World War I: Causes, events leading to it; Peace settlements | ISC Class 11 History Notes

This note covers the long-term causes of World War I (the alliance system, imperialism, militarism and the arms race, and nationalism), the short-term causes and events from 1908 to 1914, the Paris Peace Settlements and the changes in the map of Europe, and a critical evaluation of the Treaty of Versailles.

What was the background to the First World War?

By 1914 Europe had enjoyed almost a century without a general war, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Yet beneath this calm, rivalries had built up. The Great Powers were Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Italy. Each guarded its own interests and distrusted the others.

Germany had been unified in 1871 under Prussia after the Franco-Prussian War (1870 to 1871), in which France was defeated and lost Alsace and Lorraine. The new German Empire was the strongest industrial power on the continent.

Its ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who came to the throne in 1888, wanted Germany to have "a place in the sun", meaning colonies and a world role equal to Britain's.

The Ottoman Empire, once a great power, was weak and losing territory in the Balkans. Austria-Hungary and Russia both wanted to gain from its decline.

Britain, the greatest colonial and naval power, was anxious to keep its empire and its command of the seas. France wanted to recover Alsace and Lorraine and to protect its position in Europe. These ambitions set the stage for the crisis of 1914.

Definition: A Great Power is a state strong enough to influence the balance of power across Europe and the world. In 1914 the recognised Great Powers were Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Italy.

What were the long-term causes of the war?

Historians usually group the long-term causes under four heads: the alliance system, imperialism, militarism (including the arms race), and nationalism.

The alliance system

Europe was divided into two rival camps. The Triple Alliance of 1882 linked Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

Against it stood the Triple Entente, which grew from the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894 and the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France in 1904.

In 1907 Britain and Russia settled their disputes in Persia and Central Asia, completing the Triple Entente.

The alliance system turned a local quarrel into a general war. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in 1914, Russia mobilised to protect Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia and France, and Britain entered when Germany invaded Belgium. Each ally was drawn in by its obligations.

Imperialism

Imperialism is the policy of extending a country's power by acquiring colonies and controlling other lands. Between 1870 and 1914 the European powers competed fiercely for territory in Africa and Asia, a period often called the Scramble for Africa.

Germany, unified late, had few colonies and resented Britain and France, who held large empires.

The two Moroccan Crises showed how colonial rivalry could threaten war. In the First Moroccan Crisis of 1905 to 1906, Germany objected to French control of Morocco; the Algeciras Conference of 1906 settled the matter in France's favour.

In the Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911, Germany sent the gunboat Panther to the port of Agadir, and was again forced to back down. Each crisis deepened German resentment.

Militarism and the arms race

Militarism is the belief that a nation should build up its armed forces and be ready to use them. All the Great Powers increased their armies and navies. Germany's Schlieffen Plan, drawn up by 1905, planned a rapid attack on France through Belgium before turning on Russia.

The naval race was sharpest between Britain and Germany. Britain's HMS Dreadnought, launched in 1906, began a new class of powerful battleships. Germany answered by building its own dreadnoughts, and Britain responded by building more. Each side feared being outbuilt.

Nationalism

Nationalism is loyalty to one's own nation and the desire for it to be independent and powerful. In the Balkans, subject peoples such as the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians wanted freedom from the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires.

Serbia wanted to unite all South Slavs, which threatened Austria-Hungary. This intense Balkan nationalism earned the region the name "the powder keg of Europe".

Nationalism also drove the great powers themselves. Pan-Slavism, the idea that all Slav peoples belonged together, led Russia to see itself as the protector of Serbia and the other Slav states of the Balkans. Pan-Germanism, the idea that all German-speaking peoples should be united and that Germany deserved a greater place in the world, encouraged German support for Austria-Hungary against the Slavs.

In France, many people wanted revenge for the defeat of 1870 to 1871 and the return of Alsace-Lorraine. In each country, public opinion stirred up by the popular press made governments less willing to back down in a crisis.

Why did events from 1908 to 1914 lead to war?

A series of crises in these years raised tension and made war more likely.

The Bosnian Crisis of 1908

In 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, provinces with many Serbs. Serbia protested, and Russia, Serbia's protector, was humiliated when Germany backed Austria. The crisis left Serbia and Russia determined to settle scores.

The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913

The Italo-Turkish War of 1911 to 1912, in which Italy seized Libya from the Ottoman Empire, exposed Ottoman weakness and encouraged the Balkan states to attack the empire.

