reasons why ww1 was pointless reasons why ww1 was pointless

The latter was tied by treaty to its fellow believers in the one true faith, Orthodox Russia and thus it entered the war. Imperial rivalry and the consequences of the search for imperial security or for imperial expansion had important consequences for the origins of World War I. The collapse of the empire amid war and defeat in 1918 impressed itself upon the retrospective view of the Habsburg lands, overshadowing the scene with auguries of imminent and ineluctable decline. [70] Russia, having become highly indebted to France in order to finance its own industrial development, rounds out the major powers of the Triple Entente at the outset of the conflict. In battle they were considerably closer to the action than generals are today. The story of July 1914 is saturated in agency; Europes leaders were not driven over the brink by vast, impersonal forces. The French protectorate over Morocco was established officially in 1912. The Near East, 1903-9 -- v.6. The most important alliances in Europe required participants to agree to collective defence if they were attacked. Sidney B. Fay, "The Origins of the World War" (2nd ed. The Lusitania. Huge artillery pieces fired with pinpoint accuracy - using only aerial photos and maths they could score a hit on the first shot. v. i The end of British isolationv.2. They were natural rivals, destined to clash. The Agadir Crisis resulted from the deployment of a substantial force of French troops into the interior of Morocco in April 1911. They look at such factors as political, territorial and economic competition; militarism, a complex web of alliances and alignments; imperialism, the growth of nationalism; and the power vacuum created by the decline of the Ottoman Empire. [81] William Mulligen argues that Anglo-German antagonism was also about a clash of two political cultures as well as more traditional geopolitical and military concerns. The last years of peacev.11. More significant, June 28 marked the 525th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, when the Ottomans crushed a Serbian uprising. The interventionists sought to use the Triple Entente to contain German expansion. However, the interventionists were joined by the two leading Radicals, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Clark states it was "not that antagonism toward Germany caused its isolation, but rather that the new system itself channeled and intensified hostility towards the German Empire."[66]. They also downplay the impact of Weltpolitik and the Anglo-German naval race, which ended in 1911. Poisonous gas filled a quarter of all the artillery shells fired on the western front in 1918. World War I Timeline: 1914, The War Begins. Moltke hoped that if a European war broke out, it would be resolved swiftly, but he also conceded that it might drag on for years, wreaking immeasurable ruin. Many countries had made alliances with one other. Naturally, some generals were not up to the job, but others were brilliant, such as Arthur Currie, a middle-class Canadian failed insurance broker and property developer. "[25] The impact of the Triple Entente was therefore twofold by improving British relations with France and its ally, Russia, and showing the importance to Britain of good relations with Germany. Historians have cautioned that taken together, the preceding crises should not be seen as an argument that a European war was inevitable in 1914. 10. Four years later, steel-helmeted combat teams dashed forward protected by a curtain of artillery shells. I am sure that one hundred years ago many really did think that they had a duty to King and Country and following that was right in itself and thus had a point. German mobilization plans assumed a two-front war against France and Russia and had the bulk of the German army massed against France and taking the offensive in the west, and a smaller force holding East Prussia. Russian Growth. In Britain in 1913, there was intense internal debate about new ships because of the growing influence of John Fisher's ideas and increasing financial constraints. The first thing is to feel grateful that we didn't live through such an appalling catastrophe and a waste of human life. There's a few positive things that happened as a result of World War 1: Greater respect for women and women entered the workforce . War came upon them like a thunderclap.. Thus, he argues that colonies were pursued mainly as a sign of German power and prestige, rather than for profit, which could be got through trade alone. 79-80, Hamilton, Richard F., and Holger H. Herwig. Slowly a chain of events unfolded and we had World War One. Although it was inevitable, the horrific loss of life was pointless. "The sooner the better. Professor David Stevenson explains how the war came to an end, and why Germany accepted the harsh terms of the armistice. The Balkan Wars in 19121913 increased international tension between Russia and Austria-Hungary. This website will always remain free but if you enjoy its varied and controversial comment feel free to assist Caprivi's decision was also driven by the belief that the Reinsurance Treaty was no longer needed to ensure Russian neutrality if France attacked Germany, and the treaty would even preclude an offensive against France. However, seeing the Austro-Hungarian military preparations, the Montenegrins requested for the ultimatum to be delayed, and they complied.