Alliances were an important feature of the international system on the eve of Wo…
133 Results
Survey Articles (Thematic)
Thematic
Alliance System 1914
By Günther Kronenbitter
Thematic
Arms Race prior to 1914, Armament Policy
By Eric Brose
New weapons produced during the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s heighten…
Thematic
Colonial Policy, Colonial Conflicts and War before 1914
By Jonas Kreienbaum
While there were no major wars between European great powers in the decades prec…
Thematic
Controversy: The Media's Responsibility for Crises and Conflicts in the Age of Imperialism
By Peter Geiss
The article discusses the role of the media in the complex international process…
Thematic
Economic Planning before 1914
By Martin Horn
This article surveys the financial and economic planning for war before 1914 in …
Thematic
Imagined War
By David Morgan-Owen
How war was imagined before the outbreak of conflict in 1914 has been an ongoing…
Thematic
Imperialism
By Boris Barth
This article focuses on the extent to which imperialism contributed to the outbr…
Thematic
International Law and the Laws of War
By Jean H. Quataert
The article examines international efforts to curb states’ war-making prerogativ…
Thematic
July Crisis 1914
By Annika Mombauer
The international crisis that began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Fer…
Thematic
Militarism
By Christian K. Melby
Militarism is a vague term that has meant different things to different people a…
Thematic
Nationalism
By John Paul Newman
This article offers an overview of the progress of nationalism and the national …
Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning
By Matthew S. Seligmann
German and British war planning has attracted a great deal of attention, but als…
Thematic
The Historiography of the Origins of the First World War
By William Mulligan
The debate about the origins of the war remains a vibrant area of historical res…
Thematic
The Way to War
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Imperialism shaped almost every facet of international politics from 1898 to 191…
Thematic
War Finance and Monetary Consequences: The German Case Revisited
By Gerd Hardach
There are in the literature on the economic history of the Great War different a…
Regional Thematic Articles
Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (Japan)
By Frederick R. Dickinson
Like the Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars, the First World War gave an enormous boo…
Regional Thematic
Colonial Society (Indochina)
By Pierre Brocheux
When World War I broke out, the military conquest of the countries located betwe…
Regional Thematic
Dominions’ Military Relationship to Great Britain 1902-1914 (British Dominions)
By Steve Marti
The dominions of Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa …
Regional Thematic
French Canada and the War (Canada)
By Mélanie Morin-Pelletier
In 1917, with tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers killed and wounded, the end…
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (New Zealand)
By Jim McAloon
New Zealand’s wartime parliament was dominated by a coalition between the two ma…
Regional Thematic
International Committee of the Red Cross
By Daniel Palmieri, Irène Herrmann
This article seeks to analyze how the International Committee of the Red Cross (…
Regional Thematic
Minorities (Ottoman Empire/Middle East)
By Hans-Lukas Kieser
The Ottoman Empire was the most religiously diverse empire in Europe and Asia. M…
Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (East Central Europe)
By Paweł Brudek
The situation of the press in East Central Europe worsened after the outbreak of…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Africa)
By Timothy J. Stapleton
Africa did not feature prominently in pre-war military planning. Once the Allies…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning and War Aims (Union of South Africa)
By David Brock Katz
The Union of South Africa was formed ten years after the internecine Second Angl…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Australia)
By Craig Wilcox
A self-governing dominion of white settlers within the British Empire, Australia…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Austria-Hungary)
By Günther Kronenbitter
Austria-Hungary’s General Staff enjoyed a monopoly on war planning. Its long-tim…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Belgium)
By Christophe Bechet
Following the Treaty of London in 1839, pre-war planning theories in Belgium osc…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Canada)
By James A. Wood
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In the years leading up to the Great War, Canadian military planning was driven …
