Lecture notes
Topic 1 (Causes, practices and effects of wars) - World War One
- Institution
- University College London (UCL)
IB History notes on WWI, including the causes, course and effects of the war. Part of the Topic 1 module on wars
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Topic 1: Causes, practices and effects of warsChapter One: World War I
Different types and natures of 20th-century wars
• Civil war:
• A war between rival factions within a country
• Armed disputes as a result of clashes over the direction, governmental system or composition of a country
• National fault lines can be formed as a result of radical ideological, regional, political, religious or ethnic differences
• E.g. Spanish Civil War, Chinese Civil War
• Guerrilla war:
• Generally involves irregular forces in an ongoing struggle with an established regular army
• The ‘irregular’ fighters seldom wear uniforms or concentrate in any identifiable base
• Usually described as ‘unconventional warfare’ because small-group fighters use tactics like ambushes or small-unit
raids against a larger and less mobile formal army
• E.g. Vietnam War, Cuban Revolution
• Limited war:
• Constrained war - the geographical areas for fighting confined, limited targets to be attacked or weapons to be used,
partial mobilisation etc.
• E.g. Iraq War
• Total war:
• A country uses all its resources to fight and ensure complete victory over the enemy
• Civilians are involved in the war effort, e.g. in industry and home defence (the home front)
• Government control over media and key aspects of the economy is common in order to increase or even maximise
war effort
• The need to manipulate resources in order to maximise potential
• E.g. WWI, WWII
Origins and causes of WWI
Underlying causes
• Extreme nationalism
• Nationalism in 19th century: people of the same race, culture or language should group together to form their own nation-
states
• New nation states (from independence movements): Serbia, Romania, (later) Bulgaria
• Unified states: Germany, Italy
• Extreme nationalism: hegemony as national glory
• National glory to be achieved by expansion → potentially explosive as this could lead to conflicts and even wars
• The Balkans were the centre of conflict (especially after large powers saw developing in the West as no longer
favourable)
Powers Nationalist Aims
France • Continue Napoleon III’s expansionist policies to gain glory
• Revive national prestige
• Regain Alsace-Lorraine
• Avenge herself against her biggest enemy - Germany
Britain • To maintain her leading world power status, as reflected in:
• Her large colonial empire
• Naval supremacy
• Leading economic status (and she took any threat very seriously)
• Her national glory rested on maintaining such status and power
, Powers Nationalist Aims
Russia • Pan-Slavism
• To exert greater influence over the Slavic states in the Balkans (rather than annexing their territories, she
helped them gain independence from Austria/Turkey, acting as protector over the Slavs and winning their
trust and support)
• To gain access to the Straits (part of the Ottoman Empire) and the Mediterranean for the ice-free ports
(while she was currently limited to the Black and Baltic Seas)
Germany • Pan-Germanism
• 1870s: isolating France and consolidating her domestic strength post-unification
• Weltpolitik (World Policy)
• To use political, economic and military strength to push themselves into the position of leading power
• Ensure that Germany would have a part to play in all world affairs
• Achieve a leading world power status
• To promote German nationalism and its world power status by the Pan-German League, the German
Colonial League and the Navy League (established by some German officials, they attracted nationalists to
join and promote nationalism) → create atmosphere of eagerness to expand, pressuring the government to
adopt an expansionist foreign policy
• More aggressive foreign policies
Austria • To recover her lost status in Central Europe
• To expand into the Balkans (to compensate for her losses)
• To suppress Balkan nationalism and stem Russian ambitions
Serbia • Greater Serbia Movement - to unite with all the Serbs who were still under foreign rule (some in
Austria, many in Bosnia-Herzogovina - which Austria gained administration to in the Congress of Berlin in
1878 and later annexed)
• Serbia and other Balkan states:
• Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania and Greece all wanted to further expand their territories
• Exploiting the decline of the Ottoman Empire
• The advantages of expansion: acquiring land and resources, national glory to divert the public’s attention
from internal problems and satisfy domestic discontent
Italy • To restore national glory of the times of the Roman Empire
• To get a share in the territorial expansion
• Colonial rivalries (imperialism)
• Colonies were a symbol of status and power
• Main rivalries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East
• Three types of colonial expansion:
• Sphere of influence:
• Special economic, political, military and cultural rights enjoyed by the colonial powers only
• E.g. China in 1899 - foreign powers could have their own jurisdiction and trading rights etc.
