We explain what the First World War was, the countries involved and what its causes and consequences were.
First World War
The First World War (1914-1918), known at the time as the "Great War" or simply the World War (because it was unknown that there would be a second one later), was one of the most destructive international war events with the greatest geopolitical impact on humanity in the world. twentieth century.
It is estimated that more than 70 million military personnel were mobilized for the conflict, from about twenty countries different. Its human and political impact was surpassed only by the Second World War (1939-1945).
This "Great War" began in Europe on July 28, 1914, spread over four long and bloody years, during which the forces of the Triple Entente and the so-called Central Powers clashed to the death.
The first camp initially brought together France, the British Empire, and the Russian Empire. They were later joined by Portugal, the United States, Belgium, the Japanese Empire, the Republic of China, and the then kingdoms of Italy, Greece, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro.
For their part, the Central Powers were the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, together with their strategic allies in Africa Y Asia.
The magnitude of the conflict was such that the balance of political and economic power in the world changed radically after its four years of duration, and it also cost the lives of millions of people of different nationalities.Next we will explain the causes that unleashed the conflict and the overwhelming consequences that it brought with it.
Causes of the First World War
The main causes of the First World War were the following:
1. Competition between powers european imperials
Throughout the 19th century, Europe cemented its economic, technological, and military dominance over the entire world, establishing itself as a major colonial power in Africa and Asia. However, the distribution of benefits was never equitable: countries like France and Great Britain controlled the continent industrially, while Italy and Germany, nations that had taken longer to form, saw their ambitions frustrated.
This led to a scenario of antagonism between the colonial powers and the formation of alliances and rival political groups, in open economic, political and military competition. Many of them, moreover, were the result of wars past in the 19th century, such as the eternal rivalry between France and Germany.
2. The rise of nationalism European
The idea of a country as a nation-state with a culture its own identity, its own identity and its own political project emerged at the beginning of the 17th century, but by the end of the 19th century it had gained importance in the ordering of Europe. This gave rise to new ethnic tensions, especially in Eastern Europe.
For example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, former territories Ottomans claimed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there were plans for state autonomous or annexed Slavs to the Kingdom of Serbia, protected from the Russian Empire. At the beginning of 1914, the region had already experienced two local wars and was known as "the powder keg of Europe", since at any moment it could ignite and explode again.
3. The rise of new industrial powers
Europe was, at the beginning of the 20th century, the industrial center of the planet, but important competitors such as the United States and Japan were beginning to emerge. The influence of these insurgent powers put even more pressure on the strained relations between the traditional European powers.
4. The creation and renewal of the European system of alliances
The Great War came about because many nations were drawn into and/or drawn into the conflict. This happened due to the existing alliance and mutual assistance treaties between the members of both sides, some of which came from the last century.
Precisely, anticipating a pan-European conflict in the immediate future, most of the powers devoted their industrial power to manufacturing and developing weapons of war, in a fragile state of "armed peace".
5. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914
The trigger for the war was the assassination of this young nobleman, heir to the Autro-Hungarian throne, in the city of Sarajevo, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. His murderer was the political extremist Gavrilo Pincip, belonging to the Serbian ultra-nationalist organization Black Hand.
A month after the assassination was committed, the Austro-Hungarian emperor declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia, which, being protected from the Russian Empire, dragged the Russo-French alliance into the conflict, and with it also the British, while Germany allied to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was really the trigger for World War I, rather than a cause.
Consequences of the First World War
The main consequences of the First World War were the following:
1. An enormous loss of human life and material resources
It is estimated that between 7 and 8.5 million soldiers and between 10 and 13 million civilians died during the four years that the Great War lasted. This represented 1% of the population world of the time, and was a consequence of both the violence, such as the famines and diseases that war brought, or the use of mustard gas and other toxic nerve agents for the first time in a war context.
2. The collapse of four great imperial dynasties
As a result of the conflict different dynasties fell:
- The Hohenzollern empire in Germany collapsed, giving way to the Weimar Republic.
- The Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved and its territory became two separate nations (Austria and Hungary).
- The Ottoman Sultanate was devastated and in 1922 it was dissolved by Turkish nationalists.
- The Tsarist Russian Empire fell in 1917 to the October Revolution, thus giving way to the emergence of communist Russia.
3. The so-called “Spanish flu” spread throughout the world
Due to the intense movement of troops from one corner of the world to the next and back, in addition to the unsanitary conditions of the conflict, a new type of respiratory infection, known as the "Spanish flu" became a pandemic in early 1918. This A new type A influenza virus claimed the lives of between 20 and 40 million people until the pandemic ended in April 1920.
4. The geopolitical reorganization of Europe
With the end of the war and the collapse of the old powers, new nations appeared on the map, as the allies restructured the territory of the defeated nations. Thus Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Yugoslavia arose. And in addition to giving up part of their territories, the defeated nations also lost their colonies African and Asian.
5. Signature of Treaty of Versailles
With that name the pact signed in France was known in which a very severe set of sanctions, debts and prohibitions were imposed on Germany that plunged it into misery.This treaty and the deplorable living conditions that followed were central to the narrative of the Nazism, which a decade later began to make itself felt in Germany.
However, thanks to this treaty, the League of Nations also emerged in 1920, the forerunner of the United Nations, whose task was to peacefully resolve international tensions and prevent the Great War from recurring in the future.
6. The rise of communism in Russia
The triumph of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 meant the emergence of communism as an important political force on the European and world scene. Consequently, it inspired numerous parties of the revolutionary left and became the ideological rival against which the fascism in the 1930s.