World War I 3/13/13 12:55 PM Page 7

DM - World War I 3/13/13 12:55 PM Page 7 Chapter One Origins of “The Great War” 5 The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. —Remark attributed to Sir Edward Grey, British foreign secretary, on the eve of World War I uring the early twentieth century, optimism and confidence about the future course of humankind was rising across much of the world. DIndustrialization and international trade had lifted many economies to new heights of productivity and prosperity. In addition, advances in scientific knowledge, political reforms, and exciting new artistic and cultural movements captured the imaginations of people in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world. All of this forward momentum, however, came to a screech- ing halt in the days and weeks following the June 28, 1914, assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Serbia. Tangled Alliances and Jealousies Drag Europe into War The political ripple effects of that murder committed by Gavrilo Princip on the streets of the Serbian capital of Sarajevo overwhelmed the close economic ties that European nations had forged with each other. The ethnic tensions and national anxieties awoken by the assassination even proved more powerful than the blood ties that linked Europe’s many monarchies. King George V of Britain and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany were cousins who traced their lineage directly from Britain’s Queen Victoria, their grandmother. Another of Victoria’s grandchildren was Alexandra, the strong-willed wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Rus- sia. In the end, though, these extended family relations proved to be of no help in dispersing the gathering storm clouds of war. 7 DM - World War I 3/13/13 12:55 PM Page 8 Defining Moments: World War I and the Age of Modern Warfare Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, one hour before they were assassinated on the streets of Sarajevo. The chain reaction of events that transformed the death of a single man into a global war was set in motion by Austria-Hungary, often known simply as Aus- tria. The Austrian government had long struggled to keep the empire’s many nationalities, languages, and religions from pulling the country apart. The Aus- trians saw the identity of the assassin—an ethnic Serbian who wanted all Serb ter- ritory in Austria to be united with the adjacent nation of Serbia—as a dangerous threat to its fragile national unity. After the archduke’s death, Austria handed the government of Serbia a list of ten demands, any one of which would have erod- ed Serbia’s independence. For example, Austria insisted that Serbia outlaw any criticisms of the Austrian monarchy in newspapers, schoolbooks, and govern- mental statements. It also demanded that Serbia arrest or fire a long list of offi- cials and military officers it regarded as unfriendly to the Hapsburg Monarchy. When Serbia refused to knuckle under to Austria’s ultimatums, Austria declared war against its neighbor on July 28. It took this stance with the sup- port of Germany, Austria’s chief military ally in Europe (see “Starting Down the 8 DM - World War I 3/13/13 12:55 PM Page 9 Chapter One: Origins of the “Great War” Path to War,” p. 159). Germany, which was led by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (see biography, p. 150), was a young but strong and con- fident nation. Though the nation had only for- mally been forged into existence by a union of Germanic states in 1871—less than a half century earlier—its leaders were convinced that the country was destined for great things. Since its founding Germany had built a thriving industrial economy and formidable army. It had even managed to establish a few overseas colonies in places overlooked by France and Great Britain, the world’s great colonial empires. Serbia could never have withstood an invasion by the German-backed Austrian military on its own. But the people of Serbia shared the same Slavic ethnic background as the people of the vast nation of Russia to the east. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia expressed These ethnic bonds caused Russia to adopt a grave doubts about going to war against Germany. very protective stance toward Serbia. The Rus- sians were also anxious about the growing might of Germany, which loomed on Russia’s far western border. These considerations led Russia to announce mobilization of its armed forces. This was a clear sign that if Austria invaded Serbia, Russia would rush to Serbia’s defense. From this point forward the momentum for war among Europe’s greatest powers—the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (first forged in 1882) and the Triple Entente of Britain, France, and Russia (established in 1907)—picked up ever greater speed. Russia had hoped that partial mobilization would scare Austria into reconsidering its threat to invade Serbia. Instead, it sparked a stern warning from Germany that continued Russian mobilization would force the Germans to ready their own forces for war. In late July Nicholas II (see biography, p. 141) and Wilhelm II exchanged a frantic series of messages urging each other to rein in their restless generals, many of whom were itching for a war. The efforts of the two monarchs failed, though, and when Germany ordered a partial mobilization of its army, Nicholas II approved a full mobilization of the Russian military. He was horribly depressed about this turn of events, however. “Think of the responsibility which 9 DM - World War I 3/13/13 12:55 PM Page 10 Defining Moments: World War I and the Age of Modern Warfare you are asking me to take!” he exclaimed to his foreign minister. “Think of the thousands and thousands of men who will be sent to their death!”1 The rising tensions between Germany and Russia also ensnared France, which had established a military alliance with Russia. The French still remem- bered how they had been forced to give Germany large tracts of valuable terri- tory—the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine—in the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War that had created Germany. This humiliating blow continued to color French attitudes toward Germany in the 1910s. They saw the Germans’ bel- ligerent stance toward Russia as a clear sign of German arrogance and contempt for other peoples of Europe. French president Raymond Poincaré and other leaders approved mobilization of the nation’s armed forces to show that France would stand by Russia. Germany’s Plan of Conquest The mobilizations ordered by Russia and France so angered and alarmed Germany that it declared war against both nations, on August 1 and August 3, respectively. Kaiser Wilhelm II expressed confidence that both the French and Russian capitals would be in German hands before the year was out. He pro- claimed, in fact, that he would have Paris for lunch and St. Petersburg for dinner. Wilhelm’s boast provided a glimpse into Germany’s military strategy for the upcoming war. The generals of Germany recognized that waging a “two-front war”—one with simultaneous fighting on both their eastern and western bor- ders—would be very difficult. With that in mind, the Germans launched a military plan designed to quickly neutralize the threat on their western front— France—before Russia fully mobilized. They could then shift all their attention to Russia on Germany’s eastern front. This strategy was known by Germany’s high commanders as the Schleiffen Plan. Germany demanded permission from neighboring Belgium to take its army through the Belgian countryside and march on Paris out of the north. When Bel- gium, which was trying to stay neutral in the spreading conflict, denied Ger- many’s request for passage, the Germans responded by declaring war against the Belgians. This declaration of war came on August 4, the same day that German troops began pouring across the lightly defended Belgian border. Germany’s invasion of Belgium was too much for Great Britain to bear. The leaders of Britain had hoped to avoid being pulled into the war, despite the fact that it had military “ententes”—agreements or understandings—with Russia 10 DM - World War I 3/13/13 12:55 PM Page 11 Chapter One: Origins of the “Great War” 11 DM - World War I 3/13/13 12:55 PM Page 12 Defining Moments: World War I and the Age of Modern Warfare The Fate of the Archduke’s Assassin avrilo Princip, the Serbian man Gwho murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife and set in motion the events that would lead to World War I, never intended to be captured alive. The revolutionaries who devised the assassination plot had even given Princip and the other participants in the murder scheme vials of a poison called cyanide, which they were to take immediately after they carried out their mission. After shooting the archduke and his wife, Princip swallowed the cyanide as instructed. He vomited the poison up, however. Princip then tried to shoot himself in the head, but he was grabbed and disarmed by bystanders before he could pull the trigger. Ultimately, Princip and seven other conspirators were tried and convicted of treason and murder. Assassin Gavrilo Princip. Three members of the assassination plot were executed for their crimes, but Princip and three others were spared execution because they were under the age of twenty when Ferdinand and his wife were killed. Under Austro-Hungarian law, capital punishment could not be imposed on anyone who was a teen at the time of their offense.

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