why did germany went to war1914?

Question

tell me more on Social factor and the Ideological / Lebensraum

Answer 1

The First World War was largely triggered as a chapter of accidents.

The Austrian Archduke Ferdinand was assasinated in Sarajevo. As a result the Austro-Hungarians feared that Russia would support the Serbs against Austria and intitiated a war against Russia. Germany was bound by alliance to support Austria, and France to support Russia. Knowing this, Germany attacked France by invading though Belgium which made the United Kingdom, after a weekend of Cabinet debate, to invoke their guarantee of Belgian neutrality (Britain was also allied with France in the Entente Cordiale).

The important point behind this is that the Continental powers all relied on conscript armies. These were cumbersome to call up, and once the process started according to pre-arranged plans it was impossible to stop, as the resulting administrative chaos would leave the country hopelessly divided. Mobilization took place by train: there were pre-planned timetables and even special stations near the borders for troops to disembark.

There was widespread expectation that the first country to get its armies into the field would win. In particular, as it was known Russia would be slow, Germany planned to knock out the French as quickly as possible under the Schlieffen Plan and then to get its troops East to defeat the Russians. This meant that even a local crisis like Sarajevo made the various European powers, but particularly the Germans, set their unstoppable war plans into operation. In the event, Russia was slightly less inefficient than expected, and the French (and the small British Expeditionary Force) just about slowed the Germans until they had to move some troops East, with the resultant stalemate everybody knows about.

The First World War had little to do with social factors or ideology. Both Britain and Germany had limited constitutional monarchies, indeed their rulers were cousins. The Germans had a Reichstag not dissiimilar to Westminster - remember that the Wesminster franchise did not encompass all adult males, or women, until 1918, and even then only to women over 30. Lloyd George was actually copying German progress in introducing pensions. Whilst racism was commonplace in early C20 Europe (not least in Britain) and a minor border dispute was the immediate cause, territorial expansion was not the major issue it was in the Second World War. Poland was split between Germany,. Austria and Russia and Czechoslovakia (Bohemia as it was then known) was part ot the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

A more important underlying cause of WWI was economic tension. The United Kingdom had industrialised at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but was being overtaken by Germany
which was expanding following its unification in the 1860s. Germany had a larger population and much better scientific research and education. France was feeling vulnerable following loss of much of its coal and steel industry when Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to Germany following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Results included German desire to acquire an empire for trading purposes, like those of France and Germany, and British concern that Germnay would build more powerful ships than Britain had. These pressures left France and Britain concerned to counter any German aggression before Germany became too powerful for them to do so. It lead to the creation of alliances around Germany which had nearly led to war on several occasions (e.g. the Agadir Crisis) before things went too far in 1914.

The First World War was of course a disaster for all the European countries. Apart from the losers, France was devastated because the war was mainly fought on her territory, in regions that were the centre of her industry. Britain has never recovered from the economic costs of the War. The Second World War was a bigger disaster in human terms, but not economic ones.

Answer 2

Ben Newbon On 1st August 1914 Germany declared war on Russia. Two days later Germany also declared war on France. The day after that Germany invaded Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany. This was the start of world war 1, the Great War. After the creation of the German empire in 1871 Germany rapidly became industrialised and a strong economic power. As a result of this quick rising through the ranks the German government became ambitious and soon became involved with the competitive colonial and naval struggles. Although a definite factor leading up to Germany going to war it obviously was not the most immediate since the war neither began in the colonial lands nor at sea. The imperial and economic factors were simply peripheral factors, which caused the other more immediate factors such as the alliance system.

Answer 3

I think you'll find that 'Lebensraum' was a World War 2 concept championed by Hitler, and had very little to do with WW1, which was catalysed by Princeps assassinating Archduke Ferdinand.

WW2 was very much catalysed by the perceived injustices of The Treaty Of Versailles, the devastating effect that the treaty, and other world economic factors had on Germany, and the rise of Hitler and The National Socialist (Nazi) party.

