British Civilisation 11: How the First World War began
© A. SCHOOLING, Collège Vendôme, Lyon (2009)
1. Why was there a World War in 1914?
The focus1 of one of the year’s main projects will be on Britain during the First World War, so this question is a
crucial one. But a look at the wider world during this period is also necessary before attempting2 an answer. In fact,
there is a both a simple and a complex response. On the one hand3, those in positions of responsibility in Germany,
5 Russia and, to a certain extent4 France felt (for various reasons that we shall see) that the time was right for war. As
we shall also see, in Britain, the actions of the other European Great Powers seemed to leave the country with no
choice but to join in. The issues5 that had formerly been dealt with6 by diplomatic negotiation could no longer solve
the problem. On the other hand, understanding why war could not be avoided7 or was an ‘acceptable option’ is
very hard to answer, so let’s start by building a model of how to comprehend the people of 1914.
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2. Creating a model to understand the people of 1914
Social scientists8, who use models similar to one below (Figure 1), talk sometimes about ‘frames9 of reference’
which can be presented as overlapping10 circles to make a visual representation of the elements that influence an
individual’s decision-making11. Of course, everybody is different and as useful as these models may be, they are far
from perfect. Nevertheless, they can give us an insight12 into the world in which people live. The frames of
15 reference I have chosen may also be subdivided – for example, education can be viewed13 in terms of a person’s
religious, family and school education – and the categories intersect14 in many ways15. So, in relation to the people
of 1914, I believe that it is good to consider  a person’s family pressures16 (their hopes17, aspirations and
needs), their class (with the codes of conduct18 linked to it),  their education (see above),  their leisure
activities (with the importance of competition, rules and regulations),  their friends (at work, peer19 pressure and
20 institutionalised pressure),  and finally the power of the press (newspapers and posters). In the centre of this sort
of kaleidoscope we can see the focal point of a person’s decision-making which is based on all these factors.
Figure 1: An individual’s frames of reference,
Britain (1914)
Family
Figure 2: The scramble for Africa: 1885-1912
The decisionmaking centre
Leisure
3. Nationalism and Imperialism
Some of the greatest influences on opinion,
25 both in the press and at government level20,
were the diplomatic events of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. For almost all the
19th century, Britain had pursued21 a policy of
‘splendid isolation’. But by the very end22 of
30 Queen Victoria’s reign, because of the results
in Europe of a growth in nationalism, that is, a
desire to create a new ‘nation’ for various
reasons, this was becoming increasingly23
impossible. Britain, like the other Great Powers, began to look at ways of protecting herself in case24 a war should
35 break out25. A famous ‘entente cordiale’ was signed with the French in 1904 and in 1907 a similar ‘entente’ was
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signed with the Russians. Far from being a specific treaty (as we shall see) it left Britain’s hands free to act as she
wanted depending on the situation. Now26, this European nationalism was a direct result of the new
industrialisation of Europe where people’s lives were being changed and the old order was having to adapt or make
way for27 newer ideas. In contrast to nationalism, ‘patriotism’ can be considered to be conservative in nature since
it is primarily concerned with maintaining the patria with its patriarchal system of governance with the king at the
top of the pyramid, then with various layers28 of lords, and with servants at the very bottom. (This definition is not
about ‘class’ but sees ‘patriotism’ as simply serving a king or the lord above and respecting the existing hierarchy;
to understand the people of the First World War is to see the power of patriotism expressed29 in time of war.) Yet,
before 1860, European leaders had kept nationalism at bay30 and were only concerned
in maintaining the existing ‘balance of power’ established after the defeat of Napoleon
at Waterloo in 1815. However, in the 1860s there was a major shift31 of power in
Europe. Firstly, there was the Risorgimento (Italian Reunification) under the rule of the
King of Piedmont-Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II, whose first minister Camillo Cavour was
the initial architect who gave France the Duchy of Savoy and the city of Nice in
Cavour
Garibaldi
exchange for French help; later the title of King of Italy was almost forced on Victor Emmanuel by
the victories of the Italian nationalist Garibaldi. Secondly, Otto von Bismarck inspired the German
Empire based on Prussia (which first defeated Austria-Hungary in 1866 and then France in 187071 leading to the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine). Thus, in place of a strong Austro-Hungarian
Empire which had traditionally dominated much of Germany and controlled all of Italy, two new
strong nations had been formed, and to make matters worse32 for Austro-Hungary, many of their
