World War I: The Causes

The immediate cause of World War One was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, but the reasons leading to World War One dated as far back as the 1800's.

The rise of nationalism

Europe managed to avoid many wars until nationalism spread throughout the continent. Nationalism is the belief that loyalty to one's nation and its economic and political goals comes before any other public loyalty. Nationalism was the main reason for the blow up of many small issues into major disputes. Italy and Germany rose to become great powers, due to nationalism, while Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Turkey and Russia suffered. Nationalism brought along with it education about independence, which was eagerly sought by the smaller colonies of the latter empires. Rivalry for the control of the Balkans also added to the tensions leading to World War One. Serbia, supported by Russia, tried to unite all the Slavs in the region, while Austria-Hungary feared an uprising of its many Slav citizens, due to Serbia's efforts.

The build-up of military might

Just before World War One started, military power was on the rise for many Europeans, and speeded up by the public support due to nationalism. By the late 1800s, Germany had developed the best-trained army in the world, and by 1898, they had developed a navy strong enough to challenge the world's strongest navy at that time, that of Great Britain. Advances in technology were at an alarming pace, and each country was forced to develop stronger and more efficient weapons and artillery to challenge those of the other countries.

Competition for colonies

The spirit of nationalism was also manifest in economic conflict. The Industrial Revolution, which took place in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, followed in France in the early 19th century, and then in Germany after 1870, caused an immense increase in the manufactures of each country and a consequent need for foreign markets. Nearly all of Asia and Africa were turned into colonies of countries in Europe in the late 18th Century and early 19th Century. Industrial development in Europe sped up the process of colonization which in turn would provide the Europeans with more ports and markets to sell and manufacture their goods and raw materials. Several times between 1898 and 1914 the economic rivalry in Africa between France and Great Britain, and between Germany on one side and France and Great Britain on the other, almost precipitated a European war.

Military alliances

Before World War One broke out, many different European countries tried to discourage attacks by other countries by ensuring military support through agreements with other countries. This system brought along with it certain dangers. A country with military allies could be tempted into taking risks and attacking another country or area that it normally would not without the help of the third party country ally. On the other hand, an ally may be forced to join in a war or battle about a topic that it had no interest in. Furthermore, if the war or battle topic was kept a secret, the country providing the military support would not be able to judge the consequences of its actions.

-Triple Alliance : In 1879, Austria-Hungary was made an ally of Germany and each country agreed to go to war if either country was attacked by Russia. The alliance became known as the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882, and they also agreed to go to war in the event that either country was attacked. Austria-Hungary and Russia were to remain neutral if any of them went to war with another country, while Russia and Austria-Hungary were persuaded to recognize each others zone of influence in the Balkans. Meanwhile, France and Russia agreed to send in troops to help each other should any of the members of the Triple Alliance attack.

-Triple Entente : Great Britain began to feel the need for allies due to Germany's naval and military build-up and signed the Entente Cordiale with France, which led to joint military plans between the two countries. The Triple Entente was formed when Russia joined, but none of the countries agreed to go to war in the case of any of the other countries being attacked. The two main allied groups divided Europe into two opposing groups.

The War begins

The First and Second Balkan Wars were fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan states without interference from European countries. However, the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand on his trip to ease tensions in the Balkans threw Europe into a full fledged war. Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of the archduke, was linked with a Serbian terrorist group, gave Austria-Hungary the chance to crush Serbia, and take over their territory in the Balkans. Serbia accepted most of the huge list of demands from Austria-Hungary but the offer to settle other demands through an international order was rejected. War was declared by Austria-Hungary on Serbia on July 28th 1914, the same day the archduke was assassinated.

Great Britain tried to stop the war by suggesting that the dispute be solved in an international conference, but Germany refused, claiming that the matter only involved Serbia and Austria-Hungary. The German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, tried to prevent the war from spreading by encouraging his cousin, Czar Nicholas II of Russia, not to mobilize. After twice backing-down from helping Serbia, Russia vowed to stand by Serbia, by first gaining the support of France. Russia mobilized fully with effect from July 30th 1914, on its borders with Austria-Hungary and Germany. On August 1st 1914, Germany declared war on Russia as a result of Russia's mobilization. Two days later, they declared war on France and German troops flooding into central Belgium on the way to France caused Britain to declare war on Germany on August 4th.

