 if the Russians did not demobilize. Upon being asked by Germany what it would do in the event of a Russo-German War, France responded that it would act in its own interests and mobilized. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later, on France. The German invasion of Belgium to attack France, which violated Belgium's official neutrality, prompted Britain to declare war on Germany. World War I had begun.
However there were other points that were also involved in steps to war:
- Germany’s invasion of Belgium.
- Germany’s desire to dominate Europe.
- The size of the British Empire.
- France’s desire for revenge.
- The alliance system.
- Austria’s rivalry with Russia.
- Germany’s fear of being surrounded by France and Russia
In my view one of the main reasons of World War I was the fact of paranoia and jealousy of rival countries. We can say that this lead to the huge growth of European countries armies and empires. I think that every country had the prosperity to be one of the most powerful countries in Europe, therefore this lead to having wars with other countries to recognize who is more dominant. Subsequently, in my view this war was inevitable due to the hunger for power and dominance.
The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was the spark of the World War and produced a chain reaction throughout Europe. Although we can say that it was the ‘main’ cause of the war, Europe was in a period of time where it was the epicentre of desire for supremacy. From this essay I can now say that the World War was inevitable in my view but was triggered by:
- The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.
