The Genesis of a World War

The First World War of 1914–1918 unfolded across all the world’s oceans and ultimately involved belligerents from multiple continents, making it entirely reasonable to designate it as a “world war.” Yet it was by no means the first such conflict. For three centuries prior, European powers had been fighting one another across the globe. Those who lived through it referred to it simply as “the Great War.” Like all wars before it, it began as a purely European conflict, born from the clashing ambitions and shared fears of the continent’s major powers. Its horrors and devastating consequences resulted not so much from its global scale as from the lethal combination of military technology and the cultures of the nations involved. As Carl von Clausewitz observed after the Napoleonic Wars, war consists of a trinity of government policy, military action, and “the passions of the people.” To understand both the origins and the course of the Great War, we must examine each of these elements.

The European Powers in 1914

With only minor variations, the European “Great Powers”—as they were still called—remained largely the same as they had been for the previous two centuries, but the balance among them had shifted fundamentally. The most powerful was now the German Empire, established through Prussia’s victorious wars against Austria in 1866 and France in 1870. France, humiliated by defeat, had been reduced to a second-rank power and nursed a deep-seated resentment. Since 1867, the multilingual Austrian Empire had been reorganized into the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, accepting a subordinate role as Germany’s ally. Though Hungary enjoyed quasi-autonomy, the monarchy was often simply referred to as “Austria,” much as Britain was commonly called “England” abroad.

Flanking these continental powers were two empires whose interests were only partly European. One was vast Tsarist Russia, more than half of whose territory lay in Asia but which played a significant, if intermittent, role in southeastern Europe. The other was Britain, whose primary concern was maintaining the continental balance of power while expanding and consolidating its overseas dominions. Spain, whose overseas remnants had been largely seized by the United States in the early 19th century, was now a third-rate power, reduced to coastal footholds in North Africa. Its place among European powers had been taken by Italy, unified under the House of Savoy between 1860 and 1871. Though this unification was more nominal than real, Italy’s nuisance value alone commanded cautious respect from other nations.

Until the end of the 18th century, these powers had been socially homogeneous—agrarian societies dominated by landowning aristocracies and ruled by dynasties legitimized by the church. A century later, this old order had either been utterly transformed or was undergoing rapid and unstable change, though, as we shall see, the pace of transformation varied dramatically.

Britain: The Precarious Superpower

Britain led the way in modernization. By the early 20th century, it had become a fully urbanized and industrialized nation. The landed aristocracy still dominated socially, but the last remnants of political power were being wrested away by the House of Commons, where two major parties competed not only for middle-class votes but, with the expansion of suffrage, for those of the working class as well. In 1906, a coalition of Liberals and radicals came to power and began laying the foundations of the welfare state, but they could not ignore the paradoxical dilemma Britain faced at the dawn of the century.

It remained the world’s wealthiest power, the proud possessor of history’s largest empire, yet it was more vulnerable than ever. At the heart of this empire lay a densely populated island whose wealth depended on world trade and, more critically, whose cities required imported food. The Royal Navy’s “command of the seas” both held the empire together and guaranteed the British people’s sustenance. Losing that command was a nightmare that haunted successive British governments and dominated their relations with other powers. Ideally, they wished to remain aloof from European disputes, but for the past two decades, any sign that their neighbors—individually or collectively—might threaten their naval supremacy provoked nationwide anxiety and vigilance.

France: The Divided Nation

For over a century, from 1689 to 1815, Britain’s main rival for global supremacy had been France, and it took nearly another hundred years for Britain to realize this was no longer the case. France had fallen far behind Britain in economic development, an area where it might otherwise have been a strong competitor. The French Revolution of 1789 had destroyed the three pillars of the ancien régime—the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the church—and distributed land to small tenants. These peasants tenaciously resisted any movement, whether reactionary or revolutionary, that threatened to take their land away. Their way of life discouraged both population growth and the capital accumulation necessary for economic development.

In 1801, France’s population stood at 27 million, making it the most populous nation in Europe. By 1910, that number had reached only 35 million, while Britain’s population had grown from 11 million to 40 million, and the newly unified Germany surpassed 65 million and was still increasing. After its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, France turned its attention to the conquest of Africa, bringing it into friction with British imperial interests, much like the traditional rivalry in the eastern Mediterranean. But for the French, these were peripheral concerns. French society was deeply divided between those who had benefited from the revolution and those who, under the leadership of the Catholic Church, still refused to accept its outcome, alongside a growing socialist movement that sought to push the revolution into a new phase. France remained wealthy and culturally dominant, but its domestic politics were volatile, and abroad, the humiliation of 1871 remained an open wound.

The Shifting Balance of Power

The transformation of Europe’s power structure did not occur in isolation. It reflected broader social, economic, and technological changes that were reshaping the continent. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain, had spread unevenly across Europe, creating new wealth but also new tensions. Germany’s rapid industrialization after unification made it an economic and military powerhouse, while France’s more gradual development left it struggling to keep pace.

Nationalism, too, played a crucial role. The unification of Germany and Italy had redrawn the map of Europe, but they also created new aspirations and anxieties. Ethnic minorities within multinational empires like Austria-Hungary and Russia agitated for greater autonomy or independence, threatening the stability of these aging regimes. Meanwhile, the spread of socialist ideas and the growth of labor movements challenged the traditional social order, creating new political forces that governments struggled to contain.

The Alliance System and the Road to War

The complex web of alliances that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was both a symptom and a cause of the tensions that led to war. The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy faced off against the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain. These alliances were meant to provide security, but they also created a rigid framework that turned local conflicts into potential continental conflagrations.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914 provided the spark that ignited the powder keg. Austria-Hungary’s ultimatum to Serbia triggered a chain reaction of mobilizations and declarations of war that drew in all the major powers within weeks. What might have been a limited Balkan conflict instead became a general European war, and eventually a global one.

The Cultural and Social Impact

The Great War had a profound impact on European society and culture. It shattered the optimistic belief in progress that had characterized the late 19th century, replacing it with a sense of disillusionment and despair. The unprecedented scale of slaughter—millions dead, many more wounded—left deep scars on the collective psyche.

The war also accelerated social change. Women took on new roles in the workforce, contributing to the eventual expansion of women’s rights. The demands of total war led to greater government intervention in the economy, laying the groundwork for the welfare state. And the experience of mass mobilization and sacrifice fostered a new sense of national identity, but also deepened divisions between social classes and ethnic groups.

Legacy and Modern Relevance

The legacy of the Great War continues to shape our world today. The peace settlements that ended the war, particularly the Treaty of Versailles, created new nations but also new grievances that would contribute to the outbreak of World War II. The war also marked the beginning of the end for the European empires, as colonial subjects who had fought for their rulers began to demand independence.

Moreover, the Great War introduced new technologies and tactics that transformed warfare, making it more deadly and impersonal. The use of poison gas, machine guns, and trench warfare created a new kind of hellish battlefield that would be revisited in subsequent conflicts. And the war’s impact on art, literature, and philosophy—from the poetry of Wilfred Owen to the paintings of Otto Dix—reflected a profound crisis of meaning that continues to resonate.

In understanding the Great War, we see not only a historical event but a cautionary tale about the dangers of nationalism, militarism, and inflexible alliances. It reminds us that peace is fragile, and that the passions of the people, when harnessed by governments for destructive ends, can lead to unimaginable suffering. As we reflect on the century that has passed since the guns fell silent, the lessons of the Great War remain as relevant as ever.