World War 1

The Triple Alliance ‒ Germany, Austria and Italy

The Triple Entente ‒ France, Britain and Russia

4 most important issues surrounding the causes of the war is:

● Militarism - many countries believed it was important to build large armies and navies.
● Alliances - the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente were said to have been formed to help
prevent war.
● Imperialism - European nations were creating empires and coming into conflict.
● Nationalism - all countries were looking out for their own interests.
After the murder of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia.
The countries of Europe found that the alliances they had formed dragged them into war.

Causes

A number of different things contributed to a situation where the First World War could break out.

The Threat of Germany

Germany became a united 'empire' in 1871, by defeating and humiliating France.

After 1900 Germany built up its navy – this frightened the British.

In 1901, Kaiser Wilhelm II demanded an overseas empire for Germany – this frightened Britain and
France.

Germany wanted to build a railway through the Balkans to Baghdad – this alarmed the Russians, who
said they were the protectors of the Balkans.

Germany's military defence plan – the Schlieffen Plan – involved attacking France.

The Balkans

The Turkish Empire in the Balkans collapsed:

● Nationalist interests became clear when the new aggressive nation of Serbia clashed with
Austria.
● Austria and Russia clashed because they both wanted more power in the Balkans.

The System of alliances

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Two opposing groups had grown up by 1914, believing that a 'balance of power' would prevent war:

● The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (1882).

● The Triple Entente of France, Russia and Great Britain (1907).
● 28 June - The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Serbian terrorists on a visit to
inspect Austrian troops in Bosnia.
● 5 July - Germany promised total support for Austria
● 28 July - Austria declared war on Serbia – this angered Russia.
● 30 July- Russia mobilizes her army – this alarmed Germany.
● 3 August - Germany implemented the Schlieffen Plan and invaded France through Belgium.
● 4 August - Britain declared war on Germany.

The War had five phases:

1. The War of Movement (August‒ September 1914)

○ The Germans invaded France, but were stopped at the Battle of the Marne (September
1914).
○ The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) helped to stop the Germans at the Battle of Mons
(23 August 1914)
○ The Russians invaded Germany but were destroyed at the Battle of Tannenberg (August
1914)
2. The Race to the Sea (September‒ November 1914)
○ On the Western Front, both sides dug a 400-mile line of trenches from Switzerland to
the English Channel.
3. Stalemate (1915)
○ There was a stalemate (neither side could defeat the other).
○ On the Western Front, attacks on the German trenches led to huge casualties.
○ Britain's attempt to open up a 'Second Front' at Gallipoli in Turkey was a failure.
4. The War of Attrition (1916‒ 1918) The two sides simply tried to wear each other down:
○ Huge battles, eg Verdun and the Somme in 1916, Passchendaele in 1917, lasted many
months. Millions of men died or were wounded.
○ New weapons, eg poison gas, tanks and aeroplanes, failed to make much effect.
○ Terrible conditions in the trenches. Casualties from machine gun and artillery fire.

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○ The British blockaded German ports to try to starve the Germans into surrender. In
October 1918 there was a revolution in Germany.
○ German U-boats tried to starve the British by sinking merchant ships – but this
angered the Americans.
○ German Zeppelins and Gotha planes bombed London.
5. The End of the War
○ America entered the war in 1917.
○ In March 1918 the Germans launched Operation Michael – a huge last-ditch attack.
○ On 8 August 1918, the German Army's 'Black Day', their attack was defeated.
○ The Allies, with the Americans, began to push back the Germans. The Allies and Germany signed a
ceasefire, or 'armistice', at 11am on 11 November 1918.

Consequences:

Death and destruction:

● Eight million soldiers died and many more were damaged physically or mentally.
● Nine million civilians died.
● Twelve million tons of shipping was sunk.
● On the Western Front, the war destroyed 300,000 houses, 6,000 factories, 1,000 miles of
railway and 112 coal mines.
○ The League of Nations.
○ Remembrance Sunday, every November.
○ The British Field Marshal Douglas Haig set up the Poppy Appeal (1921).
● Germany had not surrendered and was outraged by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles – this
helped to cause:
○ The Second World War. Some historians suggest that there were not two world wars,
but only one, with a long ceasefire in between.
○ The rise of Hitler to power.

Interpretations: The causes of the war

The Treaty of Versailles which ended the war blamed Germany for the outbreak of war (Clause 231).

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During the 1920s, however, American historians such as Sydney Bradshaw Fay blamed forces such as
nationalism and alliances.

After the Second World War, historians such as the British historian AJP Taylor (1954) and the
German historian Fritz Fischer (1961) blamed Germany – they said there was a 'will to war' in
Germany.

However, the debate goes on – recent historians have blamed Austria, Russia, and even Britain.

What is your interpretation of the causes of the First World War? Who – or what – do you blame? Was
war avoidable?

Interpretations: The conduct of the war

In the 1920s, Field Marshal Haig and his generals were praised. Many of the men writing these books
were officers or officials - or their friends - who had fought the war.

The Detractors
In the 1930s criticisms of the war became popular. The anti-war poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried
Sassoon became widely accepted as representing the typical feelings of men in the trenches. The film
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, and remade in 1979) portrayed the war as a pointless waste of
young men's lives.

In the 1960s, Alan Clark (1961) described the British soldiers as 'lions led by donkeys', and soon the
British generals were mocked as 'butchers and bunglers' in shows such as Oh What a Lovely War (1963).
This is the view that most ordinary people still believe, as the TV comedy Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)
shows.

The Revisionists
However, in 1963, the historian John Terraine set about correcting what he thought were the myths of
the war. He argued that Haig was not an idiot, but a good commander who cared about his soldiers.
Haig was faced with the problem that there did not exist at that time any weapon which could win the
war without the loss of many lives. This is the view that most serious historians take of the war
nowadays.

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What is your interpretation of the conduct of the First World War? Was Haig a butcher and bungler, or
Britain's greatest general?