Inverclyde's war : lessons

Did you realy believe this war would end wars ?

Inverclyde’s war

In conjunction with Inverclyde’s war, the History department of Saint Stephen’s High School offer these resources to help with their teaching package.

Militarism

Britain and Germany had both built up their navies.

France and Russia had both increased the size of their armies.

Nation

1908

1909

1910

1911

1912

1913

Great Britain

$286.7m

$306.2m

$330.4m

$345.1m

$349.9m

$374.2m

Germany

$286.7m

$306.8m

$301.5m

$303.9m

$331.5m

$463.6m

France

$216m

$236.4m

$248m

$277.9m

$307.8m

$363.8m

Russia

$291.6m

$315.5m

$324m

$334.5m

$387m

$435m

Italy

$87.5m

$115.8m

$124.9m

$133.7m

$158.4m

$142.2m

United States

$189.5m

$199m

$197m

$227m

$244.6m

Japan

$93.7m

$95.7m

$100.2m

$110.7m

$107.7m

$104.6m

Source: Jacobson’s World Armament Expenditure, 1935

Alliance System

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy had formed the Triple Alliance.

France, Russia and Britain were all in the Triple Entente.

Imperialism

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had lots of different nationalities within it. These peoples (Czechs, Poles and Serbs) all wanted to rule themselves.

Nationalism

Germany was a newly-formed country.

It was jealous of Britain and France and felt she deserved her ‘place in the sun’.

Why did the war break out in 1914 ?

The Great War began in August 1914. There are many reasons, both long and short term, as to why war broke out when it did.

Militarism was a major long term cause, as rearmament meant that all European countries were in a position to go to war.

Europe’s main powers had split into two armed camps.
This encouraged them to behave more aggressively, since they had back-up from their allies.

Britain had the largest empire in the world, and this made her very rich and powerful, but also vulnerable to attack.

The short-term cause of war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Sarajevo. He was killed by a group of Bosnian Serbs who wanted independence from Austrian rule.

1. Militarism is the incorporation of military personnel and ideas into civilian government – and the belief that military power is essential for national strength.

2. Militarism was strongest in Germany, where the kaiser relied heavily on his military commanders and the civilian legislature (Reichstag) exerted little or no control over the military.

3. Militarists were also driven by experiences and failures in previous wars, such as the Crimean War, Boer War and Russo-Japanese War.

4. Militarism, combined with new weapons, emerging technologies and developments in industrial production, fuelled a European arms race in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

5. Influenced by nationalism and advice from military commanders, European governments ramped up military spending, purchasing new weaponry and increasing the size of armies and navies.