Causes of World War One
Long-term causes: Alliances
• October 1879 – Germany and AustriaHungary made an alliance to protect
themselves from Russia
• ‘Should one of the two Empires be attacked by
Russia the parties are bound to come to the
assistance one of the other with the whole war
strength of their Empires, and accordingly only to
conclude peace together and upon mutual
agreement.’
Alliances – Bismarck’s Motives
• ‘I want to put a gulf between her [Austria]
and the western powers’ [Bismarck to
Saburov]
• Keep France isolated
• Frighten Russia
• Led to 1881 alliance
Alliances
• 1872 (formalised in 1881/82) – Dreikaiserbund
involving Germany, Austria, and Russia:
– Bismarck's aim for forming this League was to isolate
France by making friends with Austria and Russia.
– The partners were Kaiser William I of Germany, Czar
Alexander II of Russia and Emperor Francis Joseph
of Austria.
– These three rulers agreed:
• (i) to maintain the existing territorial arrangements in Europe
• (ii) to resist the spread of revolutionary (e.g. socialist)
movements
• (iii) to consult one another if any international difficulties
arose.
Alliances – Bismarck’s Motives
• Alarmed by Gladstone’s attitude to Russia
• To prevent Austro-Russian conflict in the
Balkans
• Allowed Austria to annex Bosnia if needed
• Secured cooperation against Turkey
• Isolated France
The Bosnian Crisis
• The Treaty of Berlin (1878) allowed A-H to
occupy and administer the Turkish
provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 1881- A-H secretly agreed with Germany
and Russia to permanently keep the
provinces
• 1903 – A-H agreed with Russia to keep
them for the next 5 years
Alliances
• 1882 – Triple Alliance of Germany, AustriaHungary, and Italy
– Maintain monarchy & social order
– If Italy attacked by France, G & A-H would aid
her and vice-versa
– Mutual aid if attacked
– Benevolent neutrality if needed
– Mutual military cooperation
– 5 years
Alliances – Bismarck’s Motives
• To provide for help in the event of FrancoRussian attack on Germany or Austria
• Italian neutrality of Germany and Austria
attacked Russia
• Drew Italy into Bismarck’s system
Alliances
• Dreikaiserbund under strain by 1887
– Russia did not wanted to renew agreement
with Austria
– Russia willing to give Germany free hand in
west
– Russia wanted free hand in east
– Incompatible with Dual Alliance of 1879
Triple Alliance Resources 1914
Germany: Population - 65,000,000
Soldiers – 8,500,000
Battleships – 37
Foreign Trade - £1,030,380,000
Steel Production -17,024,000 tons
Triple Alliance Resources 1914
Austria-Hungary: Population - 49,882,231
Soldiers – 3,000,000
Battleships – 16
Foreign Trade - £198,712,000
Steel Production - 2,642,000 tons
Triple Alliance in 1914
• What about Italy???
When Germany and Austria-Hungary found
themselves at war in August 1914 with the
rival Triple Entente of Britain, France, and the
latter's ally, Russia, Italy pledged its support to
the Central Powers, but subsequently entered
the conflict on the side of the Entente against
Austria-Hungary in May 1915 and Germany in
August 1916.
Alliances
• England and Germany?
– Germany offered alliance in 1875
– May 1876 Disraeli refuses Berlin
Memorandum, which attempted to resolve the
Balkan Crisis.
Alliances
• 1887 Reinsurance Treaty:
– an attempt by Bismarck to continue to ally with Russia after the
League of the Three Emperors broke down.
– Bismarck felt that this was essential to continue the diplomatic
isolation of France so ensuring German security.
– The failure of this treaty is seen as one of the factors contributing
to World War I, due to Germany's increasing sense of diplomatic
isolation.
– The secret treaty was split in two parts:
• Germany and Russia both agreed to observe neutrality should the
other be involved in a war with the third. Neutrality would not apply
should Germany attack France or Russia attack Austria-Hungary.
