NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY

COURSE: HIS 205

TUTOR: DR. ABDUS SAMAD (ABS3)

Summer SEMESTER 2019

 THE ROAD TO FIRST WORLD WAR
• World War I or the Great War, was a global war originating
in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November
1918. Contemporaneously described as the "war to end all
wars", it led to the mobilization of more than 70 million
military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it
one of the largest wars in history.
• An estimated nine million combatants and seven million
civilians died as a direct result of the war, while it is also
considered a contributory factor in a number of genocides
and the 1918 influenza epidemic, which caused between 50
to 100 million deaths worldwide.
• Military losses were exacerbated by new
technological and industrial developments and the
tactical stalemate caused by grueling trench
warfare.
• It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history and
precipitated major political changes, including the
Revolutions of 1917–1923, in many of the nations
involved.
• Unresolved rivalries at the end of the conflict
contributed to the start of the Second World War
about twenty years later.
 BACKGROUND OF THE WAR
• By 1914, the European powers were divided into two
coalitions: the Triple Entente, consisting of France,
Russia and Britain and the Triple Alliance of
Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
• The Triple Alliance was primarily defensive in nature,
allowing Italy to stay out of the war in 1914, while
many of the terms of both agreements were informal
and contradicted by others; for example, Italy
renewed the Triple Alliance in 1902 but secretly
agreed with France to remain neutral if it was attacked
by Germany.
• As the war widened, the Entente added Italy, Japan
and eventually the United States to form the Allied
Powers, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria
joined Germany and Austria to create the Central
Powers.
• Between 1908 and 1914, the Balkans had been
destabilized by the combination of a weakened
Ottoman Empire, the 1912–1913 Balkan Wars and
competing Russian and Austro-Hungarian objectives.
• On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb
Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-
Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in
Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis.
• On 23 July, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to
Serbia; interlocking alliances quickly drew in all the
major European powers with their respective colonial
empires and the conflict rapidly spread across the
globe.
• On 25 July, the Russian government issued orders for
the 'period preparatory to war'; after Austria-Hungary
shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade. General Russian
mobilization was announced on 30 July;
• On the 31st, Austria-Hungary and Germany did the
same, while Germany demanded Russia demobilize
within 12 hours.
• When Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war
on 1 August, with Austria-Hungary following suit on 6th;
France ordered full mobilization in support of Russia on
2 August.
• French entry into the war stemmed from a combination
of the desire to regain the provinces they ceded after the
1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War, concern at Germany's
increasing power and military commitments agreed with
Russia.
• German strategy for a war on two fronts against France and
Russia was to concentrate the bulk of its army in the West to
defeat France, then shift forces to the East before Russia
could fully mobilize;
• On 2 August, Germany demanded free passage through
Belgium, in achieving a quick victory over France. When this
was refused, German forces entered Belgium on 3 August
and declared war with France.
• Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August. On 12,
Britain and France also declared war on Austria-Hungary.
• On the 23rd, the Empire of Japan joined the Allied Powers,
seizing the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence by
capturing German possessions in China and the Pacific.
• On 24 August, Serbia won a major victory over the Austro-
Hungarians.
 THE ROAD TO FIRST WORLD WAR
German Imperial Expansion after Bismarck:
During his tenure at office, Bismarck maintained a
strong diplomatic relationship with the major
powers of Europe, arguing that Germany was a
satiated power and had no desire of imperial
expansion, rather than having a strong middle-
Europe policy. However, with the accession of
Kaiser William II, things began to change fast.
William II was in no mood to be dictated by
Bismarck “spider-web” diplomacy and the
differences between the two eventually resulted in
Bismarck’s resignation from office.
• Commercial and Naval Expansion: The reign of
William II was notable for the remarkable
expansion of industry and commerce which made
Germany a rival of England. Added to this was
William II’s strong desire to maintain a powerful
naval force to protect German interests that
collided directly with the British interests (Theory
of 2+1)
• Serbian Nationalism: the ambition of uniting all the
Serbs and Croats, many of whom lived within the
Habsburg empire. This involved taking up some of
the areas under Austria-Hungary’s control.
Consequently many Austrians called for a
preventive war against Serbia in order to stop the
