Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
German elite and popular public opinion also was demanding mediation. Now in late July he reversed himself, and pleaded, or demanded, that Austria accept mediation, warning that Britain would probably join Russia and France if a larger war started. The Kaiser made a direct appeal to Emperor Franz Joseph along the same lines. However, Bethmann ...
[88] In German ruling circles, war was viewed as the only way to rejuvenate Germany. Russia was viewed as growing stronger every day, and it was believed that Germany had to strike while it still could before it was crushed by Russia. [89] Nationalism made war a competition between peoples, nations or races, rather than kings and elites. [90]
When the German ultimatum to Russia expired at 7 p.m. in St. Petersburg, the German ambassador to Russia met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov. Despite being asked three times if Russia would reconsider, the ambassador delivered a note accepting Russia's challenge to war, leading to Germany declaring war on Russia on August 1.
Russia's rivalries with Germany and Austria-Hungary led to an alliance with France and involvement in Balkan affairs. The July Crisis opened a general conflict in which Russia was allied with France and the United Kingdom. Emperor Nicholas II believed he could re-establish his autocratic power and reunite his people through a victorious war ...
Before World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War. [1] In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself". [2] In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."
Margaret MacMillan, in her book, The War That Ended Peace, puts the blame for the start of the First World War on the decision making of a small group of people, primarily blaming the leaders of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary. [51] The Russians did not want to back down after mobilizing, due to the fast mobilization that they had ordered.
The stalemate by the end of 1914 forced serious consideration of long-term goals. Britain, France, Russia and Germany all separately concluded this was not a traditional war with limited goals. Britain, France and Russia became committed to the destruction of German military power, and Germany to the dominance of German military power in Europe.
The Allies or the Entente was an international military coalition of countries led by the French Republic, the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the United States, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan against the Central Powers of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Bulgaria in World War I (1914–1918).