Causes and Consequences of the First World War

We explain what the First World War was, the countries involved and what its causes and consequences were.

causes and consequences of the first world war
In the First World War the Entente and the Central Powers clashed.

What was World War I?

The First World War (1914-1918), known at the time as the Great War, was one of the most destructive war conflicts and with the greatest geopolitical impact in history.

It is estimated that almost 70 million soldiers were mobilized, mainly from twenty countries. The political impact and the number of human victims of this confrontation were surpassed only by World War II (1939-1945).

The First World War started in Europe on July 28, 1914 and lasted four years until November 11, 1918. During these years the armies of the Entente and the Central Powers clashed.

The Entente initially brought together France, the United Kingdom and Russia, along with involved countries such as Serbia, Montenegro and Belgium. Later other countries joined, such as Japan, Italy, Portugal, Romania, the United States and Greece. Russia abandoned the war after the October Revolution of 1917.

The Central Powers were the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, along with their strategic allies in Africa and Asia.

The magnitude of the conflict was such that cost the lives of around 16 million people of different nationalities and changed the balance of power in the world, including the fall of four empires.

Key points

  • The First World War (1914-1918) pitted the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire) against the Entente (United Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy, United States).
  • Its main causes were the industrial and colonial competition of the European powers, the rise of nationalism, the alliance system and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
  • Its main consequences were the disappearance of four empires, the signing of the Treaty of Versailles that imposed harsh conditions on Germany, the creation of the League of Nations and the death of 16 million people.

See also: World Wars

Causes of the First World War

Germany was an industrial power with militaristic tendencies at the beginning of the 20th century.

The main causes of the First World War were the following:

1. Competition between European imperial powers

Throughout the 19th century, Europe consolidated its economic, technological and military dominance over much of the world and several of its countries became colonial powers with possessions in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

However, the territorial distribution was not equitable: Countries like the United Kingdom and France, which had developed their industry and achieved colonial dominance earlier, were ahead of countries like Germany, which had begun its industrialization at the end of the 19th century and had imperial ambitions.

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This led to a scenario of conflict between colonial powers and the formation of alliances between nations that competed for political or economic reasons. Some of these conflicts were related to past rivalries, such as tensions between France and Germany dating back to the time of the Napoleonic conquests in Europe and, more recently, to the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).

2. The rise of nationalism in Europe

The idea of ​​a country as a nation-state with its own culture, identity and political project emerged in the 18th century and was consolidated in the 19th century. This gave rise to new ethnic or national tensions, especially in Eastern Europe.

For example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Ottoman territories claimed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there were projects for autonomous Slavic states or annexation to the Kingdom of Serbia (ally of the Russian Empire).

Between 1912 and 1913, the Balkan region (to which Bosnia and Herzegovina belonged) experienced two local wars and was known as “the tinderbox of Europe”, as it was considered that at any moment it could catch fire and explode again.

3. The emergence of new industrial powers

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the 18th century. Shortly after, countries such as Belgium and France began their own industrialization processes. Between 1870 and 1914, the so-called Second Industrial Revolution introduced technical and technological innovations and saw the rise of new industrial powers, mainly Germany, the United States and Japan.

The emergence of new industrial powers intensified competition economic, political and colonial, since the industry promoted economic growth, promoted the development and modernization of military weapons and, at the same time, demanded raw materials that in many cases were obtained in the colonies of Asia, Africa or the Pacific.

4. The creation and renewal of the European alliance system

The war took on a global dimension because many nations were drawn into the conflict. This happened due to the existence of treaties of alliance and mutual assistance between the members of both sides since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

The Entente was the result of a succession of agreements that had begun with the Franco-Russian alliance (1893), the Franco-British Entente cordiale (1904) and the Triple Entente (1907). The Central Powers were based on an alliance between the German and Austro-Hungarian empires (1879), which Italy had joined in the so-called Triple Alliance (1882), until the Italian government switched to the side of the Entente in 1915.

Anticipating a European conflict in the immediate future, most of the powers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated their industrial power to manufacturing and developing war weapons during a period that was known as the “armed peace.”

5. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

The trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Autro-Hungarian throne, in the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event occurred on June 28, 1914. The author of the attack was the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip, belonging to the Serbian nationalist organization Black Hand.

