How the Structure of European International Politics Make a War Inevitable in 1914 - Essay Example

To what extent did the structure of European international politics make a war inevitable in 1914? The rise of the First World War was a function of several factors, majorly caused by the manner in which the international politics in Europe was organized. The major factor that contributed to the eruption of the First World War is the complex web of alliances that was formed by the European powers in the period between 1871 and 19141. The other major contributing factor to the rise of the First World War was the political territorial conflicts amongst the major European powers at the time, which in turn bred enmity and militarism that sparked off the war2. The assassination of the ultimate heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, Franz Ferdinand, which occurred on June 28, 1914, was a culmination of the enmity that had bred between different European powers for over two decades3. This prompted the rival alliances to take up the matter as an international crisis that resulted in the July Crisis of 1914, which entailed the issuance of an ultimatum against Serbia by Austria-Hungary. The ultimatum required that Serbia should hand over all the conspirators of the assassination as well as relieve some of its leaders, who were perceived to have been involved, off their national leadership duties. The demand sparked uproar from the other side of alliance, comprising of France and Russia, who in turn declared their support Serbia4. This caused Germany to motivate Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia on the event that the ultimatum was not honored, and with the traditional enmity that bred between Germany and Austria-Hungary on the one hand, and France and Russia on the other hand, an international war was eminent5. Thus, the structure of the European international politics in the two decade leading to 1914 was a major cause of the war, since the First World War was fought to settle the scores that the rival alliances had already created before. The European international politics in the period 1898 to 1914 was build around the imperialism concept of oversees dominance6. Therefore, every aspect of European international politics was shaped by the relationship between the major European powers, which was as a result of the tension that first arose over the collaboration for colonies, in which certain powers felt aggrieved due obtaining a low share of the colonial territories. Thus, the need to defend the colonial dominance, especially by the European powers that were favored by the collaboration for the colonies in Asia and Africa caused them to seek for allies which would strengthen their political standing in the eyes of the adversaries7. Britain is a colonial power that was pulled to enter into a treaty of territorial protection with France and Russia, out of the perceived threat of territorial annexation from Germany. This caused Britain, Russian and France to form the Triple Entente Alliance, thus motivating Germany to form its alliance with Austria Hungary and Italy forming the Triple Alliance8. This set a stage for political supremacy contest between these alliances that would only be settled through a major war. After the alliances were formed, the only thing remaining to prepare for an ultimate decider of the political supremacy in Europe was a military buildup and arms development strategy, which gave rise to the arms race of 19119. Thus, with political alliances already formed, and arms build to serve for the purpose of supremacy contest, a war in 1914 eventually became inevitable. Further, the territorial conflict related to various colonial regions that were under disputed control in the decade leading to 1914 was another major reason why the First World War erupted10. The colonization of America, Asia and Africa by the great European powers which included Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Russia had sparked a high political and supremacy tension amongst these nations, with each trying to acquire as much colonies as they could for themselves11. Thus, where two or more powers conflicted over certain colonial territories, the conflict was transferred back home. Here, the nations started to agitate for the definition of the balance of power in Europe, such that it could become clear which nation was the most influential and powerful in Europe. Therefore, with scores related to the colonial territorial conflicts to settle between Germany and Austria-Hungary on one hand, and France, Russia and Britain on the other hand, Germany took the July 1914 Crisis as the perfect opportunity to demonstrate itself as the ultimate power in Europe, since the country considered itself more prepared for war than both France and Russia12. Thus, with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Germany practically forced Austria-Hungary to issue the tough ultimatum on Serbia, so that it could offend Russia and France, and thus pull them into an international war that would ultimately install Germany as the great power in Europe13. European international political structure, in form of lack of political dominance by any of the powers European, was a major reason that the war in 1914 became inevitable. This is because; the Great European powers wanted to exert their political influence in different colonial territories as well as in regions of close proximity to European, so that the territorial political dominance would act as the decider of which nation would emerge as the ultimate powerful nation in Europe14. Germany was the country feeling more aggrieved, since it perceived both France and Britain as having dominated many territories oversees15. The territorial conflict in Europe can be traced back to 1867, when Austria-Hungary, Serbia and Russia were contesting for territories and also political influence in the Balkans16. It is this contestation that resulted in the formation of antagonistic political alliances and treaties in a bid to settle the high tension, which inevitably would not be settled through such treatise agreements, as some powers chose not to honor them. In this respect, the emergence of a war in 1914 was inevitably caused by the preceding Pig War (1906–08) that pitched Austria-Hungary against Serbia, as an economic and trade conflict that could not let the two countries see eye-to-eye17. The ruling system in the Austrian Empire had fundamentally changed in 1867, causing the rise of the Hungarian Elite into the political rule of the country, thus changing the traditional ruling system where the German Aristocrats solely ruled the country18. The consequence was the need for an external war by Germany, which would eventually cause an internal revolt in Austria-Hungary, through the introduction of more Slavs from the Southern territory already held by Serbia. The introduction of more Slavs into the Austria-Hungary territory would cause a transformation of the leadership formula, which would see the Hungarian political influence dominated by the German-oriented Slavs and Austrians19. Therefore, Germany deemed an external war that would eventually impact on the internal political rule system of Austria-Hungary desirable. