World War I was a war of such magnitude that it caused a global catastrophe. There have been many bloody wars throughout history. This was the case even before states. Even when living in tribes or small groups, people considered other groups as enemies and did everything they could to destroy them. After states were established, ancient wars that are the subject of movies like “The 300 Spartans” were fought today. Although it would be logical to think that as history progressed and people became more modern, these wars would decrease or that there would be fewer deaths, the results were unfortunately not like that. When the calendar showed July 1914, World War I, the bloodiest war in the history of warfare, began.
How Did This War Come About?
As we are familiar with from high school history classes, World War I began when opposing blocs that had been forming for a while heated up one day with the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. At least, that is how we were told. Of course, this narrative is extremely superficial and incomplete. For example, how the blocs were formed up until that time, the disagreements between them, additional plans, etc., are generally not mentioned. Therefore, the first part we will focus on in this article will be the factors that led to this war, and then we will examine the war in general terms.
This war was actually in preparation since the 1870s. World blocs were forming and disagreements were emerging for almost 45 years. The most important reason for this war was Germany’s completion of political unity. Both Germany and Italy were made up of small states in the form of principalities. Although these states often met on common ground and acted together, they were not fully integrated. This forced them to submit to states such as Austria, France, and England. After 1850, an instinct emerged in both groups of principalities. This was to grow with the development of capitalism and colonialism. Things were a little easier for Germany because there was a powerful Prussia, one of the most well-known German principalities. Prussia managed to unite the principalities by showing its power, and Germany was founded in 1871.
Countries like France, Denmark, and Austria were fought and united under the leadership of the legendary German Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck. In fact, not all of the principalities wanted to unite. This was something Bismarck knew. For this reason, Bismarck played his cards very well for a long time. While he was ruling the country, the king gave Bismarck full authority. Bismarck was a smart and moderate leader. He kept Germany away from excesses and ensured that smart alliances were formed against France, his biggest rival. Bismarck was very close to Austria from the very beginning. He ensured this closeness so well that even in the war, 40 years later, Austria was on Germany’s side under the name of Austria-Hungary. In addition, Germany wanted France to be left alone in a possible war. For this, Bismarck first took Austria to his side, but there was another country that France did not want to get close to: Russia.
Bismarck knew that France could not get close to England. England and France were at odds with each other on the issue of colonies. Therefore, he did not worry about that issue. Spain had never been very close to these issues anyway. If you say Italy, it was not even a neighbor of France. It was difficult for them to help each other, and Italy was not very strong. All that was left was the France-Russia alliance, with which he would officially be toast. For this, Bismarck acted first and took Russia with him. In this way, the first three imperial teams were formed. There were Austria, Russia, and Germany, the brains of this alliance. In this case, France was really alone. However, it did not take long for Russia and Austria to agree on the Balkan lands of the Ottoman Empire, and therefore, Russia withdrew from the alliance.
Although Bismarck was upset about this, he did not give up on Russia and when the Balkan issue was resolved a little, he took Russia back to his side, but this situation did not last long. In other words, Germany could not keep Russia at the same table with Austria. Bismarck’s intelligence was also ready to overcome this situation. For this reason, Bismarck took Russia directly to his side without making an independent alliance with Austria. In this case, you can think of two friends who do not get along with each other. As Germany, you do not want to lose these two friends. Although you cannot invite both of them to the same environment, you can at least ensure that both of them support you in a possible fight, and you can be sure that they will not go to the opposite group. This clever tactic really took Germany to the top of European politics for a while. Maybe England is crossing your mind. Where are they? Wasn’t it the most powerful state in Europe? Yes, but England’s mind was not on Germany. England was both immersed in its search for colonies and trying to keep Russia from eating the Ottomans in one bite. These two difficult tasks kept it away from a third task. Bismarck was already counting on this. He was putting his bold moves into action one by one without the king noticing. Germany made the final blow by taking Italy with it. The relationship between Italy and France was also tense. Italy knew that France also had its eye on its own lands and the lands it had its eye on. For this reason, it quickly went to Germany.
You may be thinking, “Okay, but in World War I, only Austria-Hungary was left on Germany’s side? No Russia or Italy?” That’s a very good question. This mystery is about to be solved.
