The Great War Essay

The War To End All Wars 

‘…Our men lived there, and died there within a few yards of the enemy. They crouched around sandbags… and if they dug to get deeper cover, their shovels went into the softness of dead bodies who had been their friends. Scraps of flesh, booted legs, blackened hands and eyeless heads came falling over them when the enemy fired shells at their position.’ (Deary, T. (1998). Horrible Histories: The Frightful First World War. London : Scholastic) (See appendix 1)

"World War I was the result of the nineteenth century glorification of the nation." This statement suggests that in Europe, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the countries of Europe maintained a policy of national independence and patriotism to such an excessive degree that it led to a war that would ‘thrust forward technological change, create new independent nations in the place of empires, and republics in the place of monarchies. It would destroy European global domination, create Soviet Russia as the world’s first communist state, and ushered the United States of America to the world stage for the first time.’ (Barnett, C. (1979). The Great War. London : George Rainbird Limited) This assignment will put forward the proposition that the implications of European nationalism and militant socialism led to a war of such magnitude that it engaged the whole world with unprecedented numbers of dead and mutilated resulting. (Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books Limited)

The actual underlying causes of the Great War date back fifty years before the outbreak of hostilities, as Sir Basil Liddell Hart wrote: ‘fifty years were spent in making Europe explosive.’ (Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books Limited) In 1871 when Prussia had defeated France in the Franco-Prussian war with the help of their Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. Prussia united the German states into an empire and imposed harsh peace terms upon France, which stripped her of two rich provinces: Alsace and Lorraine, and charged billions of Francs for reparations and reimbursement. Germany was now the most powerful nation in Europe, yet Bismarck feared that one day France would strike back to revenge the humiliation of her defeat and retake her lost provinces. Therefore, in order to contain France, through careful diplomatic relations, Bismarck managed to associate Germany with Russia and Austria-Hungary in what became known as the Three Emperors League. Over the next few years, up to 1887, Bismarck successfully negotiated for Germany alliances with Austria-Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Rumania and Russia. Now France had been successfully isolated, and Britain was being kept on friendly terms. As Bismarck said; his goal was to: ‘keep Britain in friendly isolation and France in unfriendly isolation. (Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books)

Then, in 1890 Bismarck’s careful plans to isolate France were obliterated by the arrogant and unstable Kaiser Wilhelm II. Made jealous of his most brilliant subject’s prestige with his people, he had Bismarck dismissed and the Kaiser ended Germany’s treaty with Russia in favour of Austria. With the Kaiser over the years that followed unable to keep Bismarck’s positive diplomatic relations between the other countries of Europe, Germany soon found herself with only one ally: Austria. Meanwhile, Russia, France and Britain had allied themselves in the Triple Entente. As the two rival powers became increasingly hostile to one another, an arms race broke out as Germany tried to build a navy powerful enough to challenge the British superiority at sea – superiority that Britain had enjoyed since Trafalgar. Haunted by fears of a sudden breakout of war, politicians allowed their generals increasingly severe powers and war plans, and mobilization techniques were drawn up. By 1914 Europe was a power keg awaiting a spark. (Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books Limited)

All these alliances and political and military maneuvers could all have boiled down to nothing if it wasn’t for the virulent nationalism of the countries of Europe that created the spark that ignited the war to end all wars. Germany had become that spark, because as a young nation flexing its muscles and seeking its fortune, the situation in Europe was bitterly unjust.’ (Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books Limited) Because Germany was such a new nation, she had not had the opportunity to create an empire for herself or to secure her position as a power through colonial expansion. Britain and France had spent the last century building up empires, and Germany was bitter because she believed that England and France were denying them their rightful share of colonial influence. (Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books Limited) Germany now looked on war as a safety valve for national emotions, ambitions and frustrations.’ (Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books Limited) The Kaiser himself was demanding ‘a place in the sun’ for his country; Presumably by pushing someone else into the shade. (Deary, T. (1998). Horrible Histories: The Frightful First World War. London : Scholastic)

Now with Europe teetering on the edge of war, only the first stone needed to be thrown and it happened on the 28th of June 1914 when assassins from Serbia assassinated the heir to the Austrian monarchy and his wife. This set in motion a chain of events in which the Kaiser of Germany saw an opportunity to create an empire for his nation through a show of military strength – after all he reasoned, Germany had the biggest and best equipped army in Europe at the time. The Kaiser’s haste to jump straight to war spurred on by his patriotism and a wish to see his nation become the most powerful in the entire world had doomed his nation to defeat.

After four bloody years of war that saw the deaths of millions, a dispirited Germany was brought to her knees by the Allied powers. Many things were the eventual cause of her defeat; she had alienated America, who had chosen to join the Allies with all her military and industrial strength. Germany had also been starved into defeat by the Allied naval blockade – she had never been able to amass a fleet strong enough to defend her merchant ships.

Nationalism was a major cause of the First World War. The patriotism that the Kaiser of Germany inspired and felt led to the eventual downfall of him and his people and crushed their spirit and economy. It is unfortunate for Germany that she had acted so rashly; it is speculated that if she hadn’t declared war then in the years that followed she would have become the most powerful nation in Europe on account of her economic wealth and power.

Appendices 

Appendix One: Primary Source - Written by a Veteran

‘Bodies and bits of bodies and clots of blood, and green metallic-looking slime made by the explosive gases were floating on the surface of the water. Our men lived there, and died there within a few yards of the enemy. They crouched around sandbags and burrowed in to the sides of trenches. Lice crawled over them in swarms and if they dug to get deeper cover, their shovels went into the softness of dead bodies who had been their friends. Scraps of flesh, booted legs, blackened hands and eyeless heads came falling over them when the enemy fired shells at their position.’

Appendix Two: Recruitment posters: Used by the government to take advantage of the nationalism and patriotism felt by the citizens at the time.

Annotated Bibliography 

Barnett, C. (1979). The Great War. London : George Rainbird Limited

This book was useful because it contained views and arguments that were based upon reliable sources (it contained a bibliography). I would recommend this book as a useful point of reference to extract factual information as well as the author’s views and opinions which were based on hypotheses backed up by factual information from Primary sources.

Deary, T. (1998). Horrible Histories: The Frightful First World War. London : Scholastic

I would recommend this book as a useful starting point for someone who does not know very much about World War I. The information was presented clearly and was articulately explained. If I had never studied World War history before this would have been my most useful source.

Owen, D. (2002). Hidden Secrets. London : Quintet

The majority of this book was based on espionage through the ages, yet it did contain useful information and offered opinions as to why the First World War began. It did not contain any Primary sources, but the bibliography at the back of the book told me that the author had thoroughly researched his work. I would recommend this book as a good place to begin researching the War as the information was clear and distinct.

Shermer, D. (1973). World War I. London : Octopus Books Limited

This book was my most useful source of information and included both Primary and Secondary sources. The majority of the information was however secondary and was based on the writers conclusions that he had based on his research. There were also Primary sources that were extracts from diaries and reports from the time. I would readily recommend this book to anyone who could stomach its massive size and sift through the huge tracts of information it contains.

The New Book of Knowledge. (2001). USA : Grolier Incorporated, Volume W pp 276-291

The information in this encyclopedia was presented in a very factual manner with no opinions offered. It was all based on Secondary sources and was useful because I could use it to add little bits of extra information to my essay that the other, thicker research books I had used had missed.