reasons why ww1 was pointless reasons why ww1 was pointless

World War One was utterly pointless - why is this so controversial Nearly every professional around the globe spoke German. The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. Decisions for war, 1914-1917. Serbia responded to the warning with defiance, and the ultimatum was dispatched on October 17 and received the following day. "The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914", Vasquez, John A. War came upon them like a thunderclap.. The Bosch did the same. I: Imperialism . German colonial rule in Africa in 1884 to 1914 was an expression of nationalism and moral superiority, which was justified by constructing an image of the natives as "Other." [29], Imperial rivalries pushed France, Germany, and Britain to compete for control of Morocco, leading to a short-lived war scare in 1911. Four years later, steel-helmeted combat teams dashed forward protected by a curtain of artillery shells. They are no more enemies than the Reds and the Blues into which an army corps is divided for practice maneuvers. America Declares War on Germany. "[54], Other authors argue that German conservatives were ambivalent about a war for fear that losing a war would have disastrous consequences and believed that even a successful war might alienate the population if it was lengthy or difficult. They were now armed with flame throwers, portable machine-guns and grenades fired from rifles. It directly killed nine million combatants and seven million civilians. [85] Social Darwinism carried a sense of inevitability to conflict and downplayed the use of diplomacy or international agreements to end warfare. The conflict that followed was the end of a world, and unleashed horrors that made the 20th century the bloodiest in history. A reason the Alliance system was the main cause is because in Document A . Although more Britons died in WW1 than any other conflict, the bloodiest war in our history relative to population size is the Civil War, which raged in the mid-17th Century. ", assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Learn how and when to remove this template message, railroad under construction from Istanbul to Baghdad, Historiography of the causes of World War I, "The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance", "First World War.com - Who's Who - Otto Liman von Sanders", "VII. Montenegro was not as compliant, and on May 2, the Austrian council of ministers met and decided to give Montenegro a last chance to comply, or it would resort to military action. [74][75], William Mulligan argues that while economic and political factors were often interdependent, economic factors tended towards peace. However, the interventionists were joined by the two leading Radicals, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. [12] That began the expansion of Russian and French financial ties, which eventually helped elevate the Franco-Russian entente to the diplomatic and military arenas. In fact, as a British soldier you were more likely to die during the Crimean War (1853-56) than in WW1. In the event of such an attack, both states would mobilize in tandem, placing Germany under the threat of a two-front war. A war of Balkan inception, regardless of who started such a war, would cause the alliance would respond by viewing the conflict as a casus foederis, a trigger for the alliance. The First World War (WWI) was fought from 1914 to 1918 and the Second World War (or WWII) was fought from 1939 to 1945. There were no major disputes there pitting any two European powers against each other.[67]. The First Moroccan Crisis was an international dispute between March 1905 and May 1906 over the status of Morocco. Rather it alerts us to the complexity of the events that brought war about and the limitations of any thesis that focuses on the culpability of one actor."[106]. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, The Historiography of the Origins of the First World War, Controversy: The Media's Responsibility for Crises and Conflicts in the Age of Imperialism, Kuliabin A. Semine S. Some of aspects of state national economy evolution in the system of the international economic order.- USSR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES FAR EAST DIVISION INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC & INTERNATIONAL OCEAN STUDIES Vladivostok, 1991, The Evidence in the Case: A Discussion of the Moral Responsibility for the War of 1914, as Disclosed by the Diplomatic Records of England, Germany, Russia, 'World War One and 100 Years of Counter-Revolution' by Mark Kosman, Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Causes_of_World_War_I&oldid=1141314073, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2016, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2019, Wikipedia articles that are excessively detailed from January 2023, All articles that are excessively detailed, Wikipedia articles with style issues from January 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2021, Articles with dead external links from February 