[38]. However, this was recognised as important enough to the British that it was actively and strategically being managed through financing to share rail access, and through diplomacy not to share northern rail access to the Persian Gulf. If Franz Ferdinand had been assassinated in 1904 or even in 1911, Herrmann speculates, there might have been no war. The French in 1897 had 3.4 million reservists, Austria 2.6 million, and Russia 4.0 million. Diplomatic history demands much of the most determined reader, but Clarks prose is clear and laced with color. Cambridge University Press, 2004, p.76. Ultimately, the argument boils down to if changing the series of events leading up to WWI would have influenced the decisions to go to war. Prewar trade wars and financial rivalries never threatened to escalate into conflict. No war in history has been so long anticipated, so carefully prepared for and so thoroughly discussed, not only in the privy councils, but in the press of all nations. The original Franco-Russian alliance was formed to protect both France and Russia from a German attack. UK wartime Prime Minister Herbert Asquith lost a son, while future Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law lost two. It was woven deeply into the culture and identity of the Serbs. Tanks had gone from the drawing board to the battlefield in just two years, also changing war for ever. The Causes of the First World War Carmen There were quite a few causes of the first world war (WW1). Britain concluded agreements, limited to colonial affairs, with its two major colonial rivals: the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907. In trenches that stretched an unbroken 475 miles from the North Sea to the Swiss border, the Germans constructed walls using corpses, so that French troops who captured a trench hung canteens from protruding ankles. Hugo Stinnes, a leading German industrialist, advocated peaceful economic development and believed that Germany would be able to rule Europe by economic power and that war would be a disruptive force. British commanders had been trained to fight small colonial wars; now they were thrust into a massive industrial struggle unlike anything the British army had ever seen. Moreover, general narratives of the war regularly misstate that Russia was allied to Serbia. Most of the people concerned in the present conflict have neither racial antagonism nor economic interests as an excuse for enmity. WWI was avoidable because Germany could have not feared the future balance of power in Europe and . Decisions for war, 1914-1917. "[24] Despite the infamous 1908 interview in The Daily Telegraph, which implied that Kaiser Wilhelm wanted war, he came to be regarded as a guardian of peace. Vol. A Martian might have gazed down upon Europe in 1914 and seen a peaceful, prosperous continent with a shared culture. Given that . Mulligan, William. Some historians see Britain's alignment as principally a reaction to an assertive German foreign policy and the buildup of its navy from 1898 that led to the Anglo-German naval arms race. 52. The various national war plans had been perfected by 1914 but with Russia and Austria trailing in effectiveness. Gallipoli was fought by Australians and New Zealanders, 7. So too had Britain. ", Williamson Jr, Samuel R., and Ernest R. May. "[57], It is true that Austro-Hungarian politics in the decades before the war were increasingly dominated by the struggle for national rights among the empire's eleven official nationalities: Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Romanians, Ruthenians (Ukrainians), Poles, and Italians. This "long First World War" was certainly bloody, and we can and should argue about the destructive effects of nationalism for the history of Europe. "The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914", Vasquez, John A. A map showing World War One alliances. Germany had a Parliament and a powerful King (Kaiser) as did Britain. "[80] Since war was natural for some leaders, it was simply a question of timing and so it would be better to have a war when the circumstances were most propitious. All that blood spilled achieved nothing positive. Indeed, the search for a single main cause is not a helpful approach to history. David Herrmann goes further by arguing that the fear that "windows of opportunity for victorious wars" were closing, "the arms race did precipitate the First World War." [13] When Germany asked Russia the same thing later, Russia refused, which finally helped precipitate the war. In its middle years the conflict became a triple stalemate, at once military (neither side . However, academic work in the English-speaking world in the late 1920s and the 1930s blamed the participants more equally. Americans were only involved in The Great War for 19 months and compared with the other belligerents we didn't do much fighting. [73] In Britain, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, had been informed by the Governor of the Bank of England that business and financial interests opposed British intervention in the war. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire lagged considerably behind Britain, France, and Germany in their industrial development, and all three of the latter had made footholds exporting their own capital in the territories of the former (Germany financed and developed oil fields in Romania and the railroad under construction from Istanbul to Baghdad; Egypt, though nominally Ottoman territory, had been under British military control since 1882 to secure British and French interests in the Suez Canal). In any case, Germany never came close to catching up with Britain. Versailles was not harsh but was portrayed as such by Hitler, who sought to create a tidal wave of anti-Versailles sentiment on which he could then ride into power. The killing spread to civilians in England and France attacked by German zeppelins. Every European soldier knew where his uniform and rifle were stored; he also thought he knew as well where he was to fight, with whom he was to fight and when. That changed in the last 18 to 24 months before the outbreak of the war. WW1 was thought to be a quick battle with hardly any resistance offered to the Germans. On 28 July, Germany learned through its spy network that Russia had implemented partial mobilisation and its "Period Preparatory to War." German realignment to Austria-Hungary and Russian realignment to France, 18871892, British alignment towards France and Russia, 18981907: The Triple Entente, First Moroccan Crisis, 190506: Strengthening the Entente, Bosnian Crisis, 1908: Worsening relations of Russia and Serbia with Austria-Hungary, Italo-Turkish War: Isolation of the Ottomans, 19111912, Balkan Wars, 191213: Growth of Serbian and Russian power, Franco-Russian Alliance changes to Balkan inception scenario, 19111913, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian irredentists, 28 June 1914, Impact of colonial rivalry and aggression on Europe in 1914. Emperor Franz Josef was 84 and so the assassination of his heir, so soon before he was likely to hand over the crown, was seen as a direct challenge to the empire. But once again many endeavour to rewrite history and pretend that World War One was not utterly pointless. Was there ever any threat of either before 1914? The Absence of Grand Strategy in British