Europe at War in 1914

Europe at War in 1914

Introduction

The events that triggered the First World War began with an unlucky

mistake. The First World War, which lasted from 1914 to 1918 known at

the time as 'The Great War'. It involved more countries than any

previous war. It introduced new technology into warfare, and caused

destruction on an unequalled scale. It was 'total war', involving the

mobilization, not just of vast armies, but of whole nations.

The human cost of the war- in terms of damaged minds and bodies, and

ruined lives- was beyond calculation. In some ways, mankind has never

recovered from the horrors of the First World War. Countries which got

involved were Britain, Germans, Russia, France, Italy and

Austria-Hungary.

Alliance System

This was a form of military agreement made to protect fellow allies

from any invasion. From the 1870s onwards, the powers formed alliances

for greater security. This caused fear in some countries and hence two

alliance systems were formed. Triple Alliance was made up of Germany,

Italy and Austria-Hungary. While Triple Entente was made up of the

Britain, France and Russia. The importance of this international web

of military as thought by some European powers was that it made

limited war very unlikely. When two great powers, went to war, the

alliances had a domino effect, dragging others into the conflict.

Hence this made the major war inevitable thus leading to a long term

cause of the First World War.

Arms Race

It would be argued that another reason for the war starting was the

Arms Race. The German emperor Wilhelm II had a dream of being an

imperial ruler. He set his sights on havi...

... middle of paper ...

...tion attempt. This was the

spark that caused war to be declared.

Alliance System Kicked Into Action

Conclusion

Although Germany may have forced the hand of the European powers in

the summer 1914, she didn't 'cause' the war. However during 1920s the

Germans published all their official documents to prove that they

weren't the ones who caused the war. After studying, some historians

(revisionists) agreed that Germany did not start the war. One of the

historians suggested that four other general factors had worked

together to create a tense situation in Europe, in which war was bound

to break out sooner or later. The causes he identified were:

nationalism (the fanatical support of ones own nation); militarism (an

arms race); imperialism (empire-building); and the system of alliances

between the great powers.