The First World War was the result of a badly mismanaged Balkan Crisis in the summer of 1914 rather than the product of long-standing rivalries between the Great Powers.

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The First World War was the result of a badly mismanaged Balkan Crisis in the summer of 1914 rather than the product of long-standing rivalries between the Great Powers.

In July 1914 the Austrian-Hungarian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by Serbian rebels. From this the Great War emerged. However royal assassinations were not uncommon so how did this local problem eventually involve all the Great Powers to the extent that they brought forth World War One? Diplomatic mismanagement of the situation deserves a lot of the blame but it is the long term rivalries and the tension they caused between the Powers that allowed the conflict to intensify so much, just as some of the Powers desired.

By 1914 Franco-German antagonism had existed for nearly half a century, dating back to the Franco-Prussian war where Germany emerged as the victor and took French territories. Originally the vengeful French was not considered a threat thanks to Bismarck's idea of isolating France. However the new policy of Weltpoltik began to upset Germany's potential allies and drove away her original ally, Russia by rejecting the renewal of the Reinsurance Treaty in favour of an alliance with Austria-Hungary. This move sparked off the long-term tension between Russia and Germany which eventually led them to fighting a war against each other.

After losing her Central ally Russia was facing even more problems of her own. Since the decline of the Ottoman Empire Russia; Austria-Hungary and other smaller, local powers had been attempting to expand their empires. This meant that they were obviously coming into conflict with each other during the competition for territories. The tension caused was increased even more by Russian encouragement of Slav-nationalism since the growth of it was a threat to Austria-Hungary's unstable empire.

These problems established some of the long-term rivalries that existed amongst the Powers in 1914. It shows us how long the tension created fifteen years early can still help dictate the actions of countries - it was the thoughts of revenge that helped persuade the French to go to war against Germany, along with other factors.

While some tension was short-lived, though there was always hostility toward the opposing Power remaining, some tension was of a continuous nature. According to Fischer the arms race that created so much tension between the Powers was a ploy to distract the Germany population from the internal state problems and prevent the rise of socialism. No matter the original purpose, the Kaiser's desire for a strong navy meant he drove away his strongest potential ally, Britain, who became worried over the threat for her empire. Their intense competition for naval superiority destroyed any positive relations between the two powers and pushed Britain into allying with France. Coupled with the Dual Alliance between France and Russia, Germany had unwittingly encircled herself with enemies on two fronts. By 1914 Germany had isolated herself from all but one power, Austria- Hungary, thanks to her aggressive diplomacy.
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German encirclement led to a more aggressive policy with her international partners, in an attempt to turn France and Russia into her subordinates. By supporting Morocco's independence in 1905 she tried to weaken the Anglo-French Entente, however she failed and instead of weakening them she caused their alliance to become stronger, leaving herself bitter and ready to use her military strength instead of diplomacy. This is proven in the Bosnian Crisis in 1908 and then the second Moroccan Crisis in 1911. There Germany again had to back down, keeling under the combined pressure of not only Britain and ...

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