War Planning before 1914", Bresciani, Marco. However, in 1890, Bismarck fell from power, and the treaty was allowed to lapse in favor of the Dual Alliance (1879) between Germany and Austria-Hungary. The game was not worth the candle. Six Causes of World War I. The French also lost more men than the Australians. If they were lucky they would avoid a big offensive, and much of the time conditions might be better than at home. But many scholars argue that a confluence of factors had been creating the conditions for conflict in Europe for decades prior. The Bosch did the same. Du Bois, the black writer and activist, said it was the competition over resource-rich colonies in Africa. [93], One of the aims of the First Hague Conference of 1899, held at the suggestion of Tsar Nicholas II, was to discuss disarmament. Every year, the plans were updated and expanded in terms of complexity. World War I, the pointless war. The short-term cause was the fact that Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. [citation needed]. While Russia eagerly pursued colonisation in East Asia by seizing control of Manchuria, it had little gain in wealth; the Manchurian population was never sufficiently integrated into the Russian economy, and efforts to make Manchuria a captive trade market did not end Russia's trade deficit with China. The annexation caused widespread resentment in France, giving rise to the desire for revenge that was known as revanchism. Women could not vore in either country until 1918. Moreover, whoever lost the war would pay an indemnity and therefore have to cede some of its interests to the victor, whether in the form of the loser's directly controlled colonies or in their financial interests in nominally independent states. Russian Revolution, also called Russian Revolution of 1917, two revolutions in 1917, the first of which, in February (March, New Style), overthrew the imperial government and the second of which, in October (November), placed the Bolsheviks in power. As the British Foreign Office official Eyre Crowe minuted: "The fundamental fact of course is that the Entente is not an alliance. [15], France eventually recovered from its defeat, paid its war indemnity, and rebuilt its military strength. His account of the assassinations is vivid and moving, and one winces at the ramshackle security procedures that put the archduke and his consort in harms way. Governments would mobilise bankers and financiers to serve their interests, rather than the reverse. Hamilton suggested that imperial ambitions may have been driven by groupthink - because every other country was doing it, policymakers would think that their country should do the same. He regarded colonial ambitions as a waste of money but simultaneously recommended them to other nations. Equally, the French insisted that the Russians should not use the alliance to provoke Austria-Hungary or Germany in the Balkans and that France did not recognize in the Balkans a vital strategic interest for France or Russia. Scholars looking at the long term seek to explain why two rival sets of powers (the German Empire and Austria-Hungary against the Russian Empire, France, the British Empire and later the United States) came into conflict by 1915. Most visited the front lines every day. Clark further argues that senior military officials favored continental intervention so as to head off Irish independence. Review Of The 2022/23 Winter In England ( norra lot of climate change) -, Heroic campaigner #ArronBanks defeats crazy cat lady #CaroleCadwalldr on appeal - time for the old bag to hand back her Orwell prize, Told y'all! Under blue skies in Sarajevo . Acknowledgement of workers rights . Germany? The Origins of the First World War. Thus, diplomatic overtures conducted after the mobilizations had begun were ignored. Hitler moved to Munich, Germany, in May 1913. Rightly we remember the brave men of both sides who gave their lives for their country. It directly killed nine million combatants and seven million civilians. It demanded for Serbia to evacuate from Albania within eight days. M-A-I-N. However, the banks were largely excluded from the nation's foreign affairs. [71], Hamilton somewhat criticized the view that the war was launched to secure colonies, but agreed that imperialism may have been on the mind of key decision makers. In early 1915, Germany introduced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic. Fifty years before WW1 broke out, southern China was torn apart by an even bloodier conflict. In the summer of 1916 the British launched the largest battle of the war on the Western Front, against German lines. (That empire lasted into the 1970s.) The continent was almost fully divided up by the imperial powers, with only Liberia and Ethiopia still independent. Furthermore, it contributed to the spread and severity of epidemics that killed an additional 100 million people. Poisonous gas filled a quarter of all the artillery shells fired on the western front in 1918. It would take a second, even more destructive war to do away with the German threat. Austria-Hungary, although not a combatant, was weakened, as a much-enlarged Kingdom of Serbia pushed for union of all South Slavs. Caprivi's strategy appeared to work when, during the outbreak of the Bosnian crisis of 1908, Germany successfully demanded that Russia step back and demobilize. In the UK around six million men were mobilised, and of those just over 700,000 were killed. ", Clark concluded, "In the minds of many statesmen, the hope for a short war and the fear of a long one seemed to have cancelled each other out, holding at bay a fuller appreciation of the risks."[103]. [100] Although Russia enjoyed a booming economy, growing population, and large armed forces, its strategic position was threatened by an expanding Ottoman military trained by German experts that was using the latest technology. After a century of history showing how the war has . Then, Europe imploded. (According to Clark, the hypertrophic forms of masculinity then prevalent favored unyielding forcefulness over suppleness.) They were not pushed; Clark dismisses the myth that European men leapt at the opportunity to defeat a hated enemy. And some knew the risks of continental, industrialized conflict; British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith feared Armageddon, while others foresaw the extinction of civilization..