3.1 The Great War

The Great War

For a century, profound strains had been pushing Europe toward war. Its population tripled, its middle and working classes swelled, and discontent with industrial society grew.

World War I (“The Great War”) toppled empires, created new nations, and sparked tensions that would explode across future years. On the battlefield, gruesome modern weaponry wrecked an entire generation of young men. The United States entered the conflict in 1917 and was never again the same. The war heralded to the world the United States’ potential as a global military power, and, domestically, it advanced but then beat back American progressivism by unleashing vicious waves of repression. The war simultaneously stoked national pride and fueled disenchantments that burst Progressive Era hopes for the modern world. And it laid the groundwork for a global depression, a second world war, and an entire history of national, religious, and cultural conflict around the globe.

Prelude to War

As the German empire rose in power and influence at the end of the nineteenth century, skilled diplomats maneuvered this disruption of traditional powers and influences into several decades of European peace. In Germany, however, a new ambitious monarch would overshadow years of tactful diplomacy. Wilhelm II rose to the German throne in 1888. He admired the British Empire of his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and envied the Royal Navy of Great Britain so much that he attempted to build a rival German navy and plant colonies around the globe. The British viewed the prospect of a German navy as a strategic threat, but, jealous of what he perceived as a lack of prestige in the world, Wilhelm II pressed Germany’s case for access to colonies and symbols of status suitable for a world power. Wilhelm’s maneuvers and Germany’s rise spawned a new system of alliances as rival nations warily watched Germany’s expansion.

In 1892, German posturing worried the leaders of Russia and France and prompted a defensive alliance to counter the existing triple threat between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Britain’s Queen Victoria remained unassociated with the alliances until a series of diplomatic crises and an emerging German naval threat led to British agreements with Tsar Nicholas II and French President Émile Loubet in the early twentieth century. (The alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia became known as the Triple Entente.)

European Alliances

Along with the discontent amongst Europeans, nationalism, militarism and aggressive imperialism surged. Led by Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany former offensive alliance evolved into an alliance with two other nations eager for empire – the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The established imperial powers of Great Britain and France looked to contain Germany by supporting its long-standing foe, Russia. By the summer of 1914, Europe bristled with weapons, troops, and armor-plated navies. All of these war machines were also linked to one another through a web of diplomatic alliances – all of them committed to war should someone or some nation set chaos in motion. In addition to Germany, and its long-time ally Austria – Hungary, the Ottoman Empire was also hungry for empire.

The other great threat to European peace was the Ottoman Empire, in Turkey. While the leaders of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire showed little interest in colonies elsewhere, Turkish lands on its southern border appealed to their strategic goals. However, Austrian-Hungarian expansion in Europe worried Tsar Nicholas II, who saw Russia as both the historic guarantor of the Slavic nations in the Balkans and the competitor for territories governed by the Ottoman Empire.

By 1914, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire had control of Bosnia and Herzegovina and viewed Slavic Serbia, a nation protected by Russia, as its next challenge. On June 28, 1914, after Serbian Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Austrian-Hungarian heirs to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Grand Duchess Sophie, vengeful nationalist leaders believed the time had arrived to eliminate the rebellious ethnic Serbian threat.¹

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

In the streets of Sarajevo, the provincial capital of Bosnia in southwest Austria-Hungary, Gavrilo Princip gunned down the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, at the end of a state visit.

The young assassin who carried out the deed belonged to the Black Hand, a terrorist group that had vowed to reunite Bosnia with Serbia in a powerful Slavic nation on Austria-Hungary’s southern border. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination. They issued an ultimatum demanding that they be allowed to supervise the investigation of the assassination, which would violate Serbia’s tenuous independence. Serbia, confident in the protection of Russia, refused. Austria-Hungary then mobilized their forces to punish Serbia. In response, Russia called up its 6-million-man army to help the Serbs. Germany responded by defending their ally, Austria-Hungary. On July 28th, after of month of demands, Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia.

The Germans reasoned that Russia would not be able to mobilize its military quickly due to its size, the lack of advanced industrialization in Russia, and the vastness of the distance the army would have to travel, so Germany was confident in its superiority when it responded by declaring war on Russia and her ally, France, at the beginning of August. Following a battle plan that had been in place for some time, called the Schlieffen Plan, German generals pounded neutral Belgium with siege cannons as five German columns sliced west through the Belgian countryside, determined to swiftly overrun France. On August 4, 1914, outraged by the attack on a neutral country, Great Britain declared war on Germany, joining its allies of France and Russia.

Allies

The guns of August heralded the first true global war. Like so many dominoes, the industrialized nations fell into line: Great Britain, Japan, Romania, and later Italy, sided with the “Allies” France and Russia. In cases like Great Britain, this was to honor treaties and agreements made prior to the war to support each other militarily in the face of hostile aggression. Great Britain and France had an agreement to support each other, so while Great Britain did not have an agreement or treaty with Russia and was suspicious of Russian motivations, they honored their diplomatic agreement with France and became an ally. Others, like Italy, will join the Allied cause through treaties made after the conflict began that promised rewards such as colonies around the world.

The Central Powers

The core of the Central Powers was the agreement of alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary. Even though Germany thought Austria-Hungary was being rash at the beginning of the conflict, as revealed in the communications between the cousins, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Germany was secure in its military superiority. Germany and Austria-Hungary were joined by the fading Ottoman Empire (Turkey), as well as Bulgaria.

Armies fought from the deserts of North Africa to the plains of Flanders. Fleets battled off the coasts of Chile and Sumatra. Soldiers came from as far away as Australia and India. Nearly 8 million never returned home. The outbreak of war in Europe shocked most Americans. Few knew Serbia as anything but a tiny point on a world map. Fewer still were prepared to go to war in its defense.

Notes

1. David Stevenson, The First World War and International Politics (London: Oxford University Press, 1988); David Stevenson, Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy (New York: Basic Books, 2004).