1 WWI, the War
The War Triggered: a bosnian revolutionary killed the heir to the Habsburg empire.
CLAIM: the newly selected emperor would have favored and equated the Slavs, but revolutionaries want to fight so he was killed. For background, see KBhHIST201WWITriggering
1.1 "Blank-check"
Asking for advice on the actual possibility of support, Austria basically recieved a "blank check" from Germany to do whatever they want to resolve The slavic issue.
The Russians on the other side persuaded France to also issue them "blank-check" style backing to protect their protecterate with the slavs.
1.2 Feces intersects with the fan
Serbs rejected Austrian ultimatum, and so the two started fighting. Because Germany will eventually step in, Russia began provoking Germany. Expecting France to step in anyways, Germany than declared war an France by attacting the neutral Belgian protecterate. And so now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a world war.
Sidenote:
- The Germans hoped that England will not fight in the wars.
- CLAIM: had Germany know England would fight, the war may have not come.
But then,
1.3 England Joins
When Germany violated Belgian neutrality, England declared war on it immediately.
- CLAIM: beacuse Europe was divided by two camps, anything of any significance that occured was a test of strength between the two camps with winners and loosers. Hence, each incident garanteed the next. Germany vs. france
- The Germanic dread of it being encircled by France and Russia caused them to prefer war to break their landlocked status. France feared of Germanic industry and wanted to work with Russia. Russia vs. Austria
- Russians and Austrians were both having losing empires which lead to the administration of both parties being increasingly despereate.
CLAIM: WWI — backwards parts of Europe dragging advanced societies into ruin.
1.4 The War war
See different countries' war plans here: KBhHIST201WWIStrategies