unification.
• Entente Cordiale: The growing tension of the
British led to the agreement with Russia (1907),
who was already in alliance with France since
1894. This agreement settled the long standing
differences between England and Russia, and
although this was not a military alliance and not
necessarily anti-German, but the Germans saw
it as a confirmation of their fear that Britain,
France and Russia were planning to encircle
Germany.
• Bosnia Crisis (1908): this heightened the tension.
Austrians took advantage of the revolution in
Turkey and annexed the province of Bosnia, which
contained about 3 million serbs. This was a great
blow to Serbia and their unification. Bosnia asked
for Russian help, who called for a European
conference expecting Britain and France would
support. It was clear that Germany would support
Austria in the event of a war, the French drew back
and the British avoided a direct confrontation. It
was a triumph for Austria-Germany but the
consequences eventually would lead them to the
outbreak of the war.
• The outbreak of the war would finally happen over
the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnian capital in 28 June
1914. He and his wife were shot dead by a serb
terrorist Gavrilo Princip. Austrians blamed the
murder to Serbia government. Although Serbia
accepted the blame but Austria used this excuse for
war. 28 July Austria declared war on Serbia. Russians,
allies of Serbia started general mobilization. Germany
demanded this mobilization and when Russia failed to
comply Germany declared war on Russia (1 August
1914) and on France (3 August 1914). When the
German troops entered Belgium on their way to
invade France, Britain, who had offered help to
France declared war on Germany on 4 August.
Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia on 6 August.
Rest of the countries joined the war.
What caused the War and who was to blame?
The alliance system or ‘armed camps’ made war
inevitable. Many historians argue that the way the
alliances were made amongst the European
countries, made war inevitable.
Colonial rivalry in Africa and Far East. The early
efforts of Bismarck to declare Germany a ‘satiated
power’ and not being interested in colonial
expansion was reversed with his resignation. The
foreign policy of Germany under William II
stressed on the colonial expansion in Africa and
the far East as a result of which the rivalry between
the other colonial powers became more prominent
leading to war.
Naval race between Britain and Germany. As a
direct consequence of the colonial expansion,
was the fast increase of the naval power of
Germany made Britain, the strongest naval
power of Europe, suspicious of Germany. The
introduction of ‘Dreadnought ships’ in
Germany rivalled that of Britain’s and brought
them to the brink of the war.
Economic Rivalry. It has also been argued that
the desire of economic mastery of the world
caused German businessmen and capitalists to
want war with Britain
Russia made war more likely by backing Serbia:
Russia was the first to mobilize its army, which
provoked Germans to mobilize. The German
policy in the Balkans made the Russians worry
and once Austria threatened to declare war on
Serbia, Russia did not have much choice either.
Perhaps the blame lies mostly to the Austrians,
although they had hoped for Russian neutrality,
they should have realized how difficult it would
have been for the Russians to remain neutral in
that condition.
German backing of Austria was crucially
important, since it made Austria more reckless. It
is also significant that while in 1913 Germans
restrained Austria from war, in 1914, Germany
provoked them by asking to declare war against
Serbia and promising German help.
The mobilization plan accelerated the tempo of
the events and reduced the time for any further
negotiation. Once Germany knew of the Russian
mobilization, it went for full-scale mobilization
immediately . Although Russian mobilization did
not necessarily mean war, but it made Germany
nervous and ordered the troops to invade France
via Belgium. The invasion of Belgium, though not
part of German plan, involved Britain to whom the
terms of negotiation were violated.
 THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES (1919)
Some of the major points of the treaty of Versailles were:
1. Germany had to lose territory in Europe:
a) Alsace-Lorraine to France
b) Eupen, Moresnet and Malmedy to Belgium
c) North Schleswig to Denmark
d) West Prussia and Posen to Poland
e) Memel to Lithuania
f) The Saar was to be administered by the League of
nations administration
g) Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were taken away from
Germany and set up as independent states.
h) Union between Germany and Austria was prohibited.
2. Germany’s African colonies were taken away and
were placed under the League of Nations.
3. Germany’s armaments manufacture were strictly
restricted. There was to be no conscription and a
maximum troops of 100000. The Rhineland was to
be strictly de-militarized.
4. The war-guilt clause fixed the blame for the
outbreak of the war solely on the Germans and her
allies.
5. Germany was to pay war reparations for the
damages done to the Allied powers. Actual amount
was not declared but later on it was fixed at 6600
million pounds.
6. A League of Nations was set up; its aims and
organizations were set out in the League Covenant.