POLITICS AND WARFARE
The world wars and especially the First World War was one that took the world with a shock, it is was unprecedented. Never I the history of the world had there been so many nations forming allies and fighting each other in a bid to gain military strength and help protect national interests(Beckett 225). To say that the growing tensions that lead to the occurrence of this war had been foreseen as something that could lead to a potentially catastrophic world war would be tantamount to rhetoric, however, there were subtle cues and several instances that when keenly analyzed now clearly point to the war as something which was nothing less than inevitable. There were several causes of this war. However, this paper takes a perspective of the institutional causes of the first world war in analysis to David Fromkin’s book “Europe’s Last Summer”
The first aspect is militarism; this refers to a philosophical approach placing immense importance on the powers and strength of a military. The concept of military strength is one that cannot be ignored as an institutional factor, it played a major role in what helped channel nations to go to war during this period. Many nations were involved in the excessive rise in military expenses as well as quite a substantial increase in naval and army forces. This movement was characterized by an increased military control on the civilian government systems and making of policies with a growing use and preference for force as a mechanism of solving issues. In Germany for example, the military referred to itself as a “State within a State,” the parliament and all politicians became powerless and had to oblige to the General Staff’s say of everything. The governments of Europe showed militaristic tendencies, with each government seeing the military and war as it’s means for advancing their foreign policy, most of this was enabled by the influence of government thanks to the government generals. Germany and Austria-Hungary were seemingly the most militaristic nations in Europe at the time, having the highest number of soldiers and warships in comparison to Britain, France Germany Russia, and Italy. The race for arms and military strength sparked a domino effect or chain reaction of some kind in the other nations who also felt the need to increase their armed forces in a bid to maintain the power balance.
In the year between 1900 and 1914 the arms race war was quite intense and this lead to military rivalry among certain nations in Europe(Waever 493). A decrease in diplomatic relations within European countries only fueled the arms race by fanning the flame for military expansion. Tension increased as the British and Germans went to loggerheads do to the immense power of both. Being the biggest rivals at sea, Britain and Germany retaliated against each other with each one trying to build the biggest and strongest number of battle ships.
The effects of this arms race and naval power and rivalry led to the implications of an eminent war that was waiting to happen. German’s ruling at the time believed that it was only through war that they could become a super power. In addition, the increase in military control over the civilian government especially in Russia and Germany enhanced the cooperation between staff hailing from the same military camp. All powers had become involved and the world war was there to include everyone who had made the military plans “together.”
Soldiers and young men were trained to help buffer the fighting soldiers if need be. Germany has an estimated 8.5 million people trained the number so large nearly more than half the size of Russian soldiers who had the fastest growing army at the time, and this gave German militia sleepless nights.
The second aspect according to the book was alliances, the different alliances that formed greatly contributed to World War 1. The alliances formed involve great powers such as Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, and Russia. These alliances were meant to promote peace because the participants believed that if one country were to be attacked then they would immediately receive help from their friends. This form of relationship ended up creating a power balance against the two groups, which later began a war. However, these alliances didn’t result to any form of peace as it was expected instead it lead to intense enemity which fostered a favorable environment for war. The idea of alliances came from German’s chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, his main agenda however was to ensure that Germany stayed on top of its game during the war that would ensue between the two fonts. France was not at all pleased with this idea and she wanted to fight Germany especially because France was driven by the desire to revenge after it had lost its two provinces Alsace-Lorraine in 1871 to the Germans. However, Germany was not ready to support that and so in an attempt to isolate France, Bismarck sought to form alliances with Italy, Austria, Russia, and Britain. The alliances that formed included the league of the three emperors- this came into place when Bismarck made allies with Russia and Austria. An agreement was reached between the emperors of the three states Germany, Russia, and Austria. This agreement stated that, they were supposed to discuss on how to handle any form of international difficulty in case it arose, they were to resist any form of revolution in their different states, and they were also to ensure that any arrangement concerning territories in Europe was maintained. Bismarck felt that he was achieving his goal because he was finally slowly isolating France but in a diplomatic way. However this alliance was short-lived because of the quarrel that ensued between Austria and Russia. They both could not agree on who was to dominate the Balkans because each state wanted a part of the Peninsula. It therefore became a challenge for Bismarck to continue with this alliance.
The second alliance that was formed was the Dual Alliance of 1879.This alliance was formed between Austria-Hungary and Germany. There are various reasons that made the alliance with Austria-Hungary favorable for Germans. The first one is that since Germans were very attracted to the Danube valley in Austria they wanted it to be at their disposal so that they could enhance their trade and being allies with Austria-Hungary would ensure that. The second reason is that Germans didn’t want to be allies with a more powerful state than themselves and since Austria-Hungary was a less powerful state Germans could easily dominate them. Thirdly, Germans could now have control over the Peninsula of Balkan. The fourth reason is that Austria and Germans shared some racial ties, which was important for the Germans. The treaty in this alliance stated that the two states would remain neutral even in the event of an attack, each state would support its allies military in the event of an attack by Russia or any other state. Through this alliance, Germany acquired a strong military ally. In addition to this Austria-Hungary also benefited from this alliance because they were able receive aid from Germany following an attack from Russia’s Serbia.
