Was WWI caused by the operation or breakdown of the balance of power - Essay Example

The First World War that was fought quite early in the twentieth century was a unique feat in its own. It was the first formal war which entangled cross continental interest, influence, and participation. The war that was fought over period of four years had its background and reasons deeply rooted in multiple reasons. The war was a result of various factors ranging from economic to military, political, social, cultural, religious factors. In short it was a result of all the possible reasons that could result in the outbreak of such a war. Keywords: Balance of power, Imperialistic pursuits, War jingoism, First World War. Introduction: The original traces of world war one can be stretched back to the events of 17th and 18th century. Major players in this account were the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Great Britain, France, Germany and numerous others. Each had its own significance on account of the strategic importance enjoyed or the military and other strengths. The Ottoman Empire had its own account of strengths and it served as the center figure in the entire proceedings of the European affairs. Brief Background: France had become a potent force ever since the era of Napoleon. The Napoleon wars had created unrest of its own kind in form of the geographical disturbances of the maps of Europe. Germany had its own account of tale and history. Great Britain had enjoyed supremacy and history of excellence in recent centuries in its own manner and as a result, this situation resulted in a situation and environment of rivalry and animosity against one another. Allies and Central Powers: Based on the interests, rivalries, soft corners and direct and hidden motives against one another the Europe ended up getting divided into two distinct blocs. The Allies that made up for one strong army and team of nations, in contrast to them was the Central powers that were driven by the ambitions of ending the status quo. The Allies contained the likes of Great Britain, France and Russia, while the Central powers included the Germans, the Austrians, and Ottoman Empire as the three big players. As a result of this broad and visible division, the European continent was split up into two distinct blocs with the continent itself on the verge of a military offensive and launching against the other camp through the mere excuse of military and personal damages. The case of Ottoman Empire: Ottoman Empire reached its zenith in the middle of 15th century when it captured Constantinople in 1453 (Turnbull, 2012, 37). It saw the first halt in its proceedings in 1682-1683 when it was stopped in its offensives against the Europeans notably Hungry, Austria and Poland. Since that time on Ottoman Empire and the Porte kept getting inflicted with all kinds of issues and problems. The Porte was faced with problems from the governors designated in different parts of the entire kingdom that was spread across multiple continents, on others it was on account of the issues with Russia. The case of Holy Places: Holy places were point of interest for various subjects. The holy places came about in form of the Palestine and Jerusalem. The Porte had the custody of these places and he would from time to time assign the custody and guardianship from one set of subjects to other interchangeable shifting between the Protestants and the Catholics. The shift over took place between the Latin Catholics guardians and the Greek monks who demanded the custody. France and Russia were split apart over the rivalry and interest in this matter. Both had political motives against it which they presented, expressed and aimed at protecting through the cry, slogan and garb of religious interests. The French were siding with the Latin followers who demanded the custody, while the Russians sided with the Protestant Greek Monks. In recent times on account of negligence the Porte had decided to handover the guardianship and custody on the account of negligence by one of the party. This gave rise to political debate and political point scoring form a religious matter and religious interests on each side. War Jingoism: War jingoism was a state of mind that was reflective of number of states and their foreign policies. Germany was the front runner in this regard and they had launched massive operations and activities that were responsive of the fact that Germany wanted to annex more piece of land. Their military and naval expansions in the recent times notably 1898 and 1907 spoke volumes of the intentions upheld by the Kaiser and his army (Hogg, 2009, 87). Germany had long waited to out maneuver the long and lone standing rival on sea. For this reason the Germans were called lions on the earth against the sharks at sea the Great Britain. Influences domination, active participation of the Germans in the affairs of the Slavs subjects depicted their mindset that was motivated by the aims of maintaining a say and dominance in the region through covert means. To many historians the Kaiser had given the Austrians a blank cheque with regard to the decisions they made in terms of the Austrian ruling. This in turn gave the Austrians a free hand and chance to exploit the means and silence the freedom movements and other naturally rising movements within the Slav subject states. Imperialistic pursuits: The imperialistic pursuits came about in from of the participation and interest of Russia, France, Great Britain and Germany. Each aimed at maintaining maximum influence over the region and the neighboring states in one way or the other. Aiming to outsmart one another in terms of the military possessions, personnel number might, missiles, and tanks made up for the competition between the arch rivals. It was the first time that a tank was used in the warfare. The destruction of Bismarck submarine by the Great Britain and its allies resulted in heavy loss for the German troops and also inflicted psychological defeat as well. The Eastern Question: Eastern question pertained to the weakening of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent creation of vacuum in the Europe for the need and requirement of a new master who would look over the matters and affairs of Europe. Termed as the sick man of Europe (Hyma, 2001, 340), on the same