PLSC 27600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: July Crisis, Yugoslav Wars, Splendid Isolation
Document Summary
Types of war in 1914: local war (balkans, continental war (germany and ah vs russia and france, world war (continental war + britain) Italy (who switched allegiance as soon as the war broke out: triple entente. 3 elements of the turner argument: milirary considerations dominate political causes, civilian policymakers do not understand those military considerations (are fools) Bethamann-hollweg is worst offender, but all are bad. Germany basically gave ah a blank check and pushed them toward militarization: it is essential to consider the behavior of all the great powers during the july crisis, not just germany. Tightly wound system (one single event sets off a chain rreaction) Key miliarty considerations: rigid and inflexible plans, time tables dictate behavior once you start the train moving, advantage to being the first mover premium on haste , mobilization is offensive (there is no such thing as partial mobilization ) Go through belgium and luxembourg to take france out early on.