World War 1, also called “The Great War”, lasted for a little more than 4 years from 1914-1918. This war was between the Central Powers and the Allies. Germany was a part of the Central Powers while France, Britain and Russia were with the Allied powers. Germany, France, Britain and Russia all used the war for their specific causes. They had their own agendas and fought to see them become reality.
WW1 began on July 28, 1914, and by August 6th, 1914 most combatants were at war with each other. The First World War ended on November 11, 1918. It ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919. The total casualties were from 9-10 million military deaths, 6-7 million civilian deaths, and over 21 million wounded. These deaths and those who were wounded had a high number of casualties. This was because WW1 was the biggest war that anybody had ever seen thus far.
Germany was a central power during WW1. Before the war began Germany went through German Unification in 1871 and was led by Prussia. In 1870-1871 there was the Franco-Prussian war. They declared war on Russia on August 1st, 1914 and France on August 3rd,1914. Germany entered the war for a few days before they declared war on Russia and France. Germany wanted to get rid of Kaiser Wilhelm II as his leadership was problematic. That was one of their goals. It did not happen until 1918 at the end of the war. Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck believed that Wilhelm II would cause Germany to be ruined.
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Germany wanted to be number 1 and that was one of their goals. They wanted to replace Britain as number 1. This caused Britain to see that they need to keep an eye on Germany because the Germans wanted to make Britain attack them. Countries were starting to see what a threat Germany was becoming. At the end of the war, Germany was forbidden to ally with Austria. They had to formally accept war guilt, Article 231 and were forced to have German reparation payments. They had to pay out 132 billion Deutsche marks ($33 billion US). Between 1918 and 1945 they paid $14.5 billion of it. The last payment was in October 2010. They did not reach their goal because of Germany having to take the blame for the War. Their other goal was to get Kaiser Wilhelm II out of power which happened at the end of the war.
Their agenda was to enter the war and become the number 1 country. They wanted to become more powerful and the idea of a more powerful Germany scared other countries even before the war began. Germany quickly declared war on France. After the war, Germany was angry over their loss and ended up in an economic depression because of how much money they had to pay back. They did have a lot of money to pay for the damage the war caused. This ended up leading to the second World War because of that and Hitler’s rise to power.
France entered the war after Germany declared war on France on August 3rd, 1914. France had made some alliances with Russia in 1891 and Britain in 1904. In the early 20th century France was politicly vulnerable. They were fearful of German Power. France needed a large number of soldiers + control most of the globe = to recruit colonial men as soldiers. Because of the two Russian Revolutions, the French went through mutinies. These mutinies were from April to June due to collective indiscipline. Divisions mutinied May 8th. During early June half of the French army was impacted. The fixed problems included: leave 2 weeks off, food rations (wine), bathrooms and barracks. France punishments had 3,427 men sentenced, 554 death sentences but only 49 were actually carried out. These men were sentenced because they were deserters. Being a deserter means that you will be sentenced to death as it was an unforgivable offense. Deserters of the war were to be killed and that had always happened in other wars. It was not something new that started during WW1. It had always been like that in the past.
Their goal was to keep German soldiers from getting to Paris. The German’s were 30 miles away from Paris. Paris is the Capitol of France and if German soldiers had gotten there then France could have been overtaken by Germany. This would have made France a territory under German control. During the Battle of the Marne, they were able to push back the German Army and have 250,000 casualties over a 4-year stalemate. Their goal was achieved as Germany never entered Paris because of help from the other Allies.
Britain was an allied power. When Germany declared war on Russia Britain hesitated to do anything on those three days after and then they declared war on Germany on August 4th, 1914. They made alliances with France in 1904 and Russia in 1907 which was before the war began. These alliances caused them to quickly declare war on Germany. Just a few days after the first World War began.