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The Austro-Hungarian government held the Serbian government responsible and sent it an ultimatum. Finally, A month after the assassination, the Austro-Hungarian emperor declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia. As Serbia had a mutual support agreement with Russia, the Russian army was mobilized with the intention of supporting the Serbs against Austria-Hungary, and that in turn promoted France's entry into the war, as it was an ally of Russia.

For its part, Germany supported the Austro-Hungarian Empire, declared war on Russia and invaded Belgium to reach France. Since Belgium was a neutral country, its invasion meant a transgression of international treaties and that motivated the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany.

By August 4, 1914, the major European powers were involved in the war.

Consequences of the First World War

causes and consequences of the first world war spanish flu
The movement of troops facilitated the spread of the “Spanish flu.”

The main consequences of the First World War were the following:

1. A considerable loss of human life

It is estimated that nearly nine million soldiers and seven million civilians died during the four years that the First World War lasted. This represented almost 1% of the world's population at the time.

The deaths were a consequence of both the war violence itself and the famines and diseases that the war brought with it, including the effect of mustard gas and other toxic agents used during the war. The number of injured and maimed is estimated at twenty million.

2. The collapse of four great empires

As a result of the conflict, empires and their respective ruling dynasties fell:

  • The German Empire, ruled by the Hohenzollerns, collapsed shortly before the signing of the armistice in November 1918 and gave way to the Weimar Republic.
  • The Austro-Hungarian Empire, of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, was dissolved and its territory was divided into various nations (including Austria and Hungary).
  • The Ottoman Empire, led by the Osman dynasty, was disintegrated and in 1922 it was dissolved by Turkish nationalists who founded the Republic of Türkiye. Its territories in the Middle East were divided between the United Kingdom and France in the form of League of Nations mandates.
  • The Russian Empire, ruled by the Romanov dynasty, fell in 1917 when the February Revolution overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and the October Revolution established a Bolshevik government, which a few years later gave birth to the Soviet Union (USSR).

3. The spread of the so-called “Spanish flu”

Due to the intense movement of troops and the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in the trenches, World War I contributed to the spread of a new type of respiratory infection, known as the “Spanish flu,” which became a pandemic in early 1918.

This type A influenza virus did not originate in Spain but received its name because it was reported by the Spanish press while the belligerent countries were censoring the information so as not to damage the morale of the troops. It caused the deaths of approximately twenty-five million people until April 1920.

4. The geopolitical reorganization of Europe

With the collapse of the old empires in the final stretch of the war, the victors dedicated themselves to reorganizing the territory of Europe and nationalist movements promoted independence in many cases.

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So new nations emerged such as Czechoslovakia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Yugoslavia (initially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). Austria and Hungary were also established as independent nations. In addition to ceding part of its territories in Europe, the German Empire lost its colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

5. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles

Once the war was over, the winning countries signed the Treaty of Versailles together with Germany on June 28, 1919. Through this treaty Germany was held responsible for the war and very severe conditions were imposed. which included the payment of costly war reparations, the loss of territories and various prohibitions, such as the one that prevented exceeding a certain number of military personnel.

The Treaty of Versailles caused debts and economic difficulties in Germany that generated discontent among the population. This circumstance was taken advantage of by Nazism, a nationalist movement that based part of its political discourse on criticism of the Treaty of Versailles and that came to power in 1933.

Another consequence of the Treaty of Versailles was the founding of the League of Nations, which came into force in 1920 and was the precursor to the United Nations (UN). Although its function was to contribute to the peaceful solution of international tensions and prevent the outbreak of a new “great war”, it could not prevent the Second World War from beginning twenty years later.

6. The establishment of a communist regime in Russia

Poverty and scarcity in Russia worsened with the beginning of the First World War. Soldier deaths and successive military defeats increased discontent with the tsarist government, leading to the February Revolution that overthrew Tsar Nicholas II in 1917.

Shortly after, he triumphed the October Revolution that established a communist regime led by the Bolsheviks. This fact meant the emergence of communism as an important political force on the European and world scene, which inspired numerous revolutionary left parties and became the main ideological rival of fascism and Nazism in the 1920s and 1930s.

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References

  • Hart, P. (2014). The Great War 1914-1918. Military history of World War I. Criticism.
  • Showalter, D.E. & Royde-Smith, J.G. (2023). World War I Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
  • Stevenson, D. (2013). 1914-1918. History of World War I. Debate.
  • Stone, N. (2013). Brief history of World War I. Ariel.