GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College World War I

GO131:International Relations

Professor Walter HatchColby College

World War I

“The Great War”

“A war to end all wars”

World War One: Basic Facts

A monumental event of heavy artillery and trench fighting37.5 million casualties (15 million soldiers killed)Chemical weapons (poison gas) deployedFour empires destroyed

GermanAustria-HungarianRussianOttoman

How did it happen?

Balance of power (realism)

Domestic conflict (liberalism)

Rise of nationalism (constructivism)

Rise of imperalism (Marxism)

Background:German Industrialization

Krupp Plant

Background: German Unification

War with Denmark (1864)

War with Austria (1866)

War with France (1870-1)

Bismarck’s Revived Concert(1870-1890)

Germany Outflanked

Alliances Become Less Flexible

Triple Alliance (1882)Germany

Austria-Hungry

Italy

Triple EntenteFrance and Russia (1893)

Britain and France (1904)

Britain and Russia (1907)

Kaiser Wilhelm II:Moroccan Crises

Crisis One (1905-6)German opposition to French claims

Crisis Two (1911)Gunboat diplomacy

Austria-Hungary’s Franz Josef:The Bosnian Crisis (1908)

Young Turks come to power

Bulgaria claims independence

Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina

Balkan Crises

First war (1912): Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece against Turkey

Second war (1913) Serbia, Greece, and Romania against Bulgaria

Igniting the Conflict

June 28, 1914

Serbian nationalist (terrorist) assassinates Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo

Europe on the Eve of WWI

Sequence of Events

July 23: Austria-Hungary secures German support, sends ultimatum to SerbiaJuly 25: Serbia secures Russian support, rejects ultimatumJuly 26: Germany and Austria reject British call for international conferenceJuly 29: Austria attacks Serbia; Russian troops mobilize against Austria

Nicholas II inspects Russian troops

Sequence of Events (cont.)

July 31: Germany demands Russian demobilizationAugust 1: Germany declares war on Russia; British and French troops mobilize as Germany invades LuxembourgAugust 3: Germany declares war on FranceAugust 4: Britain declares war on Germany as German troops march into Belgium

Kaiser Wilhelm inspects the troops

Belgians retreat into Holland

Germany’s Schlieffen Plan

Stalemate

German trench

German artillery battered

RAF (British) aviators

Downed German Zeppelin

Battles of Verdun and Somme (1916)

Somme, France

U.S. Enters the War (1917)

Competing explanations

Realism: Balance of Power

Classical Realists: State leaders locked themselves into inflexible alliances

Neo-Realists: Germany’s rise upset the existing balance of power

Realism: Balance of Threat

Stephen Walt: Perceptions (not merely resources) matter

Liberalism: Domestic Politics

Domestic conflict in Germany and UK

Germany: class divisions lead “iron and rye coalition” to launch “social imperialism”

UK: divisions with Liberal Party led to waffling

Constructivism: Nationalism

Pan-Slavism challenged two empires

Anti-Slavic sentiment in Germany

Stronger than family ties

Marxism-Leninism: Imperialism

Monopoly capitalism

Imperalism: Competing for overseas territories

Problems with this explanation