1.

Militarism Source A
The German answer to all our talk abo
This is not just an arms race, but also a government's attitude of mind, limitation of armaments is: Germany s
seeing war as a valid means of foreign policy. (This often includes the increase to the utmost of her power...
influence of government by the generals.) I have lived among Germans, but wit
will in the world I can see no solution t
All the nations of Europe were militaristic, but the governments of present collision of ideals but war.
Germany and Austria-Hungary were especially so. A lecture given in 1913
JA Cramb was an Englishman who went
Germany, and who lo

All the countries of Europe built up their armies and navies. In 1914, Source B
their armed forces stood like this: The Naval 'War Cabinet' of 1912
General von Moltke [head of the army
• Germany: 2,200,000 soldiers, 97 warships believe war is unavoidable; war the soo
better. But we ought to do more to pre
• Austria-Hungary: 810,000 soldiers, 28 warships. prepare the popularity of a war against
The Kaiser supported this. Tirpitz [he
• Italy: 750,000 soldiers, 36 warships navy] said that the navy would prefer t
postponement of the great fight for one
• France: 1,125,000 soldiers, 62 warships half years.
From the Diary of Admiral Muller, 8 D
Some historians say that this proves that German
• Russia: 1,200,000 soldiers, 30 warships war in 1912, although others say that it rec
discussion of no grea
• Great Britain: 711,000 soldiers, 185 warships

As one country increased its armies, so all the others felt obliged to
increase their armed forces to keep the ‘balance of power’.

Germany and Britain clashed over the size of their navies -

in 1900 Kaiser Wilhelm began to build up the German navy (Tirpiz's

Navy Law), announcing that he wanted Germans to sail all over the
world and take for Germany 'a place in the sun'. After 1906, he began to
build numbers of the new, large 'Dreadnought' battleships, which were
more powerful than any other ship.

 Effects
o 1. The British developed the idea that Germany wanted
to challenge British sea power - the basis of Britain's
greatness (cf 'Britannia rules the waves').
o 2. A strong navy would also allow Germany to threaten
British colonies overseas.
o 3. Britain made an alliance with Japan in 1902, so as
 not to have to worry so much about the Pacific.
o 4. Britain also began to build Dreadnoughts. The
British government had planned to build four
Dreadnoughts in 1909, but when Germany refused to
limit the number of ships it was building, the British
public protested, demanding: 'We want eight and we
won't wait'. Britain and Germany thus had a naval
arms race.
o 5. By 1914, Britain had won this naval arms race and
the British navy was much larger than the German navy,
so it is arguable that this was NOT a major cause of
World War One.

Another thing that the countries of Europe did was to train all their young
men so that if there was a war they could call, not only on the standing
army, but on huge numbers of trained reservists. One historians has
estimated the total number of men (including reservists) that the countries
could thus call upon as:

• Germany: 8.5 million men

• Russia: 4.4 million

• France: 3.5 million

• Austria-Hungary: 3 million

It is important to realise that - although in 1914 the German army was the
biggest and best in the world - the Russian army was growing the fastest,
and German generals were worried that, in a few years time, they would
not be able to defeat Russia so easily (see Source E).

2. Alliances

As well as seeking protection in the size of their armies, the countries of

Europe sought protection by forming alliances.

At first, Bismarck had kept Germany friendly with Russia. Kaiser

Wilhelm overturned this, and concentrated instead on the Dual Alliance
of 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungary - which became the
Triple Alliance (or Central Powers Alliance) when Italy joined in 1882.


Alarmed by this strong central bloc:

a. France in 1894 made an alliance with Russia, and

b. In 1904 France made an agreement with Britain called the Entente

Cordiale (= ‘Friendly Relationship’ – not a formal alliance, but a
promise to work together).

c. In 1907, Britain made an entente with Russia, thus forming the

Triple Entente (France, Russia, Great Britain).

d. In 1902 Britain made a naval treaty with Japan.


The Triple Entente alarmed Germany, which felt itself surrounded by the
France-Russia alliance.

The countries of Europe thought that the alliance system would act as a
deterrent to war; in fact it tied the countries together so that, when one
country went to war, the others felt themselves obliged to follow.
In addition to these two major issues, historian have
identified three other underlying causes of the war:

3. Nationalism Source D

Land of Hope and Glory,

EVERYONE was nationalist in those days, and this helped
cause war in two ways: mother of the free...
a. It made the people of countries like Britain, Germany
God who made thee mighty,
and France more bellicose (warlike) – the British sang: ‘Rule
Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, and the Germans make thee mightier yet.
sang: ‘Deutschland uber alles’. French politicians like
The words of Land of Hope and Glory, written
Clemenceau and Poincare (who had been around in 1870) English composer Elgar and sung by British pe
HATED the Germans. People were enraged when someone Prom concerts every year.
insulted their country.
b. It made the races ruled by Turkey (such as the
Romanians and the Bulgarians) and by Austria-Hungary Germany, Germany above all,
(such as the Serbs) want to be free to rule themselves. In the over everything in the world,
Balkans this was called ‘Panslavism’ because the people who
When it steadfastly holds together,
wanted to be free were all Slav races. The most nationalistic
of all were the Serbs – Serbia had became an independent
country by the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, but in 1900 offensively and defensively.
many Serbs were still ruled by Turkey and Austria-
The words of the German national anthem,
Hungary, and Serbia was determined to rule over them all.
This led to rebellions and terrorism which destablised the Deutschland uber Alles.

Balkans.

4. Imperialism
Source E
Countries who believed that they were superior thought it
was alright to conquer and rule others – particularly if they
were inhabited by races they thought were inferior. This is
why countries like Britain, France, Belgium and Italy
thought it was OK to colonise vast areas of Africa in the 19th
century. In 1900, the British Empire covered a fifth of land-
area of the earth.
a. This led to clashes between imperialist powers. Britain
was trying to conquer Africa from Cairo (in the north) to
Cape Town (in South Africa). France was trying to conquer
Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. In 1898 their two
armies met, at Fashoda in the Sudan, almost causing a war.
This British postcard shows what would happe
b. Most of all, it led to HUGE tension when Kaiser Wilhelm Kaiser took the 'place in the sun' that he wante
of Germany decided that HE wanted some colonies too!

5. Awful governments Source F

A peaceable, industrious, sensible mass of 500

Not only were many of the governments of Europe [European people], was hounded by a few doz
autocracies (ruled by one man), many countries had stupid leaders, by falsified documents, lying stories o
and corrupt governments (click here to find out the shocking and chauvinistic catchwords, into a war which
facts). was destined or inevitable.
Note that very few of the countries of Europe were Emil Ludwig, July 1914 (1929)
democracies - it is hard for a democracy to go to war because
the people (not just an individual ruler or small group of
ministers) need to agree to go to war.

Remember also that in these days there was no idea of

going to war for the 'right' reasons - many people in those
days thought it was alright to go to war simply to win more
power and territory for the ruler.

In such a Europe, outbreak of war was less of an issue

than - say - the recent war in Iraq.