The First World War (1914-1918)
Senior 6 · History (Languages)
The First World War (1914-1918)
Lesson 1 of 4
25 min
On 2 October 1912, nearly two years before the war began, the London magazine Punch printed the cartoon below. Study it before reading on. Who is sitting on the pot? What are they trying to do? What does the artist think will happen?
The cartoonist saw that the Great Powers could not keep the lid on for ever. The Balkans were dangerous because three forces met there: Ottoman power was retreating, the small Slav nations (above all Serbia) wanted to grow, and two empires, Austria-Hungary and Russia, each feared the other would gain. In 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, angering Serbia and Russia. The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, which the cartoon anticipates, doubled Serbia's size and its confidence. The pot boiled over in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, on 28 June 1914.
Definition
Militarism: the belief that military strength is the main source of national greatness, shown in arms races and in the power of generals over policy.
Alliance system: a network of treaties binding states to support each other, which can turn a local war into a general one.
Imperialism: the drive of powerful states to win colonies and spheres of influence.
Nationalism: loyalty to one's nation, including the wish of a people to have its own state.
Mobilisation: calling up reserves and moving an army onto a war footing. In 1914 it was widely treated as a step to war.
| Layer | Causes | How it raised the danger |
|---|---|---|
| Long-term (1870s to 1914) | Militarism (the Anglo-German naval race after Britain launched HMS Dreadnought in 1906; war plans such as Germany's Schlieffen Plan); the alliance system; imperial rivalry; nationalism; German resentment of France and French desire to recover Alsace-Lorraine, lost in 1871 | Made Europe a place where every power expected war and had a plan for it |
| Short-term (1905 to 1913) | Moroccan crises (1905 and 1911) between Germany and France; the Bosnian crisis (1908); the Balkan Wars (1912 to 1913) | Hardened the blocs and taught each side that backing down was humiliating |
| Immediate (June to August 1914) | The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophie by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 | Gave Austria-Hungary a reason to crush Serbia, and set the alliances in motion |
Figure 1. The two blocs. An alliance was a promise to fight; an entente was only an understanding, which is why Britain's entry in 1914 was not automatic.
| Date (1914) | Event |
|---|---|
| 5 to 6 July | Germany promises Austria-Hungary full support against Serbia (the "blank cheque") |
| 23 July | Austria-Hungary sends Serbia an ultimatum designed to be refused |
| 28 July | Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia |
| 30 July | Russia orders general mobilisation in support of Serbia |
| 1 and 3 August | Germany declares war on Russia, then on France |
| 4 August | Germany invades neutral Belgium to reach France (the Schlieffen Plan); Britain declares war on Germany |
Within weeks the war was global. Japan joined the Allies in August 1914 and the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in late October. Italy entered on the Allied side in May 1915, Bulgaria on the Central side in October 1915, and the United States in April 1917. Because the powers ruled empires, colonies were drawn in too: fighting broke out in Togoland, Kamerun, German South West Africa and German East Africa, which then included Rwanda. In 1916 Belgian troops from the Congo occupied Rwanda.
CrashCourse, "The Roads to World War I" (Crash Course European History #32, about 15 minutes). Watch for how the speaker links nationalism and the alliances to the July crisis, and note one cause the table above does not stress.
Warning
Trigger is not cause. Writing that "Princip's shot caused the war" confuses the spark with the fuel. The assassination was the immediate cause; a local crisis became a European war because of the alliances, the war plans and the decisions taken in Vienna, Berlin and St Petersburg in July.
Also remember that Italy, though in the Triple Alliance, did not fight for Germany.
Tip
M-A-I-N, then the Balkans, then Sarajevo. Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism give you the long-term causes. Add the Balkan crises as short-term causes and Sarajevo as the immediate one, and your essay has a ready-made structure from deep roots to spark.
Important
Discuss. Some historians put most of the blame on Germany's "blank cheque" and its war plans; others argue that all the powers slid into war together. Which view does the evidence in this lesson support better? Use at least two dated events.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the analysis, the tables, the diagram and the exercises.