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (France)
By Olivier Cosson
This article focuses on the military anticipation and preparation for war in Fra…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Germany)
By Oliver Stein
With the Schlieffen Plan, the Great General Staff developed a detailed deploymen…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Great Britain)
By Hew Strachan
When Europe went to war in 1914, the continental belligerents had plans for the …
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Italy)
By Filippo Cappellano
From 1870 to 1914, given the inferiority of the Italian army with respect to tha…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Ottoman Empire)
By Odile Moreau
Following its defeats during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), the Ottoman Empire rec…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Russian Empire)
By Evgenii Iur’evich Sergeev
This article is devoted to the main stages and areas of military planning in Rus…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (South East Europe)
By Dmitar Tasić
Nations of South East Europe had just ended a short but very intense period of w…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (USA)
By Mitchell Yockelson
During the two and a half years leading up to America’s entry into World War I, …
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Paramilitary Mobilisation (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Justin Dolan Stover
Several distinct cultural, political, and class-based groups organized paramilit…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Societies (Ottoman Empire/Middle East)
By Kate Dannies
On the eve of World War I, Ottoman civil society was flourishing. New political …
Encyclopedic Entries
Entry
ABC Pact (Alliance between Argentina, Brazil and Chile)
By Hélène Veber
On 25 May 1915, Argentina’s, Brazil’s and Chile’s ministers of foreign affairs s…
Entry
Adler, Victor
By Jakub Beneš
Until his death in 1918, Victor Adler was the most prominent Austrian socialist …
Entry
Alain-Fournier, Henri
By Laurence Campa
Reported missing in action in September 1914, Alain-Fournier is not officially c…
Entry
Alī, Muḥammad Kurd
By Samir Seikaly
In 1914 Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali was Damascus’ most prominent journalist, owner and ed…
Entry
Alsace-Lorraine
By Elizabeth Vlossak
Alsace-Lorraine was a border region located between the Rhine River and the Vosg…
Entry
Askari
By Michelle Moyd
Askari is a word that means “soldier” or “police” in Kiswahili, Arabic, Turkish…
Entry
Automobile Industry (Austria-Hungary)
By Walter Blasi
The Austro-Hungarian automotive industry and the necessary equipment for militar…
Entry
Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, Earl of
By Samir Seikaly
Arthur James Balfour was a British Conservative politician and statesman who ser…
Entry
Balkan Wars 1912-1913
By Richard C. Hall
The Balkan Wars were two sharp conflicts that heralded the onset of World War I.…
Entry
Berchtold, Leopold Graf
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Graf Leopold Berchtold, Habsburg foreign minister from 1912 to 1915, was confron…
Entry
Bernhardi, Friedrich von
By Markus Pöhlmann
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Friedrich von Bernhardi was one of the most important and most controversial mil…
Entry
Black Hand
By John Paul Newman
This article looks at the Black Hand from its origins to the demise of its leade…
Entry
Bloch, Jan Gotlib
By Agnieszka Janiak-Jasińska
Jan Bloch was an entrepreneur, social activist and pacifist. At the end of his l…
Entry
Bosnian Crisis
By Marc Stefan Peters
In the narrow sense, the so-called “Bosnian Crisis” (or “Annexation Crisis”) of …
Entry
Brazil
By Frederik Schulze
Brazil was the only South American country that participated actively in the Fir…
Entry
Carol I, King of Romania
By Daniel Cain
For three decades Romania’s foreign policy depended almost entirely upon King Ca…
Entry
Cendrars, Blaise
By Laurence Campa
The life and works of the poet Blaise Cendrars testify to a disturbing paradox: …
Entry
Concept of Mitteleuropa
By Maciej Górny
Friedrich Naumann’s Mitteleuropa (1915) was a liberal voice in the largely illib…
Entry
Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz Xaver Josef Graf
By Claudia Reichl-Ham
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf was an Austrian officer and Chief of the General Sta…
Entry
Denikin, Anton Ivanovich
By Evgenii Vladimirovich Volkov
Anton Ivanovich Denikin was a Russian general, politician and writer. He fought …
Entry
Dreadnought, HMS
By John Abbatiello
Adopted in 1906, HMS Dreadnought represented an innovative battleship design tha…
Entry
Ethiopia
By Jakob Zollmann
