Causes of World War One Longterm causes Alliances

Causes of World War One

Long-term causes: Alliances • October 1879 – Germany and Austria. Hungary made an alliance to protect themselves from Russia • ‘Should one of the two Empires be attacked by Russia the parties are bound to come to the assistance one of the other with the whole war strength of their Empires, and accordingly only to conclude peace together and upon mutual agreement. ’

Alliances – Bismarck’s Motives • ‘I want to put a gulf between her [Austria] and the western powers’ [Bismarck to Saburov] • Keep France isolated • Frighten Russia • Led to 1881 alliance

Alliances • 1872 (formalised in 1881/82) – Dreikaiserbund involving Germany, Austria, and Russia: – Bismarck's aim forming this League was to isolate France by making friends with Austria and Russia. – The partners were Kaiser William I of Germany, Czar Alexander II of Russia and Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. – These three rulers agreed: • (i) to maintain the existing territorial arrangements in Europe • (ii) to resist the spread of revolutionary (e. g. socialist) movements • (iii) to consult one another if any international difficulties arose.

Alliances – Bismarck’s Motives • Alarmed by Gladstone’s attitude to Russia • To prevent Austro-Russian conflict in the Balkans • Allowed Austria to annex Bosnia if needed • Secured cooperation against Turkey • Isolated France

The Bosnian Crisis • The Treaty of Berlin (1878) allowed A-H to occupy and administer the Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina • 1881 - A-H secretly agreed with Germany and Russia to permanently keep the provinces • 1903 – A-H agreed with Russia to keep them for the next 5 years

Alliances • 1882 – Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria -Hungary, and Italy – Maintain monarchy & social order – If Italy attacked by France, G & A-H would aid her and vice-versa – Mutual aid if attacked – Benevolent neutrality if needed – Mutual military cooperation – 5 years

Alliances – Bismarck’s Motives • To provide for help in the event of Franco. Russian attack on Germany or Austria • Italian neutrality of Germany and Austria attacked Russia • Drew Italy into Bismarck’s system

Alliances • Dreikaiserbund under strain by 1887 – Russia did not wanted to renew agreement with Austria – Russia willing to give Germany free hand in west – Russia wanted free hand in east – Incompatible with Dual Alliance of 1879

Triple Alliance Resources 1914 Germany: Population - 65, 000 Soldiers – 8, 500, 000 Battleships – 37 Foreign Trade - £ 1, 030, 380, 000 Steel Production -17, 024, 000 tons

Triple Alliance Resources 1914 Austria-Hungary: Population - 49, 882, 231 Soldiers – 3, 000 Battleships – 16 Foreign Trade - £ 198, 712, 000 Steel Production - 2, 642, 000 tons

Triple Alliance in 1914 • What about Italy? ? ? When Germany and Austria-Hungary found themselves at war in August 1914 with the rival Triple Entente of Britain, France, and the latter's ally, Russia, Italy pledged its support to the Central Powers, but subsequently entered the conflict on the side of the Entente against Austria-Hungary in May 1915 and Germany in August 1916.

Alliances • England Germany? – Germany offered alliance in 1875 – May 1876 Disraeli refuses Berlin Memorandum, which attempted to resolve the Balkan Crisis.

Alliances • 1887 Reinsurance Treaty: – an attempt by Bismarck to continue to ally with Russia after the League of the Three Emperors broke down. – Bismarck felt that this was essential to continue the diplomatic isolation of France so ensuring German security. – The failure of this treaty is seen as one of the factors contributing to World War I, due to Germany's increasing sense of diplomatic isolation. – The secret treaty was split in two parts: • Germany and Russia both agreed to observe neutrality should the other be involved in a war with the third. Neutrality would not apply should Germany attack France or Russia attack Austria-Hungary. • In the most secret completion protocol Germany declared herself neutral in the event of a Russian intervention in the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

Alliances • 1894 - Franco-Russian alliance: – was a military alliance between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892 to 1917. – The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe. – The secret Reinsurance Treaty with Russia was allowed to expire in 1890, despite Russian requests to renew it. – The Franco-Russian alliance was drafted August 17 th, 1892, and it became final on January 4, 1894.

Alliances • 1904 – Entente Cordiale: – is a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and France. – Convinced that they had British support, the French became ever more belligerent in their attitude towards the Germans, fully demonstrated in the Morrocan crises of 1905 and 1911 – Concerned by possible encirclement, the Germans grew ever more alienated – An arrangement that had been intended to improve Britain's standing in the world merely added to the tensions within Europe, and became just another milestone on the road to the Great War.

Alliances • The Entente Cordiale: – The first and most important document was the Declaration respecting Egypt and Morocco. – In return for the French promising not to “obstruct” British actions in Egypt, the British promised to allow the French to “preserve order … and provide assistance” in Morocco. – Free passage through the Suez Canal was guaranteed, and the erection of fortifications on part of the Moroccan coast forbidden. – The treaty contained a secret annex dealing with the possibility of “changed circumstances” in the administration of either of the two countries.

• The Entente Cordiale: – The second document dealt with Newfoundland portions of West and Central Africa. – The French gave up their rights (stemming from the Treaty of Utrecht) over the western coast of Newfoundland, although they retained the right to fish the coast. – The British gave the French the town of Yarbutenda (near the modern border between Senegal and The Gambia) and the Iles de Los (part of modern Guinea).

