Download ORIGINS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

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ORIGINS OF THE
FI RST WORLD WA R
The war of 1914–18 was not known, until later, as
the First World War. When it happened, it quickly
became known simply as the “Great War.” The world
had seen nothing like it since the wars following the
French Revolution that ended in 1815 and had no
reason to expect a war like it when it broke out on
August 1, 1914. Many historians consider World War
I to be the watershed moment of the twentieth century. By the time the war came to a formal end at 11
am on November 11, 1918,1 it had not only devastated
Europe, but had also transformed the way states
operated. World War I was an event that ushered in
monumental changes, destroyed tens of millions of
lives, brought about the end of the great continental
European empires, ushered in new technologies, and
transformed the global balance of power.
The Central Powers included the German Empire
(also known as the Hohenzollern Empire, or simply Germany), Austria-Hungary (also known as the
Habsburg Empire, or simply Austria), and from
October 28, 1914, the Ottoman Empire (also simply
called Turkey). Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in
October 1915. The Entente (also referred to as the
Allies) included the Russian Empire (also known as
the Romanov Empire), the French Empire, the British
Empire, Serbia, Belgium, Japan, and Greece. Although
Italy had been in formal alliance with Germany and
Austria-Hungary prior to the war, the country ended
up joining the Entente on May 23, 1915. Portugal,
Brazil, and Romania joined the Entente in 1916. You
should be aware that in this resource guide, we
will sometimes use the shorthand of “Germany” to
refer to the German Empire, “Turkey” to refer to the
Ottoman Empire, etc. Also, throughout the resource
guide you will notice that some terms have been
boldfaced and others have been both boldfaced and
underlined. Boldface indicates a key term or phrase.
Terms that are underlined as well as boldfaced are
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included in the glossary of terms at the end of the
resource guide.
Impact of WWI—The Watershed
Event of the Twentieth Century?
In this section of the resource guide, we will begin by
considering a brief overview of the major impacts of
the First World War. Following this, we will analyze
the origins and the causes of the war.
Total Casualties
It is difficult to comprehend the cost of World War I
from the vantage point of the United States, which
suffered “only” 117,000 killed in the war (0.13 percent of the population).2 For the U.S., World War II
was a much greater, i.e., more devastating, war—the
U.S. suffered more than three times as many people
killed in World War II (418,000). But, for many countries in Europe, World War I was every bit as deadly
as World War II. In all, approximately 9 million people
died as a direct result of World War I. (This does not
include as many as six million civilians who died as
an indirect result of the war.) France and Germany
both lost more than 3 percent of their entire population in the war. If the United States had lost the same
percentage as France, it would have seen 4 million
dead and 10 million injured.3 Some countries suffered even more: 5.6 percent of the entire Serbian
population and 3.8 percent of the Ottoman Empire’s
population died in the war. The bloodshed was particularly intense for some groups. For example, 26
percent of the 558,000 Scots who enlisted to fight in
the war were killed.4
The term “casualties” refers to the total of those
killed, seriously injured, and prisoners of war.
Approximately 15 million people were seriously
injured, and roughly 7 million were taken as prison-
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tension among the Great Powers as they jockeyed
for the most advantageous position to benefit from
the Ottoman Empire’s weakness. It also proved to be
an important reason why Turkey entered the war on
the side of the Central Powers on October 28, 1914.16
Many German-speaking princedoms and states united to form a single, powerful German state in 1871.
By that time, Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands,
and Portugal had built large overseas empires over
the preceding centuries. When Britain and France
became the primary competitors in a race for additional colonies in the 1880s, Germany lacked the
naval power and existing overseas empire to join the
competition in a major way, but it did acquire several
colonies in Africa and in the Pacific during the 1880s.