• In the most secret completion protocol Germany declared herself
neutral in the event of a Russian intervention in the Bosporus and
the Dardanelles.
Alliances
• 1894 - Franco-Russian alliance:
– was a military alliance between the French Third
Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892
to 1917.
– The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France
and undermined the supremacy of the German
Empire in Europe.
– The secret Reinsurance Treaty with Russia was
allowed to expire in 1890, despite Russian requests
to renew it.
– The Franco-Russian alliance was drafted August
17th, 1892, and it became final on January 4, 1894.
Alliances
• 1904 – Entente Cordiale:
– is a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904
between the United Kingdom and France.
– Convinced that they had British support, the French
became ever more belligerent in their attitude towards
the Germans, fully demonstrated in the Morrocan
crises of 1905 and 1911
– Concerned by possible encirclement, the Germans
grew ever more alienated
– An arrangement that had been intended to improve
Britain's standing in the world merely added to the
tensions within Europe, and became just another
milestone on the road to the Great War.
Alliances
• The Entente Cordiale:
– The first and most important document was the
Declaration respecting Egypt and Morocco.
– In return for the French promising not to “obstruct”
British actions in Egypt, the British promised to allow
the French to “preserve order … and provide
assistance” in Morocco.
– Free passage through the Suez Canal was
guaranteed, and the erection of fortifications on part
of the Moroccan coast forbidden.
– The treaty contained a secret annex dealing with the
possibility of “changed circumstances” in the
administration of either of the two countries.
• The Entente Cordiale:
– The second document dealt with Newfoundland and
portions of West and Central Africa.
– The French gave up their rights (stemming from the
Treaty of Utrecht) over the western coast of
Newfoundland, although they retained the right to fish
the coast.
– The British gave the French the town of Yarbutenda
(near the modern border between Senegal and The
Gambia) and the Iles de Los (part of modern Guinea).
• The Entente Cordiale:
– The final declaration concerned Siam (Thailand),
Madagascar and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu).
– In Siam, the British sphere of influence was limited to
the basin of the River Menam (the Chao Phraya).
– The British withdrew their objection to the French
introducing a tariff in Madagascar.
– Both parties agreed to come to an agreement which
would “put an end to the difficulties arising from the
lack of jurisdiction over the natives of the New
Hebrides”.
Alliances
• 1907 – Anglo-Russian Entente
– It defined their respective spheres of interest
in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet.
– Its primary aim was to check German
expansion into the area.
The Anglo-Russian Entente along with the
Entente Cordiale (1904) and the FrancoRussian Alliance (1892) formed the Triple
Entente between the UK, France and Russia.
Alliances
• 1907 - Triple Entente:
– Though not a military alliance, the alignment
of the three powers, supplemented by various
agreements with Japan, the United States
and Spain, constituted a powerful
counterweight to the "Triple Alliance" of
Imperial Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
Causes of World War One
• Scramble for Africa:
– France: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, French West
Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Madagascar
– Britain: Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa,
Sierra Leone, Nigeria
– Belgium: Democratic Congo
– Germany: Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda, Namibia
– Italy: Libya, Eritrea, Somaliland
– Portugal: Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau,
– Spain: Spanish (Western) Sahara, Spanish Morocco,
Equatorial Guinea
– Free State: Liberia (founded as a colony for freed
U.S. slaves)
Scramble for Africa
• Started Anglo-German tension since
German acquisitions in Africa and the
Pacific threatened to impinge upon British
strategic and commercial interests
• Part of Bismarck's strategy was to allow
France to pursue its own colonial interests
without German fetters. In order to direct
attention away from European continental
matters?
Causes of World War One
• The First Moroccan Crisis of 1905:
– Two periods of international tension in 1905 and 1911
following German objections to French expansion in
Morocco.
– Their wider purpose was to break up the AngloFrench entente of 1904, but both crises served to
reinforce the entente and isolate Germany.
