The First World War - Essay Example

The First World War History is replete with many battles and wars. But the First World War was the kind of war which sharply polarized the world community. It was the first big war which saw the use of modern day warfare technology and strategies in a big way. Large scale use of machine guns, battle tanks, air force power, Gaseous material etc. resulted in millions of casualties in the war. Events prior to World War-I, appear quite intriguing to historians with Sir Winston Churchill, recalling in 1920s, that 'the spring and summer of 1914 were marked in Europe by an exceptional tranquility' (Henig, 2002). Though, taking a retrospective look, James Joll (1984), argued in his book The Origins of the First World War, that German rulers had 'accepted the war as inevitable' by December 1912 itself. But the Germans preferred to wait for the most opportune time. Historians also say that the imperialistic policies of some European nations also contributed to the simmering discontent amongst other nations. Some countries had highly ambitious plans of establishing their colonies in foreign lands. Similarly, some countries had started arming themselves in a big way, which left the neighboring countries apprehensive for their safety and asking for cover for other nations. This polarized the world community. Therefore militarism was another reason for the outbreak of war. Slav nationalism never allowed the Austrians and Russians a peaceful coexistence. The sea route was earlier used basically for exploring far off places, but Britain and Germany also started using the naval forces for strategic advantages. Another race started in the two blocks to strengthen the naval forces. Though earlier the use of James Joll (1984) argues that; "The immediate motives which led governments to decide to go to war in 1914 were not directly imperialist, but earlier imperialist policies had contributed to the frame of mind in which decisions were taken. For Russia, the lure of the Balkans, of Constantinople, and the Straits; for Germany vague aspirations to world hegemony; for England the preservation of the Empire at any cost; for the French Morocco-German ambitions, French grievances, Russian expansionism, British anxieties, Austrian fears-all combined in the decision that war was inevitable if vital national interests were to be preserved". Though historians find it very difficult to pinpoint one particular event or one particular day when the war trigger was put on. But the events of June 28, 1914 are still remembered as a turning point (Turner, 1970). It is on this day that, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife were assassinated (it was their wedding anniversary) in Sarajevo, Bosnia by a Serbian nationalist student. This province had been under Austro-Hungarian Empire since 1908. After this assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, followed by the Russian Mobilization the next day. Increasing emphasis on militarism led to the development of new weapons. Simultaneously the emergence of trench warfare made the Great War the bloodiest conflict the world had known (The Birmingham Post, 2004) The rise of German power after 1870 and its Imperialistic designs: Germany used to be a loose confederation of independent states till 1870. On January 18, 1871, these states united under a Prussian king who had the title "Kaiser, of the German Empire". Bismarck was the first Chancellor or Prime Minister of the unified Germany. This resulted in gradual expansion of Germany and alternation of distribution of power within Europe and a new world order (Henig, 2002). This period referred to as the German Second Reich gave rise to some imperialist designs of Germans. When Austria-Hungary decided to go after Serbia, Germans gave them a silent nod with an assurance of backing it with its firepower if the need arises. There were elements within German establishment who were planning for a showdown with Russia, another big power within the region at that time. But Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian-German chancellor thought it prudent to give diplomacy a chance, before venturing on such suicidal mission. Bismarck wanted to stabilize Europe around the new German Empire and enlisted some principles to back his initiative (Henig, 2002). Bismarck also tried to forge friendly relations with Russia for a peaceful co-existence. He also pursued it with some secret treaties, as he was of the opinion that to safeguard the interest of the country, Germany should not depend on a single ally and thus propounded the "rule of three". He also voiced his opposition to the imperialistic intentions of Germany. He used to propagate that Germany should not be in the race for overseas empire, which he thought as a distraction instead of an essential national interest. But Bismarck's diplomacy was not heeded by the proponents of imperialistic Germany who argued that imperialism will result in achieving twin objectives; Firstly, it would bring Germany at par with the then superpowers UK, US and Russia, and secondly this would help in balancing the power equation in the domestic politics of Germany. Alfred von Schlieffen, the then German Army chief was instructed to devise a strategy to counter the growing friendly understanding between France, Britain and Russia. The Schlieffen Plan spelt out how rapid mobilization would enable Germany to defeat France even before Russia could mobilize its forces (Robbins, 1993). The lack of mutual trust in France and Germany further fuelled the possibility of a war. James Joll argues that the "cult of the offensive" and the glorification of military matters were a direct indication of the resolving disputes on the battlefield rather than the conference