Causes of World War I: The Sequence of Events and International Context

1. Origins of World War

2. Summer 1914: The Sequence of Events • June 28th - Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo • July 3rd - Kaiser gives ‘blank check’ to Austria • July 23rd – Austrian ultimatum to Serbia • July 25th – Austria mobilizes • July 28th – Russia announces partial mobilization • July 31st - Russia announces full mobilization • Aug. 1st - Germany declares war on Russia • Aug. 3rd - Germany declares war on France • Aug. 4th - German invasion of Belgium brings Britain into the War

3. Broader context • International system regulated by balance of power – with Britain remaining aloof, trying to maintain • Rising nationalism • Weakening of multi-national empires • Ottoman Empire • Austria-Hungary • Russia • Increased rivalries among competing powers - growing rigidity of international alliance system

4. Competing alliances: • Triple Alliance: • Germany • Austria-Hungary • Italy • Triple Entente • France • Russia • Britain

5. Great powers and their interests: • Full map of Europe AD 1900

6. Germany • Anxious to secure its ‘place in the sun’ • Weltpolitik (world policy): build up navy in order to rival Britain • Attempts to drive Britain and France apart (1905 & 1911 Moroccan Crises) bring them together • Staunch support for Austria-Hungary • Willingness to consider war as tool of policy • Anxious to fight a war before it is too late – i.e. before Russia completed rearmament

7. Austria-Hungary • Multinational empire – collection of minorities -- threatened by • Demands for popular participation, making it harder to maintain balance among groups • Rising nationalism in Balkans • Dependent on external support • Anxious to contain Serbia & prevent any states on its border from becoming too powerful

8. Russia • Autocratic multinational empire • Defeated in Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5 • Political system broadened after Revolution of 1905: powers granted to an elected parliament (Duma), then gradually withdrawn • In process of rearming and modernizing its military • Aligned with France, Serbia • Interested in access to Mediterranean – via Dardanelles

9. France • Interest in reasserting itself as a great power • Interest in • Restraining Germany • Regaining Alsace & Lorraine • Desire to maintain & expand colonial holdings • Alliances with Russia and Britain

10. Italy • Interest in colonial acquisitions • Interest in territorial gains from Austria • South Tyrol • Trieste, Fiume • Nominally allied with Germany and Austria • Does not become immediately involved (when it does, joins Britain and France)

11. Britain • Preoccupied with domestic issues • Anxious to maintain naval superiority, freedom of the seas, and the Empire • Preference to remain aloof from continental conflicts – providing the balance in a balance of power system • Guarantor of neutrals – Belgium and the Netherlands

12. Causes? • Entangling alliances? • The balance of power system • German aggression? • Failure of Britain to make its position clear? • Slide into war, with consequences not fully understood • Inflexible military plans? • Railroad timetables? • Popular pressures, domestic politics? • Munitions industry?

13. Toward an explanation • Limits of balance of power as system of deterrents • De-stabilizing elements: • Crumbling of older empires • assertions of national-self identity • Germany’s weltpolitik • Willingness of small number of leaders to take great risks – partially but not fully understood