Historiographical Analyses of the Origins of the First World War Bc
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Masarykova univerzita, Pedagogická fakulta Roads to war – historiographical analyses of the origins of the First World War Bc. Vladimír Ovčáček Brno 2019 Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou práci (diplomovou) vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. 1 Content Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 1 Theoretical background .......................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Chronology of the events preceding the outbreak of the War.......................................... 8 1.1.1 The Congress of Vienna and creation of The Concert of Europe, 1815 ................... 8 1.1.2 Independence of Belgium, 1830 ............................................................................... 9 1.1.3 Revolutions of 1848 .................................................................................................. 9 1.1.4 Risorgimento of Italy, 1848-1861 .......................................................................... 10 1.1.5 The Crimean War, 1853-1856 ................................................................................ 11 1.1.6 Austro-Prussian War, 1866 ..................................................................................... 11 1.1.7 Franco-Prussian War, 1870 ..................................................................................... 11 1.1.8 Great Eastern Crisis, 1875-1878 ............................................................................. 12 1.1.9 Russo Turkish war, 1877-1878 ............................................................................... 12 1.1.10 Forming of the Dual Alliance, 1879 ....................................................................... 13 1.1.11 Forming of the Triple alliance, 1882 ...................................................................... 13 1.1.12 Military convention between Russia and France, 1893 .......................................... 14 1.1.13 The Fashoda affair, 1898 ........................................................................................ 14 1.1.14 The May Coup in Serbia, 1903 ............................................................................... 15 1.1.15 Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 ............................................................................ 15 1.1.16 Entente Cordiale, 1904............................................................................................ 16 1.2 Events directly preceding the war .................................................................................. 17 1.2.1 The First Moroccan Crisis, 1905-1906 ................................................................... 17 1.2.2 Anglo-Russian Entente, 1907 ................................................................................. 17 1.2.3 The Bosnian Crisis, 1908 ........................................................................................ 17 1.2.4 The Second Moroccan Crisis, 1911 ........................................................................ 18 1.2.5 The Turco-Italian war, 1911-1912 .......................................................................... 18 1.2.6 The First Balkan war, 1912-1913 ........................................................................... 19 1.2.7 The Second Balkan War, 1913 ............................................................................... 19 1.2.8 Sarajevo, 1914......................................................................................................... 19 1.2.9 July Crisis, 1914...................................................................................................... 20 1.3 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 22 2 Historians analysing the origins of the World War I ............................................................ 23 2.1 Harry Elmer Barnes ........................................................................................................ 23 2.2 Sidney Bradshaw Fay ..................................................................................................... 24 2 2.3 A. J. P. Taylor................................................................................................................. 25 2.4 Fritz Fischer.................................................................................................................... 26 2.5 Eric Hobsbawm .............................................................................................................. 28 3 Interpretations of events preceding World War I ................................................................. 29 3.1 The underlying causes .................................................................................................... 29 3.1.1 Germany from the 1910s to 1971 ........................................................................... 29 3.2.1 The Great Eastern Crisis ......................................................................................... 39 3.1.2 Forming of the Triple Alliance ............................................................................... 45 3.1.3 Forming of the Entente ........................................................................................... 49 3.1.4 Entente Cordiale...................................................................................................... 53 3.1.5 First Moroccan Crisis .............................................................................................. 56 3.1.6 Anglo-Russian Entente ........................................................................................... 57 3.1.7 The Second Moroccan Crisis .................................................................................. 58 3.1.8 Development in the Near East ................................................................................ 60 3.2 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 62 4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 63 4.1 Application in history classes ......................................................................................... 63 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 64 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 66 3 Introduction When contemporary reader studies a book about the War, or when we watch a film from that era, we cannot think of it as of a history lesson. Firstly, it is not, from the point of history as such, very long time ago. Our great-grand parents lived in this society and in many families, stories from these times are still being told. And, secondly, the decades preceding the First World War were in many ways very similar to the times we live today. The world trade expanded into the whole globe, the western population became more and more globalised, entrepreneurs in developed countries thrived, industry and technology made people’s lives easier. New inventions such as steamships, planes, telegraph, and even telephone, kept shortening the distance between people and countries in an unprecedented pace. The whole world was on the move, and the banks made the world go round, as they do today. To a critical reader, a question may come to mind. Even though the times seem to be calm and peaceful, we may notice something troubling about this era. How much similar is the pre-war Europe to the Europe of our time? And to what extent can history repeat itself? The decades of peace and prosperity, not unlike the ones we live in ended in the worst catastrophe the mankind had seen. Many people may ask, if similar devastation of men – how else can we describe what happened to the poor soldiers and civilians who survived the war – could happen to our generation as well. But how could a crisis, which started on 28 June 1914 is Sarajevo by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, unleash such an unprecedented tragedy, which the First World War truly was? This is the question which has troubled historians for more than a hundred years. Much has been written and said about the true nature of reasons why the whole world1 took part in this terrible bloodshed. Yet, as Dr Mombauer claims, “the current [historians’] consensus on why it broke out is ‘that there is no consensus’” (Mombauer). Why is it practically close to impossible to track down the truth behind the origin of WWI and put an end to the centenarian debate? And is there any such ‘truth’? The opinions on this matter have developed throughout a hundred years of research. Concerning several factors which have had effects on certain works and historian schools, this thesis will analyse the main bodies of work significant to each period. Its goal is not to identify the 1 Thirty six countries and 65 000 000 soldiers took part in the war. 8 500 000 of the soldiers died at the war, 21 000 000 were wounded,