The Causes of World War I in a Nut Shell

The causes of World War I are varied. In this post, we will examine the five leading causes of the war: alliances, nationalism, militarism, regional conflicts and assassination.

Alliances

In 1878, the major European powers met in Germany to discuss territorial disputes. The Congress of Berlin assigned regions to different empires. Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example, was given to Austria-Hungary.

It soon became clear that there were problems with this arrangement. The powers could not incur new territory without risking war with another country. Russia, especially, felt slighted. In response, nations established alliances in the hopes of balancing power. The alliances changed over time as well as over the course of the conflict.

The major alliances were:

• Dual Alliance (1879): An agreement between Austria-Hungary and Germany to protect themselves from war with Russia.
• The Triple Alliance (1882): Between Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy over territory in the Balkans.
• Franco-Russian Alliance (1891): Changed and modified over time, the alliance was never satisfied either France or Russia. It was intended to counter-balance the Triple Alliance.
• The Entente Cordiale (1904): An alliance between Great Britain and France, meant to balance any alliance Germany made with its allies.
• Anglo-Russian Entente (1907): Between Great Britain and Russia, it settled territorial claims in Asia.
• Triple Entente (1907): Between Britain, France and Russia, the Allies when war began seven years later.

Nationalism

Nationalism is defined as “patriotism” and “the spirit of a country.” It also is defined as “asserting that your country’s interests are separate from the interests of others.” This second definition led to the belief that there is no greater, or more honorable death, than to die for one’s country.

In the pre-World War I years, nationalism took two forms: the desire to establish homelands independent of the major powers, and the desire for dominance and prestige.

Prior to the war, many ethnic groups were under the control of the great European powers. These groups included people living in:

• Poland
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Slovakia
• Czech Republic
• Slovenia
• Croatia
• All of Africa as well as parts of the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas

Many of these groups were involved in militant and anarchist activities with the goal of establishing independent nations ruled by their people. This caused many smaller conflicts in the years leading up to the Great War.

While ethnic groups were seeking independence, the great empires were determined to strengthen their power.  The great powers of the day were:

• The British Empire
• France
• The Russian Empire
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• The Ottoman Empire

Many politicians as well as newspapers contended war was a natural way of preserving power. Once war did erupt, the majority of people in the combatant nations viewed participation as their patriotic duty, that their nation’s cause was just and that the enemy was the aggressor. This belief would eventually contribute to the deaths of approximately 16 million people between 1914 and 1918, 60 million during World War II and countless millions during the conflicts which took place between 1919 and 1939.

Militarism

Militarism is defined as maintaining a large military and being prepared to use it to defend a nation’s interests. In the early 20th century, this arms race led to disaster.

The years prior to the war saw a surge in industrialization. Manufacturing output grew, buildings were electrified, municipal water works were constructed, and railroad networks crossed Europe. New inventions and scientific discoveries increased the human lifespan and led to a population explosion starting in the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1900, 25 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion people lived in Europe. This population contributed to both the workforce and the military.

Along with discoveries that improved lives came inventions that took them. Killing machines invented or improved between 1875 to 1920 include:

• Machine guns
• Artillery guns
• Airplanes
• Dreadnoughts, the first modern warship
• Submarines
• High explosives
• Smokeless propellants replace gunpowder
• Rapid fire rifles
• Tanks

By August 1914, the major European powers had been preparing for war for years. Nations competed to see which could build the largest navy. New military technologies also meant armies had to be reequipped.

Conscription went into effect in many nations, requiring men to spend a compulsory amount of time in military service.

Regional Conflicts

Several smaller conflicts tested the alliances and set the stage for the great conflict that would erupt in 1914. They include:

• Russo-Japanese War (1904): Russia and Japan go to war over Korea and Manchuria. Russia is ultimately defeated.
• Italo-Turkish War (1911): Italy hopes to expand its territory and occupies Benghazi and Tripoli in northern Africa and the Dodecanese and Rhodes in Europe. In 1912, the Treaty of Lausanne gives Cyrenaica and Tripoli to Italy.
• Moroccan Crisis (1911): Germany sends a gunboat to a Moroccan port in French territory. Germany believed all nations should have equal access to the port and asserted this belief five years earlier. The crisis was resolved in late 1911.
• The Balkan Wars (1912, 1913): Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia formed the Balkan League which attacked and defeated the Ottoman Empire. The following year, unable to agree over Salonika, Bulgaria and Greece went to war. Bulgaria was defeated.

Assassination

The causes of World War I would congregate in one event: The assassination of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand by 19-year-old Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

On June 28, 1914, Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were visiting Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, an Austrian-Hungarian province. In 1914, nearly half of Austria-Hungary’s population was neither Austrian or Hungarian. The visit coincided with the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, an event which took place in 1389 and was responsible for Serbia losing its independence to the Ottomans.

Government authorities had been targeted in the province for weeks. Ferdinand received death threats, but ignored them. Cancelling would have been a sign of weakness, the Austrian-Hungarian government thought.

Not long after arriving in Sarajevo, the royal couple drove to city hall in a motorcade. En route, a would-be assassin threw a bomb at the car. It bounced off and injured several bystanders.  The assassin, part of a group of Serbian nationals, tried to escape but was arrested. His co-conspirators dispersed in the crowd.

One of the injured was a policeman. Ferdinand decided to visit him in the hospital, but his driver got lost and tried turning around in front of a deli. Princip exited the deli and, seizing the opportunity to finish what his fellow anarchist started, drew his pistol, firing three times. Ferdinand was shot in the neck and Sophie in the abdomen. Both died quickly.

The duke’s last words were reported to be, “Sophie, Sophie, don’t die! Stay alive for our children!”

Princip tried to commit suicide, but bystanders stopped him and he was arrested.

Some in Austria-Hungary had long yearned for war with Serbia, and this event gave them the excuse. The government sought the opinion of its ally, Germany. Under Germany’s encouragement, an ultimatum was sent to Serbia on July 23. Among other things, it demanded involvement in the investigation of the assassination and the suppression of anti-Austria-Hungary groups. The Serbian government was given 48 hours to respond. Serbia accepted some of the demands, which wasn’t enough for Austria-Hungary.

British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey is attributed as saying, “The lights are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

The lights went out July 28. The alliances the European powers had established sealed their doom and like one domino hitting the next, war was declared.

• July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
• August 1: Germany declares war on Russia.
• August 3: Germany declares war on France, invades Belgium.
• August 4: Britain declares war on Germany.
• August 5: Montenegro declares war on Austria-Hungary.
• August 6: Serbia declares war on Germany, Austria-Hungary on Russia.
• August 9: Montenegro declares war on Germany.
• August 11: France declares war on Austria-Hungary.
• August 22: Austria-Hungary declares war on Belgium.
• August 23: Japan declares war on Germany, becoming the second non-European nation to do so after Liberia on August 4.
• August 25: Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary.

Nations were convinced the conflict would end quickly. Kaiser Wilhelm promised his troops they would be home before the autumn leaves changed color. The war that followed would envelop most of the nations on the globe and would be the greatest the world had ever seen up until that point.