A century of war
In the late 1800s many people expected war to fade away in the coming century. Industry and new technology had made weapons so destructive that, the argument ran, no sensible government would risk using them. The opposite happened. The 1900s became a century of war in which millions died, beginning with the war that broke out in Europe in August 1914 and lasted until November 1918.
Working out why that war started matters today. Many of the forces behind it are still part of international affairs, including rival alliances, competition for power and the build-up of weapons. 1914 also shows how hard it is for diplomacy to stop a crisis once tension has been building for years.
Historians often sort causes into layers:
- Long-term causes built up tension over many years (alliances, the naval and arms races, war plans).
- Medium-term causes were crises that raised hostility sharply (Morocco in 1905 and 1911, the Balkans in 1908 and 1912–13).
- Short-term causes were the events of July 1914 that turned tension into war.
Several key words come up again and again.
An agreement between countries to support each other, often including a promise of military help if one of them is attacked.
Competition between countries to build larger and more powerful armed forces than their rivals.
The belief that a country should keep strong armed forces and be ready to use them, giving the military a large influence over government policy.
Strong loyalty to one's own nation, including the wish of a national group to have its own independent state or to make its nation more powerful.
Managing relations between countries through negotiation rather than force.
A formal written agreement between states.
Three more words, ideologies (sets of political beliefs), peacemaking (negotiating an end to a conflict) and peacekeeping (keeping an agreed peace in place), become more important once a war is over.
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