In the First Balkan War (1912), Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro drove the Ottoman Empire out of most of its European lands. In the Second Balkan War (1913), the victors quarrelled over the spoils and fought each other. Serbia emerged larger and stronger, alarming Austria-Hungary.

The peace settlements of 1913 did not settle the region. The Treaty of London (May 1913), which ended the First Balkan War, left the victors quarrelling over Macedonia, and the great powers recognised an independent Albania partly to keep Serbia from reaching the Adriatic Sea. The Treaty of Bucharest (August 1913), which ended the Second Balkan War, took most of Bulgaria's gains and left it bitter, while Serbia nearly doubled in size.

Austria-Hungary now saw Serbia as a direct danger to its own empire, and Russia, which had backed down over Bosnia in 1908, was unwilling to back down again. These unsettled quarrels made the next Balkan crisis far more dangerous.

The assassination at Sarajevo

On 28 June 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated at Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a young Bosnian Serb of the Young Bosnia movement, armed with the help of the Serbian nationalist secret society the Black Hand. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia.

The July Crisis

Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum on 23 July 1914. Serbia accepted most of its terms but not all. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.

Russia mobilised, Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August and on France on 3 August, and invaded Belgium. Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914.

Note: A common confusion is to think the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the cause of the war. It was the spark. The underlying causes were the alliance system, imperialism, militarism and nationalism, which had built up over many years.

What were the Paris Peace Settlements?

The peace conference opened in Paris in January 1919. The leading figures were the "Big Four": Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and Vittorio Orlando of Italy. Germany and the other defeated powers were not allowed to negotiate.

The main settlement with Germany was the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919.

Separate treaties dealt with the other defeated states: the Treaty of Saint-Germain with Austria (1919), the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary (1920), the Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria (1919) and the Treaty of Sèvres with the Ottoman Empire (1920).

The terms of the other treaties

The Treaty of Saint-Germain (10 September 1919) left Austria a small German-speaking republic. Austria recognised the independence of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), gave South Tyrol and Trieste to Italy, was forbidden to unite with Germany and could keep an army of no more than 30,000 men.

The Treaty of Trianon (4 June 1920) cost Hungary about two-thirds of its territory. Transylvania went to Romania, Slovakia to Czechoslovakia and Croatia to Yugoslavia, leaving more than three million Hungarians outside the new borders. Its army was limited to 35,000 men.

The Treaty of Neuilly (27 November 1919) took Western Thrace from Bulgaria, which lost its outlet to the Aegean Sea when the region passed to Greece, and gave small border districts to Yugoslavia. Bulgaria had to pay reparations and keep an army of no more than 20,000 men.

The Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920) took the Arab lands from the Ottoman Empire as mandates, put the Straits under international control, gave Eastern Thrace to Greece, placed the Smyrna region under Greek administration and recognised an independent Armenia. Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal rejected it, and the Treaty of Lausanne replaced it in 1923.

Definition: The Paris Peace Settlements were the series of treaties signed after the First World War that fixed the terms of peace with the defeated powers and redrew the map of Europe.

How did the peace settlements change the map of Europe?

The settlements broke up the old empires and created new states.

The break-up of empires

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved. The Russian Empire lost territory in the west. The Ottoman Empire lost its Arab provinces, which became mandates administered by Britain and France.

New and enlarged states

Poland was recreated and given a corridor to the sea, the Polish Corridor, which separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were created. Romania gained territory. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became independent. Finland became independent.

Territorial changes

France recovered Alsace and Lorraine. Germany lost its colonies, which became mandates. The Rhineland was demilitarised. The Saar was placed under League control for fifteen years.

Germany also lost Northern Schleswig to Denmark after a plebiscite in 1920, Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium, and West Prussia and Posen to Poland. Danzig became a Free City under the League, and Memel was placed under Allied control until Lithuania seized it in 1923.

Italy gained South Tyrol, Trieste and Istria from Austria, and Romania roughly doubled in size, gaining Transylvania from Hungary.

What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

The treaty dealt with Germany under several heads.

Territorial terms

Germany ceded Alsace and Lorraine to France, gave up the Polish Corridor, and lost all its colonies. The Rhineland was demilitarised.

Military terms

The German army was limited to 100,000 men, with no conscription, no tanks, no military aircraft and a small navy. Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria, an arrangement called Anschluss.

Financial terms

Germany was made to accept responsibility for the war in the War Guilt Clause, Article 231. It was ordered to pay reparations, fixed in 1921 at 132 billion gold marks.