2023, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from July 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, The addition of Italy to the Germany and Austrian alliance in 1882, forming the Triple Alliance. PARASITISM AND DECAY OF CAPITALISM", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWDJfraJWf0, "World War One: 10 interpretations of who started WW1", "The Trial Continues: New Directions in the Study of the Origins of the First World War", "Russia a Counterbalancing Agent to the Asia", "Jovan M. Jovanovi on the outbreak of the First World War", The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 18481918, "As the Centenary Approaches: The Regeneration of First World War Historiography", "The Fischer Controversy, the War Origins Debate and France: A Non-History", "Embedded Counterfactuals and World War I as an Unavoidable War", 1914-1918-online. Philosophers, pundits, and poets spent the four-plus years of the war flailing around for explanations. On 28 July, Germany learned through its spy network that Russia had implemented partial mobilisation and its "Period Preparatory to War." 36 members have voted. This saying was supposed to have come from senior German commanders describing brave British soldiers led by incompetent old toffs from their chateaux. [8] Thus, the treaty with Austria-Hungary was concluded despite the Russian willingness to amend the Reinsurance Treaty and to sacrifice a provision referred to as the "very secret additions"[8] that concerned the Turkish Straits.[9]. In April 1913, Britain and Germany signed an agreement over the African territories of the Portuguese Empire, which was expected to collapse imminently. The Russians were the first great power to issue an order of general mobilisation and the first Russo-German clash took place on German, not on Russian soil, following the Russian invasion of East Prussia. I doubt I could have endured what they did. Look at the posters. The centenary of the Great War (as it was known until the Second World War) is nearly upon us, and the first salvos of a barrage of new histories have arrived. For example, Russia warned France that the alliance would not operate if the French provoked the Germans in North Africa. Gallipoli was fought by Australians and New Zealanders, 7. CMV: The First World War was an unnecessary waste of human - reddit Imperial rivalries between France, Britain, Russia and Germany played an important part in the creation of the Triple Entente and the relative isolation of Germany. Biography of Czar Nicholas II, Last Czar of Russia. In October 1913, the council of ministers decided to send Serbia a warning followed by an ultimatum for Germany and Italy to be notified of some action and asked for support and for spies to be sent to report if there was an actual withdrawal. In German culture the pre-Advent carnival season traditionally starts at 11.11 am on the 11th of November (St. Martin's Day). The return to seventh-century standards of thought and behavior incited by the Iranian revolution of 1979 and practiced by jihadists across the Middle East. The United States experienced a significant increase in race riots during and after World War I; much of the violence resulted from a variety of factors including African-American migration, labor shortages and post-war . Anglo-German tension. And in the summer of 1914, the British were more concerned with Belfast than the Balkans. August 2014 is the Centenary of the First World War - a dreadful war which cost the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians. The 11 November Armistice was essentially a German surrender. In 1914, Germany adopted a policy of building submarines, instead of new dreadnoughts and destroyers, effectively abandoning the race, but it kept the new policy secret to delay other powers from following suit. The Agadir crisisv.8. 481-499. The treaty was notably less harsh than treaties that ended the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War and World War Two. Instead, there are multiple causes any one or two of which could have launched the war. Germany in 1874 had a regular professional army of 420,000 with an additional 1.3 million reserves. Spain received British help to build the new Espaa-class battleship. [10] The alliance was gradually built throughout the years from when Bismarck refused the sale of Russian bonds in Berlin, which drove Russia to the Paris capital market. But that does not mean that it was not pointless. Aftermath of World War I and the Rise of Nazism, 1918-1933 Six Causes of World War I. Huge artillery pieces fired with pinpoint accuracy - using only aerial photos and maths they could score a hit on the first shot. Fanfics/Crossovers that initially looked interesting but got worse the Russia was viewed as growing stronger every day, and it was believed that Germany had to strike while it still could before it was crushed by Russia. Each country stockpiled arms and supplies for an army that ran into the millions. It discussed and dismissed ethnicity, race, religion, and national interests as motivations for war. "War was compared to a tonic for a sick patient