CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I OF 1914-1918.
The causes of World War I are so complex and intertwined
that no single factor can be held responsible absolutely for its occurrence.
Factors vary from long term to immediate.
1. The Alliance system:
Alliance system was the brain
child of Bismarck.
After the Franco-Prussian war, Bismarck started Alliance system to isolate France
and make it difficult to wage war of revenge against Germany. During his time, France was
successful isolated and alliance system became an instrument of peace. However,
after his resignation in 1890, the Alliance
system which was an instrument of peace, became an instrument of war in Europe
that led to out break of world war I.
the two camps were the German centered Triple Alliance against Triple Entente
headed by Britain.
Alliance system
caused world war in the following ways:
a) Alliance system grouped
the major powers into two hostile camps that became fighting camps. By 1914,
there was intensive hatred, suspicion, jealousy, fear and rivalry between the
two camps that caused war atmosphere leading to World War I.
b) Alliance system made
small countries strong enough to provoke other countries. E.g., Serbia could not respect Austria because she new that behind her, was Britain,Russia,etc
c) With
Alliance
system, minor occurrences would be magnified on ground scale. That is why the
death of Arch Duke Ferdinand was made big and was able to cause world war.
d) Alliance system was like robe
linking together members of the climbing team to guarantee their safety, but
when their climber fell, dragged the whole team into destruction,
e) There
was need for the two camps to test their strength at one time in a moment which
made the world war inevitable. Opportunity came after the Sarajevo double murder of Arch Duke Ferdinand
and his wife Sophie.
2. The Arm Race:
Arm race was an attempt by European powers to out compete the
other in manufacturing of arms, ammunitions, and increase in forces. Arm race
was started by Keiser William II in an attempt to challenge Britain and to
make German both a land and sea power. He made this clear when he said in 1890,
that, “Our future lies on water” Britain was the
first to build the big gun turbine driven battle ship which she called
Dreadnought. Britain
thought it would take German some time to make such a ship. But by 1913, Germany had 13
Dreadnoughts and training was going on. The arm race caused World War I in the
following ways:
a) The
arms were laid up like a pile of wood, yet they were not for decoration. There
was need to test the capacity of the stock at one moment. The war was
therefore, necessary to provide testing grounds for the arms, leading to war.
b) The
arm race provoked and reinforces the alliance system. The arms therefore, made
the Alliances more deadly which provoked great powers for action.
c) The
arms created confidence among the powers and could not accept peaceful
negotiations. E.g., British public opinion was in favour of war with German to
destroy her fleet and to protect her naval supremacy. That is why the two
countries could not accept disarmament policy that was proposed by Nicholas
when he called the Hague conference.
d) Arm
race made countries to develop nationalism, i.e., the desire to protect their
countries and also to acquire colonies for their countries. It should be noted
that arms race increased the pace of scramble and partition of Africa.
e) Lack
of international organization made the arms race to continue unchecked. If the
congress system had not collapse, it could have possibly checked the
manufacture of these deadly weapons that caused world warI.
3. Economic
Imperialism/ colonialism:
Imperialism is the desire to acquire colonies by powerful
countries. Due to industrial revolution in Europe,
by 1870, it created need for raw materials, markets, areas for investments of surplus
capital and to settle excess population. European powers were on rampage to
acquire territories in Africa which made them
to clash with each other hence, causing war atmosphere. Economic imperialism
led to the outbreak of world warI in many ways:
a) The
Austrian increased imperialism in Bosnia
led to Sarajevo
assassination that sparked off the war.
b) Imperialism
caused suspicion, rivalry, jealousy, hatred among European countries and that
is why they formed alliances they expected war any time.
c) Because
of economic imperialism, peaceful means could not solve conflicts and public
opinion in Europe called for war but not peace
to settle colonial conflicts. That is why Britain
declared war on German, Russia
declared war on Austria.
d) The
hatred between German and France can not be explained without considering the
loss of Alsace and Lorraine to German. It was even the factor
that made Bismarck
to resort to alliance which led to outbreak of world warI.
e) Russian
imperialism in the Balkan completely spoiled European relations. That is Russia declared war on Austria due to struggle over Bosnia.
4. The rise of
Nationalism:
Nationalism is the move to obtain political independence. By
1914, there were a number of nationalism movement that sprung up in Europe.eg,
the great Serbian movement with a mission to liberate Serbia from foreign rule
including in Bosnia and Herzegovina with were under Austrian control.Fance had
nationalism to acquire back Alsace and Lorraine which led to conflicts
resulting into world war. Nationalism led to world war in the following ways;
a) Nationalistic
feeling made Keiser William to start the arms race to promote national pride.
It should be noted that German’s desire to be both land and sea power, caused
the world war by 1914.
b) Nationalism
led to formation of Alliance
system. Many countries felt insecure and had to be in alliance to provide
protection against foreign aggression. That is why German joined Austria, France
had to join Britain
for security reasons. Yet alliance system led to world warI.
c) The
fear of French nationalism made Bismarck to form
alliance system in order to isolate France from fighting a war of revenge.
