- 01 Nov 2003 23:22
#234037
GandalfTheGray is absolutely right.
The road to World War 1, otherwise known as The Great War has many complications in order to detect who is to bear the blame for it. Many historians focus in 5 specific problems which were the most important factors to spark the war.
The Rise of Germany
The first problem is the Rise of Germany, the unification of the German empire by Otto von Bismarck after the Franco Prussian war in 1870. The French went to war with the Prussians to impede them from uniting to form an empire, prior to this Germany was not an empire but separate states. Prussia won and the German unification caused the German economy to grow rapidly. Bismarck appointed Kaiser Wilhelm to be the ruler of Germany thinking he would be able to control it. Germany’s economy overtook that one of the British and French, only the Kaiser had the idea that this money should be used to create weapons in order to make Germany aggressive to other countries and henceforth receive the success it deserved. Germany used its wealth to produce weapons and it became a very strong country in army, the other countries in Europe were worried to see this empire get so big and strong. This factor can clearly be blamed on Kaiser Wilhelm, seeing his policy was not only military, but it had obvious violent intentions. Chronologically this is the first event that marked the beginning of the road to the Great War.
The Arms Race
Subsequently to Germany’s build up, there was a vast arms race between the countries, not to mention the navy and army build up. To match up, Britain started to construct new ships which were also matched by the German navy. Henceforth the French increased their military and the Russians improved their railroads to get to the enemy’s front quicker. This is argued to be Germany’s fault, saying that had the Kaiser not increased his military power, the other countries would have not responded in such a drastic way. It is understandable to see the surrounding countries respond with military action to the Kaiser’s military hunger, and its vast arms build up.
The Balkans
The third factor, which is sought to be my many historians the true source of conflict to begin a World War, is found in the problems with Germany’s ally, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, which was having problems with the Balkans. The Balkans were a group of countries including Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania and Montenegro. They had lived under Turkish rule but the Turkish power was no dropping. In 1908 Austria seized Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were Balkan states and sparked the first Balkan crisis. Russia, allied with Serbia protested against this act, but Germany who was an ally of Austria stepped in and aggressively stated that they would back Austria’s actions. The Russians felt impotent against this. So they decided to strongly arm themselves so they would never have to back down again. By 1913 Austria was looking for any justification to declare war on Serbia. Several local wars had happened in which Serbia was the victor; being a close ally to Russia it represented a big threat for Austria. Germany was backing Austria and Russia was backing Serbia, which represented a great danger for war. This problem could be blamed on Austria, seeing that if it was not for their struggle for power, probably the Balkan fight would have never started.
The Colonies
The expansion of the German empire, as well as the British and French plays an important roll in the tension that led to the Great War. These countries believed that having overseas colonies was important for the empire to grow. One of the countries that the Powers had interest in was Morocco, in Africa. The French were going to seize Morocco but the Kaiser interrupted and claimed that Morocco should be free and independent, an event that made the French furious for being an obstacle in their colonization. This was retaliated in a conference some weeks afterwards, where the French and British humiliated the Kaiser and showed him as an ignorant fool. This made the Wilhelm bitter and determined to take revenge. A second crisis took place in 1911. The French finally attempted to seize Morocco and promised to pay Germany if this colonization affected their economy in any way. Nevertheless, Wilhelm sent the battleship Panther, and the Western countries felt threatened that Germany was building a naval base in the Mediterranean. This caused Britain and France to start patrolling the sea because they were suspicious about the Kaiser, but they still took Morocco.
The Triple Entente and the Central Powers
During the Morocco crisis, the last step towards war took place. As the Kaiser had seen in the Algeciras conference in 1906, Britain and France were acting close together. This is because they had signed the Triple Entente, an agreement in defense to German in which Britain, France and Russia took place. These countries were now known as the Entente Powers. Germany, being concerned by encirclement of the Entente Powers, signed an allegiance with Italy and Japan, and were known as the Central Powers. The enemies to go to war were now known, and the only thing needed to start the war was a minor spark.
finally, we have what is known as the spark that lit the bonfire, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Sarajevo was the capital of Bosnia, one of the Balkan states which were the epicenter of so much tension between the Entente and the Central Powers. On a bright Sunday afternoon, 28th of June in 1941, the Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand was attending a parade in Sarajevo. A group of Serbian nationalists, lead by Gavrilo Princip attempted to kill the archduke by tossing a bomb to the car that he was riding, but due to some complications, the bomb did not kill the Archduke but merely hurt him. They decided to go to the hospital to take Ferdinand. The Serbs thought their cause was lost, but seeing that the royal car made a turn right in front where Princip was lamenting, he fired two close range shots to the Archduke and his wife, killing both of them. Princip knew he would be seized by the police, so he took some venom to commit suicide after he had murdered the archduke. Unfortunately for him, the venom was expired and did no harm. The assassination was the perfect excuse Austria had been waiting, and sent an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia’s ally stood up and declared war on Austria. Austria’s ally, Germany, declared war on Russia, and honoring the alliance, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and subsequently Italy and Japan declared war on Russia, Britain and France. World War 1 had begun. Two years after, Princip claimed that if he knew what he was going to spark he would have never done it.
Furthermore, we have AJP Taylor's perspective on the first world war. There is actual evidence claiming that the Kaiser had told his supreme officers to prepare for a war before the assassination of Ferdinand. This evidently suggests that Wilhelm was preparing for a war, obviously making him most blameful.
I actually believe the source of conflict for the 1st World War goes back to the 1848 revolutions in Europe and the lack of contentment within the European peoples. The subject of the road to Wolrd War One is extremely broad and likewise interesting, sadly im too tired of typing and I believe the question was already answered.
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