Causes of World War I

Causes of World War I

Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) • After Napoleonic Wars, 39 Germanic states • Austria/Prussia the largest • Prussia defeats Denmark (1864), Austria (1864) and France (1871) • Use coordinated train movements and well-trained and equipped military • Prussia humiliates France • Pay indemnity of 5 million marks • Occupation • Germany becomes nation in 1871

Characteristics of Great European Powers (ca. 1900)

Long-Term Causes of World War I • After FPW, Germany (led by K Wilhelm I and Chancellor Bismarck) pursued alliances to keep France isolated and avoid conflict. These included: • Dreikaiserbund or Three Emperors’ League (1873) • Dual Alliance (1873) • The Three Emperors’ Alliance (1881) • The Triple Alliance (1882) • The Reinsurance Treaty

Long Term Causes of World War I • The New Course and Weltpolitik • Followed by KWII and new Chancellor Caprivi • Reinsurance treaty allowed to lapse • Leads to Franco-Russian Alliance (1894) • Weltpolitik created to establish Germany as a colonial power • Called for overseas empire and navy

Long-Term Causes of WWI • Imperialism • Germany’s ascendance and desire for empire clashed with both GB and France • Emergence of the Alliance System • Germany passes Naval Law (1900) which calls for creation of 17 ships • In response, Britain ends “Splendid Isolation” • Forms an alliance with Japan (1902), entente with France (entente cordiale ) • By 1907, Britain, France and Russia had formed the Triple Entente • The TE and the Triple Alliance split Europe into two camps

Long-Term Causes of WWI • The Naval Race • Creation of Dreadnought triggered a naval race between GB and Germany • British public began to view Germans as the enemy

Long-Term Causes of WWI • The Situation in the Balkans • An unstable area that created tensions even before 1914; 3 empires had interests there: • The Ottoman Empire • Once controlled all of the Balkans, but had become much weaker • Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia declared independence • Struggling to hold onto the pieces • Austria-Hungary • Losing grip on multi-ethnic empire • Southern Slavs (Serbs, Croat, and Slovenes) want to break away and began to look to Serbia for support • Russia • Saw itself as protector of the Slavs • Needed access to warm water ports on the Black Sea • What would happen in the Balkans if/when the Ottoman Empire collapsed became known as the “Eastern Question”.

Short-Term Causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) • The First Moroccan Crisis (1905) • As part of the Entente Cordiale, GB supported a French takeover of Morocco • Germans promised to help Sultan of Morocco maintain independence and demanded international conference to discuss the situation • At Algeciras Conf. (1906), GB backed up France’s claim to Morocco, Germany had little support and had to admit defeat • Huge defeat for Weltpolitik

Short-term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) • The Bosnian Crisis (1908) • After Anglo-Russian Entente (1907), Germans moved much closer to Austria-Hungary • AH annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina in reaction to Ottoman crisis • This outrages Serbia who wanted the countries to be part of greater Serbia • Russia sympathizes with Serbia and threatens war with AH • Germany stands “shoulder to shoulder” with AH, Russians get little support from GB and France and back down • Russians are humiliated and begin massive armament program • Balkans become much more unstable • Serbia becomes much more nationalistic and seeks revenge against AH

Short-Term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) • The Second Moroccan (Agadir) Crisis (1911) • French sent troops to Fez, at the request of sultan, to put down a revolt • Germans see this as beginning of French takeover of Morocco and send a gunboat to Moroccan port of Agadir, to pressure the French into giving them territorial compensation • GB sees this as threat to their shipping lanes and warns Germany off • Germany backs down and accepts minor French territory in the Congo • As a result: • Another failure of Weltpolitik leads German public to view their gov’t. as weak • Anglo-French Entente strengthened

Short-term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) • First Balkan War (1912) • Encouraged by the Russians, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro formed an alliance to expel Turkey from their European possessions • They accomplished their goal in seven weeks • AH is outraged and cannot accept a strengthened Serbia; threaten war • British step in, divide up the territories and create Albania to contain Serbia and appease AH • More resentment created between Serbia and AH

Short-term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) • The Second Balkan War (1913) • Bulgaria went to war against Serbia and Greece, over territory Serbia had occupied after the 1st BW • They thought there were too many Bulgarians living in those areas • AH wanted to get involved on the side of Bulgaria but Germany urged restraint • Serbs, Greeks and Turks defeat Bulgaria • As a result: • Serbia had proved their military might, doubled in size and encouraged their ally, Russia • AH was convinced it needed to crush Serbia

Short term causes: the crisis years (1905-1913) • The International Situation by 1913 • Crisis years had deteriorated stability • Increased division between the two alliance systems and an increase in armaments • Naval race between Germany and GB • Nationalism was rising throughout Europe • War had been averted, but major resentments lingered

Other developments, 1900-1913 • The Will to Make War • Citizens throughout Europe were ultra-nationalistic as a result of years of indoctrination • Popular press portrayed impending war as one that would be short and heroic

Other developments, 1900-1913 • The Arms Race and Militarism • Between 1870-1914, military spending by European powers had increased by 300% • Conscription had been introduced throughout the continent

Other developments, 1900-1913 • War Plans • All major countries had detailed war plans, which made their response to crises inflexible • The Schlieffen Plan • Called for Germany to defeat France within six weeks and then direct their forces toward Russia • Based around the invasion of neutral countries (Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg) • Depended on slow Russian mobilization

Causes of World War I