Britain’s goal was to have a balance of power in Europe. The alliance of France and Britain was “Nominally about Colonial disagreements but altered European balance of power.” The European balance of power was altered due to this alliance that was formed. Britain would do anything to protect its power even if it caused them to enter a war that quickly became a “World war”. After the war they wanted a war to be as a last resort. They wanted it to never happen again. They wanted pacifism.
Russia was an Allied Power and entered the war because of an alliance with Serbia on July 29th, 1914. On August 6th Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. The book, Yashka, showed the journey of Maria Botchkareva through the First World War and the Russian Revolutions. Russia was struggling before the War began. In 1891 Russia and France became allies and would help each other if either were attacked by Germany or Austria-Hungary. Russia also became allies with Britain in 1907. The reason Russia made a few alliances so that they can have another country to help them out. These alliances were made in the years before the war. Russia made these alliances so that they would have other countries to help them out. Russia had Tsar Nicholas II who was an absolute monarch. Because of inflexibility, there was a revolution in 1905. This was before the war which caused two revolutions to begin during WW1. The Russian Empire had problems with industrialization, the disintegration of power, a concern over Germany, and they were looking to the Balkans to help with expansion. They needed help and sought out to make alliances with other countries they believed could and would help them out.
During WW1 Russia also went through two different revolutions. One in February 1917 and the other in October 1917. If there had been no World War then the two revolutions would have never happened. During both revolutions, Russia lost 1 million square miles and sixty-two million people. The revolutions had to do with decreased royal legitimacy + horrible losses at the front + starvation at home. The Russian Revolution created the first communist state because of the Revolutionary Ideology where they were showed socialism, Marxism, and Communism.
Russia had an agenda to get their country to become better by taking help from the other Allies. Getting fellow allies to help them would help Russia to move forward as a country. They would not be able to see “the backwardness of Russia.” That was shown during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 where the Russian Army/Navy was outdated and outgunned. This caused Russia to want to become updated to the times and to get that they would have to create alliances that will benefit the country.
Even before WW1, some countries (France, Russia, Britain) were already becoming fearful of German Power. Germany was one of the Central Powers that fought against the Allies: Britain, France, Russia. They were the country that would have to accept the War guilt. Which they did and they had to pay reparation payments that were finally paid off in October of 2010. They were the only country that fought in the war that had to pay for the damage that happened during the war.
Each of these countries had their own goals for entering the war. Some of these countries had to enter the war because of the alliances they had previously made. They all wanted help for their alliances except Germany cause all they wanted was to be the number 1 country. That never happened so that added anger to an already angry country. Each alliance was made so that if a country in the alliance was declared war on then the other countries would enter the war to help their allies out. It was a way to show that countries would fight to help those who were forced into a war that would have very high numbers of casualties. They would not know how bad the casualties were until the end of WW1.
All of these countries spent their time in the war by using trench warfare. They lived in the trenches that were made to be able to have somewhere to stay. The trenches were dirty and muddy. They were even infested with rats and lice. The trenches were not supposed to be a healthy place to stay in. The trenches were where plans were created and set up. It was an important place for soldiers to live even though the condition of the trenches were not the best to stay in. It was where the soldiers were supposed to stay no matter what country they were fighting for. Every countries soldiers lived the same way. They all just fought the same but they were on the opposing side. All the soldiers had a different agenda that they were supposed to complete during the war. No matter who a soldier fought for they all had an agenda to work with. Their country was relying on its soldiers to get things done and to fight for their country so that they will win the war. These agendas were made to be completed alongside fighting in the war. The war was four years long so these soldiers had that long to complete their agendas.
During WW1 there was two different sides: Central Powers and the Allies. The war was about Central Powers versus Allies. Germany was a Central Power while France, Russia, and Britain were Allies. Each of these four countries entered the war with their own agendas. They were not just there to fight in the Battles because they wanted to get something out of fighting in the war. Being in an alliance allowed the countries to enter the war. Entering the war allowed each country to also fight for there own agendas. Nothing could get in the way of them completing their agendas.