In the three decades prior to 1914, Germany’s industrial economy and population both grew rapidly,
and Germany increasingly became the most powerful economy in Europe. Vocal nationalist groups in
Germany complained that it was unfair that such a
powerful country had such a relatively small overseas empire. Powerful lobbies such as the German
Naval League and elected officials in the Reichstag
(parliament) pushed the government to build a navy
that could compete with Britain and enable Germany
to become more of a global imperial power. The
emperor and government’s focus on a naval buildup
created sharp tensions with Great Britain, though
Germany’s efforts were not enough to really challenge British naval dominance. Realizing that the
race for colonies was already over and that the path
to empire overseas was unrealistic, German strategists and publicists who wanted Germany to become
a greater empire concluded that the better path to
foreign conquest was by land.17
The German right wrote about building a great land
empire by conquering Slavic lands to the East. The
“Pan-German League” published many pamphlets
and articles claiming that there were substantial
numbers of Germans living in Poland, Ukraine, and
Russia and that the Slavic peoples of those regions
could be conquered and pushed further to the East
to create living space for the growing German population. Such views were far from universally held in
Germany. Many of the mainstream parties opposed
the idea of a war of conquest. But expansionist views
were loudly supported in some of the popular press,
and the basic idea that Germany’s path to imperial
conquest and world power status lay in the conquest
of Slavic lands in Europe strongly influenced German
strategic thinkers.18
THE ALLIANCE SYSTEM AND MILITARY STRATEGY
Germany’s potential expansion also influenced other
Great Powers in Europe. France tried to stop German
unification in 1870, but was soundly defeated by a
combined German force under Prussian leadership
in a quick war that lasted only seven weeks. The
16
peace treaty forced France to recognize German
unification and to cede two regions of mixed French
and German population (Alsace and Lorraine) to
Germany. The desire to recover these territories
was a constant concern for France. By the late
1880s, it became apparent to France and Russia
that Germany’s industrial and military strength was
outpacing that of either country. Neither France nor
Russia stood a chance alone in a fight with Germany.
Russia probably had more to fear than France, given
the widely discussed designs that Germany had on
conquering territories within the Russian Empire.
Moreover, in early 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary,
and Italy signed the Triple Alliance, pledging mutual
support in the event of an attack on any of the three
countries.
Russia and France signed the Franco-Russian
Alliance in 1892, despite huge differences between
them—Russia was an absolute monarchy and France
was a democratic republic. The alliance obligated
each power to go to war if attacked by a member of
the Triple Alliance. Its aim was to create a balance
of power sufficient to deter Germany from attacking
either France or Russia. A key provision of the alliance required both France and Russia to mobilize
their armies and reserves as rapidly as possible and
deploy them immediately in order to force Germany
to fight a two-front war.
These alliances created a rough balance of power in
continental Europe. The one Great Power that could
tip the balance was Great Britain. A long history of
tensions with France and Russia over imperial questions ranging from Egypt to the Russian Far East
and Central Asia kept Germany hopeful that Britain
would either join the Triple Alliance or would at least
remain neutral during a war. But Britain resolved
many of its outstanding differences over colonial
issues with France and signed the Entente Cordiale
of 1904. This was not a firm alliance, but it greatly
improved relations with France. Only two years
later, military staff from France and Great Britain
began to meet to discuss potential strategies for
cooperation in case of war. British suspicion of alliance with autocratic Russia was tempered when
Russia’s 1905 Revolution brought about Russia’s first
elected national parliament (the Duma) and introduced many elements of the rule of law. In August
1907, Britain and Russia signed an agreement settling
the most hotly disputed issues of contention on the
borders of their two empires in Afghanistan, Persia,
and Tibet.19
While relations improved markedly between Britain
and the Entente, British relations with Germany
deteriorated. Germany chose to continue building
up its navy and used it twice to challenge France in
Morocco, spurring the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and
1911. Britain read this increasing assertiveness and
naval build-up as evidence that Germany was becom-
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Germany demanded better rations and a conclusion
of the war in the East. But the announcement of the
peace of Brest-Litovsk stopped opposition to the
war. Half the war had been won, and there was a
promise of grain deliveries from Ukraine.200
In contrast to the Austrian and Russian armies, mutinies, desertion, or willful surrender to the enemy
were extraordinarily rare in the German Army. It
was structured to promote unit-level cohesion, and
for most of the war, soldiers were very efficiently
and generously provisioned with food and drink.
