World War I: Triggers, Alliances, and Battlefield Evolution

Causes of the First World War

Several factors contributed to the outbreak of the First World War:

European Alliances in 1914

Europe in 1914 was characterized by two major opposing alliances:

• Triple Entente (also known as the Allied Powers): Formed by Great Britain, France, and Russia. They were later joined by Japan, the USA, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, and others.
• Triple Alliance (also known as the Central Powers): Initially formed by Italy, the German Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire later joined them.

Although Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance, it had a secret agreement with France whereby it would remain neutral in exchange for territories in Africa and Austria. Consequently, when the war began, Italy remained neutral and later joined the Allied Powers.

Alsace-Lorraine Dispute

France sought to recover Alsace-Lorraine, territories it had lost to the German Empire in 1871.

Bosnian Crisis

Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia, a region also coveted by Russia and Serbia.

Imperial Rivalries

All these countries were competing for control of colonies in Asia and Africa, as well as vital trade routes.

German Internal Instability

In 1914, Germany faced internal crisis due to its authoritarian government. Kaiser Wilhelm II feared a revolution against him, viewing an external conflict as a potential solution to his domestic problems.

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The final trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Sarajevo (Bosnia) by an anarchist. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and declared war on it. This quickly escalated, with Russia declaring war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declaring war on Russia, and so on, leading to a cascade of declarations.

Phases of the First World War

Initial Rapid Offensives (August-September 1914)

The war began with rapid offensives, notably marked by the Schlieffen Plan. This German strategy aimed to invade France by crossing Belgium, with the intention of later attacking Britain. However, German forces were halted by France at the Battle of the Marne. Simultaneously, German forces also began fighting Russia on the Eastern Front.

Trench Warfare and Global Expansion (1914-1918)

From September 1914 until 1918, the Western Front was characterized by brutal trench warfare. In 1917, the USA entered the war to support the Allied Powers. Russia withdrew from the war in 1918 due to the Russian Revolution, signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ceded one million square kilometers to Germany.

To break the stalemate of the trench lines, both sides engaged in harsh battles, such as the Battles of the Somme and Verdun. These were real slaughters, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties. Ultimately, the invention of the tank enabled the Allied Forces to break the trench line and defeat Germany in 1918. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated, and the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918.

The Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920)

After the armistice, the Allied Powers convened in Paris to determine the conditions that would be imposed on the defeated Central Powers. At this conference, Woodrow Wilson, President of the