Kaiser Wilhelm was only 27 when the German history was becoming a world power. He was very famous for his energy and excitement but he was very unpredictable. He was very keen on military parades and love been photographed in military uniform. He chose military people to most of his important positions in his government. He was very ambitious; he wanted Germany to be the greatest power in Europe and to be known by all the states older than Germany. He was involved in the Germany plans for war.
Britain V Germany - Britain owned a quarter of the world places such as Canada, India, South Africa, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand; they were all owned by Britain and were part of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had been crowned Empress of India. Huge amounts of money were made from these colonies and Britain had a powerful military presence in all parts of the world. The Empire was seen as the status symbol of a country that was the most powerful in the world. Hence Britain's title "Great Britain". But Germany simply believed that sign of great power is the ownership of the overseas colonies. The “Best” overseas territory as already been taken by Britain but Germany goal was to take as much colonial territory as possible. Germany colonies in Africa in the southern of Africa but this was useless to Britain because it was full of deserts and nobody wanted but it still created much anger in London as the new territories of Germany was near South Africa with it’s huge diamonds and gold reserves. Germany’s African colonies were of little economic importance but it gave Germany the opportunity to demonstrate to the German people that Germany had Great Power status even if this did make relations with Britain more fragile than was perhaps necessary for the economic returns Germany got from German colonies. Also the second issue between Germany and Britain which caused much friction between them was the fact that Germany had the desire to increase the size of their navy. Britain understands that Germany as a large land-based country so they would need a large army, but Britain did not understand why Germany wanted a large navy because Germany as a very small coast-line so Britain did not accept that Germany need a large navy. Britain concluded that Germany's want to increase the size of their navy was to threaten Britain's naval at the North Sea. The British government finalized that as an island we needed a large navy and they could not accept any challenges from Germany. As a result, a naval race took place. Both countries spent vast sums of money building new warships and the cost soared when Britain launched a new type of battleship - the Dreadnought. Germany immediately responded by building her equivalent. Such a move did little to improve relations between Britain and Germany. All it did was to increase tension between the two nations.
Britain
In the 19th century Britain had tried not to get involved themselves in European politics. The attitude of Britain became known as “Splendid isolation” because the only concentrated on their enormous overseas empire. For most of the 19th century Britain 2 surprisingly dangerous rivals were France and Russia. But by the early 1900s this all changed; France and Britain had made a number of agreements about the colonies in North Africa in 1904 and signed an agreement this is because France needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the industries revolution. Britain gave France part of Africa like; Morocco, Algeciras and Congo. Russia was defeated in the war against Japan. This weakened Russia so Britain was less concerned about it. But the most thing problem that worried Britain was Germany. The German Kaiser had made it clear to Europe that he wanted Germany to have a large empire and a strong navy; Britain took this as a big threat to its own empire and navy. Later Britain signed another agreement with Russia called a convention with France which led to the Triple Entente.
France V Germany
France and Germany had a history of Rivalries against each other; like The Siege of Paris which brought about the defeat of France in The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. This conflict brought the establishment of a powerful and dynamic German Empire, causing what was inevitably seen as a displacement or unbalancing of power: a new and prosperous nation had been formed, with the industrial and military potential to threaten Europe, and particularly those other powers already established. Germany had both the national fervour and economic resource to gain power, represented in the Anglo-German rivalry to come and the growth of its navy.
A legacy of animosity grew between France and Germany following the German annexation of parts of the formerly French territory of Alsace-Lorraine. This caused widespread resentment in France, which gave rise to the concept of Revanchist, feelings of revenge among the French for the losses inflicted by the Franco-Prussian War, not only the losing of territory, but the damage done within the country, the death of French soldiers, and the upsetting of government and the revolution that followed, culminating in the formation of the French Third Republic. The nationalities movement believed that a united Germany would replace France as the dominant land power in the Western Europe. This argument was aided by demographic changes: since the Middle Ages, France had had the largest population in Western Europe, but in the 19th century its population stagnated (a trend which continued until the second half of the 20th century), and the population of the German states overtook it and continued to rapidly increase.
France-In the 19th and 20th century the French empire was the second largest empire behind Britain in Europe. They were worried about the growing power of German so they decided to build up their industries and armies. France had developed a strong and close relationship with Russia. The things that France was worried about were protecting itself from the attacks of Germany and try to get its rich region back of Alsace-Lorraine from Germany. The French owned a huge colony which included; over much of Northern, Western, and by the turn of the century (including the modern nations of , , , , , , , , , ), as well as the east African coastal enclave of (). The , a military expedition, was sent out from Senegal in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa.
Austria-Hungary V Serbia-Austria-Hungary and Serbia were close back in 1881they made an alliance with each other to stop Russia gaining control of Serbia. In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over the former Turkish province of Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs. Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilised its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilised its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. There was, however, war in the Balkans between 1911 and 1912 when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary then intervened and forced Serbia to give up some of its acquisitions. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was high.
Franz Ferdinand, aged 51, was heir to the Austro-Hungarian He was married to Sophie Chotek von Chotvoka and had three children. Franz Ferdinand was, however, very unpopular because he had made it clear that once he became Emperor he would make changes. The map below, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, shows that Bosnia/ Herzegovnia were controlled by Austria. Austria had Bosnia in 1908, a move that was not popular with the Bosnian people.
