The Root Cause of World War One: Germany’s Jealousy and Arms Race

Who or what was to blame for World War One: Did two bullets lead to twenty million deaths When one talks about the World Wars Germany often springs to mind and it was supposedly the root cause for the First World War and even The Second World War, but was it the sole force of Germany alone or was some larger being behind this whole “setup” in which at least 20 million deaths. Let me set the scene for you and let us embark on a journey that will reach into the realm of horrific torture, an accidental assassination and the source o number of deaths equal to almost a third of the population living in the UK currently.

But before I show you these plans of evil. A new country is formed in 1871; it is a day to remember, as this country will be the fundamental reason for over 10 million deaths for the years to come. Germany is formed; Britain has built up an empire stretching from America to the edge of India. Germany, being born quite late is immensely jealous of Britain and builds up an army of 2 million foot soldiers. Now it aspires to have the greatest war-fleet in the whole of Europe. But it still will be no match for the British navy. So Germany forms an alliance.

Whilst the forming of alliances is materializing Germany and Britain are having a massive arms race triggered by the German’s building naval giants in factories around the whole country, many of these battleships include Dreadnoughts. Britain senses this as an immediate threat to her lands and starts building even more naval vessels. By 1914 Britain had 29 Dreadnoughts and Germany had 14. Meanwhile, France has been fighting with Prussia (German state) and lost Alsace-Lorraine, a wealthy town with a varied range of abundant resources, and wants revenge.

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France is also in league with Britain and later is thinking about using the sheer size of the British Navy to it’s own advantage. Austria-Hungary snatched lands in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 as a part of expanding their empire and becoming great again. However, in Russia the Tsar of Russia is becoming less and less popular with most of the population and was facing food cuts and terrible poverty. This forced Russia to think about taking lands in The Mediterranean and near the Black Sea, which was basically a large chunk out of the Ottoman Empire.

When in 1908 Austria-Hungary took control over Bosnia Herzegovina, which was a huge mistake. The population in Bosnia-Herzegovina were composed of Slavs and they wanted to be reunited with Serbia (another Slavic country) to get revenge on Austria-Hungary. This situation is exacerbated by Russia having, not only, a huge army; but also having a large influence in the Slavic countries. This connection with an unknown enemy would influence the war effort greatly and raise morale. In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over the former Turkish province of Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs.

Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilised its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilised its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. There was, however, war in the Balkans between 1911 and 1912 when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary then intervened and forced Serbia to give up some of its acquisitions. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was high.

The only method of beating a country in a war that is bigger and greater than you was to make an alliance with another country. This meant you could lead a joint attack with the combined number of legions of both countries. The two countries are united against the one. Such was the power of an alliance. The alliances formed in the World War One were the Triple Alliance (also known as The Central Powers) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia). The idea was that the two sides would cancel each other out and Europe would be at peace. These alliances created more tension between the major powers.

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy felt threatened and surrounded by the Triple Entente. Russia was worried about Austria’s intentions towards the Balkans. A massive arms race began between Germany and Britain, with each country competing to have the biggest army and navy in Europe. In addition to this there were two crisis’ over Morocco, at the Algeciras Conference in 1906 Germany was outnumbered and had to withdraw, because of: British, Italian, Russian and Spanish support for France taking control of Morocco’s police and banks.

Dreadnought called “The Panther” to try and force France in stopping their invasion. Britain disagreed and sent a whole squad of warships. In this situation Germany was forced to back-down to the sheer force of the British navy. The German’s hatred for the British grew and grew. This evidence proves that the alliances formed were not for peace and prosperity, but War and destruction. Britain and Germany were forced to build ships on the account of invasion or protection. But mainly security. This didn’t do Germany any good when Italy switched sides and became part of the Entente.

Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government. The growing European divide had led to an arms race between the main countries. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas. The British had introduced the 'Dreadnought', an effective battleship, in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit introducing their own battleships. The German, Von Schlieffen also drew up a plan of action that involved attacking France through Belgium if Russia made an attack on Germany.

The map below shows how the plan was to work. Germany would attack Belgium and defeat them within six weeks; this would gain them an access in France. Germany would then attack France from the Franco-German border and then send over 100,000 troops to outflank them, therefore occupying France. After this complicated manoeuvre was completed Germany would be free to attack Russia on its own. As you can see in this plan, Britain plays no part in this war. That was the main reason everything went wrong Russia mobilized its armies within six days and led an assault on Germany.

Belgium put up fierce resistance and everything was in shambles. But after all this tension was rising when did the war break out? Or more importantly how did war break out. If we look at the dates and figures (seen below) we will easily see that in over eight days a mass war breaks out between Europe and nearly every other continent. For a country to go to war it would have to consider many things, for example: the cost of war, the casualties and suspected death rates. Communications weren’t easy. There were no long distance calls and no e-mails. Not enough technology to start a ar in no less than ten days. No, it must have been planned. A breakthrough for all the tension arrived, the pin in the balloon breezed in. A murder. Of royalty. June 28 The Assassination in Sarajevo: of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, who is killed along with his wife, Archduchess Sophie. Details July 23 Austria-Hungary sends an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbian response is seen as unsatisfactory. Details July 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Russia mobilizes. The Great War begins. July 31 Germany enjoins Russia to stop mobilizing.

Russia says mobilization is against Austria-Hungary only. August 1 Germany declares war on Russia and mobilizes. Italy declares its neutrality. Germany and the Ottoman Empire sign a secret alliance treaty. August 2 Germany invades Luxembourg. Details August 3 Belgium refuses German ultimatum. Germany declares war on France. German troops enter Russia. August 4 Germany invades Belgium to outflank the French army. Britain protests the violation of Belgian neutrality, guaranteed by a treaty; German Chancellor replies that the treaty is just a chiffon de papier (a scrap of paper).

The United Kingdom declares war on Germany. August 5 Montenegro declares war on Austria-Hungary. The Ottoman Empire closes the Dardanelles. August 5–August 16 The Germans besiege and then capture the fortresses of Liege, Belgium. Details August 6 Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia. Serbia declares war on Germany. Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic a respected leader of the Austro-Hungarian Military Intelligence masterminded a plan to get rid of the Archduke (heir to the Austrian throne) Franz Ferdinand.

The colonel wanted a militaristic Austria, so he formed a terrorist group of low-lying peasants and trained them to be assassins. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on 28 June 1914, set in train a series of diplomatic events that led inexorably to the outbreak of war in Europe at the end of July 1914. Ferdinand - and his wife Sophie - were killed by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip while on a formal visit to Sarajevo.

Princip shot Ferdinand at point blank range while the latter was travelling in his car from a town hall reception; having earlier that day already survived one assassination attempt. The leaders of the world leapt for a chance to vie which each other, to gain power, land and money. World War One, unlike World War Two had a variety of reasons for bloodshed and massacre. Mainly the rising of tension and the exclusion of Germany in treaties and the colonization of Morocco and the Algeciras conference. Ultimately all the tension funnelled out into a World War.

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