– The Algeciras Conference was called to settle the
dispute, lasting from January 16 to April 7, 1906. Of
the thirteen nations present the German
representatives found their only supporter was
Austria-Hungary.
– France had firm support from Britain, Russia, Italy,
Spain, and the United States.
Causes of World War One
• The Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911:
– Sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat
Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1,
1911.
– The British believed that the Germans wanted to turn
Agadir into a naval base on the Atlantic.
– German action was an attempt to seek compensation
for the French control of North Africa.
– Situation resolved when Germany ‘allowed’ France to
maintain control of N. Africa in return for territory in
the French Equatorial African colony of Middle Congo
– British backing of France added to the Anglo-German
estrangement
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
...one bullet pierced Franz Ferdinand's neck while the other
pierced Sophie's abdomen.....As the car was reversing
(to go back to the Governor's residence because the
entourage thought the Imperial couple were unhurt) a
thin streak of blood shot from the Archduke's mouth onto
Count Harrach's right cheek (he was standing on the
car's running board). Harrach drew out a handkerchief to
still the gushing blood. The Duchess, seeing this, called:
"For Heaven's sake! What happened to you?" and sank
from her seat, her face falling between her husband's
knees. Harrach and Potoriek...thought she had
fainted...only her husband seemed to have an instinct for
what was happening.
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Turning to his wife despite the bullet in his neck, Franz
Ferdinand pleaded: " Sopherl! Sopherl! Sterbe nicht!
Bleibe am Leben fur unsere Kinder! - Sophie dear! Don't
die! Stay alive for our children!" Having said this,he
seemed to sag down himself. His plumed hat...fell off;
many of its green feathers were found all over the car
floor. Count Harrach seized the Archduke by the uniform
collar to hold him up. He asked "Is Your Imperial
Highness suffering very badly?" "Es ist nichts - It is
nothing" said the Archduke in a weak but audible voice.
He seemed to be losing consciousness, but, his voice
growing steadily weaker, he repeated the phrase
perhaps six or seven times more. A rattle began to issue
from his throat, which subsided as the car drew in front
of the Konak (Town Hall).
Causes of World War One
• Germany’s desire for world power
• Evidence?
– Pursuit of colonies
– Expansion of trade
– Naval development
– Claims that it was being encircled and
deprived of its rightful place in world affairs
Causes of World War One
• Germany’s support for Austria-Hungary
• Evidence?
– Germany’s encouragement of a firm line
against Serbia
– Promises to support Austria-Hungary in the
event of war
Causes of World War One
• The alliance system that had developed
pre-1914
• Original treaties had been defensive and
primarily concerned with colonial affairs,
but later military negotiations and
international crises made them into firm
commitments that essentially made the
Balkan conflict into a European war and
then a ‘World War’.
Causes of World War One
• Widespread ignorance of what war would
be like – no major European war since
1871 meant that war was generally
romanticised by authors
• The arms race – new and powerful
weapons were developed in large
numbers, with the intended purpose of
using these weapons
Causes of World War One
• The nationalism of the great powers
• Evidence?
– Organisations like the Pan-German league
and Navy League pressing for power
– The popular press and general enthusiasm for
national prestige in all countries
Causes of World War One
• Slighted Great Power nationalism
– Examples:
• Russia had been affronted by the Bosnian affair
• Germany was aggrieved by the Moroccan Crises
of 1905 and 1911
• Germany was convinced it should not be shortchanged again, and this set the stage for a showdown
Causes of World War One
• Nationalism of different nationalities within
Austria-Hungary:
– Threatened the stability of Habsburg Empire
– A-H leaders squashed any potential treats to
their power
– Attempted to unify the people against a
common enemy and give prestige to the
Empire
Causes of World War One
• Imperial conflicts of the Great Powers
– These lead to frustration and encouraged the
view that a show-down was necessary
• Mobilisation plans of the generals
– These were seen as essential to success in
the war when it came