Before the war, Ethiopia had many diplomatic connections with European states an…
Entry
Fisher, John Arbuthnot, Baron Fisher
By Matthew S. Seligmann
John Fisher led the Royal Navy in the run-up to and in the early years of the Fi…
Entry
Flemish Movement
By Christine Van Everbroeck
The First World War engendered a rift within the Flemish movement, with some wis…
Entry
Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria
By Lothar Höbelt
Under the terms of the 1867 constitution, Francis Joseph retained his prerogativ…
Entry
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este
By Paul Miller
This biographical overview of Archduke Franz Ferdinand examines the evolution of…
Entry
Germany's Blank Cheque to Austria-Hungary
By William Mulligan
Germany’s offer of unconditional support to its Austro-Hungarian ally in July 19…
Entry
Grigorovich, Ivan Konstantinovich
By Siobhan Peeling
Grigorovich was Navy Minister between 1911 and 1917. He sought cooperation with …
Entry
Interventionism (Italy)
By Stéfanie Prezioso
Italy entered the First World War in May 1915, roughly ten months after it began…
Entry
Irish Home Rule
By Conor Mulvagh
The campaign for Irish Home Rule lasted from 1870 until 1914. When Home Rule bec…
Entry
Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912
By Rachel Simon
The Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912) took place mainly in Ottoman Libya following I…
Entry
Jaurès, Jean
By Rémy Cazals
A philosopher, historian, and journalist (creator of L’Humanité), Jean Jaurès de…
Entry
Kraus, Karl
By Ari Linden
Karl Kraus was one of the 20th century’s most significant satirists. While his p…
Entry
Kuşçubaşı, Eşref Sencer
By Benjamin C. Fortna
The child of Circassian refugees, Eşref Kuşçubaşı attended military schools befo…
Entry
La Fontaine, Henri
By Jacques Gillen
Although he was a Nobel Prize winner, the name of Henri La Fontaine has somewhat…
Entry
Mexican Revolution
By Stephan Scheuzger
It was the complex and far-reaching transformation of the Mexican Revolution rat…
Entry
Morel, Edmund Dene
By Christy Jo Snider
E. D. Morel was one of the earliest critics of the secret diplomacy and alliance…
Entry
Moroccan Crises 1905-1911
By Jean-Marc Delaunay
The two Moroccan crises represent the product of “rapacious joint imperialism.” …
Entry
Naval Race between Germany and Great Britain, 1898-1912
By Dirk Bönker
The Anglo-German naval race was the most spectacular strand of the general marit…
Entry
Nicaragua
By Dennis Arias Mora
Nicaragua’s experience during the First World War was influenced by the geopolit…
Entry
Panama and Panama Canal
By Sven Schuster
This article focuses on the construction of the Panama Canal as a prelude to Wor…
Entry
Panslavism
By Rok Stergar
Panslavism was a movement based on the conviction that all speakers of Slavic la…
Entry
Pasha, Cavit
By Mesut Uyar
A talented administrator but a mediocre general, Cavit Pasha served in various p…
Entry
Pasha, Esat
By Mesut Uyar
Esat Pasha played a key role during the Gallipoli campaign and achieved renown a…
Entry
Pasha, Talat
By Hans-Lukas Kieser
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A first father of modern Turkey before Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and the driving fo…
Entry
Pecanac, Kosta
By Dmitar Tasić
Kosta Pecanac was a prominent chetnik leader before the Great War and one of the…
Entry
Polish Paramilitary Organisations before 1914
By Mateusz Drozdowski
Polish paramilitary organizations were active in Galicia from 1910 to 1914 with …
Entry
Pre-war Socialist Pacifism
By Elisa Marcobelli
The Socialists’ opposition to war in France, Germany and Italy during the period…
Entry
Prochaska Affair
By Richard C. Hall
The Prochaska Affair was a diplomatic dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia…
Entry
Redl, Alfred
By Günther Kronenbitter
On 25 May 1913 Colonel Alfred Redl, the former head of Austria-Hungary’s militar…
Entry
Revolution of 1905 (Russian Empire)
By Siobhan Peeling
Social and political unrest swept the Russian Empire in 1905, forcing the autocr…
Entry
Russo-Japanese War
By Siobhan Peeling
The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, caused by Russian and Japanese expansionism…
Entry
Sanjak of Novi Pazar
By Tamara Scheer
Although sanjak usually means any one of many Ottoman administrative units, one …
Entry
Sarajevo Incident
By Samuel Foster
The Sarajevo incident refers to the events surrounding the assassination of Arch…
Entry
Sazonov, Sergeĭ Dmitrievich
By Siobhan Peeling
Sergei Sazonov became Russian Foreign Minister in autumn 1910. In July 1914 he a…
Entry
Schlieffen, Alfred, Graf von
By Oliver Stein
Count Alfred Schlieffen was chief of the Great General Staff of the Prussian-Ger…
Entry
Scutari crisis
By Marenglen Kasmi