The German army was held up only a short time by the Belgian army and soon drove French and British forces from southern Belgium. Instead of following their original plan to head to Paris, part of the German army continued to push the French army east towards the Marne River which exposed the German army to attack from behind. East of Paris, French forces prepared to fight in the battle which later became known as the First Battle of the Marne on September 6th 1914. 3 days later, the Germans were forced to withdraw. This battle ended Germany's hopes of defeating France quickly. Germany then fought a series of battles, the Race to the Sea, with the Allies forces, hoping to cut off the Allies supplies along the English Channel. The Allies succeeded in stopping the German troops in just one month. By mid-November, a deadlock had extended along the Western Front of the battleground. Neither party had gained much ground and this deadlock lasted nearly 42 months.

On the Eastern Front, Russia mobilized much faster than Germany expected. Before the Germans knew it, they were thrust back into the German territory or East Prussia. However, the Germans quickly recovered and surrounded one half of the split Russian army while chasing the other half out of their territory. Austria-Hungary had attacked Serbia thrice, and been defeated each time. Much of the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia had been captured by Russia, while the Austro-Hungarian army had been forced to retreat into its own territory.

Elsewhere, the Allies declared war on the Ottoman Empire after Turkish ships bombarded Russian ports. Britain had two victories and succeeded in keeping Germany's naval fleet in homewaters, forcing Germany to turn to its submarines for warfare. Japan declared war on Germany in late August 1914 and drove the German troops off several islands in the Pacific Ocean. Germany continued fighting in East Africa for two more years, even after most of its empire in Africa had fallen to British Forces.

By 1915, a system of trenches had been dug by each side, that lined the Western Front. Barbed wire lay across No Man's Land, while protecting the front-most trenches. The first trench behind No Man's Land was filled with artillery and firing equipment, and known as the firing trench. Beyond that lay the cover trench, support trench and finally the reserve trench. Soldiers serving at the front line were rotated with those in the other trenches each week, to give them enough time to rest and recover. The Germans came up with the idea of using poison gas to attack its enemies, but had little faith in its effectiveness and did not use the chance to launch a full-scale attack on the Allies. As a result, the Allied forces soon came to use the poison gas as a weapon, making gas masks a necessary part of every soldiers attire in the trenches.

Italy entered World War One, siding with the Allies. In a secret treaty, the Allied forces promised to give Italy part of Austria-Hungary's territory in return for fighting against Austria-Hungary. However, the Italian front suffered great losses and did not manage to help the Russians even when some of the Austro-Hungarian troops were forced away form the Eastern Front.

When the Ottoman Empire joined in the world war, they closed the sea route between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea to southern Russia. One of the straits, the Dardanelles, forming the sea route was attacked by French and British warships in an attempt to open a supply route to Russia. The attempt was halted by underwater mines. Troops from Australia and New Zealand helped the Allied forces land on the western shore of the Dardanelles, only to have the Allied forces pushed back out, suffering over 25 000 casualties.

In eastern Europe, Austria-Hungary invaded Russia in 1914 and pushed the Russians talian Front to the Eastern Front. In October 1915, Bulgaria entered the war to support Austria-Hungary in its attack against Serbia. They had succeeded by November, when the Serbian army was pushed back into Albania. Romania joined in the war in 1916, in hopes of gaining some of Austria-Hungary's lands, but instead lost most of its army and valuable wheat fields to Germany.

At sea, the British navy had succeeded in blockading German waters, forcing Germany to run short of supplies. German U-boats combated the British, and on May 7th 1915, a U-boat hit a British passenger ship, which led to the plea from Woodrow Wilson, the president of the United States of America, for Germany to stop the uncontrolled use of submarine warfare.

During the early stages of World War One, an aviation pilot faced the risk of shooting himself should one of his bullets ricochet off the blade of the propeller of the aeroplane. Later during the war, Germans invented a machine gun, programmed to shoot in between the blades of the propeller. This invention brought war in the air to new heights while aerial bombing did not develop until much after the war.