Page 78 - NS-2 Textbook

World War I, 1914-1918

The late 1800s and early 1900s were characterized by in- great powers of Europe had been drawn into the war
creasingly aggressive competition among the world's because of the various interlocking defense treaties. On
major powers for control of ·world resources and for eco- one side ,vas the Triple Entente, consisting of France,
nomic, military, and political power. The naval building Britain, Russia, and Serbia (referred to as the Allies); on
races that had begun between the European powers in the other side were the Central Powers, Germany and
the West and between Russia, China, and Japan in the Austria-Hungary. At the end of 1914 the Ottoman Em-
East were one aspect of this competition. TI,e United pire (modern-day Turkey) entered the war on the side of
States came late to this naval building program, and it the Central Powers. In 1915 Italy joined the Allies, as did
took part prin1arily because it was required as a condi- most of the North African nations by war's end. Presi-
tion of its rise to world power status. dent Wilson wanted to keep the United States neutral in
In the Taft administration from 1909 to 1913, and the conflict, though most Americans supported the
even more in the early years of the Wilson administration British and French.
that followed, the main focus of the United States was
turned inward toward domestic reforms. The era was
OPENING STRATEGIES
marked by a movement called progressivism, which fo-
cused on individual rights, engaging in antitrust legisla- At sea the two main enemies were the British home fleets
tion against big business, banking reform, conservation and the German High Seas Fleet. TI,e British had two
of natural resources, and nonintervention in the affairs of home fleets: the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow in the
Europe unless U.s. interests were directly threatened. Orkney Islands of Scotland and the Channel Fleet. The
Meanwhile, the European powers were engaged in a mission of the twenty-four front-line battleships and bat-
series of actions that would inevitably lead to war in 1914. tle cruisers of the Grand Fleet was to prevent the escape
Since the late 1800s in1perialism had been rampant in of German ships into the Atlantic, to guard the North
both Europe and the Far East. The European powers com- Sea, and to engage and destroy the German High Seas
peted with one another for colonies in Africa and the Fleet in battle. The main task of the Channel Fleet, with
Pacific region, while Japan acquired Korea, Taiwan, and seventeen second-line battleships, was to keep the En-
territory on the Chinese mainland as a result of its victo- glish Channel safe for passage of British troops and sup-
ries over China in 1895 and Russia in 1905. Diplomacy in plies to France.
Europe had been overtaken by militarism. This meant TI,e German fleet was based in the estuaries of the
that the primary political preoccupation in the major na- Weser and Elbe Rivers. It was supposed to guard the Ger-
tions was preparation for war rather than domestic pro- man coast from British attack and defeat units of the
grams. In countries with diverse populations, a series of British fleet whenever possible.
nationalistic movements began to take place among eth- The Central Powers occupied the interior land posi-
nic minorities longing for independence. Finally, a series tion. They had an excellent railroad system to shift forces
of entangling alliances arose. These alliances were de- quickly to either the western front in France or the east-
signed to enhance the security of the participating na- ern front in Russia. They controlled the cenh'al agricul-
tions, but they actually made war more likely because tural areas of Europe. By contrast the Allies were geo-
they made it mandatory for the major powers to defend graphically separated, and they lacked adequate
one another in the event of attack by an opposition power. communications. Thus Germany had a geographical ad-
Europe went to war on 28 July 1914, when Austria- vantage in the land struggle but was at a disadvantage at
Hungary declared war on Serbia. Within a week all the sea. Its ships would have to go through the North Sea to

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