WWI Theses
Africa Thesis
French defeats in Africa (especially Fashoda) convinced the French to settle colonial
differences with Britain in order to gain them as near-allies against Germany. The
Entente Cordiale resulted in 1904. The later Moroccan Crisis of 1905 resulted in a major
diplomatic defeat for Germany. This defeat impressed the Russians who then also settled
their differences with Britain, thus creating an Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907. This final
piece of the Triple Entente was an anti-German coalition, but still not an alliance, though
it held firm in WWI.
Bosnia 1908 Thesis
The Russian stand-down in the face of a German ultimatum in 1908 over the Austrian
annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina caused all sides to restrict their choices in any future
conflicts over the region. This resulted in the inability of Austria, Russia or Germany to
find a way out of the Crisis of July 1914. Thus, Germany was compelled by its own
strategy to attack France through Belgium and thus bring Britain into the war.
Entangling Alliances Thesis
An American favorite, as it appealed to US preferences for isolationism, this theory said
that the interlocking alliance system of the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente forced all
of Europe to go to war if any two nations became engaged. So, when Austria and Russia
started to fight, the whole of Europe was dragged into the war.
The Fischer Thesis
The German historian Fischer wrote in the 1960s that German was, indeed, responsible
for starting WWI. The Blank Check and von Schlieffen Plan combined to make a
veritably premeditated war. Now, this was very similar to the case the Allies presented at
the Paris Peace Conference (Versailles Treaty) however, Fischer denied that it justified
the brutal peace terms of that treaty.
Britain’s Fault
This thesis blames the British for the war due to their vague declarations of intent. It is
argued that Germany would never have attacked France had Britain made it abundantly
clear she would intervene. As it was, Britain only said they would react strongly if
Belgium were attacked. To the Germans this was absurd and seemed to indicate that they
hardly cared what happened to France if the Brits would only focus on such a minor
country.
Austria’s Fault
Another all-time favorite thesis is to blame Austria-Hungary. The Austrians, ith Blank
Check in hand, simply went after Serbia in a shamelessly aggressive way without regard
to Russian threats. The Austrians foolishly assumed that Russia would back down, yet
again, in the face of a German threat. Wilhelm II tried vainly to get the Austrians to
compromise—mostly due to the Austrian’s constant reminders that Germany must back
Austria to the hilt. Germany then had no choice but to confront Russia, and then, when
that failed, to attack France through Belgium. Had Austria been reasonable, the whole
thing may have been averted.
Russia’s Fault
Russia is also often blamed for causing the war. The feeling here is that Austria had a
right to whack Serbia. Russia had no legitimate reason to intervene. So, when Russia
threatened Austria over an issue that really had no direct link to Russia it expanded the
concern of the war now to include Germany. The Germans could not allow a Russian
mobilization to occur without going to war with France. Germany really had no other
war plan than the Von Schlieffen Plan. So, when Russia refused to back down, mostly in
order to save a tottering Czar, Germany had no choice but to go to war. Russia really had
no business interfering in a Serbo-Austrian war and created a World War by their
intervention.
Tuchman Thesis
Barbara Tuchman (an American historian) wrote her famous book, The Guns of August
in the early 1960s. The thesis of this highly influential book is that poor communications
between the major powers led to miscalculations on the part of the decision-makers of
Europe. Also part of the thesis is that none f them wanted to go to war. However, they
were on short timetables dictated by their mobilization schedules and hadn’t the time to
make sure they fully understood each other’s intentions and to avoid war. In the end,
they issued futile ultimatums that were ignored, or not received in time to be useful. In
the end, all of Europe plunged into a war they all feared and did not want. They just
didn’t have the time and communications to avert the whole disaster.