The Great War began on the 28th of July, 1914, and ended on the 11th of November, 1918, lasting 4 years, 3 months, and 2 weeks. It was considered to be ‘the war to end all wars’, and caused mass devastation and destruction. Millions upon millions of soldiers died, and millions more were injured or missing. The war was caused by four major long-term reasons: militarism; alliances; imperialism; and nationalism. The war was triggered by the murder of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, duchess of Hohenburg, in Serbia. The alliances, the ‘Triple Entente’, which included Britain, France, and Russia, and the ‘Triple Alliance’, which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, fought against each other.
The first reason why the Great War began was militarism. Militarism is the belief that military forces and objectives should be given high importance by the government to further national agendas. A German historian who fought in the Great War, Alfred Vagts, described militarism as the “domination of the military man over the civilian, an undue preponderance of military demands, an emphasis on military considerations.” Militarism was a contributing factor to the Great War because it led to competitive ‘arms races’ amongst countries, and created an environment for violence. As countries had to justify their military expenditure and were tempted to use their new weapons, militarism meant that many European countries were choosing violence and war, over peaceful discussions. Between 1870 and 1914, the military forces of both Germany and France doubled, but the most significant display of militarism leading up to the Great War was the Anglo-German Naval Race. Britain believed their navy was crucial to maintaining their position as the world’s most powerful nation, as their navy protected their colonies, trade routes, and Great Britain, which is surrounded by the sea. The British economy heavily relied on the importation of raw materials from its colonies, and the exportation of the finished goods. In the 20th century, Britons also were getting 58% of their calories from imported food, which meant that without access to the sea, there would be food shortages. Thus, Britain took great care to hold its navy to the ‘two-power’ standard, which stated that Britain’s navy should be as big as the next two biggest navies combined. Until 1904, those two navies were France and Russia.
In 1890, an extremely important book about naval strategy, ‘The Influence of Sea Power upon History’, was published by the American naval historian Alfred Thayer Mahan. He theorised that control of the seas was the key to nations thriving and ruling other nations, and that the most efficient way to gain this was through large naval battles. The book had a huge impact on German and British thinking, and one copy of the book was put in every German ship. Kaiser Wilhelm II, influenced by the book, pursued Reichstag funding to carry out Mahan’s ideas in Germany. In 1897, in his first meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm II, State Secretary of the Imperial Naval Office, Admiral Tirpitz suggested that for Germany to become an important European power, it would have to challenge Britain’s navy. Their strategy was to build a navy that was two thirds the size of the British navy, so that if Britain tried to attack it, it would be large enough to weaken the British navy. And so, Germany and Britain began to compete to build the bigger navy.
In Germany, there was fear that Britain was planning an attack, while in Britain there was fear that Germany was planning to outbuild Britain’s navy. Soon, Britain removed Russia from its ‘two-power’ standard and added Germany instead. In 1906, Britain introduced their new ‘Dreadnought’ a new league of ship that was very large and heavily gunned, and which made many other ships pointless and outdated. Although Germany’s role in the naval race was due to the government and Kaiser’s agendas, Britain’s was pushed by the press and public opinion. In 1884, an influential newspaperman W.T. Stead published articles that criticised Britain’s army, especially its navy. Pressure groups such as the British Navy League began to campaign for a better navy, and patriotic and nationalistic slogans like “we want eight and we won’t wait” were created to push the British government. Britain set up new naval bases in northern Scotland for the new ships, while Germany opened up the Kiel canal so that their new dreadnoughts could pass through easily. By 1914, European military expenditure had multiplied three-fold, going from 94 million pounds in 1870 to 398 million pounds in 1914. German military expenditure went up 73%, Russia’s went up 30%, Britain’s went up 13%, and France’s went up 10%. Germany also enlisted 170,000 new soldiers in their army between 1913-1914.