However, the failed Ludendorff offensive of 1918 created a new situation. It left many German soldiers in
lightly fortified positions, beyond the reach of supply
lines. Hunger and demoralization over the failures of
the offensive and the retreats that followed led to the
first major instances of desertion, feigned injury, and
mass surrender.201 Estimates run to about one million
German soldiers “who in the last months of the war
left their units without permission.”202 On top of it all,
a new, virulent and more deadly strain of Spanish
flu swept through the German Army, claiming one
in six.203 Immunities were weakened by hunger, and
the flu also spread through the civilian populations
at home.204
On September 29, Ludendorff abruptly announced to
the Kaiser and the civilian leadership that the war
was lost. Popular opinion swung incredibly rapidly.
Wartime censorship on news from the front had led
people to believe things were going well. The sudden
revelation that all was lost was a massive blow. The
popular mood quickly shifted toward demanding
immediate peace. The Kaiser moved quickly to grant
sweeping democratic changes in an attempt to get
lenient peace terms from the idealistic U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson. The liberal Prince Max von Baden
took over as Chancellor of Germany. Organized
labor was granted major concessions, including the
eight-hour workday. Promises were made to extend
suffrage and put the military firmly under the control
of the civilian authorities.
On October 28, the Chancellor introduced the first
major revision of the constitution since 1871. It made
the Chancellor and the Minister of War responsible
to the Reichstag (parliament); required the consent of the Reichstag for treaties, the declaration
of war, the conclusion of peace, and the dismissal
and appointment of officers; and ended the broadly
defined powers of the Kaiser. In sum, the constitution
gave the Reichstag control over military and foreign
affairs. This major reform was introduced under
duress, as a preemptive move to improve the chances that U.S. President Wilson would help Germany
conclude a more favorable peace.
Kaiser Wilhelm II refused to abdicate until General
Wilhelm Groener, the new Chief of Staff, gathered
thirty-nine of Germany’s most senior generals. A
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majority said they would not follow the Kaiser if he
tried to lead military forces in an attempt to restore
domestic order; half doubted soldiers would even be
willing to put down a communist uprising if it were
to occur. According to Groener, the most repeated
theme was, “The troops are fully exhausted at the
moment; only the ruins [of an army] are on hand.”
Groener told the Kaiser that the army would no longer follow him and on November 10, Wilhelm II was
on a train to exile in the Netherlands, ending 504
years of Hohenzollern rule.205
On October 22, Admiral Hipper prepared to launch
a suicidal sortie of the German fleet against the
much superior British fleet plus five American super
dreadnoughts (battleships) to save the “honor” of
the German Navy and thereby ensure its future funding. The sailors thought otherwise and rose up in
rebellion. Admiral Hipper sent the mutinous sailors
to the port at Kiel. From Kiel, the sailors started a
revolution, quickly seizing Hamburg and Bremen.
Councils of workers and soldiers were elected, and
in Bavaria, on November 7 (the first anniversary of
the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd), they
declared a socialist republic.206 On November 9,
Philip Scheidmann, one of the leaders of the German
Social Democratic Party, proclaimed a republic from
the balcony of the Reichstag. On the same day, Karl
Leibknecht, leader of the Communist Spartacus
League, proclaimed a proletarian republic in a different part of Berlin.
But, events then followed a course very different
from that of the Russian revolutions. The military
and civilian leadership came to an agreement with
the more moderate Social Democratic Party leader
Friedrich Ebert. Ebert was proclaimed Chancellor on
November 10 and became head of a new “provisional
government” of a democratic republic. In return,
he agreed not to fire the old elites in the officer
corps, civil service, and judiciary; agreed to restore
domestic order; and agreed to fight the revolutionary movement. The first act of the new government
was to accept the armistice agreement as dictated
by the Allies. The Armistice took effect on November
11, 1918, at 11:00 am. The war that nearly everyone
had assumed would last a few weeks had ground
on for 226 weeks. Europe, the undisputed center of
the world in 1913, was left in ruins, and the wake
of destruction and transformation spread out to
change the entire world.