• The Entente Cordiale: – The final declaration concerned Siam (Thailand), Madagascar and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). – In Siam, the British sphere of influence was limited to the basin of the River Menam (the Chao Phraya). – The British withdrew their objection to the French introducing a tariff in Madagascar. – Both parties agreed to come to an agreement which would “put an end to the difficulties arising from the lack of jurisdiction over the natives of the New Hebrides”.

Alliances • 1907 – Anglo-Russian Entente – It defined their respective spheres of interest in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. – Its primary aim was to check German expansion into the area. The Anglo-Russian Entente along with the Entente Cordiale (1904) and the Franco. Russian Alliance (1892) formed the Triple Entente between the UK, France and Russia.

Alliances • 1907 - Triple Entente: – Though not a military alliance, the alignment of the three powers, supplemented by various agreements with Japan, the United States and Spain, constituted a powerful counterweight to the "Triple Alliance" of Imperial Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

Causes of World War One • Scramble for Africa: – France: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Madagascar – Britain: Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Nigeria – Belgium: Democratic Congo – Germany: Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda, Namibia – Italy: Libya, Eritrea, Somaliland – Portugal: Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, – Spain: Spanish (Western) Sahara, Spanish Morocco, Equatorial Guinea – Free State: Liberia (founded as a colony for freed U. S. slaves)

Scramble for Africa • Started Anglo-German tension since German acquisitions in Africa and the Pacific threatened to impinge upon British strategic and commercial interests • Part of Bismarck's strategy was to allow France to pursue its own colonial interests without German fetters. In order to direct attention away from European continental matters?

Causes of World War One • The First Moroccan Crisis of 1905: – Two periods of international tension in 1905 and 1911 following German objections to French expansion in Morocco. – Their wider purpose was to break up the Anglo. French entente of 1904, but both crises served to reinforce the entente and isolate Germany. – The Algeciras Conference was called to settle the dispute, lasting from January 16 to April 7, 1906. Of the thirteen nations present the German representatives found their only supporter was Austria -Hungary. – France had firm support from Britain, Russia, Italy, Spain, and the United States.

Causes of World War One • The Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911: – Sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911. – The British believed that the Germans wanted to turn Agadir into a naval base on the Atlantic. – German action was an attempt to seek compensation for the French control of North Africa. – Situation resolved when Germany ‘allowed’ France to maintain control of N. Africa in return for territory in the French Equatorial African colony of Middle Congo – British backing of France added to the Anglo-German estrangement

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand. . . one bullet pierced Franz Ferdinand's neck while the other pierced Sophie's abdomen. . . As the car was reversing (to go back to the Governor's residence because the entourage thought the Imperial couple were unhurt) a thin streak of blood shot from the Archduke's mouth onto Count Harrach's right cheek (he was standing on the car's running board). Harrach drew out a handkerchief to still the gushing blood. The Duchess, seeing this, called: "For Heaven's sake! What happened to you? " and sank from her seat, her face falling between her husband's knees. Harrach and Potoriek. . . thought she had fainted. . . only her husband seemed to have an instinct for what was happening.

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand Turning to his wife despite the bullet in his neck, Franz Ferdinand pleaded: " Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben fur unsere Kinder! - Sophie dear! Don't die! Stay alive for our children!" Having said this, he seemed to sag down himself. His plumed hat. . . fell off; many of its green feathers were found all over the car floor. Count Harrach seized the Archduke by the uniform collar to hold him up. He asked "Is Your Imperial Highness suffering very badly? " "Es ist nichts - It is nothing" said the Archduke in a weak but audible voice. He seemed to be losing consciousness, but, his voice growing steadily weaker, he repeated the phrase perhaps six or seven times more. A rattle began to issue from his throat, which subsided as the car drew in front of the Konak (Town Hall).

Causes of World War One • Germany’s desire for world power • Evidence? – Pursuit of colonies – Expansion of trade – Naval development – Claims that it was being encircled and deprived of its rightful place in world affairs

Causes of World War One • Germany’s support for Austria-Hungary • Evidence? – Germany’s encouragement of a firm line against Serbia – Promises to support Austria-Hungary in the event of war

Causes of World War One • The alliance system that had developed pre-1914 • Original treaties had been defensive and primarily concerned with colonial affairs, but later military negotiations and international crises made them into firm commitments that essentially made the Balkan conflict into a European war and then a ‘World War’.

Causes of World War One • Widespread ignorance of what war would be like – no major European war since 1871 meant that war was generally romanticised by authors • The arms race – new and powerful weapons were developed in large numbers, with the intended purpose of using these weapons

Causes of World War One • The nationalism of the great powers • Evidence? – Organisations like the Pan-German league and Navy League pressing for power – The popular press and general enthusiasm for national prestige in all countries

Causes of World War One • Slighted Great Power nationalism – Examples: • Russia had been affronted by the Bosnian affair • Germany was aggrieved by the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911 • Germany was convinced it should not be shortchanged again, and this set the stage for a showdown

Causes of World War One • Nationalism of different nationalities within Austria-Hungary: – Threatened the stability of Habsburg Empire – A-H leaders squashed any potential treats to their power – Attempted to unify the people against a common enemy and give prestige to the Empire

Causes of World War One • Imperial conflicts of the Great Powers – These lead to frustration and encouraged the view that a show-down was necessary • Mobilisation plans of the generals – These were seen as essential to success in the war when it came