What started WW 1?
The First World War is getting a lot of attention these days, just over a century after the fact. I see people arguing that Britain should not have fought in the War. Others re-litigate who started it, who could have ended it, etc.
World War 1 was a gigantic bungle, an awful carnival of carnage. It went on for four years and never really achieved anything for any of the combatants. It destroyed four empires (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, the Ottomans). It haunted a generation all over Europe. And the peace it created led directly to the rise of the Nazis twenty years later -- and to much of the tensions in the Middle East even to the present day.
But how did it actually start? The usual script goes, the nations of Europe just blundered into it. Interlocking, secret alliances triggered events nobody wanted. Wicked capitalist arms merchants encouraged it (this is a favorite fairy tale of the American left). Germany was assigned the official blame at the Versailles peace conference, which the Germans deeply resented. But can you disentangle it all now? Well, here's what I know.
The official trigger that began the rush to war was the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Slav nationalist, Gavrilo Prinzip, in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and wanted to punish her. In this, the Austrians were egged on by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, who had been swaggering about Europe causing trouble for several years. The Austrians were very worried about conflict with Russia, which saw itself as the protector of the Slavs. Germany told Austria she had her back and not to worry about the Russians. So Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum she knew Serbia would not accept as a pretext for declaring a punitive war -- and invaded Serbia. Russia, which had the largest army in Europe, immediately mobilized it.
At this point, Kaiser Bill realized he had a problem. His blustering had encouraged the Austrians to create this situation, but now he wanted them to back out of it, because he realized that it was not in Germany's interest to go to war with Russia. Yet telling the Austrians that the Germans had their back meant precisely that. I guess he didn't think the Russians would actually mobilize; but then, Kaiser Bill was a fool. That much I think everybody can agree upon.
The Austrians replied that they certainly couldn't call their troops back. Besides looking monumentally foolish if they could have done it, the troops were already on the move. So Germany had to stand up to Russia. At this point, the German General Staff comes into play.
For the German General Staff were obsessed with the problem of fighting a two-front war. So they had come up with the Schlieffen Plan, which called for attacking Russia first to knock them out of any war fast, before they could get their troops fully deployed, which would then allow the transfer of sufficient troops to the west to defeat France, Russia's ally. In order to get the jump on France without the full weight of their army available at first, they would have to go through neutral Belgium. All the train tables were organized in order to deliver the units assigned to each front where they needed to go. Once begun, the initial movement of troops could not be stopped until everybody was where they were assigned. The one thing the plan didn't consider was a ONE-FRONT war. So Germany couldn't bluff Russia in a diplomatic crisis without precipitating actual war on both fronts. So, faced with the Austrian demand that Germany back up its bluster, the Kaiser mobilized to face down Russia, which precipitated the invasion of France through Belgium.
The British would greatly have preferred to be neutral in all this, though they were very worried about the buildup of the Kaiser's navy, whose only real purpose could have been to challenge British control of the seas. They were allies of France, but hadn't given an ironclad promise to actually fight on her behalf. But they had also given a guarantee to Belgium to come to her aid if her neutrality was violated. Accordingly, the British government sent an ultimatum to Germany after the invasion of Belgium. The Germans ignored it (they weren't completely able to stop what they had started, for one thing), and so the UK declared war on the German Empire, and sent troops to the continent.
All these armies crashed into each other on various fronts and dug in. For most of the next four years, they bled each other dry and wrecked their own economies. The entry of the United States late in the war assured Allied victory. The US declared war on Germany because of their provocations, including unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic; this was a risk Germany was willing to make because if they didn't knock Great Britain out of the war soon, their own economy would collapse. Also late in the war, the German Reichstag passed a resolution calling for a negotiated peace; but by a peculiarity of the German Imperial Constitution, this had no influence on the Kaiser, who commanded the Army. Germany became a military dictatorship.
And the war ground on. Everyone involved in the war made horrendous mistakes. The weapons were far in advance of the tactics, as in the American Civil War. Nobody could figure out how to stop it. Most of the primary combatants had expended too much blood and treasure to simply give up. In the end, exhaustion and revolution ended it. The victors demanded their pound of flesh for all they had lost, the map was re-arranged in sometimes startling ways, and "peace" broke out. For a time.
The one common thread in all this is Germany. It was the German guarantee that made Austria bold to attack Serbia, which brought Russia in. It was the German Staff plan that called for declaring war on France and Russia simultaneously that sent the Germans through Belgium, which brought the British in. It was German desperation that provoked the US into finally coming in. It was the German Emperor and Army that ignored the Reichstag's late overture for peace. Germany didn't have the only government to make terrible mistakes and take actions they had cause later to regret, but at every step it was Germany which set the conditions to which other Powers had to react.
