events leading to the outbreak of the great war 1907: “peace resolution” adopted by the...

EVENTS LEADING TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT WAR1907: “Peace Resolution” adopted by the Stuttgart Congress of the Second International

1908: Young Turk Revolution (July); Bosnian Annexation Crisis (October-November)

1911: Second Morocco Crisis

1912: First Balkan War (London Ambassadors’ Conference meets in December 1912)

1913: Second Balkan War

December 1913: Liman von Sanders Affair

June 28: 1914: Assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo

Henri Rousseau, “War” (1893/94):The Paris Avant-Garde’s view of the Franco-Russian

Alliance

“The People in Arms”

(SPD, 1896)

“The German loves the uniform,The saber and the gun,The spiked helmet is the norm,That’s how we have our fun.”

“The judge, the prosecutor,The banker’s son and pastor,They all take the floorAs a martial arts master.”

“A Social Democratic New Year’s Greeting”

(January 1, 1900): Tirpitz and Queen

Victoria are chased away by the new

century

PICKETS AT A RUHR COAL MINE, JANUARY 1905:200,000 miners went on strike in 1905; when urged

to attack France, Wilhelm II replied that Social Democracy must be crushed first….

PEACE RESOLUTION adopted in 1907 at the Stuttgart Congress of the Socialist International (after Lenin and Rosa

Luxemburg had called for a general strike)

[The congress calls for stronger international courts of arbitration and worldwide disarmament.] “If a war threatens to break out, it is the duty of the working classes and their parliamentary representatives in the countries involved… to exert every effort in order to prevent the outbreak of war by the means they consider most effective, which naturally vary according to the sharpening of the class struggle and the sharpening of the general political situation. [Bold-face passage added by moderates.]

“In case war should break out anyway, it is their duty to intervene in favor of its speedy termination and with all their powers to utilize the economic and political crisis created by the war to rouse the masses and thereby to hasten the downfall of capitalist class rule.”

Proportion of Germans in

Austria: 33%.

Proportion of Magyars in

Hungary: 54%.

Rival nationalisms in the Balkans

Serbia veered toward a pro-Russian foreign policy as a result of the “May Overthrow” of King

Alexander I in 1903

Greek lithograph to celebrate the proclamation of a new constitution for the Ottoman Empire on July

24, 1908

AUSTRIA’S DUPLICITY IN 1908 ENDED THE CAREER OF THE LAST RUSSIAN WHO SOUGHT

COOPERATION…

Count Aehrenthal, Austrian foreign minister, 1906-12

Alexander Izvolsky, Russian foreign minister,

1906-10

They met secretly

in Moravia on Sep.

16, 1908(see

Norman Rich, pp. 410-14)

“The Boiling Pot”

(Punch, 1908)

The Young Turks displayed special

interest in the employment of German military

trainers(cartoon from

Punch, October 5, 1910)

“France will be able to bring civilization, riches, and peace to Morocco” (French troops occupied Fez and Rabat in May 1911)

SMS Panther, the German gunboat that sailed into Agadir Harbor on July 1,

1911

The Partition

of Morocco in 1912

THE SECOND MOROCCO CRISIS RESULTED IN ANOTHER DIPLOMATIC DEFEAT FOR GERMANY

After the British government publicly threatened to go to war if Germany attacked France, Germany agreed to give France a free hand in Morocco in exchange for the transfer of some jungle land to German Cameroon.During these negotiations, the new Army Chief of Staff, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, wrote his wife as follows: “If we again slip away from this affair with our tail between our legs, and if we cannot bring ourselves to put forward a determined claim which we are prepared to force through with the sword, I shall despair of the future of the German Empire. I shall then resign. But before handing in my resignation, I shall move to abolish the Army and to place ourselves under Japanese protectorate; we shall then be in a position to make money without interference and develop into ninnies.”

Lord Richard Haldane arrived in Berlin in February 1912

to propose the following bargain (Rich, pp. 420-22):

“1. Fundamental. Naval superiority recognized as essential to Great Britain. Present German naval program and expenditure not to be increased, but if possible retarded and reduced.“2. England sincerely desires not to interfere with German Colonial expansion. To give effect to this she is prepared forthwith to discuss whatever the German aspirations in that direction may be. England will be glad to know that there is a field or special points where she can help Germany.“3. Proposals for reciprocal assurances debarring either power from joining in aggressive designs or combinations against the other would be welcome.”

The Balkan Wars, 1912/13(Norman Rich, p. 424)

The Serb army fought well against the Turks and then defeated Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War

At the London Ambassadors’ Conference (Dec 1912-Jan 1913), the Great Powers agreed to create an independent Albania to limit Serb

expansion

An Alsatian view of German

martial law at the time of the “Zabern Affair”

(1913)

“The Kiss of the Alsatian”

(anonymous colorized postcard from 1914)

Franz Ferdinand and his wife leave for the hospital to visit their wounded aide, Sarajevo, June 28, 1914

The chauffeur made a

wrong turn on the way to the hospital and stopped

to turn around, next

to Gavrilo Princip

THE ARREST OF GAVRILO PRINCIP

Kaiser & King Franz Josef I, born in 1830, reigned 1848-

1916

Leopold von Berchtold: ambassador to Russia,

1907-12, foreign minister 1912-15

Chancellor Theobold von Bethmann Hollweg (1909-

17)Helmuth von Moltke the Younger (1906-

14)

Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934),

leader of the French center-right,

premier in 1912/13, President of France,

1913-1920.In public he declared that his generation

had “no other reason for existence than

the hope of recovering the lost

provinces.”

British Foreign Secretary

Sir Edward Grey (1905-16),

who had a largely free hand in a Liberal cabinet

preoccupied with domestic issues

Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918;

ruled 1894-1917)

Sergei Sazonov, Russian foreign minister, 1910-

16:

Brother-in-law of Stolypin and committed to alliance with Serbia

President Poincaré confers

with Foreign Minister Sazonov in St. Petersburg,

July 20-24, 1914(no record of

their talks was made)

THE JULY CRISIS OF 1914June 28 Assassination of Archduke Franz

Ferdinand in Sarajevo by Bosnian South Slav nationalists

July 5/6 Hoyos Mission to Berlin; Germany issues a “blank check” to Austria

July 7 In Austrian cabinet, all but Tisza agree that Serbia must be punished militarily

July 23 Austrian ultimatum to Serbia

July 28 Austria declares war on Serbia

July 29 Austria bombards the Serb capital Belgrade

July 30 Russia orders general mobilization

July 31 Germany issues 12-hour ultimatum to Russia

Aug 1 Schlieffen Plan implemented

Aug 2-4 Declarations of War (with Britain last….)

THE CENTRAL POWERS VS. THE ALLIES IN WORLD WAR I

THE BALANCE OF POWER IN 1914