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What was the point of WWI?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Miss_C_1982 (U2621579) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  What was the point of having a war in 1914 why didn't they talk or settle it?

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  Posted by Elistan (U1872011) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Power, Money, Glory... Different order for different nationalities.

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  Posted by Mr Pedant (U2464726) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Power, Money, Glory... Different order for different nationalities.Β 
  
  I don't think anyone came out with any of those.
  
  US and Japan as possible exceptions.

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  Posted by Slimdaddy101 (U2553470) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  "What was the point of having a war in 1914 why didn't they talk or settle it?"
  
  By that rationale we would never have had any war since time began. But ever since that neadrathal hit that other neadrathal over the head with a stick and grabbed his banana, war has been with us. And probably always will. Its in our nature.

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  Posted by Elistan (U1872011) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Power, Money, Glory... Different order for different nationalities.Β 
  
  I don't think anyone came out with any of those.
  
  US and Japan as possible exceptions.Β 
  
  Agreed, but in 1914 they were motivators in the decision-making processes that led to war.

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  Posted by Geordie Driver (U517874) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  WW1 was initiated by Kaiser Wilhelm 2 of Germany in 1914. Being jealous of Great Britains' Empire and standing in the world he decided to equal Britains Royal Navy in size. Once he thought that had happened he was no longer afraid to challenge the Empire on the ground and decided to invade Belgium preparity to the invasion of his hated enemy France.
  Britain had created Belgium after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and had guaranteed her integrity by treaty. Britain was therefore, after Germanys invasion, bound to protect Belgium by sending troops to the area. The point of WW1 was to prove to Germany that she was wrong in what she attempted to do. Her appeal for an armistice (not capitulation) in 1918 was granted and in effect it held for 20 or so years until another generation was ready to start the war again for Germany. In this one, WW2, she was soundly defeated. The Kaisers War, and the subsequent WW2 caused the deaths of some 35 million people, mostly civilians. The Kaiser was Queen Victoria's eldest daughters son!

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  Posted by TimTrack (U1730472) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  In 1914 no one trusted anybody. Looking at the characters involved, they all had a point.
  
  WW1 was, in my opinion about the changing power structure. Germany wanted more influence than France or Britain would allow them. Austro-Hungary were competing for influence in the Balkans with the Russian Empire.

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  Posted by Plancenoit (U1237957) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Because with all that political strife in 1914,... the rise of an educated 'working class' people wondering why they were supporting a priveleged few,... the shrinking empires and the internal problems it was causing for European countries such as inflation and unemployment,...and with all that new technology and machinery available, it would have been too much trouble not to have a war....wouldn't it??

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  Posted by Mani (U1821129) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Spanish Waiter,
  
  "Being jealous of Great Britains' Empire and standing in the world he decided to equal Britain’s Royal Navy in size" Although he first part is right, he was jealous, the second part isn't... It was never the intention of the Imperial German Navy to match the royal navy. Wilhelm fully embraced Tirpitz' 'Risk Theory Memo' which meant they wouldn't have to match the RN. There's also more than significant evidence that Wilhelm tried (In vain) to prevent hostilities escalating, but the General staff's attitude prevailed.
  
  "Britain was therefore, after Germanys invasion, bound to protect Belgium by sending troops to the area" A mere excuse I believe. It was Britain's policy to support one country in order that no power would become dominant on the continent, at this time, the logical choice was to support France, particularly after the Franco-Prussian war.
  

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  Posted by Turnwrest (U2188092) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  War had only narrowly been averted several times in the lead up to the Great War. Europe was divided into two armed camps, each with their own spheres of influence, the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (although Italy was at best loosely attached to this - the Irredentists still had unfinished business with their former masters), and the Triple Entente, with Britain, France and Russia. The Balkans were a tinder box, as the remaining influence of the Ottoman Empire declined, and various Slav groups sought independance, which wasn't much to Austria-Hungary's taste, as it could and did lead to their own Balkan satellites wishing to assert their independance. There had already been two Balkan wars in the previous few months, and the Dual Monarchy were set on stifling this quest for independance, and seized on the excuse of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to deal with Serbia. On at least one previous occasion, they had been restrained only by Germany's refusal to support them. This time round, the German General Staff chose to back them and war resulted. The circumstances (the order of declaration of war on each other in particular) gave the Italians the excuse they needed not to join in, which shoiuldn't have been much of a surprise to their nominal allies - the Italian fleet was self-evidently designed as a counter to that of the Dual monarchy - just as the invasion of Belgium gave the British the excuse they needed (the IGS had long planned to send an expeditionary force to join the French, and the Royal Navy, which had no convincing General Staff, had no alternatives to offer).
  
  In all, the prevailing atmosphere of Realpolitik made a mockery of the idea, so prevalent at the time, and frequently trotted out as the lesson to be learned from the failure of "Appeasement" in the run-up to WWII, "Si pacem vis, para bellum". Prepare for war, and you are likely to get war, not peace.

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  Posted by Mark (U2073932) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Of course there is the theory that Britain only used Belgium's neutrality as a mask for a more important reason for going to war in 1914. As you have stated the German navy was increasing in size, and though not matching the RN in numbers made up in better equipped capital ships (Jutland).
  
  Therefore IMHO Britain REALLY went to war in 1914 to ensure they maintained their control of the sea.

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  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  You might want to check out
  
  
  
  This may well answer many of your students' questions. Mind you, you will get a lot from these boards as well, so do keep posting questions, please.

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  Posted by Mani (U1821129) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Hi Redcoat,
  
  "made up in better equipped capital ships (Jutland). " I wouldn't say the German ships were any better, just designed for different uses... A major problem at Jutland was the shells used....

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  Posted by Miss_C_1982 (U2621579) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Thanks TonyG, I will check out the site. Of course, I could always answer my students' questions but they don't want to listen to me harp on do they?!

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  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  Dear Miss_C,
  
  I can;t tell youhow glad I am that there is interest in WW1 from today's students. I remember when I was at school asking my parents about WW1 and neither of them, despite being born in the generation immediately after the war, could tell me much about it. It was almost as if their own parents had not spoken about it.
  
  The more I read about it, the more horrible the war became. I often wonder whether even trained soldiers of the modern day would have been left unscarred by the horrow of that conflict. These days, the death of one British soldier in Iraq is headline news. Can you imagine what it was like for battalions of a thousand men to suffer 75% casualties in the space of a few hours?
  
  Good luck with the studies. Any detailed investigation of WW1 should be enough to put later generations off war altogether. Perhaps our politicians should be forced to study it.

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  Posted by rufus_dawes (U2652570) on Monday, 5th December 2005

  I can't think of a more difficult question to try an answer, why does mankind continually make war on one another?
  
  One could say its simply in our nature (aka The Terminator), or we could as has already been done by several of these posts, attempt to give plausible and rational explanations to conflicts that killed millions of people and changed the political nature of our world forever.
  
  I suppose all we can really try to do is remember the quote by H.G. Wells:
  
  'Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.'
  
  cheers
  
  

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