or a life-saving operation to cut out diseased flesh. Thus, diplomatic overtures conducted after the mobilizations had begun were ignored. Historians have cautioned that taken together, the preceding crises should not be seen as an argument that a European war was inevitable in 1914. longterm causes of WW1, namely Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism, all played their part in the road to war; as did the infamous spark of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination, and even the Blank Cheque and the Schlieffen Plan, as mentioned above. [109] The debate on the generals of the First World War tends to focus heavily on the British generals, even though other countries certainly produced some spectacularly unsuccessful leaders, such as the Italian General Cadorna, the French General . But it was hardly pointless. reasons why ww1 was pointless World War 1 Dbq Essay - 384 Words | Bartleby [69] Having completed the division of the world among themselves at the beginning of the century, the developed capitalist states would thereafter compete for hegemony in the form of a redivision of those territories, both in the industrialized areas (e.g., "German appetite for Belgium; French appetite for Lorraine"), and in primarily agrarian areas.[68]. For purposes of ultimate emergencies it may be found to have no substance at all. Immediately after the end of hostilities, Anglo-American historians argued that Germany was solely responsible for the start of the war. 6. They also downplay the impact of Weltpolitik and the Anglo-German naval race, which ended in 1911. In this altercation, there was no . World War I Timeline From 1914 to 1919. Equally, the French insisted that the Russians should not use the alliance to provoke Austria-Hungary or Germany in the Balkans and that France did not recognize in the Balkans a vital strategic interest for France or Russia. If they were lucky they would avoid a big offensive, and much of the time conditions might be better than at home. But there is no evidence that Germany laid claim to any territory outside of its 1914 borders. Save. Decisions for war, 1914-1917. The Balkan Wars in 19121913 increased international tension between Russia and Austria-Hungary. Furthermore, evidence can be found from the Austro-Hungarian stock market, which responded to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand with unease but no sense of alarm and only a small decrease in share value. [citation needed]. The Germans assumed that Russia had decided upon war and that its mobilisation put Germany in danger, especially since because German war plans, the so-called Schlieffen Plan, relied upon Germany to mobilise speedily enough to defeat France first by attacking largely through neutral Belgium before it turned to defeat the slower-moving Russians. A map showing World War One alliances. By setting it apart as uniquely awful we are blinding ourselves to the reality of not just WW1 but war in general. ", Clark concluded, "In the minds of many statesmen, the hope for a short war and the fear of a long one seemed to have cancelled each other out, holding at bay a fuller appreciation of the risks."[103]. The fact is, at 1913 Germany was on the verge of world domination. It was largely unoccupied and financial reparations were linked to its ability to pay, which mostly went unenforced anyway. Gary Sheffield is professor of war studies at the University of . The toppling of the Russian monarchy and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire created a balkanized Europe that, as recently as the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over strife-torn Ukraine, pains us still. The unflappable archduke pressed on with the days program, visiting City Hall and enduring the embarrassed mayors official welcome. Versailles was not harsh but was portrayed as such by Hitler, who sought to create a tidal wave of anti-Versailles sentiment on which he could then ride into power. [99], The main Russian goals included strengthening its role as the protector of Eastern Christians in the Balkans, such as in Serbia. It basically said, "If you want to, we will help you in the effort of helping you regain some of your lost territories from the United States. Eton alone lost more than 1,000 former pupils - 20% of those who served. What were the reasons America entered World War 1? "Germany and France before the First World War: a reassessment of Wilhelmine foreign policy. Jules Cambon, the French ambassador to Berlin (19071914), worked hard to secure a dtente, but French leaders decided that Berlin was trying to weaken the Triple Entente and was not sincere in seeking peace. 