World War 1 - The role of the Alliance System
What role did the Alliance System play in causing the First World War?
To answer this question I will look into how the alliance system was started, and what it hoped to achieve in the beginning. As we know, something must have gone wrong, as WW1 broke out. I will research why it failed, and how major an effect it had on the war; was it a major cause of the outbreak of WW1? Or, did it just fuel and enflame the war, involving more countries and causing millions more to die? Aside from the Alliance System, I will look at the other factors of the war; Country Tensions, Assassination, Build up of Arms, to name a few. I will consider these in comparison with the Alliance System to find out main cause of the war, and what could have been different, had the Alliance System worked, or not been there at all. I will also take into account that some of these causes were interlinked, and worked together to worsen the situation. Finding reliable accounts of the starting of the First World War is rather difficult, as different countries had different views on who's to blame for the war. Therefore, when viewing evidence, I will have to think about the origin of the account, and judge how valid the information is from the fact that it could biased.
The Alliance System was 6 countries, allied into two sets of three. They were the main powers of Europe. Germany wanted to maintain and grow its power in Europe, it was going to try and ally itself with Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain and Italy. This would isolate France. In 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungary formed the 'Dual Alliance', and then three years later, Germany pulled Italy into the alliance, making it the 'Triple Alliance'. However, ruining Germany's plans, France allied with Russia in 1893 (Franco-Russian Alliance) and Britain in 1904 (Entente Cordiale). Britain then allied with Russia in 1907 (Anglo-Russian Entente), which formed the Triple Entente. Although they were official alliances, many of the countries involved previously had rivalries with the others; for example, events in the Balkans. Britain was with Austria-Hungary and Germany against Russia, when the Russians backed the Bulgarians attacking Turkey. Later on, Britain became allied with Russia. The original point of the alliances was Germany's aim of isolating France, but when France allied with Germany, it changed. The alliance system was to balance out the powers in Europe. This was to make sure that nobody would attack anyone else, because everyone had backing of other major powers. However, instead of making countries reluctant to going to war, it made them more confident; in particular, Austria-Hungary was only willing to take actions in the Balkans if it had the backing of Germany. This meant that because there were agreements between countries, they were almost forced into agreeing to back an offensive by their ally. As the agreements were made privately, this made other countries even more suspicious, and heightened the tension between them. When the war was started, it didn't help much either. The agreements between them dragged their allies into the war, creating the first ever World War.
So, the alliance system played a large role in the war. Now I will look at the individual circumstances of the countries.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary had been connected to Germany for many years; they spoke the language, and were both once part of the Roman Empire. They formed the alliance in 1879, this stated that: They would support each other militarily if attacked by Russia or Russia and another power. They would remain neutral if their ally was attacked by a power other than Russia.
Tensions between Austria-Hungary and Russia were rising rapidly, mainly because of ...
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So, the alliance system played a large role in the war. Now I will look at the individual circumstances of the countries.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary had been connected to Germany for many years; they spoke the language, and were both once part of the Roman Empire. They formed the alliance in 1879, this stated that: They would support each other militarily if attacked by Russia or Russia and another power. They would remain neutral if their ally was attacked by a power other than Russia.
Tensions between Austria-Hungary and Russia were rising rapidly, mainly because of disagreements in the Balkans. Russia was the friend of Serbia, who kept having disagreements with Austria-Hungary. At one point, Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, when Austria-Hungary took the former Turkish province of Bosnia. Russia supported their allies in their threat, and mobilised forces, Germany did the same to protect its allies. War was avoided by Russia backing down. Austria-Hungary was also under pressure from its minority populations to grant more independence, in particular Italians and Serbs.
France
Tensions between France and Germany were very high, and Germany was looking for an excuse for declaring war on France. In the Franco-Prussian war, Germany took the Alsace-Lorraine, which sparked fury in France. France also had problems in Morocco. Britain had given it to France, but the Moroccans wanted independence. Germany decided to support this claim, probably to gain friends overseas, also to try and shrink France's empire. War was narrowly avoided once again, this time using a conference. A few years later, the Germans again supported Moroccan independence claims. This time Britain intervened and Germany was persuaded to settle for a part of the French Congo. France probably saw Germany as a threat to its overseas empire as well.
Germany
Germany was in a difficult position at the start of the war. It wanted to expand its empire and navy, and increase its power in Europe. It wanted to remain on friendly terms with most of Europe, while keeping France isolated from other countries. If France had allies, they would have support if a French-German war occurred. At one point, Germany had to choose between Austria-Hungary and Russia as allies, because of the disagreements between the two. Germany's desire for a navy and an empire seemed like a direct threat to Britain, who prided themselves of their navy and empire. This created tension between the two countries, even though Germany still wanted to stay on the right side of Britain. Near to the beginning of the war, Germany was becoming increasingly tense. It thought that the alliance of France and Russia was an attempt to surround them, 'encirclement' they called it. Although many people believe that Germany was who was to blame for the war, many historians think that Germany only acted like it did (build up of arms, forming alliances) because it felt extremely threatened by the other powers.
Great Britain
Britain had remained quite out of the complications before the war, only intervening where it saw fit and necessary. It had only made loose treaties with France and Russia, and hadn't promised any military support at all. Britain was worried about Germany's build up of arms and its seemingly rabid want for war with France. Also it felt threatened by Germany's want of a bigger navy and empire. Some historians believe that if Britain had stated its intent before the war, that Germany may have persuaded Austria-Hungary to stand down, not wanting to go to war with Britain.
