Why did war break out in 1914?

Sam Tappenden, 3L 8th October

TRENDS

There were many rivalries between countries around the time of 1914 and before. These made strained relations between countries. One of the rivalries was to do with The Navies of Germany and England. Even before the twentieth century, Britain Navy was established as the most powerful navy. No two navies put together would be the size of it. Because of the geographical position of Britain, with a large navy she would rule the seas and would not worry about invasion. This meant they would not have to have a very big army. This is why the navy was a big priority to Britain. At this stage, Germany had only been in existence for eighteen years and was not likely to compete with Britain, because they had no navy. But then a new Secretary of State for Germany’s admiralty was elected- Tirpitz. The next year after this – 1898, the first naval law was passed. The law stated that nineteen battleships should be built in the next seven years. The plans for the fleet were increased to an even larger extent in 1900, which included twenty-four battleships by 1920. Britain was in panic, but in 1906 Britain was still further ahead when they launched the new Dreadnought Battleships, which were quicker, heavier and thicker-armoured than any other earlier battleship. These ships were so superior to any others, that it made any other worthless. But if the Kaiser could match Britain in launching such ships, they would be on nearly equal terms with Britain’s Navy. In the years before the war, each country would try to out build each other in a sort of race – The Naval Race

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All the European colonies except for Austria and Russia had colonies in Africa. As a result, there were many clashes among France, Britain, Germany and Italy. For instance, France rivalled with Italy over Tunis and with Germany over Morocco. Another example of the colonial rivalries was The Kaiser envying France and Britain over their huge empires. He thought it was time for Germany to have its “place in the sun”. Britain did not like this because if Germany made any advances, it would not be good for Britain. Germany was very greedy for an empire, and there was some propaganda showing this, a specific one being a cartoon where Kaiser is biting at a globe. But by the start of the twentieth century, Germany’s army was match for every army in Britain, being highly trained and efficient. Germany had given the Boers of South Africa support against Britain in 1899-1906. He talked about building up a great German navy. Now he threatened the empire

There were economic conflicts between Germany and Britain from 1890 onwards. Since 1871 Germany had been experiencing a period of rapid industrialization, and by 1890 the products of her industry were competing with British manufactures everywhere in the globe and German merchant ships threatened Britain's carrying trade. By 1914, Germany were producing, more coal, more steel, more iron, and more cars. Britain, which was the first nation to go through the industrial revolution in the 1800s, was no longer taking lead in economy.

There were also economic struggles between Germany and France. In 1870 France had already lost two of her coal producing provinces--Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. From 1871 onwards, France had to import coal from other countries. Therefore France had to compete with Germany in Morocco because the place was rich in mineral resources.

Germany and Austria also rivalled with Russia in the Balkans for commercial privileges. As early as 1888 Germany began to build a railway in the area. Austria regarded the area as a field for profitable investment and as a big market for her manufactured goods. Russia also hoped to control the area because half of its exports passed through this area.

Britain decided to look for support against ever threatening Germany. In years before, Britain had never need help, and had kept out of European affairs. They had concentrated on using their powerful navy to protect its vast empire. They preferred to use the policy “splendid isolation”. In 1900, there were two separate alliances, one called the “Triple Alliance”, which was formed up of Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy. France, who also felt threatened by Russia, after being beaten in a war in 1871, and losing Alsace and Lorraine, two of its most valuable provinces, also searched for allies. In 1894 France formed an alliance with Russia, and in 1904 signed the Entente Cordiale with Britain. The triple Entente was formed three years later when Britain reached agreement with Russia The Kaiser made several attempts to break up the agreement. In 1906 he challenged French control of Morocco, thinking that Britain would not stand up for France, but they did. The incident brought the countries closer together. In 1912, the “friendly agreement” turned into a military alliance, when they agreed that Britain would guard the North Sea and France would patrol the Mediterranean.

There were rivalries between Austria and Russia. They argued about who would control an area that broke free. One area was Serbia. It wanted to unite all Slav people under Serbian leadership. Austria-Hungary feared that large numbers of Slavs in its land would want to join Serbia, so went against Serbia to stop them. Russia supported Serbia. A more powerful Serbia would hold them back from gaining control of Constantinople and blocking Mediterranean routes. By 1914, there was so much mistrust between members of the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance, that it was only a matter of time before they went to war with each other. A tiny spark, would start the war…

THE TRIGGER

In the small town of Sarajevo, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand went to inspect troops on 28th June 1914. He was heir to the Austrian throne. Sarajevo was very near Austria’s rival state – Serbia, and he had been warned his visit might be dangerous. Some Serbs would go to great measures to show how much they hated the Austrians. One such man went too far – Gavrilo Princip. The young student waited in the streets of Sarajevo for the Franz Ferdinand to arrive. He shot at him and his wife – Sophia. Sophia, shot in the stomach died first, and then the Archduke who was shot in the throat.

The Austrians were outraged, and blamed Serbs for supporting Princip. They issued a series of demands, one of which Serbia denied. The Austrians did not feel this was enough, and declared war! Shortly afterwards, other European powers were involved, Europe was at war!