Section II Summary:
The Course of the War
The Imbalance of Population
and Economic Might
Although the Central Powers had the advantage
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of a good railway network that could rush forces
from one front to another, from the beginning
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GLOSSA RY
Alsace and Lorraine – These were two French provinces with mixed French and German-speaking populations that were annexed by Germany from France
at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War of
1870–71. The desire to recover the provinces proved
to be a major issue of contention between France and
Germany, and it may have been one of the reasons
for French General Joffre’s strategy at the beginning
of World War I, which focused on launching a major
offensive in the direction of the two provinces rather
than focusing on defending against the German invasion further to the northwest. The provinces were
awarded to France at the end of World War I.
ANZAC – This is an acronym for the Australia and
New Zealand Army Corps, active in the Gallipoli campaign and elsewhere.
Armistice – An armistice marks the end to hostilities, when both parties agree to stop fighting. The
armistice that ended World War I came into effect on
November 11, 1918, at 11:00 am, “the eleventh hour, of
the eleventh day, of the eleventh month.” Although
the armistice ended the fighting, it still left many
questions unanswered that would have to be negotiated during the following months.
Battle of the Frontiers – This was the first major
German attack of the war. The Germans concentrated their attacks on Belgian forts using “monster
guns” to breech the fortresses. Once the fortresses
fell, a series of engagements between the French and
the Germans began on August 14 and ended with the
beginning of the Battle of the Marne on September
6. This series of engagements, known as the Battle
of the Frontiers, involved over two million soldiers,
making it the largest battle in human history to that
date.
Battle of Gumbinnen – A Russian victory over
German forces in East Prussia on August 20, 1914,
this battle convinced German Commander in Chief
Moltke to dispatch two army corps, comprising
seven regular divisions (approximately 90,000 soldiers), from France to the Eastern Front to prevent a
rapid Russian march to Berlin. Some historians have
argued that by undermining the attacking forces, the
early Russian offensive thereby “saved France.”
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Battle of Jutland – The Battle of Jutland began when
the German Navy tried to draw the British Navy into
a trap of waiting U-boats and minefields, engaging
in a major battle in a place of German choosing. In
May 1916, 100,000 men in 250 ships engaged in a
seventy-two-hour battle. It was the largest direct
clash among surface vessels in modern history to
that date. The British suffered greater losses than
the Germans, but strategically the battle changed
little. Britain retained its naval supremacy, and the
German Navy returned to port.
Battle of the Somme – This British attack on German
positions resulted, in a single day, in casualties that
were among the worst in the history of warfare;
nearly one-fifth of the entire British force was killed
on the first day. One of the reasons for the failure of
the attack was the German embrace of a strategy of
“defense in depth,” which held the front lines thinly,
reducing the number of troops exposed to bombardment and possible capture in the event of a successful offensive. The Battle of the Somme is also unique
in that tanks were used for the first time, although
they were only marginally effective.
Battle of Tannenberg – The Battle of Tannenberg
(August 26–30, 1914) was the first of two great victories by the German Army against the invading
Russian armies in East Prussia (the second was the
battle of Masurian Lakes, September 9–14, 1914).
50,000 Russians were killed or wounded, and 100,000
taken prisoner in the battle, which stopped Russia
from advancing deep into German territory.
Battle of Verdun – At the end of 1915, both sides
concluded that the decisive battles would be on the
Western Front. The German commander decided to
lure French forces into the exposed salient at the
historic city of Verdun, and then bombard them
with deadly, massive artillery barrages. French commander Joffre did not think Verdun was strategically
important, but French Premier Briand insisted that
it was important to hold the city to keep the morale
of the population high. In all, the two sides shot 10
million artillery shells with 1.35 million tons of steel
at each other during the battle. In the end, all the
slaughter and expenditure of shells resulted in little
change on the map.
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August 21
The Germans begin withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line.
September 29
Bulgaria agrees to an armistice.
October 30
1918
Turkey concludes an armistice with the Allies.
The German fleet mutinies at Kiel.
November 3
Trieste falls to the Allies; Austria-Hungary concludes an armistice.
continued
November 9
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and flees to Holland the following day.
Germany negotiates an armistice with the Allies in Ferdinand
Foch’s railway carriage headquarters at Compiegne (in northern
France).
November 11
Armistice day; fighting ceases at 11 am.
January 5
1919
Communist revolt in Berlin
January 18
Start of peace negotiations in Paris
May 7–June 28
98
Treaty of Versailles drafted and signed
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