WWI “A War to End All Wars” (1914-1918)
The competition between European nation states was so intense that Europe was like a powder keg (a bomb) ready
to go off. The things states did to make themselves feel more secure (see MAIN below) in the end only caused more
problems.
M A I N Causes of World War I
Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism
European states competed aggressively to build their military strength. This resulted in
bigger and bigger armies, and ever increasing weapons technologies. European states were
able and ready to go to war.
States formed alliances for protection against each other. Two major alliances emerged the Triple Entente France, Britain and Russia and the Triple Alliance Germany, AustriaHungary and Italy, which very quickly became aggressive towards one another.
Competition drove European countries to build empires in Asia and then Africa to
strengthen the political and economic power of the mother country, but this only increased
competition.
National pride was a driving force encouraging nations to expand militaries, make alliances
and practice imperialism to compete for survival. There was no global organization designed
to promote cooperation and security among the nations of the world.
How WWI started - Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, much to
the dislike of these peoples who had their own cultural identity and wanted to be independent from Austria. In
1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Gavrilo Princip of the Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand, assassinated the Archduke and
his wife. Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, whom they blamed for the assassination. Serbia called on
its ally, Russia, for support. Austria-Hungary called on its ally, Germany, for support. When Serbia refused to fulfill all
of the conditions of the Austrian ultimatum, Austria invaded Serbia. Russia mobilized its military to support Serbia.
Germany could not stand by as Russia attacked Austria, its ally, so Germany declared war on Russia. Germany was in
a difficult position sandwiched between two allies, France and Russia. Germany had developed a plan in case they
got attacked and had to go to war. How would they fight France and Russia? The Schlieffen Plan included a lightning
strike on Russia’s ally, France, to neutralize it before turning attention to fighting Russia. When Germany invaded
France, France declared war on Germany and France’s ally Britain declared war on Germany. All of Europe was at
war.
The War – WWI was the first total war because it involved not only armies, but required everyone to give up normal
life to support the war. It impacted everyone. The trench warfare of WWI resulted in tremendous loss of life, and
this was the first war to use chemical and biological weapons. Germany surrendered bringing an end to the war.
Versailles Conference 1919 - At the peace conference in Versailles in 1919 Woodrow Wilson, President of the United
States, presented a 14 point plan for peace. He was a visionary. The ideas in his plan recognized the MAIN
‘symptoms of disease’, and he tried to counteract each one with a ‘treatment’. His plan recognized self-preservation
as the cause of the disease and he prescribed a treatment: creating an organization for international unity and
cooperation.
Symptom
Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism (political)
Imperialism (economic)
Cause
Nationalism (selfpreservation)
Solution
Disarmament - Reduction of militaries to the lowest point consistent with public
safety
Abolish secret diplomacy; no more secret deals and alliances
The right to sovereignty, independence and self-determination for colonized nations
and divided peoples without outside interference
Remove international trade barriers and establish equal trading conditions among
nations (free trade
Solution
Establish an organization of nations to mutually guarantee political independence
and safety to large and small nations alike; if nations work together to maintain
security then individual nations will not have to do whatever it takes to protect
themselves; they will not need to pursue MAI
Instead of taking this broad-minded view that might have created peace and a better world, the nations who met in
Versailles blamed Germany for the war and wanted revenge. Germany was forced to accept total responsibility for
the start of the war. They also were forced to pay huge reparations, and surrender vast amounts of territory.
WWII
In Europe Germany resented the humiliation of the treaty of Versailles. Germany’s feeling that this revenge and
treatment was unfair is directly related to the start of WWII. Hitler blamed the Versailles treaty for Germany's
economic struggle in the 1930s and made a call for German nationalism to restore national pride and security. The
Nazi Party quickly came to power in the early 1930's to achieve the goal of restoring a strong German nation. Benito
Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy, had a similar rise. Without the negative influence of the Versailles Treaty, and
the desperate conditions that resulted, Germans and Italians might not have supported the fascist regimes of Hitler
and Mussolini. These totalitarian governments severely limited freedoms and rights, and used terror and fear to rule.
Recognizing that the treaty of Versailles had been harsh, European
powers did not act immediately when Hitler started breaking the treaty of
Versailles (he joined Germany and Austria, and annexed Czechoslovakia).
Similarly, Italy took Ethiopia. The worst fears were realized when Hitler
invaded Poland in 1939. It was clear that Hitler was not going to stop
there. This marks the beginning of World War II in Europe. Britain, France
and Russia went to war against Germany, Italy and Japan to stop their
expansion. The loss of life was huge, and the holocaust was one of the
greatest tragedies of human history. This was also a total war as all
civilian populations gave up normal life to support the war effort.
In Asia WWII also took place in Asia. Tensions had been rising over Japanese nationalism and imperialism. Japan
both admired and resented western powers. They admired western strength, vitality and empire, and wanted to be
like them, but they also resented western domination of Asia and western attitudes of superiority. Japan took over
Asia to build its own empire. As Japan started invading territories controlled by European powers, this was the
beginning of WWII in Asia. The US entered the war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. This
marked a turning point in the war. Up until this time the allies were losing the war against Germany.
The end of the War War in Europe ended after the destruction of Germany in the Spring of 1945, and ended in the
Pacific after the US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.