Bismarck
empire’s twelve ethnic groups were now also dreaming of breaking free from the hold of Vienna. In addition to
this, the Ottoman Empire of Turkey, popularly known as ‘the Sick Man of Europe,’ was also having trouble33
keeping its own ethnic groups in order. This meant that by the early 1880s much of North Africa had been taken
over34 by France and Britain. But Germany and Italy also wanted a slice of the cake with the same prestige and
markets for their industrial goods as the older Great Powers in Europe. To achieve35 this, Germany’s new ‘Reich’
didn’t want any trouble in Europe in order to36 focus on imperial expansion in Africa. Consequently Bismarck made
treaties first with Austria-Hungary (1879), then with Italy (1882) and secretly with Russia (1887), since he was
worried about conflict breaking out over the Balkans where Austria-Hungary had an interest and Russia wanted to
protect their fellow37 Slavs living there. (In response, an isolated France signed an alliance treaty in 1893 with
Russia when the latter’s secret treaty with Germany was not renewed after Bismarck lost power.) As a
consequence of these alliances, nineteenth-century European problems were settled38 by diplomacy; further south
all the European industrial nations participated in the so-called ‘scramble39 for Africa’ (see Figure 2) which in the
last fifteen years of the 19th century coloured the remaining40 areas41 of Africa red (British), blue (French), yellow
(German), and green (Italian), with Belgium,
Portugal and Spain holding onto the rest. Yet
in Asia the same thing was also going on with
Russia and Britain vying for42 supremacy
north of India and China. But as Figure 3
shows, competition was not just limited to
Africa, and with Russia’s expansion towards
Britain’s ‘sphere of influence’ the likelihood43
of war breaking out between these two
powers seemed high. Yet, with hindsight44,
there was at least a short-term advantage for
the European powers as attentions were
drawn away from45 fighting one another
directly in Europe.
Figure 3: Colonial rivalries in Asia
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4. Conflict breaks out: Asia, North Africa and the Balkans
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Apart from the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), conflict involving the Great Powers broke out on several occasions
before the First World War. The first problem occurred46 right at the beginning of the twentieth century when the
German Navy commanded by Admiral von Tirpitz decided to increase47 the number of German warships48
dramatically. The British navy and press considered this as a form of aggression since the British Empire needed a
strong navy and based its requirements49 on the ‘two-class system’ (where Britain would have as many warships as
her next two rivals combined). When German launched50 its naval construction programme, there was outrage in
the British press which used the slogan, ‘We want eight *new battleships+ and we won’t wait’. Thus the AngloGerman naval race began and Germany lost many of the natural sympathies
shared51 by British and German people. However, the first actual fighting was in
Asia where a very weak China had long been prey52 to external power. In 1904 the
Russian Empire and Japan fought over Manchuria (China) and Korea and the
Russian defeat at sea and on land a year later made them unprepared to fight any
A Russian cruiser sunk by
of their main rivals in Europe for at least ten years.
the Japanese in 1904
Elsewhere53, there was real tension when in 1905 the Germans took offence at54 the French occupation of
Morocco which the Germans felt was due to them as a North African colony. In the event, the Germans backed
down55 after European diplomacy and when their request for support from
Austria-Hungary fell on deaf ears56. So one must be careful in supposing
that war or an alignment of Germany and Austria-Hungary was automatic
simply because there was an alliance between these powers. Indeed, a
similar, second North African crisis occurred in 1911 when a German
SS Panther
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gunboat , the SS Panther (see right), was sent to Agadir on the Moroccan coast. Again, after
diplomacy involving the British, the Germans eventually58 conceded Morocco to the French. Again, Austria-Hungary
was not prepared to risk war for Germany’s imperial dream.
In Europe there was also tension. The Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires had for a long time been
interested in the Balkan area. This area was particularly important for Russia as it gave their fleet59 access to the
Black Sea and and from there to the Mediterranean. Thus they came up with the idea60 of ‘Pan-Slavism’ for a united
Balkan area under Russian (Slavic) leadership. So after various national uprisings61 against the Turks and Russian
success in the Russo-Turkish war (1877-78), the Congress of Berlin (1878) officially recognised the creation of the
new Slavic states of Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria; in compensation Austria-Hungary was given control of BosniaHerzegovina. Now problems
with this diplomatic solution
first appeared in 1908 when
Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its
independence and so the
Austrians decided to annex it.