table. After 1897 Imperial Germany followed a Weltpolitik instead of Realpolitik. The Scramble for Africa - Perfect place for Imperialistic forces to establish colonies: Highly ambitious plans of some European nations to establish their colonies in foreign lands. It had its beginning in the late ninetieth century with the race amongst European powers for grabbing every nook and corner of Africa, known as scramble for Africa. The earlier version of colonialism had come to an end by the end of 18th century with Britain, Spain, Portugal, Holland etc had loosened control over their colonies in different parts of the world. But these nations started their journey once again towards Africa around 1870. This led to creation of differences amongst the European neighbours, thus resulting in formation of blocks. Wide differences cropped up between Germany and Britain over the control of some colonies. Germany was denied its share of spoils by Britain (Henig, 2002). Henig contends that in 1890 London used to be the undisputed financial capital of the world, but with rapid growth of industrialisation in USA and Germany, this position was threatened. To make best use of the growth in industrialisation, countries like USA, Germany etc started looking for market outside their own countries and thus began the journey towards Africa, South America and the Far and Near East. With African region proving to be more promising, scramble began to have a pie of this land. German Chancellor Bulow declared in the German Parliament, or Reichstag, in 1897, 'we don't want to put anyone else in the shade, but we too demand a place in the sun'. (Henig, 2002) As Britain had the biggest overseas territory under its influence, Germany desperately sought to wrest some territory for advancing its own economic and imperialistic interests. Mainly British, French and German companies had their trading interests in Africa and the Far East from the 1880s onwards, and they did generate considerable economic and political tensions which their home governments often found difficult to resolve. In the longer though such trading disputes were resolved before the outbreak of war, but these disputes had spilled over to many other areas of strategic importance, which resulted in making the atmosphere more inflammable. Growing Military Alliance and The dispute over Alsace Lorraine: After its unification and consolidation, the German army attacked France in 1870-71. Moving swiftly, the Germans were able to defeat France in a short war. After the victory, Germans took the regions of Alsace and Lorraine from France. France obviously didn't like the takeover, but it was not in a position to do anything. Thereafter France started strengthening its army, which in turn was viewed with suspicion by the Germans. Evans and Strandman (1990) say that though France was later able to take control of some foreign colonies, yet the loss of Alsace-Lorraine was still remembered as a national mutilation, and no amount of African colonies could make good the loss. Therefore France kept waiting for an opportune moment. When Bismarck took up the initiative of stabilizing Europe after 1871, France unleashed all its skillful diplomacy to deprive Germany of dependable allies in Europe (Henig, 2002). This forced Germany to desperately embark on colonial expansion in Africa and Asia which resulted in embroiling her in conflict with Britain. In the meantime, Bismarck continued his efforts towards consolidating its alliance in European region and he was able to sew up an alliance in 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungary. This alliance further got strength in 1882 when Italy also joined in (Henig, 2002). Henig infers that such an alliance achieved twin objectives. On the one hand the position of Germany became stronger, while on the other hand France felt the diplomatic isolation. Before 1914, main European powers were sharply divided into two main armed camps, known as; The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (1882) The Triple Entente of Britain, Russia and France (1907) The Russo-Turkish War: Russia was a rising superpower with strategic interests in areas around it. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 is a direct fallout of the Russian intentions of gaining access to the Mediterranean Sea. This required driving out the Ottoman Empire and liberating the Orthodox Christian Slavic peoples of the Balkan Peninsula (Bulgarians, Serbians). Henig (2002) states that while Russia was drawing closer into Balkan the Austrians were thinking out strategies form minimizing the Russian involvement, and strengthen the Turkish Empire as far as possible. The then Austro-Hungarian foreign minister, Andrassy, presented the situation to the Habsburg Crown council in 1875, that Turkey possessed a utility almost providential for Austria-Hungary. This resulted straining of relations between Austria and Russian. While Russia continued to openly support the cause of Balkan states, Germany extended its tacit support to Austria-Hungary, to maintain regional balance. Similarly on the other front Russian and Britain started putting pressure on Germans in support of France. In the period between 1875 and 1878, a series of anti-Turkish revolts swept through the Balkans and started threatening the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. A collapse of Turkish Empire would've resulted in imperilment of Bismarck's whole strategy of great power conservation in the region (Henig, 2002). Russian empire declared war on the Turkish Ottoman empire in April 1877, with everyone speculating about an early fall of the Ottoman's (Joll, 1984). This conflict was eventually halted by a Treaty of San Stefano between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. But