After the death of Bismarck, Alliance system which was created to act as
an instrument of peace became an instrument of war which was experienced in
1914.
d) The
need to acquire colonies was due to nationalism that European powers had to pursue
national interest and prestige. The struggle to promote national interest in Africa and Balkan, caused conflict.
e) It
was Serbian nationalism and the need to liberate all Serbians from Austria led to Sarajevo assassination which sparked off the
war. Principe, who assassinated Ferdinand, was
a member of Pan Slavinism.
5. The role of the
press:
The role played by the mass media can not be undermined in
causing world warI. Radio presenters and journalists over exaggerated the
suspicion, fear, and international tension. E.g., the London
times poisoned the British Public opinion against Germany
and radio presenters caused more fear and panic after the Sarajevo double murder. The news papers acted
as a curtain raiser to world warI. The mass media caused world war in many
ways:
a) The
press created fear and panic that made Europeans to manufacture deadly weapons
for defense since the pres revealed arms race by other powers.eg, in the British
daily Mail, (news paper) exaggerated German’s manufacture of deadly weapons.
b) The
enable countries to understand what was going on in other countries that
created fear and panic leading to outbreak of first world war in 1914.
6. The Franco-
Prussian war of 1817-18171:
The Franco-Prussian war was the event that concluded German
unification. This war was concluded by Frankfurt treaty in which France lost the two rich territories of Alsace and Lorraine
that had up to 4million Frenchmen. She also suffered to pay war indemnity and
an army of occupation. This made Prussia
to be a historical enemy of France.
France
had been looking for opportunity to revenge. The Franco- Prussian war led to
world war in many ways:
a) The
Franco-Prussian war changed European balance of power. It completed unification
of both German and Italy.
German started even challenging British naval supremacy. This forced Britain and France to ally against German
leading to tension and world warI.
b) The
fear of French war of revenge forced Bismarck to
start Alliance system in order to isolate France.
However, by 1907, France
was able to acquire ally, i.e., triple entente was formed. Alliance system became an instrument of war.
c) Franco-Prussian
war strained French economy and she was forced to move to Africa
to acquire colonies to compensate for lost provinces. This struggle for
colonies caused tension, conflicts which led to world warI.
d) The
success of German in Franco- Prussian war gave her false confidence of military
superiority. Keiser William believed German was the strongest power in Europe. This made him too arrogant and reckless and sent a
blank cheque to Austria and
declared war on France.
7. The character of
Keiser William:
The role played by Keiser William of German was very important
in causing world warI. He was arrogant, proud and a war like person who could
not hide his war intension. He was militaristic and uncompromising. In his
foreign policy, he tried to intervene in each and every activity of the world
politics in order to make Germany
a world power. He declared that “Nothing must go on
in any where in the world in which German does not play apart”. William
II was too confident and proud of himself and he proclaimed, “God has called us to civilize the world”. He made a
lot of blunders and diplomatic errors that led to world war in the following
ways:
a) He
forced Bismarck
to resign leaving the world with no capable statesman who could diplomatically
settle world conflicts such as the Austro-Serbian conflict which exploded into World
War I.
b) The
Alliance system which was created by Bismarck as an instrument
of peace, Keiser William made it an instrument of war. Even his reckless ness
made France to acquire
alliance which Bismarck
had avoided.
c) Keiser
William made Austria
stubborn and reckless through his unconditional support. That is why Austria declared war on Serbia.
d) Berlin-Baghdad
railway project which Keiser William embarked on was a threat to Britain, Russia
and France
whose interest in the East would be jeopardized by German. This helped to
consolidate triple entente.
e) To
annoy Britain more, Keiser
William sent congratulatory message to Paul Kruger for repulsing Jameson raid
in 1895.this completely strained relationship between Britain and Germany and the world war could not
be avoided.
f) He
is blamed for starting naval race to challenge British naval supremacy and
militarism to make German both land and sea power.eg, he called for making of
more dreadnoughts to out do Britain.
8. Lack of
international organization:
Europe by 1914 had existed
without an international body which could call up countries and discuss matters
peacefully on round table. Such bodies like the Vienna congress would be of great help yet it
had collapsed. This led to outbreak of world warI in that:
a) France lost provinces of Alsace
and Lorraine to Germany and the issue remained
unsolved due to lack of international body that would have settled the conflict
which led to outbreak of world warI.
b) The
conflicts in the Balkan intensified from bad to worse due to lack of such
binding bodies. The problem became chronic that finally climaxed into world war
in 1914.
c) The
international body would have handled the Sarajevo
double murder and settled the conflict between Austria
and Serbia
on the round table.
d) Arms
race went on unchecked due to lack of international body. It would have also
checked Keiser’s aggressive policies that led to world warI.
e) There
was also lack of statesmen by 1914. The leaders of that time advocated for war
more than peace. The best example was Kaiser William.
9. The Sarajevo double murder:
On the 28th June 1914, the Austrian prince Duke
Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were driving through the street of Sarajevo the capital of Bosnia where they were assassinated
by the local Serbian called Gavriro Principe.
On the 23rd July, 1914, Austria launched an ultimatum to Serbia
demanding acceptance within only 48hours. The Sarajevo double murder led to war in that:
a) By
1914, Europe was already a timed bomb or powder
key which needed only a slight provocation which was provided by the
assassination of Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.
b) It
gave a very excuse to Austria
to open war on Serbia but of
course Serbia
was not alone and this is what caused world warI.