2023 BBC. The British diplomat Arthur Nicolson wrote in May 1914, "Since I have been at the Foreign Office I have not seen such calm waters. And here's the really embarrassing part: Conversely, Germany had a few unprofitable colonies, and Austria-Hungary had no overseas holdings or desire to secure any. The poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon; the image of troops as lions led by donkeys; and the poisonous consequences of the peace have all made the struggle seem to many a colossal waste. [23] Scenes of mass "war euphoria" were often doctored for propaganda purposes, and even the scenes which were genuine would not reflect the general population. Britain and France therefore had by far the most colonial territory at the start of the war, but this meant that the development of their domestic industries had slowed considerably, and their national wealth was now predominantly achieved through a return on financial investments (i.e., export of capital) in their colonies rather than through purchase on the global market of their domestically manufactured goods (i.e., export of commodities). They scoffed at the notion that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was much more than a pretext. And we have carried on pedalling canards ever since. Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon Mulligan, William. Men from higher social statuses became officers. Canada and the Battle of the Somme | The Canadian Encyclopedia David Herrmann goes further by arguing that the fear that "windows of opportunity for victorious wars" were closing, "the arms race did precipitate the First World War." The Origins of World War I. Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp.27-29, Hamilton, Richard F., and Holger H. Herwig. The assassination is significant because it was perceived by Austria-Hungary as an existential challenge and so was viewed as providing a casus belli with Serbia. Naturally, some generals were not up to the job, but others were brilliant, such as Arthur Currie, a middle-class Canadian failed insurance broker and property developer. Decisions for war, 1914-1917. The wounded archduke begged his unconscious wife to stay alive for their children, but within the hour both were dead. The territories together formed what was later known as Italian Libya. The Russian ambassador conveyed Poincare's message as saying that "if Russia wages war, France also wages war. More than a third of German males born between 1892 and 1895 died in the course of the war. To pinpoint a single assassination as the cause of this war would be historically inaccurate and unfair, for a chain of events prior to and after the incident also played a part. While Russia eagerly pursued colonisation in East Asia by seizing control of Manchuria, it had little gain in wealth; the Manchurian population was never sufficiently integrated into the Russian economy, and efforts to make Manchuria a captive trade market did not end Russia's trade deficit with China. Vol. Viewpoint: 10 big myths about World War One debunked - BBC Forward Partners a 2021 IPO dog or a very cheap AIM stock? World War I Timeline From 1914 to 1919. The war, while it's causes juvenile, it's commanders incompetent, and it's methods brutal, was not pointless. Remarkably, absentee rates due to sickness, an important barometer of a unit's morale, were hardly above those of peacetime. Prof Gary Sheffield - professor of war studies, University of Wolverhampton. [107], However, Schroeder argues that all of that was not the main cause of the war in 1914. That move was prompted by Russia's need for an ally since it was experiencing a major famine and a rise in antigovernment revolutionary activities. War was no longer noble, even as some of the men who fought it were noble beyond compare. It tended to glorify warfare, the taking of initiative, and the warrior male role.[86]. Some folks say that our gallant Tommies died fighting for Democracy. 4. It demanded for Serbia to evacuate from Albania within eight days. Most Americans Agree That WWII Was Justified. Recent - FiveThirtyEight Men lived in the trenches for years on end, 6. Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Russia, and some smaller countries set up conscription systems in which young men would serve from one to three years in the army and then spend the next twenty years or so in the reserves with annual summer training. Germany's army collapsed as a series of mighty allied blows scythed through supposedly impregnable defences. He did so to avoid arrest for evading his military service obligation to Habsburg Austria. However, anti-German sentiment remained. The conclusion was that any war with Russia had to occur within the next few years to have any chance of success.[42]. However, France was smaller than Germany in terms of population and industry and therefore many French felt insecure next to a more powerful neighbor. They agreed to protect each other. That official policy was temporized by the political necessity of simultaneously and clandestinely supporting dreams of a Greater Serbian state in the long term. Like any war, it all comes down to luck. Why Did the US Enter World War I? - HISTORY The Serbian government, having failed to get Albania, now demanded for the other spoils of the First Balkan War to be reapportioned, and Russia failed to pressure Serbia to back down. Only a general mobilization could be carried out successfully. Michael Bishop on a new history. Trench warfare is a form of static, defensive warfare. The annexation caused widespread resentment in France, giving rise to the desire for revenge that was known as revanchism. Conservative estimates of the dead in the 14-year Taiping rebellion start at between 20 million and 30 million. In World War 1; why did the countries continue to fight, even - Quora For the Entente is nothing more than a frame of mind, a view of general policy which is shared by the governments of two countries, but which may be, or become, so vague as to lose all content."