Frank Hart World His 102

Who Started World War I? It is the summer of 1914 and Europe is at the brink of war. The European Powers all possessed imperialistic agendas with appetites that could never be satisfied. A very fragile peace in Europe was maintained for decades via the concept of Balance of Power, a strategy which did not allow a particular country to expand its territory or sphere of influence without first consulting with other European powers. If a European power violated this principle, the others would typically rally to war against the culprit as they did against Russia in its Crimean War with Turkey in 1853. The aftermath of the Crimean War led to the unrest and instability that resulted in the Balkan Wars starting in 1912 and ending in 1913. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, already a hotbed of ethnic unrest, eyed the Balkan countries nervously. A series of military alliances developed out of this cauldron of paranoia, forming what became the Triple Entente (Russia, France, and Great Britain) to counter the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Italy). In the beginning of the 20th century Austro-Hungary was in big trouble. Within the AustroHungarian empire comprising 12 major nationalities, which included Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, and Serbs, only the Austrians and the Hungarians held any real power. The Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph, strongly opposed political and social reforms. In 1905 a massive nationalist riot shut down the capital in Vienna, and in 1912, the same fate plagued Budapest. These demonstrations were brutally crushed by the state police; thousands were jailed or shot. Ethnic unrest and nationalist movements were tearing the country apart as Slavs, Czechs, and Poles gave up on the prospect of reform and launched their own independence movements. Yet there was still hope for the Empire of Austro-Hungary. The successor to the throne, Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, was pro-reform and his advisors had drawn up plans for a United States of Greater Austria, which included 15 states formed around different ethnic groups. In what has to be one of the most ironic cases of tragedy in the 20th century, a Bosnian Serb nationalist,

Gavrilo Princep, assassinated the Archduke and his wife on June 28th, 1914 as they were visiting the city of Sarajevo. It was quickly revealed through the interrogation and trial of Gavrilo Princep that a Serbian terrorist organization named the Black Hand was responsible for the plot. When it was revealed that senior members of the Serbian military were part of the plot, Austro-Hungary exploded with anger. Over 200 Serbs were rounded up in Sarajevo alone and summarily executed. The military and political cabinets clamored for war with Serbia. The commonly held view of the Austro-Hungarian leadership was that Serbia needed to be taught a lesson and brutally crushed. The establishment desperately needed to show its strength in order to discourage the nationalist causes that were causing the Empire to crumble at its foundations. It was during this war fever that Austro-Hungary managed to start the biggest war the world had ever known. They completely failed to grasp that war with Serbia meant war with Russia, which possessed the largest land Army in the world at twelve million men. To base a major foreign policy decision - - betting that Russias pledge to Serbia was a bluff - - was horrendously reckless and short sighted. When the German Chancellor delivered a message to Austria on July 5, 1914 giving Austria a blank check to deal with the Serbian question, the assurance strengthened Austro-Hungarys belief this would deter Russia from entering the war. This assumption would prove to be dead wrong. The Austro-Hungarians drew up a deliberately harsh and offensive ultimatum for Serbia, which was designed from the start to be simply for show and not a genuine proposal for peace. Just in case the Serbians were willing to accept the terms, they ordered the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador in Belgrade to reject any Serbian offer, regardless of how accommodating it was. As it turns out, war could easily have been averted if they had pursued a diplomatic solution - - the Serbians were more than willing to accommodate up to 99% of their demands.

Last minute attempts at peace were exchanged in letters between Kaiser Wilhelm II and Czar Nickolas II. As far as they were concerned, the crisis had been averted. The Kaiser was so confident of peace that he went on vacation in Norway on his luxury yacht. Deliberately taking advantage of the fact that the majority of European governments were on holiday, Austro-Hungary formally declared war on Serbia on July 28th. This was done to ensure that no other country could react in time to stop the invasion. Even the Kaiser, Austrias staunchest ally, was caught unprepared by the sudden turn of events. He learned of the invasion from a Norwegian newspaper instead of his own diplomats. Russia reacted by announcing the mobilization of its forces the same day. Europe rapidly spun out of control, and Austro Hungary lit the fuse to a giant bomb underneath Europe. In order to defend against Russia, Germany and Austro-Hungary enacted the Schlieffen War Plan. Austro-Hungary, if it truly sought peace, could have prevented Germany from escalating the conflict by invading Belgium and France. In fact, they did the opposite by giving the German strategy for war their full support. European leaders failed to grasp the horrific costs associated with fighting a modern war. Austro-Hungarian generals even failed to update their battlefield tactics from the Napoleonic era, while new weapons such as the machine gun, submarines, airplanes, modern artillery, mines, battleships, and poison gas were changing warfare forever. Ten million people lost their lives during the war and over twice that number were wounded. Ultimately, all of Europe shares some blame for helping start the First World War, but in my opinion the blame should primarily be placed on Austro-Hungary. It was an empire on the brink of collapse, making one final desperate move for power and dragging all of Europe into conflict with it. Emperor Franz Joseph famously said: Slavs are not born to rule but to obey. If they imagine they can look to Belgrade for salvation, they must be cured of this belief. This statement is an excellent example of the racist attitudes many European leaders held against certain ethnic groups at this time. Tragically, the same logic used by Franz Joseph against the Slavs would again be employed by another Austrian, Adolph Hitler, to start another World War a scant twenty-five years later.

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