Between 19, the military spending of the European powers increased by 50 percent.Īrchduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated in Sarajevo The arms race between Britain and Germany eventually extended to the rest of Europe, with all the major powers devoting their industrial base to the production of the equipment and weapons necessary for a pan-European conflict. With the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906, the British Empire expanded on its significant advantage over its German rival. As a result, both nations strove to out-build each other in terms of battleships. From the mid-1890s on, the government of Wilhelm II used this base to devote significant economic resources to building up the Kaiserliche Marine, established by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, in rivalry with the British Royal Navy for world naval supremacy. German industrial and economic power had grown greatly after unification and the foundation of the empire in 1870. This system of interlocking bilateral agreements formed the Triple Entente. In 1904, the United Kingdom sealed an alliance with France, the Entente cordiale and in 1907, the United Kingdom and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Convention. Two years later, the Franco-Russian Alliance was signed to counteract the force of the Triple Alliance. For example, the Kaiser refused to renew the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia in 1890. With the ascension of Wilhelm II as German Emperor (Kaiser), Bismarck's system of alliances was gradually de-emphasised.
He especially worked to hold Russia at Germany's side to avoid a two-front war. After the Franco-Prussian War, European conflict was averted largely due to a carefully planned network of treaties between the German Empire and the remainder of Europe orchestrated by the great Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In the 19th century, the great powers had gone to considerable lengths to maintain a balance of power throughout Europe, resulting by 1914 in a complex network of political and military alliances throughout the continent. Several alliances formed over the past decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war via their colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world Franz Ferdinand's assassination by a Serbian nationalist resulted in a Habsburg ultimatum against the Kingdom of Serbia. Long-term causes, such as imperialistic foreign policies of the great powers of Europe, such as the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, France, and Italy, played a major role. The June 28th, 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was the proximate trigger of the war. It was the deadliest conflict in history. More than 10 million combatants were killed, due largely to great technological advances in firepower without corresponding advances in mobility. More than 71 million military personnel, including 61 million Europeans, were mobilized in the largest war in history. This conflict involved all of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Entente (centered around the Triple Entente) and the Central Powers. The fighting effectively ended in November 1919, but the war only officially ended two years later.
The Weltkrieg, or The Great War, was a major war centered on Europe that began in the summer of 1914.
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