The League of Nations

The League of Nations was set up as an international body to keep the peace. Germany was not allowed to join at first.

Note: The War Guilt Clause is often confused with the reparations figure. The clause fixed responsibility for the war; the reparations figure was the sum Germany had to pay.

How is the Treaty of Versailles evaluated?

The treaty has been criticised on several grounds.

It was harsh on Germany

Germans called it a Diktat, a dictated peace, because they had no say in it. The loss of territory, the military limits and the reparations caused deep resentment and economic hardship. Many historians argue this helped the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

It failed to satisfy the victors

France wanted Germany weakened further; Britain thought the treaty too harsh and likely to breed revenge. Italy was disappointed at gaining little territory. The United States refused to join the League and signed a separate peace with Germany in 1921.

It weakened the League

The League had no army and depended on the Great Powers. The absence of the United States and the exclusion of Germany and Russia at first weakened it.

It created new problems

The new states contained large minority populations, and the Polish Corridor separated German territory. These arrangements stored up future disputes.

What can be said in its defence?

The treaty also has defenders. Germany remained a united state and kept most of its industry; it lost about 13 per cent of its European territory and about 10 per cent of its population.

The terms were milder than those Germany itself had imposed on Russia at Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, which took away about a third of Russia's population.

Reparations were reduced by the Dawes Plan of 1924 and the Young Plan of 1929, and only a fraction of the total was ever paid before payments were ended at the Lausanne Conference of 1932.

The peacemakers also worked under real limits. They had to balance French demands for security, British interests and Wilson's principle of self-determination, while voters in Britain and France demanded that Germany pay. Self-determination did give independence to Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, South Slavs and the Baltic peoples.

How have historians judged it?

The economist John Maynard Keynes, who attended the conference, attacked the reparations as ruinous in The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), and his view shaped opinion for decades.

Later historians such as Margaret MacMillan, in Peacemakers (2001), argue that the treaty was a reasonable compromise in difficult conditions and that the failure to enforce it in the 1930s mattered more than its terms.

A balanced answer weighs both views: the treaty was harsh enough to anger Germany but not strong enough to keep it down.

How do the long-term and short-term causes differ?

The two kinds of cause worked together. The long-term causes made the Powers suspicious and armed; the short-term crises showed how easily that suspicion could turn into war.

Without the alliance system, a quarrel between Austria-Hungary and Serbia might have stayed local. Without the Balkan crises, the assassination at Sarajevo might not have led to a general war.

Historians therefore usually treat the long-term causes as the conditions that made war possible and the short-term causes as the events that made it happen.

Timeline of the war and the peace

The table shows how the crises came faster and faster after 1904. Each crisis was settled, but each settlement left one power resentful. The final crisis of July 1914 was settled not by a conference but by war.

What sources tell us about the causes and the peace

Historians rely on several kinds of evidence. Official documents such as the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia of 23 July 1914 and the German "blank cheque" of support to Austria show how the July Crisis unfolded.

Diplomatic records from 1904 to 1907 reveal the bargains behind the Entente Cordiale and the Anglo-Russian Entente. The text of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the other Paris treaties gives the exact terms imposed on the defeated powers.

Memoirs and speeches, such as those of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points of 1918, show the aims of the leaders. Newspapers and photographs from 1914 to 1918 record how the war was reported and remembered.

Together these sources let historians weigh the long-term causes against the short-term ones and judge the settlements.

What were the consequences of the peace settlements?

The peace settlements changed Europe more deeply than any event since 1815.

Four empires disappeared: the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

In their place stood a belt of new or enlarged states, from Finland and the Baltic states in the north to Yugoslavia in the south.

The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 fixed the terms with Germany: the loss of Alsace and Lorraine and of the Polish Corridor, the demilitarised Rhineland, an army of 100,000 men, the War Guilt Clause and reparations fixed in 1921 at 132 billion gold marks.

The other settlements dealt with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. Germany lost its colonies, which became League of Nations mandates administered mainly by Britain and France, with others going to Belgium, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand; the Ottoman Arab provinces became mandates of Britain and France.

The League of Nations was set up to keep the peace, but it had no army and depended on the Great Powers.

Germany was not allowed to join at first, Russia was excluded, and the United States refused to join and signed a separate peace with Germany in 1921.

The new states contained large minority populations, and the Polish Corridor separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany.

