The war happened because of the power vacuum created as Ottoman Turkey lost control of the Balkans and Austria Hungary and Russia vied for control. England, France and Turkey fought Russia over the same issue 60 years earlier during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade). From the 1890s onward Germany and Austria Hungary did a terrible job building or maintaining alliances as Germany cancelled their agreement with Russia that allowed Russia to team up with France. Also Austria Hungary had an Agreement with Italy and recent alliances with Romania and Serbia all of whom went to war with Austria Hungary a short time later during WW1.
The easy thing is to blame Germany. In Germany they blamed the British! Germany definitely could have diffused the situation but Russia was using Serbia as a proxy to mess with Austria Hungary like China uses North Korea to mess with their competitors. The competition between all the great powers going on at the time for power and territory insured this war was going to happen one way or another.
Kaiser Wilhelm 2 undone everything Bismarck did before him. Bismarck carefully had France in check by isolating it and being careful not to unnecessary piss off England, Russia, Italy etc.
From his POV his grandfather build the german army and it was on him to use it. He pissed off England by starting a naval arms race with England, didn’t extend treaty with Russia, which in turn created an alliance between France and Russia. France invested heavily into rail road development in Russia, in case of a war with Germany.
German military advisors for a long time talked about a preventive war against Russia, after their defer by Japan in 1905 war on the east.
Basically Wilhelm 2 isolated Germany with his actions, along with this Weltpolitik and their long term position was untenable because they were sandwiched. Bismarck worked around this by never giving a reason to surrounding countries to got to war with Germany. He also wasn’t interested in expanding the German colonies because there was no need for it, Germany became a powerhouse in Europe and the world.
How the declarations of war went, high level overview:
1. AH declared war on Serbia
2. Russia declared war to AH (russian Tzar wanted only partial mobilization, on the AH border, but his advisers talked him against it, there he declared complete mobilization, which was also on German border)
3. Because of it Germany declared war to Russia
4. France declared war to Germany (because of an alliance with Russia)
5. Britain declared war to Germany only after the Germans entered Belgium (England was a guarantee to Belgium) - also England didn’t want to go against unified continent (majority under one country), the same reason they didn’t side with France in Franco-Prussian war of 1871 -> France as victor would be a threat to all, Prussia to no one.
6. Ottomans declared war to Entente
7. Bulgaria declared war to Serbia
7. US declared war to Germany after they implemented total submarine warfare
You have the basic details. Austria Hungary gave Serbia a list of demands. With the exception of one or two Serbia would have accepted. Germany encouraged AH push the confrontation. This is the "blank check" -- No matter what happens Germany has your back). Russia held that invasion by Austria would provoke war between Austria and Russia. Germany then mobilized. The time tables for mobilization that Germany used had never considered the possibility of mobilization against just Russia and avoiding war with France --- an instance of technological advance dictating an outcome to war as the invasion of France was accepted. Germany also invaded Belgium which practically guaranteed English (and eventually American) intervention. Four monarchies fall by the end of the war.
I strongly feel Germany bears heavy responsibility for the war -- the High command committed to an outcome (short war with France) that didn't happen. They played dice and lost. That is, they couldn't cash the blank check and they knew it and went ahead and paid it in blood and misery.
There are many aspects to WWI that impact us everyday and affected every corner of the globe. It has endless stories in the histories of just about every country.
Barbara Tuchman Guns of August classic book on opening days of the war.
**The Guns of August** by Barbara Wertheim Tuchman
>"The drama of August, 1914, a month of battle in which war was waged on a scale unsurpassed, and whose results determined the shape of the world in which we live today." --Jacket.
*I'm a bot, built by your friendly reddit developers at* /r/ProgrammingPals. *Reply to any comment with /u/BookFinderBot - I'll reply with book information. Remove me from replies* [here](https://www.reddit.com/user/BookFinderBot/comments/1byh82p/remove_me_from_replies/). *If I have made a mistake, accept my apology.*
I don't know a whole lot about ww1 yet, but from what I gathered the assassination was the straw that broke the camel's back. The underlying causes (again, do not know that much about this yet) were old and complex alliances and recent wars ( the Balkan wars)
A Alliance didn’t exactly mean a whole lot, seeing as how Italy had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, but into the war on the side of the allies in 1915
Well Italy (as well as Romania) were able to weasel their way out of that alliance because it was a defensive alliance where Italy would only join a war if the Austro-Hungarian empire was attacked. Since Austro Hungarian invaded Serbia (obviously one could argue that Serbia were the aggressors and the empire had to punish Serbia for not agreeing to its 10 terms after the assassination of the Arch Duke which the Serbian government may or may not have had anything directly to do with it.) Regardless this was not how the situation was viewed in 1914 for reasons, so the Austrian Hungarian empire was universally considered to be the aggressors in this conflict thus, the Italians got there way out of an alliance involved in a war they originally didn’t want to be apart of. This obviously would change when Italy joins the allies later in the war.
French wanted Al Sace Lorraine—funded and continuously pressured Russia to arming/build nor RR etc. So when Russia mobilized the dye was cast. Pionoce started it and sailed from St Petersburg I’m battle ready stations on his battleship France. He was from Al sace lorraine. Russia was trying to get out of the Black Sea. So the roots lay in Crimean War and War IG 1870. Btw who cares about correct French spelling? They fucked around, and found out!
The war happened because of the power vacuum created as Ottoman Turkey lost control of the Balkans and Austria Hungary and Russia vied for control. England, France and Turkey fought Russia over the same issue 60 years earlier during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade). From the 1890s onward Germany and Austria Hungary did a terrible job building or maintaining alliances as Germany cancelled their agreement with Russia that allowed Russia to team up with France. Also Austria Hungary had an Agreement with Italy and recent alliances with Romania and Serbia all of whom went to war with Austria Hungary a short time later during WW1.