This doesn't mean that the conditions imposed upon Germany after the War were fair, they weren't. But the one thing that Germans most deeply resented -- blame for the whole mess -- was, I think, fairly assigned.
World War 1 was a gigantic bungle, an awful carnival of carnage. It went on for four years and never really achieved anything for any of the combatants. It destroyed four empires (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, the Ottomans). It haunted a generation all over Europe. And the peace it created led directly to the rise of the Nazis twenty years later -- and to much of the tensions in the Middle East even to the present day.
But how did it actually start? The usual script goes, the nations of Europe just blundered into it. Interlocking, secret alliances triggered events nobody wanted. Wicked capitalist arms merchants encouraged it (this is a favorite fairy tale of the American left). Germany was assigned the official blame at the Versailles peace conference, which the Germans deeply resented. But can you disentangle it all now? Well, here's what I know.
The official trigger that began the rush to war was the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Slav nationalist, Gavrilo Prinzip, in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and wanted to punish her. In this, the Austrians were egged on by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, who had been swaggering about Europe causing trouble for several years. The Austrians were very worried about conflict with Russia, which saw itself as the protector of the Slavs. Germany told Austria she had her back and not to worry about the Russians. So Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum she knew Serbia would not accept as a pretext for declaring a punitive war -- and invaded Serbia. Russia, which had the largest army in Europe, immediately mobilized it.
At this point, Kaiser Bill realized he had a problem. His blustering had encouraged the Austrians to create this situation, but now he wanted them to back out of it, because he realized that it was not in Germany's interest to go to war with Russia. Yet telling the Austrians that the Germans had their back meant precisely that. I guess he didn't think the Russians would actually mobilize; but then, Kaiser Bill was a fool. That much I think everybody can agree upon.
The Austrians replied that they certainly couldn't call their troops back. Besides looking monumentally foolish if they could have done it, the troops were already on the move. So Germany had to stand up to Russia. At this point, the German General Staff comes into play.
For the German General Staff were obsessed with the problem of fighting a two-front war. So they had come up with the Schlieffen Plan, which called for attacking Russia first to knock them out of any war fast, before they could get their troops fully deployed, which would then allow the transfer of sufficient troops to the west to defeat France, Russia's ally. In order to get the jump on France without the full weight of their army available at first, they would have to go through neutral Belgium. All the train tables were organized in order to deliver the units assigned to each front where they needed to go. Once begun, the initial movement of troops could not be stopped until everybody was where they were assigned. The one thing the plan didn't consider was a ONE-FRONT war. So Germany couldn't bluff Russia in a diplomatic crisis without precipitating actual war on both fronts. So, faced with the Austrian demand that Germany back up its bluster, the Kaiser mobilized to face down Russia, which precipitated the invasion of France through Belgium.
The British would greatly have preferred to be neutral in all this, though they were very worried about the buildup of the Kaiser's navy, whose only real purpose could have been to challenge British control of the seas. They were allies of France, but hadn't given an ironclad promise to actually fight on her behalf. But they had also given a guarantee to Belgium to come to her aid if her neutrality was violated. Accordingly, the British government sent an ultimatum to Germany after the invasion of Belgium. The Germans ignored it (they weren't completely able to stop what they had started, for one thing), and so the UK declared war on the German Empire, and sent troops to the continent.
All these armies crashed into each other on various fronts and dug in. For most of the next four years, they bled each other dry and wrecked their own economies. The entry of the United States late in the war assured Allied victory. The US declared war on Germany because of their provocations, including unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic; this was a risk Germany was willing to make because if they didn't knock Great Britain out of the war soon, their own economy would collapse. Also late in the war, the German Reichstag passed a resolution calling for a negotiated peace; but by a peculiarity of the German Imperial Constitution, this had no influence on the Kaiser, who commanded the Army. Germany became a military dictatorship.
And the war ground on. Everyone involved in the war made horrendous mistakes. The weapons were far in advance of the tactics, as in the American Civil War. Nobody could figure out how to stop it. Most of the primary combatants had expended too much blood and treasure to simply give up. In the end, exhaustion and revolution ended it. The victors demanded their pound of flesh for all they had lost, the map was re-arranged in sometimes startling ways, and "peace" broke out. For a time.
The one common thread in all this is Germany. It was the German guarantee that made Austria bold to attack Serbia, which brought Russia in. It was the German Staff plan that called for declaring war on France and Russia simultaneously that sent the Germans through Belgium, which brought the British in. It was German desperation that provoked the US into finally coming in. It was the German Emperor and Army that ignored the Reichstag's late overture for peace. Germany didn't have the only government to make terrible mistakes and take actions they had cause later to regret, but at every step it was Germany which set the conditions to which other Powers had to react.
This doesn't mean that the conditions imposed upon Germany after the War were fair, they weren't. But the one thing that Germans most deeply resented -- blame for the whole mess -- was, I think, fairly assigned.