The next alliance happened after two years of the termination of the dual alliance. This alliance was called the Triple alliance and in this alliance Italy was included. Italy went ahead to sign a treaty with Austria-Hungary and Germany. The provisions that were presented in this treaty was that the three states were supposed to offer help to each other in case of an attack from France, it was also meant to give any form of military aid when any of the states were at war. The treaty also stated that if any of the states were to start a war with another state the other two would remain neutral. This treaty was meant to ensure that Italy and Austria-Hungary will not fight over any of their territories. However, Italy didn’t honor her end of the bargain because it desired to acquire Tripoli with the help of the Germans. She secretly formed an alliance with France which was known as the Secret Franco-Italian Alliance. In this alliance, Italy and France promised not to act in the event that any of them was forced to declare war on another state. Italy went further to betray her trust in the triple alliance by signing an agreement with Russians promising not to interfere in any Russians attempt to control Straits. In return, Italy would acquire Russians support in acquiring Tripoli. In this case, we see that Italy was looking out for its own good and it was ready to partner with any state that supported its unity. That is why despite the great efforts put in place by Bismarck to use Italy to his advantage he was not successful since in the long run Italy chose to support France.
The other treaty was the Reinsurance treaty formed between Germany and Russia where each of them was to remain neutral. They each were to provide aid to each other except with the condition that if Russia was at war with Austria-Hungary Germany wouldn’t interfere and in turn if Germany was fighting with France, Russia wouldn’t interfere. Bismarck’s intention was partly achieved by this alliance where he was able to prevent a two-font attack by both France and Russia.
Even though these alliances in their own way aided Bismarck in his endeavor to isolate France, they fueled hatred and malice between states. Those who betrayed the states they had called ‘allies’ ended up causing disappointment as well as anger. It led to the division of this various institutions and it greatly contributed to the World War 1. Promises were broken and states chose their foes over their enemies the intense hatred that came with these actions ended up fueling the war.
The war was greatly fueled by nationalism and Nationalistic factors feelings. It would be a mistake to leave this aspect out of the list of causes. The increasingly mounting ego of the key countries right before the war started played a very big role in paving the way to what the world witnessed as its very first world war. Nationalism refers to the essence of viewing one’s nation as better than all other existing nations.
Nationalism has elements of pride and a sense of invincibility laced to it. The need to be considered as the most relevant and most powerful nation in the world was burning in the hearts of many .These and such like feelings are what caused nations to become extremely aggressive towards other nations and harsh measures were ensued if at any point a county got offended by another in one way or the other. So grave and preposterous were the actions of nations in their bid to prove relevance that they would stop at nothing to show their power and might to others whom they felt required to know that they were sovereign and autonomous.
Nationalism quickly bread arrogance in some nations and one instance that embodies this type of situation where people used fighting to show how superior they were was in the instance of Slavic nations that dreaded the rule of Germans on their people, this lead to the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was a German by ethnic rights. The Slavic people of Eastern Europe however, greatly impacted the outbreak of world war one as they advanced Pan-Slavism.- the belief that they deserved to have their own Nation. This form of Nationalism was strongest in Serbia, which was extremely opposed to the Austrian Empire’s influence over the region. This type of ethnic conflict greatly fueled feelings of war.
In southern Europe there was a more subtle type of nationalism as compared to Britain and Germany. Though it had very little to do with supremacy and military might, it had quite a motive on the rights for independence and autonomy of ethnic groups who demanded self-governance. The world was divided into large empires each belonging to an imperial power that governed specific spheres of influence, and there were millions of people from various races and religious affiliation yearning for emancipation from the imperial rulers in charge of them. For example in Russia nearly 80 different ethnic groups were forcefully made to speak the Russian language, as well as abandon their religious beliefs and ways of warship.
Germany had reached a state of pride and extreme might. Kaiser Wilhelm the second is quoted to have said they have reached the Sun and that all in their power was to be done in an effort to make the rays of prosperity shine down upon them. They had set out to conquer the seas and had done everything in their power to prove the might of their nation to the rest of the people. This included training several soldiers, increased naval power and not to mention their belief in a killer military strategy ( The Schlieffen Plan) that they believed to have perfected. One that would be used to disarm and fight any nation that dared to stand before them and their quest. The German strength was unquestionable. However, it is the British that gave them a hard time in their quests to conquered Asia and Africa and in many instances the German press portrayed Britain as Selfish, Opportunistic and Greedy.
Britain, another country experiencing the Nationalistic fever was also drunk with patriotism, and with good reason too. Britain had for two consecutive centuries, enjoyed dominance in the dimensions of naval power, as well as commercial and imperial dominance as well. With an Empire spanning nearly a quarter of the world, it is no wonder it was referred to as Great Britain. The Brits had conquered massive territories and had won several wars and battles. However, German’s growing strength and armament was alarming and this became a threat to British nationalists who couldn’t envisage any other world power apart from themselves. Rumors about a future war and attacks of England by the Germans, French, or the Russians came into picture and by 1910 London was filled with novels and written works of impending attacks, using humor as a warning about the impending danger from these countries. The people of Britain however, mockery of these nations as they found it hard to believe such a time could occur.
It’s clearly evident how several institutional aspects interplayed in paving the way for a world war. Most of these factors are interrelated and occurred in what seemed to be a chain reaction. Imperialism lead to nationalism and these strong feelings of pride and power lead to the strategic planning and growing of military power. Injustices experienced by people who were tired of oppression and others threatened by military strength culminated in the start of the First World War
WORKS CITED
Beckett, Ian F W. “The Great War 1914-1918.” Modern Wars In Perspective 2014. Web.
Waever, Ole. “Three Competing Europes: German, French, Russian.” International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-) 66.3 (1990): 477–493. Web.