• Protectorate:
• An autonomous state being ‘protected’ politically and militarily by the colonial power
• Independent in name only - internal and external policy often determined by the colonial power
• E.g. Korea made a protectorate of Japan in 1910; Morocco a protectorate of France after the Second Moroccan
Crisis in 1911
• Colony:
• A territory colonised and losing its independence, falling under complete control of the colonial power
• Reasons for the rise of colonial rivalries:
Political • Nationalism - to prove one’s strength, improve prestige and show the greatness of one’s nation
• Social Darwinism: struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest
• Nationalistic masses and patriotic pressure (e.g. Primrose League in Britain, German Colonial League)
, Economic • Resources - raw materials, cheap labour, place for production and fertile market (although not the sole
reason)
• Capitalism - exploiting poorer countries, monopolisation of materials and market (also somewhat
political, in hoping to shut out rivals)
• Developed economies needing new markets and those partitioning unoccupied parts of the Third
World, setting up trade protectionism as well
Social/cult • The ‘White Man’s burden’ - the whites were superior to coloured people → had a duty to civilise those
ural inferior people
Religious • Spread of Christianity - religious missions
• Rivalries 1870-1914:
Powers Places of Result of the dispute
involve dispute
d
Britain vs Egypt • Britain showed concern about the growing French influence in the region and
France (1875-82) increasingly intervened in her commerce and politics, esp. following the opening of the Suez
Canal
• The Suez Canal linked Mediterranean and Red Sea, shortening the travel time from Europe
into the Middle East - vital to control the Canal, esp. for Britain and her navy
• Using the excuse of debt, Britain and France exerted dual financial control over Egypt
• Britain later used the excuse of political unrest to occupy Egypt in 1882
Fashoda • British and French forces met at Fashoda (North Sudan) and almost went to war
(1898) • Crisis ended with France withdrawing from the Nile in return for a free hand in the
districts of the Sahara Desert
Britain vs Berlin- • Germany’s Berlin-Baghdad Railway plan in 1899 antagonised Britain, who viewed it as a
Germany Baghdad threat to her trade in West Asia
Railway • However, it was the rapid expansion of Germany’s navy that Britain regarded as a direct
challenge to her naval supremacy, and a threat to her colonial empire and overseas trade
The Boer • During the Boer War (1899-1902) between the British and Boers (in South Africa),
Republics strong anti-British feelings arose in Germany because of Britain’s renewed expansion in South
(late 1890s, Africa
early 1900s) • Though Germany did not join the Boers, she supported them with arms and
encouragement
France vs Tunisia • In the 1870s both France and Italy wanted to colonialise Tunisia
Italy (1881) • France annexed Tunisia in 1881
• In 1882 Italy allied with Germany and Austria in the Triple Alliance, so as to gain
German support for her future attempts at colonial expansion
France vs Morocco • In the early 20th century France wanted to colonise Morocco
Germany (1905-11) • Germany opposed French action, insisting on Morocco’s independence and equal
economic opportunities for all nations
Russia vs The • Germany attempted to extend German influence in the Balkans by controlling the
Germany Balkans declining Ottoman Empire
• Russia disliked the building of the Berlin-Baghdad Railway and German investment in
Turkey
Austria- The • Their rivalry began at the 1878 Congress of Berlin, in which Bosnia-Herzogovina was
Hungary Balkans put under Austrian administration and Russian influence in the Balkans was checked
vs Russia
• Many of these conflicts were resolved through negotiations and agreements, with recognition of mutual interest
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