The First World War is the largest military conflict of its time. The confrontation arose on the basis of a crisis in relations between European countries. All participants in the First World War had their own motives. By the time the hostilities began, there were two poles - the Entente and the Triple Alliance.
Formation of coalitions
Participants of the First World War are almost all European countries. In the course of events, they joined one of the sides of the confrontation. Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Denmark remained neutral.
One of the parties to the conflict was the Entente - a coalition formed by Russia, Britain and France. A characteristic feature of the agreement was that there was no single agreement, the participants limited themselves to bilateral agreements. One was signed in 1904 between Great Britain and France, the second - in 1907, the parties were Great Britain and Russia. Romania, Italy (since 1915), Greece and other countries of the Balkans fought on the side of the Entente. Even before the end of hostilities, due to the crisis in the country, Russia withdrew from the war.
Why the Entente countriescame into conflict?
All participants in the First World War had their own reasons for participating in the confrontation:
- Russia sought to expand its sphere of influence in Europe - to become a leader among the Slavic countries. Particularly interested in access to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, there were obvious aggressive attacks from Germany against Russia.
- France since the time of the Franco-Prussian war held a grudge against Germany and wanted revenge. At the same time, there was a fear of losing colonies in Africa. By the beginning of the 20th century, France had ceased to withstand competition in the market, so it wanted to regain its importance by eliminating its strongest adversary.
- Great Britain also had a number of reasons to fight Germany. First, England sought to prevent German penetration into the British colonies in Africa. There has been a trade war between the countries for a long time. Secondly, she wanted revenge on Germany for the fact that the latter supported the opponents of Great Britain in the Anglo-Boer War.
- Serbia was not the founder of the Entente, but also had reasons to enter into conflict. The state was very young, it lacked influence - participation in such a confrontation could turn it into the leader of the Balkan countries. Serbia secretly fought against Austria-Hungary.
The lists of participants in the First World War indicate that the conflict affected the whole of Europe in a certain way.
Opponent Block – Triple Alliance
The military-political unification of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was formed back inend of the 19th century. The first agreement was signed in 1879. The founders were Austria-Hungary and Germany, after 3 years Italy joined them.
Turkey and Bulgaria fought on the side of the Triple Alliance. Italy withdrew from the coalition in 1915. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey (Ottoman Empire) and Bulgaria became known as the Quadruple Alliance.
It included strong countries. Germany was a leader in economic and political relations, successfully pursued a colonial policy in Africa. Austria-Hungary was a powerful state. It was on its territory that the incident occurred, which became the main reason for the outbreak of hostilities - the murder of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand.
Why did the Triple Alliance countries want war?
The opportunity to deal with political and economic opponents was the First World War. The participating countries that were part of the Tripartite Agreement had a number of motives for starting hostilities:
- Germany aspired to undeniable leadership in Europe. Tried to destroy the influence of Russia and France. An important motive was the desire to get more colonies in Africa.
- Austria-Hungary wanted to keep its existing territories and add new ones. Aspired, like Russia, to become the leader of all Slavs.
After the end of the conflict, participants in the First World War received a weakened economy and state instability. After this confrontation, all the empires that existed at that time collapsed.
