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Were the foreign policies of European governments before 1914 conducive to the outbreak of war
up a navy that would rival that of Britain, and this aim was instituted in 1901 by Admiral Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz, and was a “significant challenge to the dominant position of the British navy on the seas of Europe and of the world”. This policy was completely misconceived and aroused intense antagonism from the British as well as strengthening the focus of opposition to German ambitions in Europe.
The foreign policies of Austria-Hungary are even more conducive to the outbreak of war than those of Germany. Rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia in the Balkans was very evident, and could escalate into large conflict easily. The breakup of the Ottoman Empire led to both Russia and Austria-Hungary seeking to profit through expansion. The Russians wished to gain unlimited access to the Dardenelles, through which most of their grain exports passed while the Austro-Hungarians wanted to contain Russian expansion. Importantly the break-up of the Ottoman Empire led to the creation many small Slavic states such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. The Balkan wars of 1912-3 was not only a disaster form the Ottomans, who were virtually driven completely out of Europe by the Balkans league; but was also a disaster for the Austrians as enemies such as Serbia had raised an army of 200,000. Serbia desired to unite all Serbs and Croats in a greater-Serbia, and include the 7.3 million Serbs who lived in Austria-Hungary with the 3.3 million within the boundaries of Serbia.
The Serbs had the support of the Russians, who looked towards a policy of pan-Slavism, under which all Slavic people could unite and not live under the oppression of empires such as Austria-Hungary. The Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 “not only enraged Serbia; it ended the era of Austro-Russian collaboration and abstention, and opened a new era of opposition, suspicion and antagonism”. Their foreign policies in the Balkans had brought conflict with both small Balkan nations such as Serbia, but also with large empires such as Russia. Austro-Hungarian foreign policy was very conducive to the outbreak of war.
Russian foreign policy was based around their notion of pan-Slavism, and Russia’s role as the protector of all Slavic people. The Russians had plenty to gain from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, but were also on a collision course with other European powers if they chose to exploit the Ottomans. Russia also had colonial ambitions in Asia, which conflicted with those of the British and could have led to conflict between those two nations. However, the Franco-Russian agreement of 1894 was extended to include the British in August 1907, which resulted in the Triple Entente. Russian foreign policy was conducive to the outbreak of war as it provided Serbia with the necessary support that it required attempting to create a greater-Serbia.
French foreign policy was largely determined by the humiliation that it had suffered in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war. The territories of Alsace and Lorraine had been taken by the Germans, which had prompted the French to seek [next page]