The Scutari Crisis illustrates questions surrounding the creation of the new Alb…
Entry
Smetona, Antanas
By Artūras Svarauskas
During the First World War, political writer and editor of Lithuanian magazines,…
Entry
Social Darwinism
By Kathi Badertscher
Social Darwinism was an intellectual movement of the late 19th and early 20th ce…
Entry
Stravinsky, Igor
By Hartmut Fladt
Having gained success throughout Europe with his compositions for the Ballets Ru…
Entry
Suttner, Bertha von
By Laurie Cohen
Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. She wr…
Entry
Ulmanis, Kārlis
By Ineta Lipša
Kārlis Ulmanis was the first prime minister of the Republic of Latvia. His four …
Entry
U.S. Intervention in the Caribbean
By Christian Cwik
Since the beginning of the 20th century, political conflicts determined relation…
Entry
Voldemaras, Augustinas
By Artūras Svarauskas
During the First World War, as professor at the University of Perm (Russia), Aug…
Entry
Wied, Wilhelm, Prinz zu
By Eva Anne Frantz
Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich Prince of Wied, born to a German Protestant noble fam…
See Also
Regional
Albania
By Isa Blumi
Though largely understudied to date, the regions in the western Balkans inhabite…
Regional
Australia
By Joan Beaumont
The impact of the First World War on Australia was so profound that its memory d…
Regional
Austria-Hungary
By Pieter M. Judson
The article surveys the social and military history of Austria-Hungary during th…
Regional
Baltic States and Finland
By Klaus Richter
This article presents a survey of the First World War in the region of today’s s…
Regional
Bulgaria
By Richard C. Hall
From 1912 to 1918 Bulgaria engaged in a prolonged conflict that began in victory…
Regional
Canada
By J. L. Granatstein
The Dominion of Canada automatically went to war in August 1914 when Britain did…
Regional
China
By Klaus Mühlhahn
This article discusses China’s role in the First World War with a focus on the c…
Regional
Denmark
By Nils Arne Sørensen
With its economy highly reliant on Great Britain, Germany and other European nat…
Regional
Egypt
By Christopher S. Rose
Egypt played an important role in World War I. Although it saw limited combat op…
Regional
France
By Nicolas Beaupré
To study France during the “Great War” – as it was called as early as 1914 – inv…
Regional
Germany
By Gerhard Hirschfeld
When war broke out, in light of increasingly inflexible constellations and allia…
Regional
Greece
By Loukianos Hassiotis
Greece officially entered the Great War rather belatedly in June 1917, despite i…
Regional
Ireland
By Richard S. Grayson
Ireland’s war experience cannot be separated from Irish politics. Indeed, the st…
Regional
Latin America
By Stefan Rinke, Karina Kriegesmann
When the First World War broke out in Europe, Latin Americans of all social stra…
Regional
Montenegro
By Radoslav Raspopović
Montenegro entered the First World War politically and militarily exhausted. The…
Regional
Northern Africa
By Thomas Patrick DeGeorges
The Ottoman and European colonial contexts are the necessary background for unde…
Regional
Ottoman Empire/Middle East
By Yücel Yanıkdağ
During the Great War, the Ottoman Empire fought on several major and minor front…
Regional
Poland
By Piotr Szlanta
This paper presents the process of building an independent Polish state during t…
Regional
Portugal
By Maria Fernanda Rollo, Ana Paula Pires, Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Portugal’s participation in the First World War was depicted by its supporters a…
Regional
Romania
By Harald Heppner, Rudolf Gräf
World War I afforded the first opportunity for modern Romania to participate in …
Regional
Russian Empire
By Joshua A. Sanborn
The Russian Empire entered the war in order to preserve its Great Power status, …
Regional
Serbia
By Mile Bjelajac
A short synthesis on Serbia's role and experience in the Great War encompasses s…
Regional
Southern Africa
By William Kelleher Storey
The people of Southern Africa experienced the First World War as a continuation …
Regional
Spain
By Javier Ponce
This article examines Spain’s neutrality during the Great War, highlighting fact…
Regional
Sweden
By Sofi Qvarnström
For Sweden, the impact of the war was twofold. On the one hand, it was a test to…
Regional
The Netherlands
By Samuël Kruizinga, Paul Moeyes, Wim Klinkert
The Netherlands remained neutral during the First World War, but was nevertheles…
Regional
Union of South Africa
By Timothy J. Stapleton
In 1914, the Union of South Africa was four years old; its military only two. Br…
Regional
West Africa
By George N. Njung
This article examines the deployment of West African soldiers for military servi…
Regional
Yugoslavia
By Ljubinka Trgovčević
The idea for the unification of the Southern Slavs emerged in the 19th century a…
