Propaganda Poster
I think that this was a significant cause of the war as it was the first one. This meant that it would be the spark which led up to all the other causes taking place as now numerous different countries had become involved. Good evidence of this is the fact that when Germany declared war on France, the Germans knew that the French would side with the Russians. As a result of this, they declared war on the French on the 3rd August. This was also when the Germans implemented their ‘Schlieffen Plan’. I also think that because of this spark it gave the Austria-Hungarians a legitimate reason to start a war, souring relations between the countries concerned.
The next factor I will be discussing is the Scramble for Africa. The Scramble for Africa involved rival European countries racing in order to gain possession, overseas, of the African territory in the late 19th century. The competition that took place between the Europeans often resulted in violent conflict. By 1914, the French had acquired new land in Morocco and the Italians had occupied Tripoli. The only country that remained completely free of occupation was Ethiopia, having defeated an Italian force at the battle of Adowa in 1896. Attaining land in Africa gave many benefits to the different countries. The result of this being the countries were able to utilise the continent’s resources which benefited industry and commerce in their own countries. It also involved negative consequences as during the process, relations with other countries would become strained and this would then lead to disputes. I think that this had a small effect at the start however would have a massive effect on militarism as countries would now have more power and would then want to use this to express their feeling of pride they held for their countries. By doing this relations between countries would become unpleasant and war would become inevitable.
Militarism played a significant role in the cause of the war. Militarisation was the process of building up a strong army. This was done as countries began to take great pride in their armies. A strong army became a necessity in the Great War as rivalry increased, especially between Britain and Germany. Admiral von Tirpitz, who was a member of the German government in charge of the navy, wrote in his memoirs: ‘Building a battle fleet was necessary if we wanted to become a sea power. Sea power was needed to protect trade, as other states had realised long before we did. Our surrounded and threatened position convinced me that no time was to be lost in turning ourselves into a sea power’. From this quotation we can gather how competitive the countries were between each other. ‘No time was to be lost in turning ourselves into a sea power’. This shows the level of competition as Von Tirpitz is suggesting that if they lose time they could endanger their army as ‘other states had realised long before they did’. I think that it may have involved competition between Britain and Germany as at the time these two countries had the best navies. Furthermore, they were both competing to build the best battleships. The effect of this were that which some historians have said, that if a country invests so much in such a huge army, they are bound to use it, this would be even more tempting if countries fell out . One major consequence of militarism was that production had increased dramatically and was now taking place on an industrial scale. In addition to this, countries had formed allies known as the Alliance System. The Alliance System was a series of agreements between countries. Countries had split up into two alliances. The ‘Triple Entente’ and the ‘Triple Alliance’. This now meant that if say for example Germany and France started a war, this would then mean that both countries’ allies would be dragged into a war. However this was also beneficial in a way as people were now put off into starting a war. I think that this supports the view that there was no one country to blame as if one country’s allies became involved in war they were expected to support them.
The Balkans was an area in south-east of Europe. It included countries such as Bosnia and Serbia, small countries who were fighting in order to achieve independence. Nevertheless, the Austria-Hungarians wanted to maintain their control over this area. Serbia in particular, with the support of Russia was fighting in this. The effect this had was it created tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, just as importantly Austria-Hungary and Russia. Source B shows the little opportunities that countries would take in order to declare war i.e. the assassination of the Archduke gave the Austria-Hungarians an excuse to wage war on Serbia.
Other short term factors such as the recruitment poster shown in source D also led towards the war. By using propaganda posters similar to this, countries were able to encourage people to enlist by giving their citizens a bad image of their enemies like Germany as shown in the poster. It says that the Germans have broken their pledge and devastated Belgium. This evokes the reader’s empathy as the word ‘devastated’ has a powerful meaning. Furthermore, it goes on to say ‘Help to keep your country’s honour’. By doing this it is telling the reader that if he enlists in the army he will not be missing out on anything.
Map of the Balkans
Also, the Franco Prussian war contributed to the outbreak of the war. It was a war between France and Prussia during the 1870’s. The Prussians defeated the French. Likewise with many of the other factors, it created tension between the countries and more importantly resulted in Europe being divided into two separate alliances. If this war had not have happened then Europe may not have been split up and alliances may not have been formed, meaning the war would have been more at hand since other countries would not have been dragged in.
To conclude, I think that all the factors mentioned above played their own role in the lead up to the war. This may have either been a significant or a small role nevertheless encouraged a war. As well as this, each country were at some point responsible for the outbreak of the war. I think that the main long term cause was the alliances formed between countries as the war was now on a bigger scale and each country would be involved if war broke out. On the other hand, the assassination of Ferdinand was the main short-term trigger as this is what sparked the war off by causing a dispute between countries, and moreover giving an excuse for war to start.