Causes of World War One In the introduction to a recent survey of the origins of World War I, the author begins with a quote from British scholar C. V. Wedgwood: "The war solved no problems. Its effects, both immediate and indirect, were either negative or disastrous. Morally subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading, confused in its causes, devious in its course, futile in its result, it is the outstanding example in European history of meaningless conflict." Although Wedgewood was not writing on the 1914-1918 War, but on the Thirty Years' War in the Seventeenth Century, the sentiment expressed is relevant. Europe was never to recover from The Great War. It destroyed a relatively peaceful century of progress, destroyed the very dynasties which it was initiated to save, and laid the foundations for Lenin, Mussolini, and Hitler. In the ethnic hatred, racism, and nationalism of the post-war period lay the seeds of a second terrible conflict. The war solved nothing. The sacrifices were to produce no security; the decisions of the Peace Conference were to produce no peace. Perhaps the Germans could have accepted a straightforward "YOU LOST-YOU PAY" attitude. By placing the chief blame for the war on Germany in the famous "War Guilt Clause," the Allied Powers crippled the new democratic government of Germany and alienated every German patriot. While it is true that the Germans as a whole were and are unwilling to face the truth of their own guilt in bring on he war, the Allies - who had won the propaganda war against Germany from 1914-1919 - gave their victorious weapons to new enemies like Hitler. In the 1960s with the publication of new scholarly works by German historians, led by Fritz Fischer, the origins o... ... middle of paper ... ...what must be done if war should break out. According to these mobilization plans, millions of reservists had to be called up from civilian life, issued equipment, and then be transported to the frontier as fast as available railway transport allowed. The irony of the situation was that the more carefully every last railway car had been put to use by the mobilization plan, the more costly any modification of the plan became. Everybody wanted to be prepared to strike first, and in every international crisis there was always the danger that some chief of staff, in an effort to maintain the schedule on his 'timetable', might force an order of mobilization and thus precipitate war. As the fears and suspicions increased the proportion of national production devoted to make guns increased. Europe as a whole was never so well perpared to wage war as in the summer of 1914.
details the causes of the first World war and describes the first month of the war. The book clearly illustrates how a local war became an entire European struggle by a call to war against Russia. Soon after the war became a world issue.
"Queen's University Archives - World War I." Queen's University Archives - Home. Web. 23 July 2010.
World War I is marked by its extraordinary brutality and violence due to the technological advancement in the late 18th century and early 19th century that made killing easier, more methodical and inhumane. It was a war that saw a transition from traditional warfare to a “modern” warfare. Calvary charges were replaced with tanks; swords were replaced with machine guns; strategic and decisive battles were r...
Hagen W (2012). ‘German History in Modern Times: Four Lives of the Nation’. Published by Cambridge University Press (13 Feb 2012)
“The Spirit of 1914” gives a comprehensive examination of the opinions and feelings felt during the beginning of the Great War by the German people. This monograph goes into extensive detail on the complexity of the German nation’s reactions and response to the vast, “patriotic outbursts…which many contemporaries and historians categorized as “war enthusiasm.””(2) The content of the book also centers on how German unity was portrayed. “Conservative journals claimed that these crowds spoke for public opinion…what had transformed a materialistic, egotistical German “society” into an idealistic, fraternal, national German “community.””(231)Verhey challenges the myth that all Germans wanted to go to war in 1914 by methodically explaining each of the different regions, classes, and political parties’ reactions and responses. The argument of his work comes down to how well he is able to answer the questions of:
Thoumin, Richard, General. The First World War: A major New History of the Wreat of
As students of history in the 21st century, we have many comprehensive resources pertaining to the First World War that are readily available for study purposes. The origin of these primary, secondary and fictional sources affect the credibility, perspective and factual information resulting in varying strengths and weaknesses of these sources. These sources include propaganda, photographs, newspapers, journals, books, magazine articles and letters. These compilations allow individuals to better understand the facts, feeling and context of the home front and battlefield of World War One.
The Origins of the Second World War, by A.J.P. Taylor, proposes and investigates unconventional and widely unaccepted theories as to the underlying causes of World War Two. Taylor is British historian who specialized in 20th century diplomacy, and in his book claims that as a historian his job is to “state the truth” (pg. xi) as he sees it, even if it means disagreeing with existing prejudices. The book was published in 1961, a relatively short time after the war, and as a result of his extreme unbias the work became subject to controversy for many years.
I think that the First World War was the product of long-standing rivalries rather than a badly mismanaged Balkan Crisis because it was these rivalries that led to the Balkan Crisis. The Balkan Crisis may appear mismanaged because previous crises such as those in Morocco in 1905 and 1911 did not result in war.
It may seem like wars start abruptly, with little cause, but usually there is a bigger story. New policies, lack of equality, military influence, and too much government involvement usually stir up the peace initially. These turn the country or area into a ‘powder keg’, ready to explode into war at the smallest spark. Although the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand was the spark of World War I, policies at the time like nationalism and militarism were the underlying causes of the war.
Carl von Clausewitz, “What is War?” On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret, 139. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976.
Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany. 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print.
Oxford University Press. 1997 Germany. The. Unravelling an Enigma. Greg Nees.
Ollivier, Émile. 1913. The Franco-Prussian War and its Hidden Causes. London: Sir Issac Pitman & Sons.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. Kitchen, Martin. A History of Modern Germany: 1800-2000. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Sprout, Otto.