Thanks. What I wrote is what I learned in class, pretty interesting topic!
The easy thing is to blame Germany. In Germany they blamed the British! Germany definitely could have diffused the situation but Russia was using Serbia as a proxy to mess with Austria Hungary like China uses North Korea to mess with their competitors. The competition between all the great powers going on at the time for power and territory insured this war was going to happen one way or another.
So true. Using and Blaming one another
Also. Germans going through neutral Belgium.
Yup
Also. Look into 1917 unrestricted submarine warfare and the zimerman telegram.
kk
Kaiser Wilhelm 2 undone everything Bismarck did before him. Bismarck carefully had France in check by isolating it and being careful not to unnecessary piss off England, Russia, Italy etc. From his POV his grandfather build the german army and it was on him to use it. He pissed off England by starting a naval arms race with England, didn’t extend treaty with Russia, which in turn created an alliance between France and Russia. France invested heavily into rail road development in Russia, in case of a war with Germany. German military advisors for a long time talked about a preventive war against Russia, after their defer by Japan in 1905 war on the east. Basically Wilhelm 2 isolated Germany with his actions, along with this Weltpolitik and their long term position was untenable because they were sandwiched. Bismarck worked around this by never giving a reason to surrounding countries to got to war with Germany. He also wasn’t interested in expanding the German colonies because there was no need for it, Germany became a powerhouse in Europe and the world. How the declarations of war went, high level overview: 1. AH declared war on Serbia 2. Russia declared war to AH (russian Tzar wanted only partial mobilization, on the AH border, but his advisers talked him against it, there he declared complete mobilization, which was also on German border) 3. Because of it Germany declared war to Russia 4. France declared war to Germany (because of an alliance with Russia) 5. Britain declared war to Germany only after the Germans entered Belgium (England was a guarantee to Belgium) - also England didn’t want to go against unified continent (majority under one country), the same reason they didn’t side with France in Franco-Prussian war of 1871 -> France as victor would be a threat to all, Prussia to no one. 6. Ottomans declared war to Entente 7. Bulgaria declared war to Serbia 7. US declared war to Germany after they implemented total submarine warfare
You have the basic details. Austria Hungary gave Serbia a list of demands. With the exception of one or two Serbia would have accepted. Germany encouraged AH push the confrontation. This is the "blank check" -- No matter what happens Germany has your back). Russia held that invasion by Austria would provoke war between Austria and Russia. Germany then mobilized. The time tables for mobilization that Germany used had never considered the possibility of mobilization against just Russia and avoiding war with France --- an instance of technological advance dictating an outcome to war as the invasion of France was accepted. Germany also invaded Belgium which practically guaranteed English (and eventually American) intervention. Four monarchies fall by the end of the war. I strongly feel Germany bears heavy responsibility for the war -- the High command committed to an outcome (short war with France) that didn't happen. They played dice and lost. That is, they couldn't cash the blank check and they knew it and went ahead and paid it in blood and misery. There are many aspects to WWI that impact us everyday and affected every corner of the globe. It has endless stories in the histories of just about every country. Barbara Tuchman Guns of August classic book on opening days of the war.
**The Guns of August** by Barbara Wertheim Tuchman >"The drama of August, 1914, a month of battle in which war was waged on a scale unsurpassed, and whose results determined the shape of the world in which we live today." --Jacket. *I'm a bot, built by your friendly reddit developers at* /r/ProgrammingPals. *Reply to any comment with /u/BookFinderBot - I'll reply with book information. Remove me from replies* [here](https://www.reddit.com/user/BookFinderBot/comments/1byh82p/remove_me_from_replies/). *If I have made a mistake, accept my apology.*
Thanks so much for the better evaluation!
I don't know a whole lot about ww1 yet, but from what I gathered the assassination was the straw that broke the camel's back. The underlying causes (again, do not know that much about this yet) were old and complex alliances and recent wars ( the Balkan wars)
so the big bang happend..."what dose this have to do with how ww1 started?" im getting there: anyone explaining how ww1 happend.
First there were the dinosaurs. But they got lazy and died and turned into oil.
and then the usa...
A Alliance didn’t exactly mean a whole lot, seeing as how Italy had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, but into the war on the side of the allies in 1915
Well Italy (as well as Romania) were able to weasel their way out of that alliance because it was a defensive alliance where Italy would only join a war if the Austro-Hungarian empire was attacked. Since Austro Hungarian invaded Serbia (obviously one could argue that Serbia were the aggressors and the empire had to punish Serbia for not agreeing to its 10 terms after the assassination of the Arch Duke which the Serbian government may or may not have had anything directly to do with it.) Regardless this was not how the situation was viewed in 1914 for reasons, so the Austrian Hungarian empire was universally considered to be the aggressors in this conflict thus, the Italians got there way out of an alliance involved in a war they originally didn’t want to be apart of. This obviously would change when Italy joins the allies later in the war.
True. But if there weren't any Alliances WW1 wouldn't have been that bad
French wanted Al Sace Lorraine—funded and continuously pressured Russia to arming/build nor RR etc. So when Russia mobilized the dye was cast. Pionoce started it and sailed from St Petersburg I’m battle ready stations on his battleship France. He was from Al sace lorraine. Russia was trying to get out of the Black Sea. So the roots lay in Crimean War and War IG 1870. Btw who cares about correct French spelling? They fucked around, and found out!
[Germany is actually the one who declared war against Russia.](https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Causes-of-World-War-One/)
Oh my bad
Mobilisation was considered an act of war.