Germans called the treaty a Diktat, a dictated peace, and the resentment it caused is often linked to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

The settlement therefore secured a peace that many historians judge to have been fragile from the start.

Note: A common confusion is to treat the armistice of 11 November 1918 as the peace. The armistice only stopped the fighting; the terms of peace were settled at Paris in 1919 and 1920.

Going beyond the syllabus

These ideas extend the unit and are not needed for the questions on it.

The peace settlements are often linked to the causes of the Second World War. The resentment caused by the Treaty of Versailles, the economic hardship of reparations and the weakness of the League are all seen as factors that made another war more likely. The settlement of 1919 also left the map of Europe with new states that contained large minority populations, and disputes over these borders troubled the continent for the next twenty years. The League's inability to act without the Great Powers, and the absence of the United States from it, showed how hard it is to build a lasting peace without the agreement of the strongest states.

How did the war unfold from 1914 to 1918?

Germany's Schlieffen Plan failed when Belgium resisted and Britain joined the war. The German advance was stopped at the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. Both sides then dug in, and a line of trenches ran from the North Sea to Switzerland: the Western Front.

The war became one of attrition, in which each side tried to wear the other down. Huge battles such as Verdun and the Somme in 1916 caused enormous casualties for little gain. New weapons, including machine guns, poison gas, tanks and aircraft, made the fighting deadlier.

Italy, though a member of the Triple Alliance, joined the Allies in 1915. The Ottoman Empire joined Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914.

In 1917 two events changed the war: the Russian Revolution led Russia to leave the war, and the United States entered on the side of the Allies in April 1917.

In 1918 the German offensives failed, the Allies counter-attacked, and Germany sought an armistice. The fighting ended on 11 November 1918.

What different groups took part in the war and the peace?

The Central Powers

Germany and Austria-Hungary formed the core of the Central Powers, joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. They fought on several fronts and sought to expand their influence.

The Ottoman Empire entered the war in 1914 on their side, and Bulgaria joined them later.

Their aim was to break the ring of enemies around them and to win new territory at the expense of Russia and the Balkan states.

The alliance gave Germany allies on two more fronts, in the east and in the south, but it also stretched the Central Powers' resources across a very wide area.

The Allied Powers

Britain, France and Russia formed the core of the Allies, joined by Italy in 1915 and the United States in 1917. They aimed to defeat Germany and restore the balance of power.

Russia left the war after the Russian Revolution of 1917, but the entry of the United States in April 1917 more than made up for the loss.

Italy had been a member of the Triple Alliance but chose to fight on the Allied side.

The Allies also drew on the manpower and resources of their overseas empires, which gave them a lasting advantage in a war of attrition.

The subject peoples

Peoples such as the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles and South Slavs hoped the war would bring independence. Their leaders pressed the peacemakers for new states, and their hopes were largely met in the settlements.

Poland was recreated, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were created, and the Baltic states and Finland became independent. Not every national hope was satisfied, however, and the new states contained large minority populations whose claims were left unsettled.

Glossary

• Alliance: a formal agreement between states to support each other, usually in war.
• Imperialism: the policy of extending a country's power by acquiring colonies and controlling other lands.
• Militarism: the belief that a nation should build up its armed forces and be ready to use them.
• Nationalism: loyalty to one's own nation and the desire for it to be independent and powerful.
• Entente: a friendly understanding between states, less formal than an alliance.
• Reparations: payments demanded from a defeated state to make good the damage it caused.
• Mandate: territory administered by a power on behalf of the League of Nations.
• Diktat: a dictated peace, imposed without negotiation.
• Armistice: an agreement to stop fighting, short of a formal peace treaty.
• Attrition: a strategy of wearing down the enemy by causing steady losses.
• Powder keg: a nickname for the Balkans, meaning a region ready to explode into war.
• Great Power: a state strong enough to influence the balance of power across Europe.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: The assassination at Sarajevo caused the war. Correct: It was the spark; the underlying causes were the alliance system, imperialism, militarism and nationalism.
• Misconception: Italy fought with Germany because of the Triple Alliance. Correct: Italy joined the Allies in 1915.
• Misconception: The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1918. Correct: It was signed on 28 June 1919.
• Misconception: The United States joined the League of Nations. Correct: The United States refused to join.
• Misconception: The War Guilt Clause fixed the reparations figure. Correct: The clause fixed responsibility; the reparations figure was set separately in 1921.
• Misconception: Germany was allowed to negotiate the treaty. Correct: Germany was not allowed to negotiate; the treaty was a Diktat.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. State any two long-term causes of the First World War. [2 marks]

1. The alliance system divided Europe into the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, so a local quarrel drew in the Great Powers.
2. Militarism and the arms race, especially the naval race between Britain and Germany, made war seem a ready instrument of policy.

