World War I: What We Should Have Learned

World War I (also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars) was fought between the Entente Powers (initially consisting of France, the UK, and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and their associated empires. By the conclusion of the war, only the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, and the Scandinavian nations remained officially neutral among the European countries.

The chain of events that set off the war was a case of “one thing led to another,” due to the treaty alliance system. The match to the fuse was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Ferdinand’s death was at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, which set into motion a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated the world’s first global war.

Austria-Hungary’s reaction to the death of their heir was three weeks in coming. They opted to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia, which, in the extent of its demand that the assassins be brought to justice effectively nullified Serbia’s sovereignty. Austria-Hungary sought the help of their ally, Germany, that she would come to her aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria Hungary.

A summary of the main countries and the part they played in the sequence of events that led to World War I.

Austria-Hungary- unsatisfied with Serbia’s response to her ultimatum, declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.
Russia- bound by a treaty to Serbia, announced mobilization of its vast army in her defense, a slow process that took about six weeks to complete.
Germany- allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilization as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after scant warning declared war on Russia on August 1.
France- bound by treaty to Russia, found itself at war against Germany, and by extension on Austria-Hungary, following a German declaration on August 3. Germany was swift in invading neutral country Belgium, so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.
Britain- allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a “moral obligation” upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on August 4. However, Britain was obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year old treaty. Britain committed herself to Belgium’s defense later that day. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.
United States- Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, which would last until 1917 when Germany’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare- which threatened America’s commercial shipping- forced the U.S. to enter the war on April 6, 1917.
Japan- Honoring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany August 23, 1914. Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan.
Italy- Was allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to avoid entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both countries.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this war, which should have been a disagreement between two countries, was turned into a World War by old treaties and obligations. What did it get us? They estimate that over 40 million people died because of this War.

So what’s the lesson to be learned here? When two countries have a disagreement, sometimes it’s better to leave it to them to figure it out.

~Mer