This was because the AustroHungarian Empire not only
wanted territory here but was
frightened that its many ethnic
groups would also want their
independence; so the Austrians
felt they had to show aggression
against Balkan nationalism. But
as Figure 4 illustrates, this
annexation didn’t have the
desired effect because four
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Figure 4: The Balkans – 1878-1914
130 years later a first Balkan war (1912-1913) broke out when nationalists in Greece, Serbia and Montenegro defeated
Turkish troops to gain more territory for their countries. Austria-Hungary was powerless62 to act against such
spontaneous nationalism, and Russia rejoiced that another Slavic country, Serbia, had made large gains. The
Russians were delighted that the state of Albania was created; however Bulgaria felt that it was poorly rewarded63
and so started a second Balkan war (1913) against Greece, Serbia and Montenegro, and the outcome64 was that
135 Serbia emerged as the strongest Balkan country and greatest threat65 to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
5. ‘The spark66 that set Europe alight’: June-August 1914
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Archduke Franz Ferdinand
and his family
The general staffs67 of Britain, France and – to a lesser
extent – Russia, had for several years worked on different
action plans in case a war should break out against one of
the entente members; indeed68, that is the role of general
staffs, and very often the plans are quite hypothetical. In
reality, particularly in France and Britain, everything
depended on the will69 of the politicians in power at the
time, and because these men owed70 their survival to Assassination: Sarajevo
voters who were influenced by the press, decision-making was not a simple business. (In
Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, the nature of decision-making was different as they
were not democracies.) Although tension had built up71 for many years, with an arms race
and arms manufacturers producing more and more weapons72 to prepare countries in case
of war, nobody imagined war would break out in the summer of 1914. Then suddenly, on
June 28th, news came of the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, the Archduke
Gavrilo Princip
Franz Ferdinand, who with his family had been visiting the Serbian capital of Sarajevo. The
assassin was Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, who wanted the Austrians out of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The
Austrians were quite naturally outraged and when the Germans assured them that if it should come to war they
would support them, the Austrians issued73 a very insulting ultimatum on July 23rd and if the Serbs refused to
comply74 within75 48 hours they would be at war with Austria-Hungary. As we have seen, the Serbs had strong ties76
with Russia and they immediately sought Russian support before replying. In the event, the Serb government
agreed to all the demands except for the one requiring them to let the Austrians conduct an enquiry77 into the
assassination. It is quite
possible that their military
commander was at least
indirectly linked with the
assassination, but whatever
the case78, the Serbian
response was not good
enough for the Austrians who
were being encouraged by the
Germans to stand firm and
take revenge on the Serbs. The
Austro-Hungarian government
finally declared war on Serbia
on July 28th. Most people in
Britain and the rest of Europe
automatically believed that
old-style diplomacy would
resolve the crisis. Russia
wanted
just
a
partial
Figure 5: The top-secret Schlieffen Plan (as subsequently modified by von Moltke)
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mobilisation of her troops as a way to show Austria that Russia was not happy at what was happening, but the Tsar
was told that mobilisation was such a difficult and long process that it was full79 mobilisation or nothing. The Tsar
felt that he couldn’t let his fellow Slavs down and agreed to full mobilisation of his enormous army. Germany and
Austria-Hungary responded by mobilising their troops. Even at this late stage80, the German emperor, Kaiser
Wilhelm II (or ‘Willie’), continued to correspond amiably (in English!) with both his cousins, the Tsar Nicolas II
(‘Nickie’) and George V of Great Britain, but he was not prepared to stop a conflict which his advisors81 warned him
was ‘inevitable’ and was best fought in 1914 while Russia had not fully recovered from the Japanese defeat and
had not reached its peak of industrialisation. As for82 France and Britain, the former was motivated by ‘revanchism’
(a chance to get Alsace-Lorraine back), while Britain simply sat on the fence83 as long as possible: neither the
majority of British citizens nor84 the British government felt that Britain should participate in a ‘continental’ war,
despite their ‘ententes cordiales’. However, almost all Britons were agreed that if Germany should invade Belgium,
which had always maintained a strict neutrality, then Britain should continue to defend the honour of the Belgians
whom they had supported85 since 1830. (In point of fact86, the British government couldn’t bear the idea of a
victorious Germany threatening87 British dominance88 of the English Channel.)
