In our last video we discussed some of the long-term causes of the first World War, looking
at 3 of the long-term causes, including the creation of Germany and the shift in the balance
of power that that entailed.
Tensions and resentments in the West caused largely by the creation of Germany and tension
and resentment in the East caused by the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
In this video we will talk about the last of the long-term causes, the Alliance System
– capital A, capital S – that was a response to these tensions that existed within Europe.
By the turn of the century, Europe was divided into 2 armed camps – the triple alliance
and the triple entente that were – that basically set the stage for the first World
War.
So we want to talk about the creation of that Alliance System, and our story starts with
Germany.
After the creation of Germany, Otto von Bismarck – the chancellor, had wanted to create special
relationships to protect this new nation.
He wanted to secure peace and to establish protection against the rivalries with France
and the rivalries with Britain that he thought were a threat to Germany.
The first attempt at this kind of alliance or this kind of protection was the Three Emperors’
League, but that fell apart after the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 and 78 because of resentment over
the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin that divided up large parts of the
Balkans between the European powers.
The failure of the Three Emperors’ League was concerning to Germany because Germany
– being in the center of Europe – always faces this potential threat of fighting a
two-front war.
They wanted to avoid that two-front war by establishing these large alliances, this kind
of monolithic block in Central Europe by allying with other countries.
So they would establish the kind of first step in this central alliance by creating
something known as the Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary.
This said that if either Austria-Hungary or Germany were attacked by Russia, the other
would defend.
The Dual Alliance was renewed every 5 years until 1918, and in 1882 Italy asked to join
the Dual Alliance and eventually did so, creating the Triple Alliance.
This effectively isolated France.
Bismarck believed, the German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck believed that Russia would
never ally with republican France or increasingly democratic Britain, and at first he was right.
His formation of the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary did bring Russia back to the negotiating table.
In 1884, they renewed the Three Emperors’ League, but continued struggles in the Balkans
soured relations between Russia and Austria-Hungary and the Three Emperors’ League died again
in 1887.
The Triple Alliance was renewed and Bismarck negotiated a secret alliance with Russia known
as the Reinsurance Treaty.
The Reinsurance Treaty argued, or established, an agreement that both sides would remain
neutral if either was attacked.
Germany supported Russia’s fear of influence in Bulgaria and recognized Russian control
over the Black Sea.
In other words, the secret alliance didn’t necessarily go along with their public alliance
with Austria – and as is often the case in foreign relations and diplomacy, secrets
didn’t remain secret for very long.
Germany’s actions made France very nervous.
So France began to look for allies to protect them against a German attack.
In 1894, Russia and France formed an alliance, a defensive alliance against German aggression.
Britain – at first, held itself in what they called ‘splendid isolation’ meaning
that they were above the policies of the continent.
But German actions increasingly began to threaten British superiority and British power in Europe
and in their colonies in Africa, and so relations between Britain and Germany got progressively
worse.
So in 1904, England and France signed what would become known as the Entente Cordiale,
which was an understanding of mutual support – but not a firm commitment.
This was followed in 1907 by the Anglo-Russian entente that established a similar understanding
of support between Britain and Russia.
This completed the creation of the Triple Entente, which was one of the armed camps
in Europe and was facing off against the Triple Alliance.
So the Triple Entente included Britain; Russia; and France – and the Triple Alliance was
made up of Germany; Austria-Hungary; and Italy.
Europe had been divided into 2 armed camps and all it was going to take was the smallest
spark for that domino, that kind of domino system, to fall into place.
Unsurprisingly, that spark came in the Balkans – specifically in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Bosnia-Herzegovina was a Slavic territory in the Balkans that was given over to Austria-Hungary
to control by the Treaty of Berlin.
Nationalism was growing in the Balkans and in Bosnia-Herzegovina as these nationalists
wanted to break free of both Ottoman control and Austrian control.
On June 28, 1914 the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated
by a Serbian political terrorist group known as the Black Hand.
This shocked Europe and the rest of the world, many of whom believed that the Black Hand
wasn’t working alone.
Instead, they believed that the Black Hand was working at the behest of the Serbian government
and many believed that Austria had the right to respond.
Germany upheld its alliance with Austria-Hungary, issuing what would become known as the ‘blank
check’, which was an agreement to support Austria-Hungary in their war against Serbia
at any cost.
They urged them to move swiftly and to use public opinion against Serbia so that they
could win the war; they could defeat Serbia before Russia had a chance to mobilize.
Austria-Hungary did not heed this advice, necessarily, and Russia mobilized relatively
quickly to prevent the expansion Austria-Hungarian power into other Slavic lands.
Britain and France urged for peace, but to no success – and in the end, France upheld
its alliance with Russia against Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Germany was now facing that two-front war.
In an effort to avoid or end the two-front war Germany turned to a military strategy
known as the Schlieffen Plan, which would attack – the idea was Germany would attack
France from the north by crossing through Belgium and taking advantage of surprise,
the element of surprise, to defeat France.
Unfortunately, the Schlieffen Plan required the violation of Belgian neutrality – so
Belgium was a neutral country – and crossing through Belgium violated their neutrality,
which protected by treaty with Britain, and that brought Britain into the war.
So by late summer 1914, the Alliance System – the dominoes that had been set up fell
into place, and Europe and their colonies headed for the first World War.
Thank you.