THE FIRST WORLD WAR 1914- 1918
The First World War started in July 1914 and ended in November 1918. It was fought between the Central Powers Versus the Allied Powers. The Central Powers included Germany, Austria. Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. The Allied Powers included Britain and her colonies, France and her colonies, Belgium, Russia, U.S.A, Italy, Japan and other countries. The war ended with the defeat of the Central Powers.
Causes of the First World War
a. Remote causes
1. The Scramble for colonies in Africa and Asia led to bitter international rivalries, and hatred that strained relations among the European powers. For example France and Germany clashed over Morocco and this strained their relations.
2. The formation of Military alliance such as the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria- Hungary
and Italy and the Triple Entente France, Russia and Britain made war more likely because Europe was divided into two enemy military blocs. Members were bound to support their friends in times of trouble. For example Germany supported Austria- Hungary and France supported Russia.
3 The arms race or militarism was another cause of the war. Each of the European powers
wanted to have a military advantage over the others by extending the size of its army and massive arms build up. The most bitter arms race was between Britain and Germany over the building of powerful War ships known as Dreadnoughts.
4. Further more, there was international anarchy, that is the absence of an international
organization to settle world disputes peacefully. Therefore, when Francis Ferdinand was murdered in 1914, there was no international organization to settle the problem and this led to the outbreak of war.
5. Newspapers Propaganda also contributed to the outbreak of war. The newspapers promoted
jingoism arid published sensational news that poisoned relations among nations.
6. The growth of nationalism like in France where France was determined to recover Alsace
and Lorraine seized by Germany during the Franco- Prussian war of 1870- 71.
7. The attitude of Kaiser William Il of Germany nicknamed “L’Enfant Terrible also contributed
to the outbreak of the war. He created tension in Morocco during the Tangier Incident and the Agadir Incident. Again, he gave Austria his unconditional support, which encouraged Austria to attack Serbia thereby starting the First World War.
8. Another cause of the war was excessive patriotism. In the different countries there was
popular support for bellicourse or warlike policies that threatened the interest of rival nations. In Britain it was called jingoism, in France chauvinism, in Germany Pan-German-ism.
9. The decline of the Turkish Empire known as the “Sick man of Europe” made the Balkan a trouble spot and this is where the war actually started.
10. The rise of nationalism in the Balkan where Serbia wanted to unite all the Slays and create a Pan-Slavic state put Serbia on a collision cause with Austria- Hungary which sparked up the First World.
11. The immediate cause of the war was the assassination of the crown Prince of Austria, Francis
Ferdinand and his wife Sophia in Sarajevo the capital of Bosnia. They were murdered by a Serbian student Principe. Austria was annoyed and gave Serbia a 48 hour ultimatum.
That Serbia should suppress all societies organizing anti-Austrian propaganda.
That Serbia should dismiss all officials that Austria did not like
Serbia was to punish all those who were involved in the killings.
Serbia was to allow the Austrian police and officials to enter Serbia to ensure that all the
above conditions were met.
Serbia agreed to all the demands except the last demand which she suggested that it should be settled by an International Tribunal. Austria rejected the reply and on 28 July
1914, Austria declared war on Serbia and this started the First World War.