that resulted in further igniting the delicate balancing of the European region. Several western powers objected to some provisions of the San Stefano Treaty. Turner (1970) and Joll (1984) state that owing to the continued skirmishes between Russian and Turkey, and the objectionable provisions of the treaty, the entire situation was placed before a congress in Berlin in 1878, with Bismarck promising to be an honest broker. The congress proved to be a watershed in European diplomacy. Russia, in turn did not like the solution provided by the Berlin Congress as this would result in loss of all gains made through the Treaty of San Stefano. Austro-Hungary was instead allowed to administer Bosnia and Herzegovina. Germany realised the unhappiness of Russia and entered into a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary, to thwart any possible retaliation from the Russian side. There appeared a distinctive possibility that the Russo-Turkish war will be converted into an all out Austro-Russian war. Germany started to look for friend in the region to safeguard its interest. Italy was found to be a perfect companion, as it was also discomfited by French expansion into North Africa. In 1882 Russia also entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. While on the one hand the alliance provided guarantees of support in case Italy were attacked by France, while in return Italy promised a support to Germany if she were attacked by France. At the same time this alliance ensured that Italy will remain neutral in the event of an Austro-Russian war. Thus it seemed everyone was preparing for the Armageddon. In addition, a number of other events influenced the circumstances leading to the First World War. Some such events are; The two Moroccan Crises: The superpowers continued to view each other's actions and intentions with doubt. This was further fueled during the period between 1900 to 1914 when two major crises took place in Morocco. Encyclopedia Britannica, states that the two international crises mainly centered around France's attempts to control Morocco and Germany's concurrent attempts to stem French power. The Naval Race: With the increasing role of naval forces in undertaking overseas assignments by the early twentieth century. Germany and Britain entered into a race for strengthening the naval fleets of respective countries. Steady growth of Russian military and industrial power: Prior to the outbreak of war Russia was on way of rapid industrialization. Decline of Austrian military power after the Balkan wars and Nationalistic feelings amongst Slavs: With the decline in Austria-Hungary axis, the Balkans became a flashpoint for the First World War. The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand: Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne along with his wife Sophie was on a visit to Sarajevo, the capital of the province Bosnia-Herzegovina. During the visits both the Prince and Princess were murdered by a student activist with tacit support from the Serbian government. Authorities suspected that this young man had been supplied with arms and ammunitions by some high ranking Serbian army officials. Austria-Hungary had been looking for an opportunity to strike at Serbia for quite a while, this incident proved to be a flashpoint. Henig (2002) contends that Germany held the key to escalating the situation in spreading into a full blown war. They could've worked to localize the conflict within the limited area by forcing restraint on Austria-Hungary and on Russia. But in the preceding years, situation had become so tense that it appeared inevitable for the Russians and Germans to talk friendship. Russia on its part had been unhappy with the policies of the Austria-Hungary in Balkans and looking for an opportunity to have a go at Austria. Russia on its part started further strengthening its military prowess. It took a while for the Austrian government to persuade their Hungarian counterparts for a need to take stern military actions against Serbia. On July 23, the Austrian-Hungarian government served and ultimatum on Serbia with a time limit to respond by 6 PM, July 25. Just before the time limit was to end Austrians received a reply from Serbians in which the Serbian government acceded to nine of the Austrian demands but they objected to one-the participation of Habsburg officials in the murder investigation to be held by the Serbian authorities. By then some other nations led by Britain had joined the fray to avert the war and resolve the crisis through diplomatic channels. But nothing worked and Austrian government decided to make a formal declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July, and on 29 July, the ships of their Danube flotilla started bombarding Belgrade. The war was soon joined by Russia, as it had resolved to respond to an Austrian declaration of war against Serbia. And soon the world joined, to make it a never before World War-I. References: 1. Anderson, Frank Maloy and Amos Shartle Hershey. 'The Morocco Crisis of 1911'. Handbook for the Diplomatic History of Europe, Asia, and Africa 1870-1914. 2. Evans, R. J. W. and Strandman, Hartmut Pogge Von (1990). 'The Coming of the First World War'. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 3. Henig, Ruth (2002), The Origins of the First World War. Routledge (London). 4. James Joll, (1984), 'The Origins of the First World War', Longman. 5. Robbins, Keith (1993), 'The First World War'. Oxford University Press. 6. The Birmingham Post (2004), 'Article Title: First World War 90th Anniversary- Legacy That Laid Deadly Foundations for Future'. The Birmingham Post. August 4, 2004. Page Number: 4. 7. Turner, Leonard Charles Frederick (1970), 'Origins of the First World War'. W. W. Norton & Company. Read More