World War I: Causes, Rivalries, and Tensions
The Causes of World War I
The First World War was the result of a long process, rooted in imperialist expansion and the formation of a global economy. The alliance policy and the increasingly inadequate empires (Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian) to govern their dominions also played a significant role. The effects of the war became evident from 1919 onwards.
Today, a multi-causal explanation of the outbreak of war is favored, moving away from interpretations based solely on economic reasons or Prussian militarism. In the event of a conflict in the Balkan space, power blocs consolidated. The larger states set the details of military cooperation. France provided new credits to accelerate the construction of Russian strategic railways, and a naval convention between France and Great Britain distributed the tasks of their fleets. However, the Balkans were just the sensitive region of a world of blocks and tensions between the great powers. The motives of rivalry between these powers were territorial, economic, and psychological.
Territorial Rivalries
The dispute over Alsace and Lorraine persisted between France and Germany. French nationalism continued to claim the territories, and German Germanization measures led to incidents with the population. Poland remained divided. In Austrian Galicia, the situation was conciliatory, in contrast to Prussian Poland, where Polish nationalism attempted to block the installation of German settlers. In Russia, Germans and Poles tried to promote interest among Poles to unite with the Russian state.
Polish nationalist forces around Pilsudski had taken refuge in Galicia and claimed the resurrection of Poland. This was another reason for distrust from the Russians towards the Austrians. In the Balkan area, torture and killings occurred among the different races and religions, especially in Macedonia. Governments maintained a significant military presence due to the state of insecurity. The drawing of borders caused issues between Albania and Greece. The Greek government tried to keep Northern Epirus, whose population was mostly Greek, but the Delimitation Commission awarded it to Albania. The fate of the Turkish Aegean islands raised tensions between Turks and Greeks, while the Italians had ambitious designs. The Germans armed the Turkish army and modernized its fortifications, which the Russian government viewed with concern.
Economic Rivalry
In 1913, France acquired both German and British products in Belgium. German imports conquered first place even in Antwerp, a traditional stronghold of England. The Netherlands strongly preferred German products from Rotterdam, which became an output port for German trade. In Russia, German imports quadrupled, reaching the level of English imports. Germany had conquered many markets by leveraging its central geographical location on the continent and establishing a flexible credit system. However, in the financial markets, London and Paris remained the two global distribution centers of capital. Germany could not compete in placing its money outside its borders, but focused on investing internally.