The First World War was a war that was fought by the world powers at the time in 1914 to 1918. The war was centered in Europe as the European powers were the ones embroiled in supremacy battles and conflict of interests on colonial territories that sparked the start of the war. By the end of the war, it had roped in other powers from out of Europe as the United States, Japan, and the Ottoman Empire. The post-war effects of the world war have it necessary for researchers and scholars to look back to try and analyze what caused the war to try and find ways to avoid future conflicts that may escalate to the point of a full-scale war again.
The forces of nationalism were very strong during the period preceding the war and during the war. This can explain why the declaration of war in 1914 was met by cheers in Berlin, Vienna, Paris and other major cities across Europe. In Germany, which at the time was one of the most powerful nations in Europe, the ideology of world politics was taking shape among the citizens with a resounding support. Given that the country was growing and was a late entrant into the world powers, it intended to pursue its world influence over the other countries aggressively given its disadvantage in terms of naval power. In line with trying to keep up with other world powers in the naval fleet, the Germany Admiral von Tirpitz provided the politicians with a plan to upgrade their naval fleet and give it a risk fleet that could scare Britain from planning to attack them.
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The building of 38 battleships by the Germany in the period preceding the war drove the other European countries into an arms race where each nation was trying to outdo the other with having a better naval fleet. The British advanced their fleets by building the dreadnoughts which were the most advanced battleships at the time in Europe. In response to this advancement, the Germans also sought to advance their battleships to protect their interest in the case of attack.
The growing militarism in Europe necessitated that Germany had to make a plan on how to attack its perceived enemies like Russia and France at the same time and still claim victory by carrying out the attack swiftly and by surprise. The plan created by Alfred von Schlieffen was to see Germany rapidly attack France from the northern side through Belgium, which had pledged neutrality in case of war and also to provide a lighter force that could hold the Russians who were considered slow at mobilization of their troops.
During the years preceding the world war, countries had formed alliances according to their political interests at the time. There existed two major political alliances that were involved in the war. The military and political alliances started in 1815 by an alliance between Prussia, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. However, this alliance failed to hold the fort for long due to the disagreements between the Austria- Hungary and Russia on the handling of the Balkans. At the time, the Ottoman Empire was in its collapsing stages and thus the Balkans area was up for grabs to the strongest power with both Russia and Austria-Hungary laying claim to it to expand their spheres of influence. When Russia exited the alliance, the Germans invited Italy into the alliance and thus formed the triple alliance that included the Germans, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
Confronted with a growing triple alliance, the Russians got into an alliance with the French, who harbored resentment to Germany at the time because of parts of the French territory the Germans had annexed. In addition to signing an alliance with Russia, France signed an alliance with the British that was called the cordial entente. On the other hand, Russia signed the Anglo-Russian conventions, and thus, the three powers become an alliance of three parties that were called the triple entente. These alliances guaranteed other members of the alliance with military support in case of an invasion from an enemy of the opposing alliance.
The alliances across Europe served to escalate the threat of war at the time given that the members of the alliances had guaranteed each other of support in case of an attack by an opposing camp. In this case, a small trigger of a conflict between two of the countries in the alliances could result in a full-scale war because the other members were bound to enter into the war in support of their ally. For the nations that had chosen to remain neutral in the event of any aggression, their neutrality was guaranteed by other strong nations in the alliances. For an example, Belgium which had chosen to be neutral in the event of aggression was guaranteed by Britain of support in case its neutrality was breached by another country during aggression. This meant that any attack on a neutral state could also spark a war which came to happen when Germany forces invaded Belgium thus forcing Britain to declare war on Germany.
With the alliances formed, the outbreak of war in Europe was inevitable. The start of the war was sparked by the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Yugoslav nationalist. The killing of the heir gave Austria-Hungary the excuse of going to war against the Serbians who they feared might end up growing too strong. The attack on the Serbians did not happen immediately as the Austria-Hungary sort the help of the Germans to defend their territory in case Russia decided to join the war against the Austrian in support of Serbia. With the first attack on Belgrade, Russia responded by mobilizing its troops to defend the Serbians which made Germany declare war on Russia and France given that both were in the same alliance.
The United States remained neutral throughout the most of the First World War conflict; this was because of the position held by the president of the US Wilson, who said the United States was too proud to fight in the war. This position of the United States was of benefit to the Germans who were banking on the neutrality of the United States to defeat the Triple Entente alliance. However, the uncontrolled submarine warfare on passenger ships was the only threat that could draw the US into the war, and Germans were intending to use this strategy in a bid to defeat the British forces. In May 7 1915, German submarines sank British passenger ships that contained 128 American citizens which threatened to draw the Americans into the war.
When the Germans realized that they could no longer keep the US completely neutral with their strategy of unrestricted submarine warfare, they decided to enlist the help of Mexico. They promised to finance their expenditures if they declared war on the US and would provide them with a chance to reclaim lost territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The telegram that was sent by the Germany ambassador Zimmerman to his compatriot in the US to be transmitted to the Germany ambassador in Mexico was intercepted by the British intelligence officers.
The discovery of the Zimmerman telegram served to change the opinion of the Americans on joining the war. The telegram gave President Wilson a strong resolve and backing from the American people to join the war against the Germans. The entry of the American forces into the war effectively served to destroy the hopes of German winning the war in the end.
References
Cawood, I., & McKinnon-Bell, D. (2001). The First World War . London: Routledge.
Dowling, C. (2007). World War 1 . Wollombi, N.S.W.: Exisle Publishing.
Hall, R. (2000). The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913 . London: Routledge.
Howard, M. (2007). The First World War . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Strachan, H. (2004). The First World War . New York: Viking.
