FREE ESSAY ON CAUSES OF WWI

CAUSES OF WWI

The Causes and Effects of World War I
World War I was a military conflict from 1914 to 1918. It began as a local European war
between Austria - Hungary and Serbia on July 28, 1914. It was transformed into a general
European struggle by declaration of war against Russia on August 1, 1914 and eventually
became a global war involving 32 nations. Twenty - eight of these nations, known as the
Allies and the Associated Powers, and including Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and
the United States, opposed the coalition known as the Central Powers, consisting of
Germany, Austria - Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. The immediate cause of the war between
Austria - Hungary and Serbia was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand on
June 28, 1914, at Sarajevo in Bosnia by Gavrilo Princip, a Serb nationalist. (Microsoft
Encarta, 1996)
On July 28 Austria declared war against Serbia, either because it felt Russia would not
actually fight for Serbia, or because it was prepared to risk a general European conflict
in order to put an end to the Greater Serbia movement. Russia responded by partially
mobilizing against Austria. Germany warned Russia that continued mobilization would cause
war with Germany, and it made Austria agree to discuss with Russia a possible change of
the ultimatum to Serbia. Germany demanded, however, that Russia demobilize. Russia
refused to do so, and on August 1, Germany declared war on Russia. (Microsoft Encarta,
1996)
The French began to mobilize on the same day. On August 2, German troops invades
Luxembourg and on August 3, Germany declared war on France. On August 2, the German
government informed the government of Belgium of its intention to march on France through
Belgium in order, as it claimed, to prevent an attack on Germany by French troops
marching through Belgium. The Belgian government refused to allow the passage of German
troops and called on the witnesses of the Treaty of 1839, which guaranteed the justice of
Belgium in case of a conflict in which Great Britain, France, and Germany were involved,
to observe their guarantee. Great Britain, one of the witnesses, on August 4, sent an
ultimatum to Germany demanding that Belgian justice be respected. When Germany refused,
Britain declared war on it the same day. Italy remained uninvolved until May 23, 1915,
when, to satisfy its claims against Austria, it broke with the Triple Alliance and
declared war on Austria - Hungary. In September 1914, Allied unity was made stronger by
the Pact of London, signed by France, Great Britain, and Russia. As the war progressed,
other countries, including Turkey, Japan, the U.S., and other nations of the western
hemisphere, were drawn into the conflict. Japan, which had made an alliance with the
Great Britain in 1902, declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914. The United States
declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. (Microsoft Encarta, 1996)
The outbreak of war in 1914 set in motion forces more gigantic than any previous war had
seen. Two million Germans were on the march, the greater part of them against France, and
there were another 3,000,000 trained men to back them up. France had nearly 4,000,000
trained men at call, although they relied on only 1,000,000 active troops in the first
clash. Russia had more millions to draw upon than any, but their mobilization process was
slow, a large part of their forces were in Asia and even their great potential strength
was to a large extent canceled out by lack of munitions. (Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart,
1984)
The growth of these tremendous forces had been due primarily to a military gospel of
mass. Known by Clausewitz, the Prussian military philosopher, who drew his inspiration
from Napoleon's example, the spread of this gospel had been stimulated by the victories
of the Prussian conscript armies in 1866 against Austria and in 1870 against France. It
had been assisted also by the development of railways, which enabled far larger numbers
of men to be assembled, moved and supplied than had been possible previously. Therefore
the armies of 1914 - 1918 came to be counted in their millions compared with the hundreds
of thousands of half a century earlier. (Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart, 1984)
The essential causes of World War I were the attitude of intense nationalism that
permeated Europe throughout the 19th and into the 20th century, the political and
economic rivalry among the nations, and the establishment and maintenance in Europe after
1871 of large armaments and of two hostile military alliances.