account, Ottoman Empire and Turkey left a very challenging question that was also termed as a labyrinth towards resolving the pending issues in the European continent. Others termed it gout that would show up in multiple forms resulting in the imbalance of power in the continent of Europe. Russian element: Russia throughout the course of modern European history played an important role. This role came about in terms of the Black sea custody, the Slav Subjects interests, the relationship between the Porte and the Russians, the revolution that came about in Russia as the proletariats revolution, all these gave Russia a strong standing in the affairs of Europe and it could not be ignored. The fact that it was attacked through the neighborhood by Germany gave it another reason to dictating its terms in the post world war scenario and demanding more remunerations and influence. The case of Slav Subjects: Slav subjects were under the guidance and custody of the major states namely Russia, and Ottoman Empire. With the gradual disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Russia and Germany stressed for creating their own influences. Russia claimed the responsibility on the account of the similarity between the religious sentiments and feelings while Germans called for their right to protect the subjects on account of their own cultural affiliations and strategic importance in the region. The case of Great Britain: Great Britain was dubbed as the shark at the sea. It enjoyed a long history of supremacy, mastery and rivalry with various states. It had the expanded outlook in terms of the colonial expansion and powers spread across the entire continent. The other rivals failed to break its supremacy and niche due to the fact that Great Britain was well guided and guarded by the rivers and waters. Napoleon undertook this motive and intention of breaking the strong bone of Great Britain yet he himself suffered losses at sea against Great Britain. Great Britain had great influence and say in the affairs of the European continent. No major annexation, declaration and decision would stand valid and legitimate without the grant and approval of the Great Britain. It had ententes in place with various nations. France had recently established good ties with the Great Britain on account of the strengths and privileges Great Britain enjoyed with regard to the economic, political, social and cultural developments. The industrial revolution having developed and come into force from Great Britain gave it another edge over the rest with regard to the economic dependency of various other nations and its strength with regard to maintaining a strong hold over the subjugated colonial states. The element of Austrian Annexation of Bosnia and Serbia: One major event that resulted in feeling of ill will and animosity was the 1908 formal annexation of Bosnia and Serbia by Austria. This came as conflict and negation of the treaty of Berlin that had been signed in 1888 and 1895 that had allowed Austria administering and monitoring the activities of Serbia and allowing them to develop incrementally into an independent state. The formal annexation resulted in direct ill will of the people and establishment of the secret societies that aimed at targeting the various members of the Austrian parliament and government offices along with targeting valuables and assets within the country. The presence of secret societies: Numerous secret societies were functional within Europe in different countries. The presence of Black Hand in Serbia marked a consistent threat towards the peace (Carlisle & Kirchberger, 2009, 10). This was formed as a result of the unauthorized oppression and occupation of the occupant forces. It was one similar activity by the Black hand that resulted in animosity and aggravation of the situation and resulted in the ultimate outbreak of the war. The immediate cause of the war: While the pot was boiling for many years in prior, the one event that became the trigger towards it was the assassination of the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. He was killed by Gavrilo Princip who was allegedly a member of the secret society of Serbian Black hand (Burnett, 2006, 42). Hence the events those were in offing precipitated to the development of the war in form of the First World War. The final verdict: It can be safely said that war was a result of the disturbance in the balance of power. Hanging between the two sensitive pivots of Allies and Central powers, each having prepared themselves mentally and physically were engaged into the war through one event of the slaying of Franz Ferdinand. Austria gave an ultimate to the Serbs of handing over the culprits, closing the secret societies and various other similar moves. A total of ten points and demands were made from the Serbs out of which they according to the Austrians met with eight only and failed to fulfill the remaining two and this in turn invoked Austria into launching an offensive against the Serbs. This movement of stagnation and status quo which was started by Metternich was eventually broken by the movements such as nationalistic movements, Nazism, and Bolshevik revolution that came into existence after the end of First World War. Conclusion: The war that was being fought in the battle fields and started off formally in 1914 was actually a reaction to the diplomatic activities, alliances, counter alliances, disruption of equilibrium and other balances that had held the continent of Europe in check for over two centuries. Breakup of peace and cord of control and the entire continent got entangled into a war of magnitude that engulfed the entire world in its flames. The outcome of the war was a result of alliance and rivalries that had its roots deep routed in the days of post Napoleon era and various other similar activities that were contrary to the peace process and harmony in the continent. References: Burnett, T., 2006. Conspiracy Encyclopedia. s.l.:Franz Steiner Verlag.Press. Carlisle, R. P. & Kirchberger, J. H., 2009. World War I. s.l.:Infobase Publishing.Press. Hogg, I. V., 2009. The A to Z of World War I. s.l.:Scarecrow Press. Hyma, A., 2001. World History - A Christian Interpretation. s.l.:Sovereign Grace Publishers.Press. Turnbull, S., 2012. The Ottoman Empire 1326-1699. s.l.:Osprey Publishing.Press Read More