it was called the war to end all wars
unfortunately world war one didn't
deliver on that promise
it was however the first time in the
history of planet earth that nations
from around the world
fought in a single war it started with
an assassination
and a series of questionable decisions
we can point fingers and play the blame
game
but really there is no single person or
country that holds all of the
responsibility
could the war that killed millions have
been prevented most
definitely let's take a look at what
caused the great war
explore how it could have been prevented
and learn how to not repeat the mistakes
of the past
world war one lasted from 1914 to 1918
and included countries in europe russia
the united states
and countries in the middle east the two
main sides of the war were the central
powers which consisted of germany
austria-hungary italy the ottoman empire
and bulgaria
who fought against the allied powers of
france britain
russia portugal and japan later in the
war the united states would also join
the side of the allies
but what happened why did all of these
nations get involved in one of the most
disastrous wars in history
let's explore the mechanisms and
missteps that led to the first world war
although there were many players in
world war 1 the conflict started with
serbia and austria-hungary
the serbian government was eager to
claim more territory for the nation
serbia was already in a state of
aggression due to the balkan wars that
just ended a year before the start of
world war one
after the balkan war serbian
nationalists wanted to liberate the
south slavs of austria-hungary
thus unifying the slavic peoples under
one nation
the extreme nationalism led to the
assassination of the archduke franz
ferdinand who was
heir to the austria-hungarian empire at
11 15 am on june 28
1914 franz ferdinand and his wife sophie
duchess of hollenberg
were shot to death in sarajevo bosnia by
gabriello princip
princip was a serbian extremist who had
connections to a secret society called
the black hand
the assassination was the match that
ignited the first world war
however there were many other factors
that led to the powder keg that would
explode
should the assassination of franz
ferdinand have led to an all-out war
probably not there's more to the story
here in the shadows lurked kaiser
wilhelm ii
who may as well be much to blame as
gavrilo princip
in starting world war one wilhelm ii was
the leader of germany and he was
diabolical
kaiser wilhelm ii wanted a strong
germany that dominated europe both
economically and militarily and strength
he did not want russia or great britain
to have more influence and power than he
did
therefore wilhelm ii allied himself and
germany with austria-hungary
he knew that if austria-hungary went to
war with serbia then russia would come
to serbia's aid
this would drag russia's ally france
into the conflict
we'll examine later why wilhelm wanted
this war to happen so badly
kaiser wilhelm ii secretly funded
austria-hungary in their endeavor to
suppress serbia
he allowed germany to give
austria-hungary a carte blanche or a
blank check
basically germany would fund the war
effort using their wealthy economy to
ensure austria-hungary came out on top
with the assassination of their
air and the backing of germany
austria-hungary felt empowered
to start their war with serbia they said
serbian ultimatum with such harsh terms
that it was impossible to accept
there was only one alternative war but
there was more to the story
the decisions of austria-hungary and
germany were clearly geared toward war
it's undeniable that world war 1 started
because of these aggressive decisions
but could the whole conflict have been
avoided if other countries had made
better decisions
were there strings being pulled behind
the scenes by the countries on both
sides of the war
let's find out first let's take a look
at the triple-on-tons nations which
consisted of a secret pact between great
britain france and
russia could any of these nations have
secretly wanted a world war to heighten
their power
could there have been a secret plot by
the allies to set up a war they would
eventually win
russia is and always has been a large
powerful nation
what could russia gain from a war
against the triple alliance of germany
austria-hungary and italy at first
glance russia's role in world war 1
seems to be based around supporting
their ally of serbia
but as we look closer it seems that
russia's alliance only played a
superficial role
in their decisions to go to war in fact
russia barely even tried to find a
diplomatic solution to prevent the
conflict
instead they immediately started to
deploy troops and ramp up military
production
once austria-hungary showed aggression
towards serbia it would seem russia had
no
intentions on working out the conflict
diplomatically history shows it was
russia not germany
that mobilized its military first russia
may have wanted the war to claim more
territory and power for the nation
but there was another player on the
triple on taunts side who may have
played a behind the scenes role in
starting world war one
france did not make any outwardly
aggressive moves in the months that led
to the outbreak of war
but they were making secret strategic
moves
france may be the only reason that
russia prepared for war in the first
place
during talks of what was to be done
about the central powers france offered
russia its own blank check
the stipulation was that russia would
help europeanize the austrian-hungary
empire
france had an idea of what this part of
the world should look like and
rather than entering directly into a
conflict they funded the russian
military to start a war that they could
benefit from
france encouraged russia's aggression
toward austria-hungary and germany
french leaders seemed to not like the
idea of having a powerful nation of
germany right next door
if germany was focusing on fighting
russia on the eastern front
it would provide france with the
opportunity to either protect
itself or launch an uncontested invasion
into germany from the western front
it would seem that things did not play
out exactly as france predicted
because of germany's deployment of
troops to fight on both the russian
and french fronts simultaneously now if
the shady actions of france leading up
to the start of world war 1 surprised
you
then what great britain did may shock
you even more britain was a dominant
force in colonization and had control of
the seas with their powerful navy
would they benefit from an all-out war
in europe germany was becoming powerful
both economically and militarily britain
knew that this was a big threat to their
empire
in the eyes of great britain's leaders
the world wasn't big enough for both a
german empire and a british empire
if germany continued on the path it was
headed britain's global dominance of the
seas and financial system would be
threatened
and perhaps lost this was unacceptable
to the leaders of great britain
these notions of loss of dominance may
have driven great britain to stay out of
diplomatic talks and instead encourage
russian aggression
it would seem that at the time great
britain had an inferiority complex when
it came to germany
they had failed to mediate during the
balkan wars and they refused to mediate
during the lead-up to world war one
the thought process may have been that
the more conflicts germany was a part of
the more likely they were to be weakened
great britain had clearly won the naval
arm race by 1910.