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic era had spread throughout most of Europe the
idea of political democracy, with the resulting idea that the people of the same ethnic
origin, language, and political ideals had the right to independent states. The principle
of national self - determination, however, was largely ignored by the dynastic and
retrogressive forces that dominated in the settlement of European affairs at the Congress
of Vienna in 1815. Several peoples who desired national independence were made subject to
local dynasts or to other nations. Notable examples were the German people, whom the
Congress of Vienna left divided into numerous duchies, principalities, and kingdoms; 
Italy, also left divided into many parts, some of which were under foreign control; and
the Flemish - and French - speaking Belgians of the Austrian Netherlands, whom the
congress placed under Dutch rule. Revolutions and strong nationalistic movements during
the 19th century succeeded in canceling much of the retrogressive and antinationalist
work of the congress. Belgium won its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the
unification of Italy was accomplished in 1861, and that of Germany in 1871. At the close
of the century, however, the problem of nationalism was still unresolved in other areas
of Europe, resulting in tensions both within the regions involved and between various
European nations. One particularly noticeable nationalistic movement, Panslavism, figured
heavily in the events preceding the war. (Microsoft Encarta, 1996)
The attitude of nationalism was also visible in economic conflict. The Industrial
Revolution, which took place in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, followed in
France in the early 19th century, and then in Germany after 1870, caused an immense
increase in the manufactures of each country and a consequent need for foreign markets.
The principal field for the European policies of economic expansion was Africa, and on
that continent colonial interests frequently clashed. Several times between Germany on
one side and France and Great Britain on the other, almost precipitated a European war.
(Microsoft Encarta, 1996)
The dispute between the United States and Germany was far more serious. In order to
prevent food, munitions, and other supplies from reaching Great Britain, Germany in 1915
declared the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland a war zone in which German
submarines would sink all enemy vessels without the visit or search ordered by
international law. To avoid the possibility that uninvolved vessels might be sunk by
mistake, or that uninvolved might be killed, Germany warned uninvolved ships not to enter
the zone. They also advised citizens of uninvolved nations not to travel on ships of the
Allied nations. Germany remained intolerant in the face of U.S. protests against this
declaration. In May 1915 a German submarine torpedoed the British passenger liner
Lusitania off the Irish coast without warning, causing the deaths of 1198 people, of whom
128 were U.S. citizens. The Germans claimed that the Lusitania was carrying munitions to
Britain, and later research has proven this to be true. But the American public was
outraged by the sinking, and strong protests by the U.S. State Department brought a
promise from Germany not to sink any passenger liners without taking precautions to
protect the lives of civilians. (Alistair Horne, 1970)
In March 1916, however, a German submarine sank an unarmed French Channel steamer, the
Sussex, with the loss of two Americans. President Wilson threatened to separate
diplomatic relations with the German government unless it abandoned its present methods
of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels. In May, the German
government pledged not to sink merchant vessels without warning and without saving the
lives of those aboard. For nine months the pledge was kept generally to the satisfaction
of the United States. Wilson's powerful diplomacy seemed to have averted war with
Germany, and as the Democratic candidate in the presidential election of 1916, Wilson was
elected over the Republican nominee, Charles Evans Hughes, largely because he kept us out
of war. The war, however, was near.
At the end of January 1917, Germany broke the so-called Sussex Pledge by declaring
unrestricted submarine warfare in a zone even larger than the one it had proclaimed in
1915. On February 3, Wilson replied by breaking off diplomatic relations with Germany.
Later in the month, at his request, Congress passed a bill permitting U.S. merchant
vessels to arm. After new depredations by German submarines against uninvolved shipping,
and the discovery of a plan made by the German Foreign Office to unite Germany, Mexico,
and Japan against the United States if it entered the war, Wilson on April 2, 1917,
requested Congress to declare war. On April 6, Congress passed a resolution declaring a
state of war with Germany. (Alistair Horne, 1970)
The early part of 1918 did not look favorable for the Allied nations. On March 3, Russia
signed the Treaty of Brest - Litovsk, which put a formal end to the war between that
nation and the Central Powers on terms more favorable to the latter; and on May7, Romania
made peace with the Central Powers, signing the Treaty of Bucharest, by the terms of
which it ceded the Dobruja region to Bulgaria and the passes in the Carpathian Mountains
to Austria - Hungary, and gave Germany a long - term lease on the Romanian oil wells.
(Microsoft Encarta, 1996)
On November 6, the German delegates left Berlin to apply for an armistice. Meanwhile, the
Allied advance in the west continued, and, on the American sector at least, with fresh
incentive. The Americans reached Sedan on the same day that the German delegates reached
General Ferdinand Foch's rendezvous. (Alistair Horne, 1970)
The terms he laid down were severe - sufficient to cripple the German forces more
decisively than any battle. But the collapse of the home front, even more than the
military menace in front and flank, ensured their acceptance. In any event, the
stranglehold of the blockade was stifling to power of resistance, so the Germans had no
choice but to sign. And at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of
1918 the war came to an end.