World War I: Causes, Phases, and Aftermath
Causes of World War I
Colonial Conflicts: The First Moroccan Crisis and the Second Moroccan Crisis.
Rivalry Between Powers and Nationalism: Rivalry between France and Germany due to the Alsace-Lorraine War. Rivalry between Great Britain and Germany because of economic dominance. Rivalry between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire for Balkan territories. Nationalist movements in the Balkans against Ottoman control of the territory.
Balkan Wars: Annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary. The First Balkan War. The Second Balkan War.
Military Alliances and Arms Race: The great powers were divided into two:
- Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
- Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, and Russia.
The mistrust between the great powers also caused an arms race. Countries spent a lot of money on manufacturing new weapons, preparing themselves for war.
Colonial Causes: Germany’s aggressive behavior provoked the Moroccan Crises:
- First Crisis: Germany offered to help Morocco against France. The Algeciras Conference solved the crisis, establishing a protectorate and forcing the Germans to back down.
- Second Crisis: An uprising in southern Morocco. The Germans sent gunboats under the pretext of protecting German trade interests.
Balkan Wars: Territorial interests from various countries and increasing Serbian nationalism led to the Balkan Wars.
- 1908: Annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria.
- First Balkan War: Countries dominated by the Ottoman Empire joined together to gain independence.
- Second Balkan War: The alliance was forced to divide Turkish territories.
Phases of World War I
Outbreak of War: Assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian heir, in Serbia. Austria declared war on Serbia, and following the alliances made before, the rest of the countries declared war on their enemies.
First Phase: Germany executed the Schlieffen Plan, a rapid way to conquer France, and then focus on the Eastern Front. French and British armies stopped the advance at the Battle of Marne. On the Eastern Front, Germany beat Russia at the Battle of Tannenberg.
Second Phase: The Western Front became immobile. New allies joined both powers. A new tactic called trench warfare, aimed at exhausting the enemy.
Third Phase: The Russian revolt forced Russia to abandon the war (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk). The sinking of the Lusitania led the USA to join the war. In 1918, the end of the war, peace treaties were signed.
1917, Last Phase of War:
- Russian Revolt and Withdrawal from the War: The hard conditions suffered by the Russian people, previous crises, and economic underdevelopment led to a revolt and the end of Tsarism in Russia. In 1918, Russia signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty.
- USA Joins the Conflict: Germany sank the Lusitania due to submarine warfare, the goal of which was to stop Allied support by sea.
- 1918: Austria-Hungary and the Turkish Empire were defeated and called for an armistice. The Germans were defeated on the Western Front. There were revolts, and workers’ demonstrations led to the abdication of the Kaiser. Germany surrendered.
Total War: Involvement of the Civilian Population
- Compulsory enlistment.
- Refugee movements.
- Incorporation of women into the labor force.
- Propaganda and Opinion Control: Used to keep up public morale and engage the population in the conflict. Censorship of newspapers and letters from soldiers.
- Economy at the Mercy of War: The market economy turned into a war economy. Women and non-enlisted were forced to work. Governments had to finance the war through loans.
Consequences of World War I
Demographic Consequences: Eight million deaths and civilian malnutrition. Mutilated and injured people. Widespread demographic decline.
Economic Consequences: Destruction of economic infrastructure. Loss of European hegemony. All European countries were in debt, especially to the USA. The USA became the most powerful country in the world.
Territorial Consequences: End of great empires. Formation of new nations. Democratic changes, widespread of woman suffrage.
The Organization of Peace
Conference of Paris: The USA president presented a manifesto.
Peace Treaties: Economic and territorial compensations:
- Treaty of Versailles (Germany)
- Treaty of Saint Germain (Austria)
- Treaty of Trianon (Hungary)
- Treaty of Neuilly (Bulgaria)
- Treaty of Sevres (Turkey)
League of Nations: An international association to solve conflicts between countries peacefully, avoiding secret diplomacy.