Bismarck Falls
History is actually perhaps based on a single wrong decision and a chain of wrong decisions that followed. For example, one of the most important events that led to such a bloody war was the accession of Wilhelm II to the throne. Wilhelm II did not do what his grandfather and his father, who only stayed on the throne for a few months, did; in other words, he did not give a significant portion of the authority to Bismarck. He did not find Bismarck’s choices, who had ruled the country for almost 30 years, to be correct and thought that his decisions, as a younger mind, would be better. The old wolf, Bismarck, and the young mind Wilhelm quickly began to disagree, and soon after this situation caused a lot of political turmoil, Bismarck resigned in 1890. After this incident, Wilhelm II completely abandoned the balanced foreign policy that Bismarck had been slowly building for 20 years. He wanted to form an alliance with England instead of countries like Russia and Italy. Of course, this was something that every sane country would want, but the problem was that Bismarck understood that this was impossible while Wilhelm did not. In order to be together with England, they sacrificed their enemy, Russia, but England did not care. In fact, they might have considered it, but Germany rejected a condition that it had to comply with in order for this issue to be brought to the table: colonialism. Colonial activities, which were carried out in a very controlled manner during the Bismarck period, gained great momentum with Wilhelm, and before the years showed 1910, Germany became one of the largest countries in the field of colonialism. In the meantime, the European countries that were sharing the Ottoman Empire had managed to draw Italy to their side and had also brought Russia, which wanted to end the Ottoman Empire, close to them. Germany, on the other hand, could not take Russia, with whom it had cut off its alliance, to its side. It could not attract the attention of Italy, which had received bigger promises, and could not even make an alliance offer to England, which it had angered with its entry into colonialism. In other words, while France was alone at the beginning, its surroundings were filled with powerful states in just 10 years; Germany was left with an Austria-Hungary that melted away in 20 years and a newly established, weak Bulgaria.
The war is beginning
We can easily see that this bloc was not as expected for Germany, and that in the late 1800s and the first few years of the 1900s, it was in a strong bloc, but suddenly it was left with weak states. Germany was ,of course, aware of the situation. England and France definitely had the advantage in the large bloc they had established. Nevertheless, Germany and its bloc were not the definite losers. There was a strong Germany and a dangerous Austria-Hungary. Italy, on the other hand, could still be with Germany, even though its mind was turned to the English bloc. Under these conditions, the German bloc could also scare England.
While the blocks were clearly formed, everyone was waiting for a reason. As long as they were waiting for a war to break out, there was only one question in their minds: Why should there be a war?
The answer to this was the assassination incident that we knew even from middle school. The heir to Austria-Hungary had been killed. The reason everyone was waiting for had come out. Of course, it should be said that the states that were not ambitious to fight did not see this as a direct reason for war, but it had also become an excuse for the states that were expecting war. As soon as the war started, a new question arose in the minds of the blocs, and that was how they were going to include the Ottoman Empire, which everyone wanted to dismember, in the war.
The Ottomans Enter War!
The Ottomans had little reason to enter the war. In fact, they had many reasons not to enter. It was very risky for the Ottomans, who were already suffering great territorial losses, to enter a war full of powerful states. Their hope of regaining the lands they had lost had long since ended, and they wanted to prevent new losses. Moreover, the Balkan War and the Tripoli War had just ended. They had lost land from both sides, and their surroundings were completely filled with states that wanted to acquire land . At this point, they already had an economy that had exhausted its production capacity and had become dependent on foreign countries. Under these conditions, they did not want to face even a newly established country like Greece, and a ‘World War’ was exactly the kind of war they would run away from. Still, when we are realistic, it is very obvious that an empire with such a critical geopolitical position as the Ottomans would somehow be drawn into this war. Indeed, while England wanted to save it for the end of the war in order to disintegrate the Ottomans, Germany wanted to use its position and bring the Ottomans into the war on its side in order to use its weight on the front . The Ottomans were aware of the post-war goals of England and all the countries that stood by it. Therefore, before reaching this point, he called on England to join the alliance , but of course this request was rejected. England was not going to take a state that it wanted to disintegrate within a few years. After this rejection, the positive view of influential figures such as Enver Pasha towards Germany brought Germany and the Ottomans closer, who made attractive offers. The paths of the two, who already had good relations, crossed due to the Ottoman fear of disintegration and Germany’s search for supporters . As soon as the Ottomans joined Germany, the course of the war changed direction psychologically. The Ottomans had abandoned a significant portion of the wars they had fought in the 1800s not because of military failure, but because of the fear that ” others would join as a result of the pressure from the European states “. The Balkan Wars were one of the greatest examples of this. In other words, when all these are considered, the European countries that did not know history and what would happen, but lived in the moment, knew that the Ottomans were not the Ottomans of old, but still believed that they would benefit considerably .