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand then created such as opportune moment for Germany to push Austria-Hungary into a war with Serbia, with the projection that such a war would cause internal political revolts both in Serbia and Austria-Hungary20. The Serbia- Austria-Hungary tension inevitably paved way for a major European war. The major problem, which constituted an unforeseen war situation, is the fact that Germany perceived the international war as an occurrence that would take a little while to end. However, it turned out that the whole of Europe was hungry for a war that would act as the ultimate decider on the impending power struggle in Europe21. This caused more nations to join in the conflict, and ultimately the First World War became a global war that pulled even the colonial territories in Asia, America and Europe into the conflict, which was initially a European power contest affair22. Germany was interested in causing internal revolt both in Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and on the event that other European nations would not join in the conflict, then Germany would defeat France and Russia as quickly as possible, and thus emerge as the major power in Europe. However, Germany’s assumption was that Britain would remain neutral in the conflict, thus allowing Germany to dominate over both Russia and France and eventually emerge as the European power23. Thus, when Britain joined in the conflict, and many other nations declared their support for either side of the conflict, a global war was inevitable, and its prolongation for unanticipated period of four years became inevitable. The increased prosperity of Britain from it’s oversees colonies and also from trade with the neutral European nations such as Belgium, which acted as ‘informal external empires’ of Britain, caused the other powers to hunger for a war that would disrupt this political arrangement24. Most notably, both France and Germany were experiencing more problems from their overseas colonies compared to Britain, whose territories seemed relatively calm and capable of delivering more trade and political dominance benefits for Britain. All, these factors converged to form the need to alter the existing European international political structure, which could only be achieved through a major war that would shake both the political and economic stability of Europe and it’s oversees colonial territories25. February 1989 was a particularly important season for the global politics and power struggle. The USA entered into war with Spain in the infamous Spanish-American war, and for the first time, the USA won against a colonial power, thus setting USA as a major world power26. This caused a stir in Europe, since the European political structure at the time was arranged such that there was no absolute power that reigned in Europe. Therefore, the need to define the exact political power position that each of the major European powers held became inevitable. Additionally, Britain, which was seen as a major political power in Europe had shown signs of defeat by the USA, thus causing other European powers, notably Germany, to seek a strategy that would ultimately decide the dominant nation in Europe27. The USA had started interfering with the European powers political plan for their overseas territories such as in African and Asia. Most notably, the USA adapted an open door policy towards China, in a bid to resist the attempt by the European powers, with the support of Japan, to divide China28. Additionally, 1898 is the year during which a looming war between France and Britain did not take place, thus leaving the European international political structure just like it was traditionally; without an ultimate power. The looming 1898 war between France and Britain was meant to settle the scores against Britain by France in the upper Nile, after France had initially been defeated by Britain in both Egypt and Sudan29. Thus, due to the fact that there had been a longstanding need to eventually establish the political arrangement in Europe that had a dominant power, the war of 1914 was inevitably necessary. The 1914 war was the only way through which the traditional uncertain political dominance structure of Europe could be altered, and in its place a major political power established that would be influential in Europe. Finally, the internal political wrangles and leadership changes within the major European powers was a force behind the rise of the war of 1914. The European international political structure was arranged such that there was no stable dominant rule both domestically within nations in Europe and internationally, amongst the European political interactions30. Therefore, the internal wrangles and changes in political leaderships that occurred within the major European powers were then projected to attract external support from other European powers that were opposed to the domestic leaderships in their neighbors. For example, the Boer War of 1899–1902 highly divided the British society and increased political tensions domestically31. Similarly, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) took political leadership in Germany in 1912 and popularized the militarization of the German society, as well as settling of political differences and conflicts through war32. On the other hand, France was experiencing its most prosperous years for the decade starting 1911, thus posing the threat of revolting against Germany on the treaty they had signed in 1870 that gave Germany control of the of Alsace-Lorraine, a territory initially held by France 33. All these internal developments in the domestic affairs of the major powers in Europe led to the need for an ultimate decider on the supremacy of European powers both internationally and domestically, making the 1914 war inevitable. Bibliography 1. Duiker, William J. World History. (Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2007) 702-714. 2. Blanning, T. C. W. The Nineteenth Century Europe 1789-1914. (Oxford: OUP Oxford, 2000) 158-180. 3. Clark, Christopher M. The sleepwalkers: how Europe went to war in 1914 (New York: Harper, 2013). 4. Afflerbach, Holger. An improbable war? The outbreak of World War I and European political culture before 1914 (New York: Berghahn Books, 2007). 5. Showalter, Dennis. The Great War and Its Historiography (Historian, 2006)713–721 6. Mombauer, Annika. The origins of the First World War: diplomatic and military documents (New York: Manchester University Press, 2013). 7. Hewitson, Mark. Germany and the Causes of the First World War. (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014). 8. Herrmann, David G. The Arming of Europe and the Making of the First World War (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997) 294-309. 9. Evera, Stephen. Causes of War: Power and the Roots of Conflict (Cornell University Press, 1999) 1-48. 10. Cashman, Greg. An Introduction to the Causes of War: Patterns of Interstate Conflict from World War I to Iraq (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007) 29-77. Read More