[27]. United States enters World War I (video) | Khan Academy ", Karpat, Kemal H. "The entry of the Ottoman empire into World War I. 384 Words; 2 Pages; Open Document. The word tragedy means an intensely sad, calamitous, fatal event of course of events; disaster. Why did the US enter World War I? : News Center Causes of World War I - Wikipedia The interventionists sought to use the Triple Entente to contain German expansion. Rhetorically speaking, there was an expectation that the war would be "over by Christmas" in 1914. Units, often wet, cold and exposed to the enemy, would quickly lose their morale if they spent too much time in the trenches. He breaks down the financing of the U.S. war effort as follows: 22 percent in taxes, 58 percent through borrowings from the public, and 20 percent in money creation. Was World War I a necessary fight against German militarism, or was it completely avoidable? ", Ulrich Trumpener, "Liman von Sanders and the German-Ottoman alliance.". Ferguson argues, "So decisive was the British victory in the naval arms race that it is hard to regard it as in any meaningful sense a cause of the First World War. How Bad Were the First World War Generals? - dummies Was World War I pointless? - Quora But As they drove in an open car on a riverside quay, the terrorists clutched pistols and bombs in their various places along the river. A race riot is a mob-related domestic disturbance in which specific racial groups are targeted for violence. By the summer of 1918 the British army was probably at its best ever and it inflicted crushing defeats on the Germans. That's around 11.5%. In fact, in the decade before the war, the Habsburg lands passed through a phase of strong widely shared economic growth. Even though Russia had faced massive industrial unrest . That changed in the last 18 to 24 months before the outbreak of the war. Among the immediate causes were the decisions made by statesmen and generals during the July Crisis, which was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip, who had been supported by a nationalist organization in Serbia. The American historian Paul Schroeder agrees with the critics that Fisher exaggerated and misinterpreted many points. The American historian Raymond James Sontag argues that Agadir was a comedy of errors that became a tragic prelude to the World War I: In the Italo-Turkish War, the Kingdom of Italy defeated the Ottoman Empire in North Africa in 19111912. It is claimed that Caprivi recognized a personal inability to manage the European system as his predecessor had and so was counseled by contemporary figures such as Friedrich von Holstein to follow a more logical approach, as opposed to Bismarck's complex and even duplicitous strategy. 5. Once the war broke out, world power became Germany's essential goal. As good history must, The Sleepwalkers abounds with ironies: The royal visit to Sarajevo occurred on the 14th anniversary of the morganatic oath sworn by the archduke to secure his sovereigns reluctant consent to marry his betrothed. World War I in Eastern Europe: The war didn't end for everyone in 1918. [17], After Bismarck's removal in 1890, French efforts to isolate Germany became successful. The main significance for World War I was that it was now clear that no Great Power still appeared to wish to support the Ottoman Empire, which paved the way for the Balkan Wars. Moreover, the Russians were again threatening British interests in Persia and India. In 1908, Austria-Hungary announced its annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, provinces in the Balkans. Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp.242, Hamilton, Richard F., and Holger H. Herwig, eds. You may witness unimaginable horrors that leave you mentally and physically incapacitated for life, or you might get away without a scrape. For the British there was meat every day - a rare luxury back home - cigarettes, tea and rum, part of a daily diet of more than 4,000 calories. Germany's battleships had been bottled up by the Royal Navy until their crews mutinied rather than make a suicidal attack against the British fleet. Jean-Marie Mayeur, and Madeleine Rebirioux, Samuel R. Williamson Jr., "German Perceptions of the Triple Entente after 1911: Their Mounting Apprehensions Reconsidered,". It was the greed of rich belligerents trying to get richer. Russian Growth. In 1969, A. J. P. Taylor wrote that mobilization schedules were so rigid that once they were begun, they could not be canceled without massive disruption of the country and military disorganisation, and they could not proceed without physical invasion (of Belgium by Germany).