Franz Ferdinand decided to visit Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovnia, to make an inspection of the Austro-Hungarian troops there. The inspection was scheduled for 28th June 1914. It was planned that Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie would be met at the station and taken by car to the City Hall where they would have lunch before going to inspect the troops. A Serbian group, called The Black Hand, had decided that the Archduke should be assassinated and the planned visit provided the ideal opportunity. Seven young men who had been trained in bomb throwing and marksmanship were stationed along the route that Franz Ferdinand's car would follow from the City Hall to the inspection. The first two terrorists were unable to throw their grenades because the streets were too crowded and the car was travelling quite fast. The third terrorist, a young man called Cabrinovic, threw a grenade which exploded under the car following that of the Archduke. Although the Archduke and his wife were unhurt, some of his attendants were injured and had to be taken to hospital. After lunch at the City Hall, Franz Ferdinand insisted on visiting the injured attendants in hospital. However, on the way to the hospital the driver took a wrong turn. Realising his mistake he stopped the car and began to reverse. Another terrorist, named Gavrilo Princip, stepped forward and fired two shots. The first hit the pregnant Sophia in the stomach, she died almost instantly. The second shot hit the Archduke in the neck. He died a short while later, the bodies of the archduke and his wife drawing of the arrest of Gavrilo Princip. Gavrilo Princip was arrested but was not executed because he was under 20 years. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison where he died of TB in 1918. This was the one of the things that sparks the 1st World War.
Russia V Austria-Hungary-Russia was basically Serbia’s only help. When Austria-Hungary tried to invade Serbia after the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand Russia was there to back Serbia up. Austria took over the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina Russia and Serbia protested but they were back down by Germany and Russia was not to risk a war with German. This incident encouraged Russia to increase its army further.
Russia-Russia was no doubt the largest of all six powerful countries, but was also the most backward. The country was mostly agricultural; Russia had loans from France to develop some of their industries. Just like France, Russia was worried about Germany; they feared that the Germans would want to crave a huge empire out the Russian land in central Europe. Russia also had a long history of rivalry with Austria-Hungary; this was one of the reasons why Russia was so friendly to Serbia. This was because both Russians and Serbs were Slavs. Many of the other Slavs liked in the Austria-Hungary’s empire, but Russia felt that they should have influence over them. When Russia lost a war against Japan in 1905, they made a revolution that Russia could not afford to lose in any other conflicts, so they decided to build up their army just in case of any emergencies in the near future.
Austria-Hungary-Austria-Hungary was a sprawling empire in the central Europe; it was made up of all different ethnic groups; Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs and many others. Each group had it own language and tradition, but many of these groups wanted independence from Austria-Hungary. In the north the Czech people wanted to rule themselves. The Slavs in the south-west wanted their have their own states. The Serbs wanted to join their neighbour state Serbia. But Austria-Hungary would not allow this to happen. Their main concern was to keep their splitting empire together. Austria-Hungary was worried about Serbia; they were been the new power force in the Balkans, Austria was very worried that this should not make Serbia any stronger. Austria-Hungary knew if they did anything to Serbia they would have to face Russia which was a big problem for them, because they knew that Russia had a big army. But then after the tragic incident of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand they knew they had to crush Serbia.
A second Moroccan crisis occurred in 1911 when Germany sent a warship to Agadir in protest of French supremacy in Morocco, claiming the French had violated the agreement at Algeciras. Britain again rose to France's defence and gave the Germans stern warnings. Germany agreed to allow France a free hand in Morocco in exchange for part of the French Congo. In the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, the Balkan States drove the Turks back to Constantinople and fought among themselves over territory. Tensions between Serbia and Austria-Hungary increased when Austria-Hungary forced Serbia to abandon some of its gains.
The War Declaring - Austria-Hungary's reaction to the death of their heir was three weeks in coming. Arguing that the Serbian government was implicated in the machinations of the Black Hand, the Austro-Hungarians opted to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians, crushing the nationalist movement there and cementing Austria-Hungary's influence in the Balkans. It did so by issuing an which, in the extent of its demand that the assassins be brought to justice effectively nullified Serbia's sovereignty. , the British Foreign Secretary, was moved to comment that he had "never before seen one State address to another independent State a document of so formidable a character."
Austria-Hungary's expectation was that Serbia would reject the remarkably severe terms of the ultimatum, thereby giving Austria-Hungary a pretext for launching a limited war against Serbia. However, Serbia had long had Slavic ties with Russia, an altogether different proposition for Austria-Hungary. Whilst not really expecting that Russia would be drawn into the dispute to any great extent other than through words of diplomatic protest, the Austro-Hungarian government sought assurances from her ally, Germany, that she would come to her aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany readily agreed, even encouraged Austria-Hungary's warlike stance.
Austria-Hungary, unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum (which in the event was almost entirely placatory: however her jibbing over a couple of minor clauses gave Austria-Hungary her sought-after cue) on 28 July 1914.
Russia, Knew they were bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilisation of its vast army in Russia defence, a slow process that would take around six weeks to complete. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilisation as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after not listening to their warning; Germany on 1 August. France, bound by treaty to Russia, found itself at war against Germany and, by extension on Austria-Hungary following a German declaration on 3 August. Germany was swift in so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.
Britain allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a "moral obligation" upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on 4 August. Her reason for entering the conflict lay in another direction: she was obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a . With Germany's invasion of Belgium on 4 August, and the Belgian King's appeal to Britain for assistance, later that day. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.
To sum up I would say that the Alliance System was part of the things that caused the world war because even though the countries long term war history, this Alliance System was they one that just began the spark which made everything drops right into place. I think that all the countries just couldn’t stand been over powered by there other country which made hate grow inside of them. The Alliance System made it a fair war because all the countries had a reason to kill the opposing country. All the countries against each other helped cause the war because they were jealous of the other country and they knew they had to be the strongest of all European countries. The assassination of in Sarajevo also help caused the war because Austria-Hungary knew Serbia didn’t like them and they were up to something suspicious and the Death of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand explained it all to them and they knew they had to crush Serbia but they had to go through Russia, but Austria-Hungary asked Germany back them up. It all became like a pile of dominos waiting to fall on the other.