CAS IR 349 Lecture 3: A world at war? The First world war begins and expands, 1914-1916
18 May 2018
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A world at war? The First world war begins and expands, 1914-1916
Long term causes:
- Alliances:
- 1879 Dual Alliance Germany -Austria , 3 years later 1882Italy joins the alliance
- 1894: Franco-Russian Alliance
- 1904: Entente Cordiale : Britain and France
- 1907: Triple Entente: Britain France and Russia
- Naval Arms race:
- In 1880, American, Russian and French navy started dominating but the British
dominated them all by having more than twice of the next two naval power
combined.
- By 1890, British were still dominating the high seas, 34 British ships for every 16
French ships.
- 1900: Japanese, German, Italians, Americans, Russians, French and the British
(again dominating) but the ratio was lower. British supremacy was being
challenged
- 1910: Austro-Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Japanese, American, French, Germans
and British. British were again dominating, 54 British war ships for every 24
German war ships.
- The British had found a way to work with the Americans, were in a friendly
relation with France and Japan.
- Their biggest threat would be Germany. The British was worried about absolute
ratios
- HMS Dreadnought (1905): First built by the British then imitated by everyone
else. It was a big issue for the naval arms race. 1) It was powered by oil, which
means it was more efficient 2) All the guns were the same caliber, means if a
gun finds a target, then all the guns can fire on the target.
Short term causes:
- Franz Ferdinand and Sophie at Sarajevo, June 28, 1914. He was the heir of the
empire and was important because he had promised to not give any level of
autonomy to minorities. This angered both sides – Hungarians and Serbians.
Due to cultural reasons and political reasons.
- They go to Bosnia to celebrate their anniversary. Only problem was that Bosnia
was under martial coup. After 3 attempted assassinations, the 4th one, The Black
hand – a nationalist and terrorist group, Gavrilo Princip shoots both.
- All Europeans condemned the shooting
- Austria Hungary looks at Germany for help, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany backs
Austria-Hungary up with no matter what they decide to do
- Austria Hungary wanted to send their own criminal investigation to Serbia.
- July 29-Aug 1: Willy Niky telegras. Kaiser Wilhelm 2 and Tsar Nicholas 2
- July 30-31: Russia Mobilized as a matter of safety. But Germany feels
threatened by this
- Declares war Aug 1 Germany v/s Russia
- Aug. 2 German demands (France) – e ko aout you alliaes, so to keep
alliae, you et us you fotesses. Fae delines
- Germany declares war against France Aug. 3rd
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