Causes of The Great War

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Causes of The Great War

• isms gone awry

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• Nationalism
• Imperialism
• Militarism

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• In January 1871 German unification took place
  under the leadership of Chancellor Otto Von
  Bismarck and Kaiser William I.Europe was never
  the same again.

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• Secret alliances in Europe were made and
  changed, sides shifted, but in the end there were
  two major treaties.

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• By 1895, Europe was divided into two
  alliances The Dual Entente and the Triple
  Alliance

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• Britain prided herself on her policy of
  'Splendid Isolation'.This policy meant that she
  would only get involved with British Empire
  matters and didn't wish to tied up in any
  continental alliance

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• However, Britain became worried about losing
  control of the seas and foreign intervention in
  her colonies.

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• With the entrance of Britain the Dual Entente
  became the Triple Entente

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• There were other, smaller alliances too - such
  as Russia's pledge to protect Serbia, and
  Britain's agreement to defend Belgian neutrality.

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• Not to mention the fact that most of the
  heads of state of Europe were related. Queen
  Victoria of England had 9 children

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• Who married into almost every royal family in
  Europe.

Princess Victoria at the time of her wedding in
1858
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• Making the King of England, the Tsarina of
  Russia, and Kaiser Wilhelm all first cousins.

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• There were a number of 'minor' conflicts that
  helped to stir emotions in the years immediately
  preceding 1914.

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• The Russo-Japanese War in 1902 - the Japanese
  astonished the western powers by destroying the
  entire Russian fleet at the Battle of Tsushima.

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• Germany took note of the fallacy of the myth
  of Russian "invincibility".

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• A shaken Tsar, Nicholas II, was determined to
  restore Russian prestige and what better way to
  achieve this than through military conquest?

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• Strife in the Balkans was nothing new.  In
  1912 it continued with war between Italy and
  Turkey, over the latter's African possessions. 

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Peter of Serbia

•   Having concluded peace with the Italians,
  Turkey found itself engulfed in war with four
  small nations over the possession of Balkan
  territories Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria - and
  later Montenegro.

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• Later in the 1913, conflict erupted again in
  the Balkans, as Bulgaria, unsatisfied with its
  earlier spoils, fought with its recent allies in
  an attempt to control a greater part of Macedonia

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• Despite an end to the fighting in 1913,
  nothing had really been settled and tensions
  remained high. 

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• The numerous small nations that had found
  themselves under Turkish or Austro-Hungarian rule
  for many years stirred themselves in
  nationalistic fervor.

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• By 1914, trouble was not restricted to the
  smaller nations.  The Austro-Hungarian empire was
  affected by the Balkans and, under the ageing
  Emperor Franz Josef, was trying to control the
  opposed ethnic groups in the empire.

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• The assassination of Franz Ferdinand by the
  Serbian nationalist secret society, the Black
  Hand, provided the Austro-Hungarian government
  with the opportunity to stamp its authority over
  the region.

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• Russia, ally of the Slavs - and therefore of
  Serbia - had been struggling to hold back
  full-scale revolution ever since the Japanese
  military disaster of 1905. 

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• In 1914, the Tsars government saw war with
  Austria-Hungary as an opportunity to restore
  social order - which indeed it did, at least
  until the continuation of repeated Russian
  military setbacks,

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• Rasputin's intrigue at court

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Rasputin

• There lived a certain man in Russia long
  agoHe was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming
  glowMost people looked at him with terror and
  with fearBut to Moscow chicks he was such a
  lovely dearHe could preach the bible like a
  preacherFull of ecstacy and fireBut he also was
  the kind of teacherWomen would desireRA RA
  RASPUTINLover of the Russian queenThere was a
  cat that really was goneRA RA RASPUTINRussia's
  greatest love machineIt was a shame how he
  carried on

• He ruled the Russian land and never mind the
  CzarBut the kasachok he danced really
  wunderbarIn all affairs of state he was the man
  to pleaseBut he was real great when he had a
  girl to squeezeFor the queen he was no wheeler
  dealerThough she'd heard the things he'd
  doneShe believed he was a holy healerWho would
  heal her sonRA RA RASPUTINLover of the Russian
  queenThere was a cat that really was goneRA RA
  RASPUTINRussia's greatest love machineIt was a
  shame how he carried on

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• But when his drinking and lusting and his
  hungerfor power became known to more and more
  people,the demands to do something about this
  outrageousman became louder and louder."This
  man's just got to go!" declared his enemiesBut
  the ladies begged "Don't you try to do it,
  please"No doubt this Rasputin had lots of hidden
  charmsThough he was a brute they just fell into
  his armsThen one night some men of higher
  standingSet a trap, they're not to blame"Come
  to visit us" they kept demandingAnd he really
  came

• RA RA RASPUTINLover of the Russian
  queenThey put some poison into his wineRA RA
  RASPUTINRussia's greatest love machineHe drank
  it all and he said "I feel fine"RA RA
  RASPUTINLover of the Russian queenThey didn't
  quit, they wanted his headRA RA
  RASPUTINRussia's greatest love machineAnd so
  they shot him till he was dead(Spoken) Oh,
  those Russians...

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• and food shortages combined to bring about the
  long-threatened total revolution, which,
  encouraged by Germany, brought about Russia's
  withdrawal from the war in 1917.

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• Following her defeat by Prussia in the
  Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, together with the
  annexation by Germany of French territories,
  Alsace and Lorraine, the French government and
  military alike were united in thirsting for
  revenge.

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• Germany's military unsettlement arose as
  Kaiser Wilhelm II was finding himself largely
  frustrated in his desire to carve out a grand
  imperial role for Germany. 

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• He found that most of the good areas had been
  already snapped up by the other colonial powers.

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• Not that Wilhelm II was keen upon a grand
  war.  Rather, he failed to foresee the
  consequences of his military posturing

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• and his determination to construct both land
  and naval forces the equivalent - and better -
  than those of Britain and France.

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• What about the fact that Germany would have
  to fight a war on two fronts, if they fought
  France and her ally, Russia?

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• The Schlieffen Plan, had been crafted to deal
  with a two-front war scenario.  The plan, which
  very nearly succeeded, was to conquer France, to
  knock her out of the war, on a 'Western Front',
  within five weeks -

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• before, the Germans calculated, Russia could
  effectively mobilize for war on the 'Eastern
  Front' (which they estimated would take six
  weeks).

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• The German plan took no real account of
  Britain's entry into the war. 

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• The German government gave no credence to the
  possibility that Britain would uphold her ancient
  treaty to defend Belgian neutrality, instead of
  following her own self-interest and stay out of
  the fighting.

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• So, Austro-Hungarian determination to impose
  its will upon the Balkans

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• a German desire for greater power and
  international influence,

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• which sparked a naval arms race with Britain,
  who responded by building new and greater
  warships, the Dreadnought

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• a French desire for revenge against Germany
  following disastrous defeat in 1871

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• Russia's anxiety to restore some semblance of
  national prestige after almost a decade of civil
  strife and a battering at the hands of the
  Japanese military in 1905

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• these things were the causes of The Great War.