Rising Conflict In European Powers And Alliances Before 1914

Rising Conflict in European Powers and Alliances- Before 1914 Before 1914, Europe was already split into main powers. These main powers consisted of the Head of State in Russia, France, and Britain. (Triple Entente). Also, the Triple Alliance consisting of the Head of State in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The system of alliances built up a lot of conflict with bringing in other countries not originally involved in certain countries internal conflicts. This greatly influenced the process of declaring war at even the slightest threat towards the countries and their alliances. The fact that Germany had already been faced with war threats on two fronts added onto them only having one true ally, Austria-Hungary, due to Italy’s agreement
with France. By 1914, Italy was a nominal ally, meaning they promised France to remain neutral if Germany attacked them, staying out of all war when it broke out.
As these powers grew stronger rivalries began to surface between them.
France and Germany’s alliance was impossible due to France wanting to reclaim the two provinces, Alsace and Lorraine, lost to Germany. After these threats from Germany, France teamed up with different allies to prevent future defeat. Meanwhile, Political and Economic rivalries were intensifying the upcoming conflict that was yet to strike the world. Great Britain wanted to remain in the lead for naval power over Germany. In order for Britain to be able to remain in naval power, they needed to control the Balkan Peninsula that bordered the Mediterranean Sea. The Balkans had a lot of nationalism, which brought up more conflict of gaining Independence, while they fought over who took them. If Russia gained power over the Balkans, this would have set Great Britain’s trade in serious danger. While Russia, Germany, and Britain fought over lands nearby, Austria-Hungary’s ethnic diversity created tension leading up to the war. Within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, only Austrians and Hungarians were allowed to vote. This stirred up a lot of anger within the diverse ethnic groups that the empire consisted of. Due to the disbelief of not having the right to vote, the citizens were very unhappy and disliking not being able to vote. Germany also progressively got more aggressive due to the thought that they should be equal to the rest of the world powers, Russia, France, England, and the U.S. Germany, then, decided to
conflict with every European Power, besides Austria-Hungary.
Militarism: Naval Arms Race 1906-1914
In the long years leading up to the break out of the Great War the world powers began to strengthen their military in spirit of Militarism.
The power of one country’s military was known as a meter to show a certain country’s imperial and national strengths. Some countries military count sky-rocketed up from in the hundreds to in the hundred thousands, some even to the millions during the early 1900’s, just before the war. Amongst the six big world powers, they spend about three hundred ninety-eight pounds on strengthening their military. Generally, countries needed to build up their military to defend their homelands and remove the threats from other countries trying to gain more power, while at the same time they need to avoid the chance of starting a war. Following this, the rivalry amongst Germany and France led to the massive bulk of armies, weapons, and distrust between the two countries. Adding on to the rivalry between France and Germany, Britain and Germany raced over naval arms and then caused another rivalry between them. This rivalry did not help that Britain and France had an alliance on the naval arms race between the two countries. Following this, any slight conflict had an impact on the additions to their militaries. This entire period show drastic changes in quality and quantity of their weapons. Britain increased navy ships, along with German constructing submarines and U-boats for their navy. With massive improvements left and right, weapons such as the
machine gun, established in 1881, became smaller, lighter, more efficient, reliable, and accurate. Moreover, Germany led the way in increasing their military and weaponry.
Nationalism: Too Much Pride?
Nationalism prevalently led to the beginning of the Great War. The big world powers believed that their own country’s needs were ten times more important than others’. Thus, their straight pride in their country significantly impacted the way people fought over small conflicts throughout the time leading up to the Great War. The desire for power, or Weltpolik, was extremely popular in Germany. Due to France’s want to get revenge on Germany for Alsace and Lorraine, they strongly disliked their desires for bigger world power. The growing aspiration of nationalism was evident that there was little opposition to war if it were to have broken out. To put this in perspective, the outbreak of this war, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, greeted by cheering crowds, and as APJ Taylor wrote, “The people of Europe leapt willingly into war., due to thought of this only being a short, victorious war. The World Powers all felt the friction building up with all the competitions for power, land, and armies, so they created certain war plans to prepare troops. They created rapid moving armies to the extent that it made it hard to stop mobilization of their armies after the plans began. This left each country with the significantly important role in decision-making for Europe’s future.