The Great War: Causes & Peace Settlement

The causes, duration, and nature of the war made a fair settlement of the war doubtful. The Great WarThe EvidenceCentral PowersTriple AllianceDual AllianceEntente CordialeTriple EntenteMoroccan Crisis of 1905Moroccan Crisis of 1911Balkan Crises 1912-13Archduke Franz FerdinandThe Black Handblank checkSchlieffen PlanDavid Lloyd GeorgeGeorges ClemenceauWoodrow WilsonT. E. LawrenceWinston ChurchillHelmuth von MoltkePaul von HindenburgVittorio OrlandoFerdinand FochJohn PershingBattle of the MarneBattle of VerdunBattle of the SommeGallipoli CampaignLusitaniaZimmerman Telegram

Competition over colonial claims, particularly in AfricaAustria - Hungary vs. Russian in the BalkansFrance & Britain coveted Ottoman Arab landsBritain took East and West Africa and France got Cameroon from GermanyThey divided the former Ottoman areas: France getting Syria and LebanonBritain getting Palestine, Iraq, and JordanBritain & France created the mandate system

Germanys invasion of Belgium was sufficient for Britain and France to assign blame to Germany which meant massive reparations.The terrible lose of life and since most of the war was fought in France and Belgium, the French wanted revenge and a permanent weakening Germany. The length of the war and nature a total war meant that each nation launched propaganda campaigns to keep civilian spirits up and committed to the war effort. Such propaganda and censorship meant hatred between belligerents grew to such a degree that only a harsh peace would suffice to satisfy the hostile emotions of the populace.