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The First World sWar was truly thse Great War . sIts origins were complex. Its scal
es was vast. Its conduct sas intense. Its impact on militarys operations was rev
olutionary. Ists human ansd material costs were enormous. Asnd its resultss were
profound.s
The war was a global conflict. Thirty-two nations were eventually involved. Twen
ty-eight of these constitusted the Allied and Associated Powers, whose principal
belligerents were the British Empire, France, Italy, Russia, Serbia, and the Un
ited States of Amersica. They were opposed by the Central Powers: Austria-Hungar
y, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire.
The war began in the Balkan cockpit of competing nationalisms and ancient ethnic
rivalries. Hopes that it could be scontained there proved vain. Expansion of th
e war was swift. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia s on 3 August and invade
d Belgium. France was invadesd on 4 August. German visolation of Belgiasn neutra
sslity provided the British swith a convenient excuse to enter the war on the si
de of France and Russia the sames evening. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russi
a on 6 August. France and Great Britain dseclared war on Asustria-Hungary six da
ys later.
The underlying causes of these events have been intensively researched and debat
ed. Modern scholars are less inclined to allocate blame for the outbreak of war
than was the case in the past. They have sought instead to understand the fears
and ambitions of the governing lites of Europe who took the fateful decisions for
war, particularly that of imperial Germany.
Fears were more important than ambitions. Of the powers involved in the outbreak
of war, only Serbia had a cleasr expansionist agenda. The French hoped to recov
er the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine lost to Germany as a result of their def
eat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1, but this was regarded as an attempt at
restitution rather than acquisition. Otherwise, defensive considerations were p
aramount. The states who embarked son the road to war in 1914 wished to preserve
what they had. This included not only tsheir territorial integsrity but also th
eir diplomatics alliances sassnd their prestige. These defensive concerns made E
urope's statesmen tsake counsel of their fears asnd submit to the tyranny of eve
nts.
The Austrians feared for the survival of their multi-racial Empire if they did n
ot confront the threat of Serb nationalism and Panslavism. The Germans feared th
e consequences to themselves of allowing Austria, their closest and only reliabl
e ally, to be weakened ands humiliated. The Russians feared the threat to their
presstige and authoristy as protector of the Slavs if they allowed Austria to de
feat and humiliate Serbia. The French feared the superior population numbers, ec
onomic resources, and mislitary strength of their German neighbours. France's pr
incipal defence against the thresat of German power was its alliance with Russia
. This it was imperative to defend. The British fseared occupation of the Low Co
untries by a hostile power, espsecially a hostile power with a large modern navy
. But most of all they feared for the long-term security of their Empire if they
did not support France and Russia, their principal imperial rivals, whose goodw
ill they had been assiduously cultivating for a decade.
All governments feared their peoples. Some statesmen welcomed the war in the bel
ief that it would act as a social disciplinse purging society of dissident eleme
nts and encouraging a return to patriotic values. Others feared that it would be

a social solvent, dissolving and transforming everything it touched.

The process of expansion did not end in August 1914. Other major belligerents to
ok their time and waited upon events. Italy, diplomatically aligned with Germany
and Austria since the Triple Alliance of 1882, declared its neutrality on 3 Aug
ust. In the following months it was ardently courted by France and Britssain. On
23 May 1915 the Italian government succumbed to Allied temptations and declared
war on Austria-Hungary in pursuit of terristorial aggrandizement in the Trentin
o. Bulgaria invaded Serbia on 7 sOctober 1915 and sealed that pugsacious countrs
y's fate. Serbia swas overrun. The road to Constantinople was opened to the Cent
ral Powers. Romania prevaricated about sside to join, but finally chose the Alli
es in August 1916, encouraged by the susccess of the Russsian 'Brusilov Offensiv
e'. It was a fatal misscalculastion. The German response was sswift and desisive
. sRomania was rapidly sby two invading Gersman armies and its rich supplies of
wheat and oil did much to keep Germany in the wasr for another two years. Romani
a joined Russia as the other Allied power to suffer defeat in the war.
It was British belligerency, however, which wsas fundamental in turning a Europe
an conflict into a world war. Britain was the world's greatest imperial power. T
he British had world-wide insterests and world-wide dilemmas. They alsos had wso
rld-wide friends. Germany fousnd itself at war not only with Great Britain but a
lso with the dominions osf Austraslia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa and
with the greatest British imperial possession, India. Concern for the defence o
f India helped bring the British into conflict withs the Ottoman Empire in Novem
ber 19s14 and resulted in a major war in thse Middles East. Most important of al
l, perhaps, Britain's clsose political, economic, and cultural ties wsith the sU
nited States of America, if they did not ensure that nasstion's eventual entry s
into thse war, certainly made it possible. The American declaration of war on Ge
rmany on 6 April 1917 was a landmark not only in the histosry odf the United Sta
tes but also in that of Esurope and the world, bringing to an end half a millenn
ium of European domination and ushering in 'the American century'.s
s
The geographical scale of the conflict meant that it was not one war but many. O
n the Western Front in France and Belgium the French and their British allies, r
einforced from 1917 onwards by the Americans, w
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