Now as we can see from Figure 5, the Germans had an ingenious top-secret plan that had been originally
89
devised by their former Chief of General Staff, von Schleiffen, whose idea was that with two Great Powers to fight
France was easier to beat than Russia. The Germans, with their superior military machine but fewer troops than
those of the combined Triple Entente powers, put all their hopes in this Schlieffen plan but their success was based
on encircling and thereby90 defeating the French army very quickly before the Russian ‘steamroller91’ could bring its
overwhelming92 number of troops into Eastern Prussia. This supposed victory against France would free troops on
the western front to fight against Russia on the eastern front. In any case, to beat France quickly meant avoiding
the strong French fortresses on the north-eastern border93, so the only way to attack was to invade from the north
– i.e.94 through Belgium – even if this meant involving Britain in the war. After first declaring war on Russia on
August 1st and then on France on August 3rd, this plan was put into practice with
German military precision, but unfortunately for the Germans of 1914 there
were not sufficient troops to defeat France quickly enough before the
combined Anglo-French armies could hold them up95. As for the Italians, they
initially refused to give Germany and Austria-Hungary any support
whatsoever96. Eventually, when they believed that there was more to be gained
by supporting the Triple Entente they changed sides! This is another illustration
of the danger in believing that an alliance system automatically created the First
World War. As Figure 6 shows, the war began with the Central Powers believing
that they would soon be encircled by the Triple Entente if they didn’t act fast.
Figure 6: August 1914
They seized the chance in the summer of 1914.
Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) & Serbia
Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary)
Neutral Countries
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How the First World War Began: Vocabulary Help
1. focus = centre d’intérêt
2. to attempt = tenter
3. on the one hand... on the other... = d’une part...
d’autre part
4. to a certain extent = dans une certaine mesure
5. an issue = un problème
6. to deal with = traiter, résoudre
7. to avoid = éviter
8. a social scientist = un spécialiste des sciences
sociales
9. a frame = un cadre
10. to overlap = se chevaucher
11. decision-making = la prise de décision
12. an insight = un aperçu
13. to view = considérer
14. to intersect = se couper, se croiser
15. ways = façons
16. pressures = pressions
17. hopes = espoirs, espérances
18. conduct = conduite
19. peer = les pairs ; peer pressure = la pression du
groupe
20. a level = un niveau
21. to pursue = poursuivre
22. the very end = toute à la fin, les toutes dernières
années
23. increasingly = de plus en plus
24. in case = au cas où
25. to break out = éclater
26. now = or
27. to make way for = faire place à
28. a layer = une couche
29. to express = exprimer
30. to keep sthg. at bay = tenir qqch. à distance, stopper
31. a shift = un changement
32. to make matters worse = pour ne rien arranger
33. trouble = du mal, des ennuis
34. to take over = prendre le pouvoir
35. to achieve = atteindre, réaliser
36. in order to = afin de
37. fellow = compatriote
38. to settle (a problem) = résoudre (un problème)
39. a scramble = une course ; to scramble for = se
disputer
40. remaining = qui restaient
41. an area = un endroit, une région
42. to vie for = rivaliser pour
43. the likelihood = la probabilité
44. with hindsight = avec du recul, rétrospectivement
45. to draw away from = (se) retirer de
46. to occur = se produire
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to increase = augmenter
a warship = un navire de guerre
a requirement = un besoin
to launch = lancer
to share = partager
prey = proie
elsewhere = ailleurs
to take offence at = s’offenser de
to back down = céder
to fall on deaf ears = ne pas trouver d’écho
a gunboat = une cannonière
eventually = finalement
a fleet = une flotte
to come up with an idea = trouver une idée
an uprising = un soulèvement
powerless = impuissant
to reward = récompenser
the outcome = le résultat
a threat = une menace
a spark = une étincelle
a general staff = un état-major
indeed = en effet
will = la volonté
to owe = devoir
to build up = monter
weapons = armes
to issue = délivrer
to comply with = respecter, se plier à, se conformer
à
within = dans les
ties = liens
an enquiry = une enquête
whatever the case = quoi qu’il en soit
full = totale
stage = stade, étape, phase
advisors = conseillers
as for = quant à
to sit on the fence = ne pas prendre position
neither... nor... = ni... ni...
to support = soutenir
in point of fact = en fait
to threaten = menacer
dominance = la domination
to devise (a plan) = concevoir (un plan)
thereby = ainsi, de cette manière
a steamroller = un rouleau compresseur
overwhelming = écrasant
a border = une frontière
i.e. (idem est) = c’est-à-dire
to hold (sb.) up = arrêter, retarder, ralentir
whatsoever = du tout