Italy
Italy's place in allegiance with Germany and Austria-Hungary was always dubious. In the treaty, the terms gave Italy a few loopholes to use. Here are the terms that were agreed:
) If Italy or Germany was attacked by France, each would aid the other;
2) If Austria was attacked by Russia, Italy would remain neutral, although Austria would aid Italy if she was attacked by France;
3) If one of the parties was attacked by two or more powers, the other signatories were to come to her aid; and
4) At Italy's request, both Austria and Germany agreed that in no case would the Treaty operate against Britain.
Italy in fact was at more tension with its allies than its apparent enemies at this point. Italy was after some of Austria-Hungary's land, and wanted the independence of Italians in Austria-Hungary.
Russia
Russia was supporting Serbia in everything they did, including going to war. Because of this, tensions were high between them and Austria-Hungary. They also had problems on the other side of the country, with Japan. Although Japan declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, as had Russia, they were by no means on friendly terms. Russia wasn't particularly friendly with Britain, after the British had gone against Russia in a debate about the Balkans, but they eventually sorted things out and allied. Russia became France's ally after Germany chose to support Austria-Hungary over them.
All of these Tensions between different countries certainly contributed to the starting of the war, and countries had hard choices to make when picking who to support and sign a treaty with.
Aside from the Alliance system and international tensions, there were numerous other long and short term reasons for the war kicking off. Many of them have already been mentioned in the previous chapter, I will now go over a few to recap.
Long Term
Austria-Hungary and Russia were constantly fighting over ownership of the Balkans. Great Britain and France were both owners of large empires, Germany wanted one and this created tension. Great Britain also owned a large navy, which Germany hoped to rival. With all the tension between the main powers of Europe, countries began to expect war, and an arms race developed. For example, the armies of France and Germany more than doubled between 1870 and 1914. Great Britain began to build a battleship called a dreadnought, and Germany soon began building them after. At the end of the Franco-Prussian war, Germany took the Alsace-Lorraine from the French, which created a fierce rivalry there.
Short Term/Crises
The Moroccan Crisis occurred when Great Britain gave France Morocco. Morocco however wanted their independence and Germany backed the claim. This increases tension. In 1908, the Bosnian crisis occurred, where Austria-Hungary took control of Bosnia. Serbia thought it was theirs and threatened Austria-Hungary with war. Russia backed Serbia and Germany backed Austria-Hungary. War was avoided when Russia stepped down. There was then a second Moroccan crisis in 1911, this again increased tension. Then from 1912-13, the Balkan wars occurred, where many of the main powers got involved with problems in the Balkans, mainly due to the deposition of Macedonia, and its people wanting different things for the country. Finally there was the assassination of Duke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which I will look at in the next paragraph.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the next in line for the emperor of Austria. He was assassinated, along with his wife, during a visit to Sarajevo, capitol of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of the killing was to gain independence for Serbs living in the South of Austria-Hungary (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Archduke had a route planned along Appel Quay. What he didn't know was that there were 6 assassins en-route. The first two failed to act, but the third, Nedeljko Cabrinovic, threw a bomb, which the Archduke batted away with his arm. The bomb went backwards and exploded underneath the car behind, 20 people were injured. The procession sped up and the final 3 assassins failed to do anything. After throwing his bomb, Cabrinovic swallowed the cyanide he had been given and jumped into the river. The cyanide was ineffective and the river only 4 inches deep. The police wrestled him out and he was arrested. At this point, all the assassins headed home, after the failed attempt, except one. Gavrilo Princip had stayed and was in a café just off Appel Quay, when he saw Archduke Ferdinand's car reversing back onto Appel Quay. He made an instant decision and pushed through the crowd to the right side of the car. He fired two shots, one hitting the Archduke's jugular vein, the other hitting Sophie (the wife) in the abdomen. What had happened was; the Archduke wanted to go and see the injured people from the bomb in the hospital. His advisers had planned a route back along Appel Quay, because it was safer than the back roads, however, no-one told the driver, and he turned right too early. He was made aware of his mistake and began to reverse, slowly.
The events of Sarajevo were the last straw for Austria-Hungary; they sent Serbia an ultimatum of 10 points. Serbia replied by accepting a few and partially accepting the others. Austria saw this as an inadequate response, and declared war on Serbia. Russia, in turn declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany then declared war on Russia and France. Great Britain only became involved when Germany invaded Belgium as part of the Schlieffen plan. The reason it was a world war, was because all of the colonies from empires like Great Britain's and France's became involved. America joined in the late stages of the war, after the Germans sunk a liner with many Americans on it. In essence, the assassination was the spark to light the fire of The First World War.
Looking over my project and research about the Alliance System and other causes of WW1, it is surprising how much more complicated it was than people give it credit for. The idea of a war with clear causes and teams is in this case, a deluded one. The build up of the different tensions between countries, the secret alliances, and suspicion, was all interconnected, and mainly came down to one ruling factor; Imperialism. If you look through the suggested causes, long and short term, of WW1, many of them are in some way linked to the expansion of empires. The problem in Europe was that all of those countries wanting Empires were next to each other. I think the Alliance system wasn't a major cause of WW1, but it certainly escalated it beyond the few countries involved in the war to start with. Maybe, if there was never an alliance system, the war would have been contained to Austria-Hungary and Russia. Or, maybe there wouldn't have been a war at all, if Germany hasn't backed Austria-Hungary. The Alliance System certainly didn't achieve what it had hoped to; in fact it did quite the opposite.
Robbie Gore 10W1