The causes of both WW1 and WW2 were very complex in their nature, and it's very difficult to put down in a few lines the many and varied circumstances that brought about the respective wars.

Answer 4

The fact was a serbian shot Arch Duke Ferninand in Sarajevo, and then various powers got into conflict then war!

Answer 5

"Lebensraum" replaced into an difficulty presented up by Hitler, many years later in his upward push to potential and through the second one international warfare. It wasn't extremely an difficulty, afaik, contained in the first international warfare (1914). even as 1914 Germany replaced into, like most of the ecu powers of the day, quite contained in the Empire progression mentality, factors about them going to warfare did not comprise 'residing area' (Lebensraum).

Answer 6

The first world war began in August 1914. It was directly triggered by the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on 28th June 1914 by Bosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip.

This event was, however, simply the trigger that set off declarations of war. The actual causes of the war are more complicated and are still debated by historians today.

An alliance is an agreement made between two or more countries to give each other help if it is needed. When an alliance is signed, those countries become known as Allies.

A number of alliances had been signed by countries between the years 1879 and 1914. These were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies. declared war first.

1879
The Dual Alliance

Germany and Austria-Hungary made an alliance to protect themselves from Russia

1881
Austro-Serbian Alliance

Austria-Hungary made an alliance with Serbia to stop Russia gaining control of Serbia

1882
The Triple Alliance

Germany and Austria- Hungary made an alliance with Italy to stop Italy from taking sides with Russia

1914
Triple Entente (no separate peace)

Britain, Russia and France agreed not to sign for peace separately.

1894
Franco-Russian Alliance

Russia formed an alliance with France to protect herself against Germany and Austria-Hungary

1907
Triple Entente

This was made between Russia, France and Britain to counter the increasing threat from Germany.

1907
Anglo-Russian Entente

This was an agreement between Britain and Russia

1904
Entente Cordiale

This was an agreement, but not a formal alliance, between France and Britain.

Imperialism is when a country takes over new lands or countries and makes them subject to their rule. By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents and France had control of large areas of Africa. With the rise of industrialism countries needed new markets. The amount of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late and only had small areas of Africa.

Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government. The growing European divide had led to an arms race between the main countries. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914 and there was fierce competition between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas. The British had introduced the 'Dreadnought', an effective battleship, in 1906. The Germans soon followed suit introducing their own battleships. The German, Von Schlieffen also drew up a plan of action that involved attacking France through Belgium if Russia made an attack on Germany.

Nationalism means being a strong supporter of the rights and interests of one's country. The Congress of Vienna, held after Napoleon's exile to Elba, aimed to sort out problems in Europe. Delegates from Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia (the winning allies) decided upon a new Europe that left both Germany and Italy as divided states. Strong nationalist elements led to the re-unification of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871. The settlement at the end of the Franco-Prussian war left France angry at the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany and keen to regain their lost territory. Large areas of both Austria-Hungary and Serbia were home to differing nationalist groups, all of whom wanted freedom from the states in which they lived.

In 1904 Morocco had been given to France by Britain, but the Moroccans wanted their independence. In 1905, Germany announced her support for Moroccan independence. War was narrowly avoided by a conference which allowed France to retain possession of Morocco. However, in 1911, the Germans were again protesting against French possession of Morocco. Britain supported France and Germany was persuaded to back down for part of French Congo.

In 1908, Austria-Hungary took over the former Turkish province of Bosnia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs. Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary with war, Russia, allied to Serbia, mobilised its forces. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary mobilised its forces and prepared to threaten Russia. War was avoided when Russia backed down. There was, however, war in the Balkans between 1911 and 1912 when the Balkan states drove Turkey out of the area. The states then fought each other over which area should belong to which state. Austria-Hungary then intervened and forced Serbia to give up some of its acquisitions. Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was high.