World War I -overview

The conflict that tore the world apart Good day to all of you, I am pleased to see that so many people have attended my lecture. However, if you expected the traditional German bashing you will be disappointed. The story of world war has no defined beginning; the underlying causes reach hundreds of years back when the initial hatred and alliances were established. If you wish to blame the war on one thing then it would be the alliance system that transformed a local war into a worldwide conflict. Yes, the countries already hated each other and shared a history of hostilities. Like the Moroccan crisis, that only worsened the hate between France and Germany. However there still was a chance of averting the world war if not for the many crucial mistakes made by the world leaders at the time. Some people say that it all started with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. It is like saying that rain starts when you can feel it on your skin, when actually it starts underground when the water evaporates to transform into clouds. And it was the same with World War I. It started underground; Secret treaties, not so secret plan to assassinate the heir to the throne, and those tricky alliances. Of course no great power wanted a worldwide war but every single country had someone that they wouldn’t mind fighting to accomplish some kind of idealistic goal. Serbia with its noble cause to unite all Serbians, failed to stop the badly planned assassination and AustriaHungary used it as an excuse to start war. The domino effect: Who started it? Austria-Hungary. Foremost a country composed of so many different ethnicities that yearn for their very own country is a war on its own. A-H completely blamed the Serbian government for the assassination, even though they were warned in a very vague way that something bad may happen. Unfortunately the warning was ignored. Germany was forced to support A-H as it was their only ally that actually mattered, however they made a mistake of giving A-H a blank cheque. A perfect opportunity for a small war with Serbia. To accomplish that A-H created an ultimatum, which consisted of six clauses that were unacceptable because they were challenging Serbia’s sovereignty. It was pretty predictable that Serbia would decline the proposal. Meanwhile Russia cautioned Austria that she would support Serbia along with France, while Britain stayed neutral. Germany realized the extend of the conflict and urged Austria-Hungary to back down but it was too late for that, Serbia had already started to mobilize for war. Secretly Russia was mobilizing as well. The Entente powers were suspicious of Germany and held her partially responsible for the Austrian conflict. France had a grudge against Germany

for taking Alsace-Lorraine and was eager to mobilize against her. Germany was surrounded by mobilized countries and old enemies, while having the biggest army that gave them confidence and determination. Germany was the last one to mobilize. Finally when it was clear that war had just started Britain confirmed her alliance with France. The brilliant military tactics: World war one can be characterized by the carelessness of the leaders for the human lives. Everybody’s main tactic was to wear down the enemy no matter the cost. Europe has not seen a war for too long, and the brute force of the new industrialized warfare was a rude awakening for many people. Germany was well aware of a possible twofront war in order to avoid it they created the Schlieffen Plan; quick defeat of France through Belgium and then retreat to Eastern front to fight Russia. This plan had a lot of potential and was much more ambitious than the French 17 attempts to create a plan and ending up with a head on invasion of Germany. Nevertheless, Germany did not consider several important factors that led to the plan’s failure. Russia and France mobilized much faster than expected. Great Britain joined the war immediately after the invasion of Belgium; faulty changes made to the Schlieffen plan by a German general. The plan was very successful in the first weeks of the war but soon a dreadful stalemate resulted. Germans changed to the defensive position and moved their army to the eastern front where they defeated Russians. French started to believe that the victory could only be accomplished on the western front. General Joffre wanted a joined French-British attack at Somme but this didn’t go exactly as planned. Major battles: Verdun was a sentimental location for French and they would defend it at all costs. General Falkenhayn chose a very favourable location for Germans to attack due to the weak French defence. His strategy was to start an assault with a great number of people and hope that French would die out first. Still, in a couple months Germans were forced to defend themselves due to the allied premature attacks on other fronts. Initially the surprise attacks gave British an advantage but they lacked reserves to keep the advantage that was soon lost. On the western front French morale was extremely low therefore the British were forced to move to the first line in attempt to finish off the German army. This undertook costly campaigns at Ypres and Passchendaele. Slow collapse of empires: Meanwhile Russia was having a major crisis. The Tsar family became extremely unpopular with the people because of the unsuccessful war efforts. The only campaign that succeeded was the Brusilov offensive. The key to its success was a surprise attack, however other offensives resulted in many casualties and the Tsar family had to pay the price. They were overthrown and later executed by a new communist government that immediately negotiated an armistice with Germany. Germany was starving due to the British blockade of the seas. Civilians wanted the war to end but the leaders still believed that they could win so

the final desperate offensive was planned. Ludendorff devised a plan to wipe the enemy out. The attack had to be quick since they were all well aware that once the Americans would come, with fresh reserves the war would be lost. Due to the efficiency of the plan, Germans made a rush decision and proclaimed a victory too early. British defeated Germany with a crushing force with the aid of US. With Germany losing ground, her allies started to fall along with Germany having finally enough and agreeing to sign the armistice. The “peace” conference and treaties: One thing is for sure, the peace will not last. The treaty of Versailles is utterly offensive and unfair. Allies especially France needed someone to blame and getting money from non-existent empires would be pretty hard, so they forced Germany to accept full war guild and heavy reparations while Germans are still starving. That is not the answer Europe is in ruin in every aspect and no nation can afford to pay reparations. I must agree with Woodrow Wilson completely. War guild will lead to future bitterness. I do not think that there is one guilty nation who started the war, everyone is responsible. I also believe in equal demilitarisation, if not the uneven distribution of power and desire to gain new territory, the war would not have started. Nevertheless the post war treaties satisfied some countries; Austria-Hungary was dissolved even before the Paris conference, and a number of crucial countries emerged including Poland and Czechoslovakia. The war lasted 4 years and 3 months, it was the biggest conflict the world had seen, hopefully Wilson’s solutions will be used and the future conflicts will be solved peacefully.