History of WW1

[clive milne]

Being as it is remembrance day,
I'm curious to know if people remember why World War 1 was actually triggered?

[Barrykgerdes]

We were always taught that the trigger was the assassination of archduke Ferdinand of Serbia. But the European problems had been simmering for some time and up till then wars were a way of life that fed the wealth of the upper classes.

Barry

[AstralTraveller]

As I understand it, it was a land grab, pure and simple. The late-arising imperialist powers, principally Germany, found their expansionist ambitions stymied by the old imperials powers, Britain and France, who for their part were keen to hold on to their colonies and puppet states. There were no good guys in that stouch. No one had the moral high ground. It was pure greed.

The tensions of course built up over time. A couple of years earlier (1912-1913) they fought a war by proxy in the Balkans. I forget which Balkan states were at war but each side was backed (and not just morally) by one of the major-power blocks. It was against that background that the assassination of the Grand-Duke prompted the major antagonists to finally declare open war.

[Jon]

And we Australians and New Zealanders invaded Turkey because Turkey had invaded Tasmania ... no, wait ... that can't be right .... there must have been some other reason.

[KenGee]

Turkey declared war on Britian and therfore us. Turkey was seen as the soft underbelly to get at the axsis powers fuel supply.

[Merlin66]

I have a fantastic book "We were there" which covers the action almost on a day by day basis - weitten by the guys who were there...
It's up for sale if you're interested.....

[shane.mcneil]

"The lost history of 1914 : how the Great War was not inevitable" by Jack Beatty gives some interesting viewpoints on the lead up to the war.

[nebulosity.]

The problem was when Serbia declared war on (Austria?) it started a chain reaction as each county was forced by it's treaties to enter one of the sides, at first Britain (who wasn't bound by any treaties) was quite happy to let them fight it out by them selves but when Germany stopped playing by the rules and attacked Belgium for no reason Britain was forced to declare war against Germany which meant war against her allies as well (Turkey, etc)

Anyway I think thats how it happened :( if your interested read THE WORLD IN CRISIS by Winston Churchill, awesome reading.

Jo

[AndrewJ]

Gday Jo



None of them "played by the rules", based on all the secret treaties and political conniving that was going on in the background.
The Germans had a very good reason to "go through" Belgium as the French hadnt extended the Maginot line to cover it.

WW1 was pretty much inevitable as soon as industrialisation allowed minor countries who had been squabbling for years to get better "toys".
Just reading on the arms race around battleships makes for scary outcomes.
Sad old men with memories of glory, and tools at their disposal they couldnt control anymore.

Andrew

[barx1963]

Actually Austria declared war on Serbia. After the Archduke was assassinated they made lots of demands on Serbia that the Serbs nearly completely agreed with but Austria was looking for any excuse to invade and the minor issues that Serbia held out on, were taken as a pretext for war. It then escalted with Russia supporting Serbia, Germany then supported Austria, France supported Russia and Britain came in after germany invaded Belgium.

Malcolm

[barx1963]

Actually the Maginot line was completed in the 1930s and was outflanked by Hitlers armies in 1940.

Malcolm

[AndrewJ]

Gday Malcolm



Absolutely correct, i'm mixing my wars :thanx:,
However the reason is still the same, ie the beginnings of the Maginot line was still a series of powerful fortress towns and redoubts along the French/German border, and Schleiffens plan was to just go around the side.
Belgians still copped it in the neck.

Andrew