Knowing what would happen after the war if they remained neutral under all these conditions, the Ottomans joined Germany , which came to them with great enthusiasm, when they were rejected by England, and thus the blocs were generally formed.
In this case, World War I gained momentum with the following blocks:
England Germany
France Austria-Hungary
Italy (Later) vs. Ottoman Empire (Later)
Russia Bulgaria (Later)
Greece
USA (Later)
Japan
It should be noted that this table only includes the high-level states of the blocks that have received close attention. Otherwise, while there were 36 states in the Entente Powers block, such as Belgium, Portugal, and Serbia, there were 20 states in the Central Powers block, such as Finland. In this case, the needle was still shifting towards the British block, as can be seen from the numbers and the main characters.
What Happened in the War?
Of course, in such an article, one should not make the mistake of covering all the fronts of the war one by one. Otherwise, it could turn into a book consisting of several volumes. Instead, let’s take a look at what happened in general!
At the beginning of the war, the Ottomans were neutral and were desperately waiting for a green light from England. You may say, “What England when there is Germany!” After all, there were many people in the Ottoman Empire who were in love with Germany. Nevertheless, the Ottomans were in such a dilemma for two main reasons. One was undoubtedly England’s power. It was a general belief that it would not be on the losing side. Also, its bloc was stronger. This was the military reason why the Ottomans wanted to be on England’s side. Of course, there was also the emotional and diplomatic side. England protected the Ottoman Empire to some extent from the 1700s to the end of the 1800s against other European states because it did not want a rival in Europe.
Especially the fact that Russia took little land from the Ottomans despite the great victories was also due to the pressure of England. Of course, England did not do this because it loved the Ottomans. The presence of the Ottomans in Europe promised it a dessert that it would eat later. It did not want this dessert to be eaten before it. The Ottomans also thought that England, with whom it had good relations and could somehow form an alliance, would be harmless. Nevertheless, England wanted to take the Ottomans completely under its control at the end of this war, and for this reason, did not allow the Ottomans. Of course, England could not fully predict that the Ottomans would join the war as a result of this refusal. It was thought that the Ottomans would remain neutral and would not risk war. Finally, when the Ottomans entered the war, the balance of the war was slightly more in the right direction. Germany was finally able to achieve the desired frontier comfort and was quite relieved by the manpower and land offered by the Ottomans.
The Ottomans fought on eight fronts during the war, three of which sent troops. Outside of the Ottomans, there were two main fronts, and they did not have very creative names: the Western Front and the Eastern Front.
At this point, we will continue by dividing the war into years so as not to confuse the narrative.
1914: The Beginning and Unexpected Weaknesses
In many battles in 1914, Germany had suffered such heavy losses that the winning side had already begun to be clear. Austria-Hungary had not shown the slightest strength. This state, which had lost throughout the war and retreated with its armies, had no trace of its former glory. This is important because if we look at Europe from 1500 to the early 1800s, Austria was considered one of the three most powerful countries of that period. Therefore, this unexpected weakness in the war had also made Germany quite nervous. Ultimately, although the first year of the war consisted of parties that could not gain the upper hand in some places, England was taking its steps confidently.
1915: Technological Breakthroughs
On the other hand, when we came to 1915, Germany surprised its opponents with its first-ever zeppelin and U-boat (submarine) and was able to recover the picture of 1914 a little more. During this period, the Russians, who were experiencing internal turmoil, were pressuring England so that the war would not be prolonged. There was also unrest on English soil due to the Zeppelin attacks. What do you mean by attacking English soil? Although Germany could not carry out these attacks for a very long time, the English were quite upset. English ships were already being sunk with the help of submarines. All of this caused the English to become even angrier. Another interesting development was that Austria-Hungary, which had spent 1914 ineffectively and weakly, entered Russian soil quite harshly. They advanced approximately 150 km inside Russia in 2 weeks, which accelerated the internal turmoil of the Russians in particular and led the Russians to put pressure on England. The result of this pressure was that the English started the Gallipoli War. The Gallipoli War was basically to eliminate the Ottomans in a single operation and to cut Germany’s connection with the rest of the war. In other words, we wouldn’t be wrong if we said it was to end the war with a single move. During this period, the Ottomans were clearly expecting an attack, and they knew the purpose of the attack. They were even sure that the attack would come from Gallipoli, but from where? At that time, German General Otto Liman Von Sanders, who was given command of the Gallipoli War, thought that this attack would come from the southernmost shore of Gallipoli, while Mustafa Kemal, who spoke to him and often disagreed with him, said that the attack would come from further north.
