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Causes of War
Structures, Actions and Chance (Mechanisms (structures)…
- Causes of War
Structures, Actions and Chance
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The Causes of War
- Chance coincidences, directing the sequence of events towards war.
The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914. This terroristic 'deed' had far-reaching consequences.
- War-conducive mechanisms (Structures)
- War-conducive actions and inactions of the key participants (Agency)
The Alliance System
Although perhaps not as stable and reliable as once thought, the division of Europes great powers into the Central (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy - the Central Powers) and Entente (France, Russia and Britain) alliance systems served to exacerbate what was assumed would be a local crisis. Was 'international anarchy' to blame?
Ideological Structures: nationalism
Not quite the same sort of structure as the international state system, ideational structures operated to legitimise the actions of actors: Nationalism suggested a re-arranging of state borders, as well as providing popular support for war once conflict began.
France: La Revanche
In France, the idea of revanche (revenge) and calls to reclaim the "Lost Provinces' mobilised and sustained opinion against the German Reich.
Militarism:
Germany and Britain were engaged in a naval arms race from 1898-1912; when HMS Dreadnought was launched in 1906 it made all other battleships obsolete and the German navy sought to keep up by building its own fleet of 'dreadnoughts'
- Actions and Inactions (agency)
Austria-Hungary: harsh ultimatum
Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia in the wake of the assassinations in Sarajevo were an over-reaction to a terrorist action that forced the Serbian government into conflict.
Russia: inflexible mobilisation
Although acting in support of a Slav ally, Russia's cumbersome mobilisation plans also helped escalate a Balkan conflict into a wider European war by threatening Germany.
Germany: the Schlieffen Plan
German governments were well aware of their strategic location between France and the Russian Empire and planned accordingly, but these offensive-defensive plans helped escalate the conflict.
Great Britain: 'Perfidious Albion'
The United Kingdom government was accused of not sending a clear message about its support for Belgian neutrality and it entente with the French: '... how far that friendship entails obligation - it has been a friendship between the nations and ratified by the nations - how far that entails an obligation, let every man look into his own heart, and his own feelings, and contrue the extent of the obligation for himself' (UK Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, 3rd August 1914)
War and the 'Idealist' Tradition
By determining that the causes for war were structural, International Relations set itself the task of domesticating 'anarchy' and creating an international system that moderated the actions of states, thereby created an international society that lived up to the ideals of liberalism.
CONCLUSIONS
- Change coincidences, directing the sequence of events towards war
- War-conducive mechanisms (structures)
- War-conducive actions and inactions of the key participants (agency)