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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."
This bid arose from deep roots within Germany's economic, political, and social structures. Once the war broke out, world power became Germany's essential goal. [111] However, Schroeder argues that all of that was not the main cause of the war in 1914. Indeed, the search for a single main cause is not a helpful approach to history.
The crisis escalated as the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was joined by their allies Russia, Germany, France, and ultimately Belgium and the United Kingdom. Other factors that came into play during the diplomatic crisis leading up to the war included misperceptions of intent (such as the German belief that Britain would remain ...
As soon as the war began, the major nations issued "color books" containing documents (mostly from July 1914) that helped justify their actions.A color book is a collection of diplomatic correspondence and other official documents published by a government for educational or political reasons, and to promote the government position on current or past events.
The Army and Navy each had their nationwide network of supporters, with a million members in the German Navy League, founded in 1898, [13] and 20,000 in the German Army League, founded in 1912. [14] The most articulate and aggressive civilian organization was the " Pan-German League ". [ 15 ]
Serbians saw that as a threat to their dream of a new state of Yugoslavia, and it was a factor in motivating the Archduke's assassination in 1914. Hungarian leaders had a predominant voice in imperial circles and strongly rejected Trialism because it would liberate many of their minorities from Hungarian rule, which considered oppressive. [ 14 ]
Disagreements over their partition led to the Second Balkan War, where Bulgaria suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of its former allies. This defeat transformed Bulgaria into a resentful regional power, setting the stage for renewed attempts to achieve its national goals. As a result, Serbia emerged as the primary Russian ally in the region.
HMS Dreadnought.The 1902, 1904 and 1907 agreements with Japan, France and Russia allowed Britain to refocus resources during the Anglo-German naval arms race. In explaining why Britain went to war with Germany, British historian Paul Kennedy (1980) argued that a critical factor was the British realisation that Germany was rapidly becoming economically more powerful than Britain.