it just seemed that it wasn't enough
they were still living in fear of
germany's threats
and it would appear rightfully so as
history showed over the next several
decades
it needs to be said that if great
britain wanted to prevent war
they should have contributed to the
mediation discussions the fact that they
actively avoided the mediation shows
britain might have had other motives
especially if war meant a weakened
germany history is written by the
victors
therefore history textbooks tend to
attribute most of if not all of the
blame for world war one
to austria-hungary and germany you have
to wonder who would be blamed if the
outcome of the war was reversed
we discussed how the nations of the
triple-on-tolence were by no means free
of blame for the start of the conflict
but let's take a closer look at the
motives and actions of the triple
alliance
which was the secret pact between
germany austria-hungary and italy
let's find out if they really are to
blame like so many textbooks say
other than retaliation what was
austria-hungary after
in a word territory austria-hungary
wanted to add more land and people to
its already large empire
more land equals more resources and more
men for their military
austria-hungary had its sights set on
serbia
for a while the assassination of
archduke franz ferdinand allowed them to
perfect the opportunity to make their
dreams of taking over serbian lands a
reality austria-hungary's desires were
made clear when they offered an obscene
ultimatum to serbia
the ultimatum itself was delivered on
july 23 1914
it required serbia to accept an
austro-hungarian inquiry into the
assassination of archduke ferdinand
the inquiry would be conducted solely by
austria-hungarian investigators
serbia also needed to suppress all
anti-austrian propaganda and eliminate
any terrorist or extremist organizations
within its borders
the leaders of austria-hungary demanded
that an answer to the ultimatum be sent
within 48 hours
however the ambassador to serbia
delivered the ultimatum and immediately
left the country to return back to
austria-hungary
he already knew what was going to happen
next there was no way that serbia would
accept the ultimatum
this meant war the ultimatum served one
purpose austria-hungary knew
serbia would never accept their terms
but they also knew if they attacked
without warning
it would make serbia look like the
victim by sending the ultimatum it
pushed the burden of avoiding war onto
the serbian government
this way austria-hungary created the
illusion of giving serbia a chance
to stop the war when they didn't serbia
would look like the bad guy
but the ridiculous ultimatum did not
stand up to the test of history and
austria-hungary is still seen as the
aggressor
really what it came down to was that
austria-hungary wanted to control more
territory in the balkan region
they needed a reason to go to war with
serbia to secure that land
and they found it in the assassination
of the archduke was the assassination a
reason to conduct an all-out war
probably not but it was sufficient
enough reason for the austria-hungary
government at the time
however none of this would have been
possible without one key player
i'm sure you can guess what's coming
next germany
in the eyes of many historians germany
is the blame for the first world war
why was germany considered the most
responsible in a conflict they did not
directly start
it's mostly because they alone had the
power to stop the war between
austria-hungary and serbia
all they needed to do was withdraw their
blank check and austria-hungary would
not have the financial ability to
support a war with serbia
this would have kept austria-hungary in
check and they would have never
issued their ultimatum germany also knew
that if austria-hungary went to war with
serbia russia and france would both get
pulled in
it was almost as if germany needed to
find a way to declare war on their
competitors in the region without doing
it themselves
germany could never just outright
declare war on the other nations or they
would risk unifying the entire continent
of europe against them
but by strategically destabilizing the
balkans
they could goad russia and therefore
france into a war with their ally
thus allowing germany to start a war to
suit their needs
the other reason that germany wanted war
was because it had peaked as a nation
if germany allowed the rest of europe to
catch up they would lose power and
prestige
this upset no one more than kaiser
wilhelm ii
who was an angry militaristic autocrat
he believed that he was predestined by
god to lead his country to greatness
he hated diplomats and maintained that
the only way to mature germany's spot of
power was through
war he knew it was now or never if
germany was going to become the
predominant world power
when a power-hungry autocrat is in
charge of one of the world's most
wealthy and armed nations
there's only one outcome war in the end
world war 1 was caused by many different
factors and countries
there's not just one person or nation to
blame however
some are more responsible than others if
the leaders of europe were less hungry
for power
and more willing to sit down and
negotiate the war could have been
avoided
make no mistake world war one was not
unavoidable but the leaders in charge
saw
war as a desirable outcome or were
forced into it by their allies
a situation that would repeat itself
again 21 years later
if you're interested in more world war
one information check out 50
insane world war 1 facts that will shock
you
or if you want to know how world war 1
and world war ii stack up
watch world war 1 versus world war ii
how do they compare