Q2. Explain how the alliance system helped turn a local quarrel into a general war. [4 marks]

1. Europe was divided into the Triple Alliance of 1882 and the Triple Entente, completed in 1907.
2. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914, Russia mobilised to protect Serbia.
3. Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August and on France on 3 August 1914.
4. Britain entered on 4 August when Germany invaded Belgium, so the obligations of alliance spread the war across Europe.

Q3. Distinguish between the long-term and short-term causes of the war. [4 marks]

1. Long-term causes built up over decades before 1914; short-term causes were the events from 1908 to 1914.
2. Long-term causes were underlying pressures such as alliances, imperialism, militarism and nationalism.
3. Short-term causes were immediate crises such as the Bosnian Crisis of 1908 and the Balkan Wars of 1912 to 1913.
4. The July Crisis of 1914, beginning with the assassination at Sarajevo, turned tension into war.

Q4. State any four terms of the Treaty of Versailles. [4 marks]

1. Germany ceded Alsace and Lorraine to France and gave up the Polish Corridor.
2. The German army was limited to 100,000 men, with no conscription, tanks or military aircraft.
3. Germany accepted the War Guilt Clause and was ordered to pay reparations.
4. The Rhineland was demilitarised and Germany lost its colonies.

Q5. Evaluate the Treaty of Versailles as a peace settlement. [8 marks]

1. The treaty was harsh on Germany: it lost territory, faced military limits and had to pay reparations.
2. Germans called it a Diktat because they had no say in it, and resentment ran deep.
3. The economic hardship caused by reparations and territorial loss helped the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.
4. France wanted Germany weakened further, while Britain thought the treaty too harsh and likely to breed revenge.
5. Italy was disappointed at gaining little territory, and the United States refused to join the League.
6. The League had no army and depended on the Great Powers, so it was weak from the start.
7. The new states contained large minority populations, and the Polish Corridor separated German territory.
8. In its defence, Germany kept its unity and most of its industry, the terms were milder than those Germany had imposed on Russia at Brest-Litovsk in 1918, and reparations were later reduced, so a balanced judgement is that it was a flawed compromise that stored up disputes for the future.

Q6. How did the peace settlements change the map of Europe? [8 marks]

1. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved, leaving Austria and Hungary as small separate states, and the Russian Empire lost territory in the west.
2. Poland was recreated and given the Polish Corridor to the sea, which separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany.
3. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were created as new states.
4. Romania gained territory, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became independent.
5. Finland became independent of Russia.
6. France recovered Alsace and Lorraine, lost to Germany in 1871, and the Saar was placed under the League for fifteen years.
7. Germany lost its colonies, which became mandates, and the Rhineland was demilitarised.
8. The Ottoman Empire lost its Arab provinces, which became mandates.

Key takeaways

• The war had four long-term causes: the alliance system, imperialism, militarism and nationalism.
• The Triple Alliance of 1882 faced the Triple Entente, completed in 1907, and each camp drew the other into war.
• The naval race between Britain and Germany, begun by HMS Dreadnought in 1906, was the sharpest form of militarism.
• Balkan nationalism, with Serbia seeking to unite the South Slavs, made the region the powder keg of Europe.
• The crises from the Bosnian Crisis of 1908 to Sarajevo in 1914 turned tension into a general war.
• The Paris Peace Settlements were a series of treaties, of which the Treaty of Versailles with Germany was the chief.
• The settlements dissolved four empires and created new states such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
• The Treaty of Versailles was called a Diktat and criticised as harsh, and the League it created was weak.

Test yourself

Which two alliances divided Europe in 1914?

The Triple Alliance of 1882 (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) and the Triple Entente, completed in 1907.

When was the Treaty of Versailles signed?

On 28 June 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference.

What was the War Guilt Clause?

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, which made Germany accept responsibility for the war.

Who assassinated Franz Ferdinand?

Gavrilo Princip, a young Bosnian Serb armed with the help of the Serbian secret society the Black Hand, at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.

What was the Polish Corridor?

A strip of land giving Poland access to the sea, which separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany.

Why was the League of Nations weak?

It had no army and depended on the Great Powers, and the United States refused to join.