Causes and Consequences of World War I: A Global Conflict

Posted on May 21, 2024 in History

World War I: Main Causes

Rivalry Among Colonial Powers

Rivalry among colonial powers (they wanted to control as many colonial empires as possible).

Germany, who had control over few colonies, wanted to prevail over France and Great Britain.

Nationalist Exaltation

It provoked confrontation between Germany and France (which was caused by the loss of Alsace and Lorena after the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 which benefited Germany). The war between Germany and Great Britain (cause: to have control over the naval routes and international trade market) -> to sum up, Germany, France and Great Britain were seeking European continental hegemony.

Moroccan Conflict

In 1905 and 1912, there were two serious diplomatic crises in Morocco. The cause of this conflict was the French claim to create a protectorate in Morocco, which was opposed by Germany and Spain, which also had economic interests in the area. Germany saw an opportunity to curb French colonial expansion and make territorial gains for itself in Africa.

The Balkan Conflict

The Balkans conflict -> Austria-Hungary wanted to expand their borders, taking advantage of the weakness of the Turkish Empire, and Russia needed to control the passage through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits so their fleet could have free passage to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Balkan League Creation

In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexes the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Russia reacts, encouraging the formation of a coalition between small states/territories with the goal of confronting the Turkish empire. In 1912, The Balkan League was created (Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro) with the support of Russia to confront the Ottoman Empire.

For her part, England compromised with France’s aspirations in exchange for France’s resignation from intervening in Egypt, while Spain obtained French approval to act in a small part of Moroccan territory. But Germany emerged as a guarantor of the independence of local governments against French imperialist claims, causing tensions with France and Great Britain.

Peace Treaties (Treaty of Versailles)

Territorial Changes

Germany lost territories:

  • Military restrictions to Germany: it was forced to reduce its army and arsenals.
  • Germany also lost territories:
  • Alsace-Lorraine returned to France.
  • The Danzig Corridor to Poland.
  • German colonies were distributed among the victors.

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Dissolved the Austro-Hungarian empire. New states were created: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Treaty of Trianon

Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory. Romania received land from both Hungary and Russia.

Treaty of Neuilly

It was signed with Bulgaria, which lost territory to Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia.

Treaty of Sèvres

It broke up the Ottoman Empire. Turkey divided between the British and French.

Social Consequences

  • Women’s presence in the job market, replacing men who had fought in the war.
  • People poorer due to the cost of the war.
  • Social tensions, fights because of poverty and famine, less prestige of the ruling classes.
  • There is extremism development to revolutionary, populist, and authoritarian movements.

Political Consequences

  • Downfall of the monarchies: Germany, Turkey, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.
  • The war made people more open to other ideologies.
  • Changes in the map of Europe: the war reshaped many borders in Europe.
  • Defeat of the Central Powers: End of the last empires of the continent: the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires. People became more nationalistic, and this also spread to the colonies (first steps towards independence).
  • The failure of peace: peace came too late. Weakness of the League of Nations, it was difficult to solve all the disputes during this period.

Economic Consequences

  • Inflation and debt: the war bankrupted Europe. Enormous debts. Debt led to hyperinflation. People’s savings were destroyed.
  • Destruction of infrastructures: material and economic losses.
  • USA global power: Europe lost its economic supremacy. The United States became the world’s leading power. American banks held most of the debt of the war.

Demographic Consequences

  • Decline of the birth rate: the death of so many young men produced a decline in the birth rate.
  • Fatalitism: literary and civilian casualties, huge loss of human lives.
  • Spanish Flu pandemic (1918-1919), caused additional millions of deaths around the world.
  • The disease was carried around Europe by American soldiers.
  • Living conditions got worse. Rationing was imposed to distribute the little food there was.

What Was the Russian Revolution?

A set of historical events that occurred in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century (1917). It consisted of the overthrow of the Tsarist (Czarist) monarchical regime and the construction of a new model of the Leninist-republican state. This later became the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Russia or Communist Russia, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

  • The February Revolution: It put an end to the government of Tsar Nicholas II and formed a Provisional Government.
  • The October Revolution: Vladimir Lenin and his fellow Bolshevik Party members overthrew the Provisional Government and installed a Soviet-type government.

The Russian Revolution was a decisive event in the history of the 20th century. It aroused enormous sympathy in progressive and revolutionary sectors around the world, as well as enormous fear and antagonism once its political and social dynamics were at stake, culminating in the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Background of the Russian Revolution

  • For centuries, the Russian Empire was essentially a rural nation (85% of the population lived outside the cities).
  • There was a high percentage of landless, impoverished peasants. The Russo-Japanese War, with a Japanese victory, unleashed a propitious moment for the demand for changes.
  • Nicholas II did not heed the requests; he proceeded to suppress it with fire and blood, resulting in the infamous Bloody Sunday. This means that the critical moment for the Revolution and the fall of the aristocracy had been brewing for a long time.

Causes of the Russian Revolution

  • The situation of oppression and poverty peasantry had been sentenced for a long time, supporting the absolutist regime.
  • The successive defeats of the First World War that Russia suffered.
  • The failure to sustain the Russian production rate during the war unleashed an economic and social crisis that resulted in famine, commodity shortages, and the collapse of state structures.
  • The arrival of the winter of 1917, in the worst possible conditions for the Russian people.

The Armed Peace

Territorial Rivalries

European powers sought to acquire colonies to provide raw materials and a market for their products. The only way to obtain new territories was to take them from another power.

Additionally, there were several conflicts around Europe and the Mediterranean that were not resolved diplomatically.

Alsace-Lorraine

Germany and France had a territorial dispute over this land that had been occupied by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. French cultivated a strong desire to recover it.

Morocco

Great Britain and France reached an agreement in northern Africa. This conflicted with Germany, which was excluded. Germany peaked with the First Moroccan Crisis (1905).

Bosnia and Herzegovina

This area had been under Austro Hungarian control. It was annexed to the Empire in 1908. It had a large Serbian population and it was a focus of southern Slav nationalism.

Trentino, Istria, and Dalmatia

Italy claimed these “lost” territories. They remained under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire since Italian independence.

Balkans

Austria-Hungary and Russia sought to dominate the Balkan region. At the same time, the new nationalist states of Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro wanted to gain control of territories inhabited by their nationals. The Ottoman Empire lost almost all that was left of its European territory in the First Balkan War.

The Paris Peace Conference

  • United Kingdom: Maintaining a certain balance of power. The United Kingdom did not want to impose harsh terms on Germany.
  • United States: Woodrow Wilson’s priority was preventing war in Europe and defending the self-determination of the different nationalities.
  • Italy: Vittorio Emanuele Orlando wanted control over the territories promised to Italy in the secret Treaty of London with the Allies.
  • France: Security by forcing Germany to demilitarize. Clemenceau also wanted to impose high war reparations and recover Alsace-Lorraine.

Peace Treaties

Although the negotiations are referred to as the Paris Peace Conference, the different treaties stipulating conditions were imposed on each defeated country.

  • Treaty of Versailles: Germany was required to accept responsibility for the war. It was also forced to reduce its army and arsenals. Germany also lost territories: Alsace-Lorraine returned to France, the Danzig Corridor to Poland, and German colonies were distributed among the victors.
  • Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye: Dissolved the Austro-Hungarian empire. New states were created: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
  • Treaty of Trianon: Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory. Romania received land from both Hungary and Russia.
  • Treaty of Neuilly: It was signed with Bulgaria, which lost territory to Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
  • Treaty of Sèvres: It broke up the Ottoman Empire. Turkey was divided between the British and French.