In fact, Mustafa Kemal was right in his predictions. Since the British knew that targeting the strait directly could be predicted, they believed that advancing by opening a canal would yield a more definite result. In order to make a landing under these conditions, a tired and relatively unprepared Ottoman and a good navy that could be called the king of the seas, England entered the war. We have heard many anecdotes about the Battle of Gallipoli, so we do not want to repeat them. The Battle of Gallipoli was one of the bloodiest battles in history. The Anzacs, who were brought from their homelands without knowing what to do, and the young people of Anatolia, who had suffered a lot in the last 10 years, were face to face. At this point, Corporal Seyit, who lifted the 276-pound cannonball with all his might and changed the course of the war, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who was patriotic enough to order his soldiers not to fight but to die, the gentleman who carried the wounded enemy soldier during the conflict and many more went down in history to be forgotten. As a result, the British lost their very important ships and also lost the war. Thanks to Mustafa Kemal’s military genius, the Gallipoli War was a plan that failed for the British. In addition to this war being a great victory, the alarm bells had started to ring for an already exhausted Ottoman. It no longer had any energy or strength. Even if it did not leave the war, its performance afterward had decreased considerably. Finally, at the end of 1915, both Bulgaria and Italy joined the war.
1916: Draw
This year was actually one of the most tooth-and-nail years of the war. The Germans wanted to take Paris via Verdun by trying something similar to what the British tried against the Ottomans. Germany, which initially seemed to succeed in this, could not pass Verdun due to the French counterattacks that Hitler would later use in World War II, and all that production went to waste. As a result of Germany not achieving its goals, this time, England tried its luck against Germany, but it was also unsuccessful.
1917: Almost Over!
Although it seemed like the Allied Powers would win at the beginning, by 1917, Germany and its allies were more successful than expected. France and Russia were almost out of action. However, this situation began to change in 1917. France, which had risen to its feet with British support, somehow stepped u,p and Germany began to lose its superiority. In fact, there was an Ottoman Empire trying to catch its breath during this period, meaning that Germany seemed to be a little more inadequate in the war it had started inadequately in 1917. At least the Ottoman Empire could not reach out to Europe. Another country that was on the rise during this period had also decided to enter the war: the United States of America. There were two main reasons why the US entered the war. One of these was that this World War had begun to harm it, and the other was that this war was a good opportunity for the US, which wanted to open up to the world. Why would a war in Europe affect the US, right? But it did. The war, especially being fought on the sea, was causing serious damage to American ships trading with Europe. In addition, it was disturbed by the fact that countries such as Brazil and Mexico, which were already close to its own continent and sphere of influence, were also being dragged into this war. For these reasons, he joined the British side, which he predicted would win, and changed the war decisively. Finally, Russia, whose country’s turmoil had become unbearable, stopped all its attacks with the Mensheviks taking over the government and withdrew from the war with the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. After this incident, Russia became a communist regime with Lenin taking over the government.
1918: The War Ends
Interestingly, the outcome of Russia’s withdrawal from the war was not good for the Central Powers. The communist movement gained momentum, especially in Germany, and those who were tired and bored of the war and suffered economic losses began to rebel. Germany, which was struggling militarily, also began to be beaten from within. Finally, Germany and its allies, who were completely dragged into darkness except for momentary flashes, withdrew from the war one by one with the agreements they made. Without a doubt, the two countries with which these agreements were made, the harshest were Germany and the Ottoman Empire. Germany was almost completely reduced to zero in terms of military and economy so that it would not create such a threat again, but the effect of this pressure lasted only 20 years. As we all know, the Ottoman Empire, until Mustafa Kemal Atatürk broke this cycle, began to move step by step towards the Treaty of Sèvres, where it would lose almost everything it had.
Ultimately, World War I was the bloodiest war in world history up until that time, with a total of approximately twenty million people killed, both soldiers and civilians, although the numbers are uncertain. (Unfortunately, this record would be broken by World War II 27 years later.) As a result of this war, the communist movement created by Russia gained momentum, while on the other hand, fascist movements began under the influence of nationalism and anger created by the war.
References and Further Reading
A&E Television Networks. (n.d.). World War I: Summary, causes & facts. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2023, May 10). World War I Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I
Interactive timeline. National WWI Museum and Memorial. (n.d.). https://www.theworldwar.org/interactive-wwi-timeline
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