Could The War Be Avoided

arnhem44

Just wondered what everyones views are on this,at the time the main countries involved in the war were colonial countries and no doubt territory was a major factor for some to enter the war such as Italy but at the start when the Austria-Hungarian Empire set demands on Serbia that could not be met could war of been avoided or was it inevitable?

McArmalite

arnhem44 wrote: »

Just wondered what everyones views are on this,at the time the main countries involved in the war were colonial countries and no doubt territory was a major factor for some to enter the war such as Italy but at the start when the Austria-Hungarian Empire set demands on Serbia that could not be met could war of been avoided or was it inevitable?

We had this discussion over on the history forum, I'll see if I can find the link. I think the conclusion was that some event or other would have triggered it anyway sooner or later.

FiSe

No, everybody wanted the war. It would happen sooner or later...

Mahatma coat

I dont think the war could have been avoided, had it not started how it did it would have started somewhere, htere was a general belief on all sides that new technologies would enable the war to be fought quickly with mimimal losses to 'your' side.

no one in the early days of the War could have predicted the massive loss of life that was to come

McArmalite

I actually started a discussion of this over on the History forum - Would a World War have started without Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand ? http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055578990

As we know the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a young Serbian nationalist ( with the covert training of the Serbian military ). The assassination was a fiasco, several of the young conspirators chickened out and later confessed all to the police. When it became known of the covert invovlement of a senior Serbian officer, basically teh Serbs refused to send him to Austria for trial, Austria declared war on Serbia ( not syrprisingly ).

This was the catalyst that set in train Austria/Hungary declaring war on Serbia, Serbia's allies Russia declaring war on Austria/Hungary, Germany declaring war on Russia and then France and then britain declaring war on Austria/Hungary and Germany.

Mahatma coat

This was the catalyst that set in train Austria/Hungary declaring war on Serbia, Serbia's allies Russia declaring war on Austria/Hungary, Germany declaring war on Russia and then France and then britain declaring war on Austria/Hungary and Germany.

From what I have read on the topic most of the army mobilisation was just bluster and rhetoric with the exception of the Russians, the Czar apparently took the whole thing quite personally and as 'probably' the last real Absolute monarch at the time was the only one who could have singularly stepped back from the brink and averted the catastrophe.

FiSe

Maybe the treaty of alliance he signed with the Serbia was more for him than just a piece of paper...

He was a cousin of and close to the German Kaiser too, they even had a phone conversation before the full circle of events took place, in which, aparently, he pleaded to his cousin to talk to the Austro-Hungarian Kaiser to lift the ultimatum on Serbia.
Even then everybody knew what is going to happen.

Mahatma coat

I really dont think the 'knew what was going to happen' they knew they were comittid to a War, but most pundits at the time expected a short war with decisive victories brought about by advanced weaponry, the scale of the destruction and death which lay ahead was beyond the scope of imagination for most people

FiSe

That's what I meant, they knew that the war is coming, if the unrealistic terms ultimatum will stay in place...

McArmalite

Just thought I'd post in detail the actual fiasco that started WW1. The assisination of Archduke Ferdinand, and his wife who was heavily pregnant, which sparked the war off was once featured on a Discovery channel on the Days That Shook The World series. From what I remember it was probably one of the most botched attempts at assisination in history. The guy who carried it out, Gavrilo Princip, was one of several incompetent recruits trained for several weeks by a Serbian army officers at a disused army base. Some were to throw a grenade into the open topped car, while others were to shoot him with their Browning pistols imported from America which at the time were state of the art handgun. From what I remember their was about 8 invovled, including one as young as 17. Several of them had contracted Tuberculosis which was practically fatal to people back then, hence their willlingness to go down with the ship so as to speak.

It actually was the second attempt on the Archduke's life that day. The first one, I'll call him assisin A, was done by throwing a grenade at the open topped car. Unlike modern grenade's it was activated by banging it hard against something, a wall or whatever. Assassin A banged the grenade against a wall, threw it at the car and hitting the side of it and falling on the ground. Appearently the old grenade had a 10 second delay before exploding which the very nervous buffoon forgot about the delay ( and this with several weeks training at the disused army base ). Having been supplied by the army officers with a cyanide capsule he bit on the capsule. However appearently cyanide's chemical compound deteroriates after a while, and since it had been cyanide lying around for quite a while, it only succeded in making him mildly sick later on.

The grenade eventually exploded injuring several onlookers, and an angry mob went to chase him, he jumped across a wall into the river hoping to drown himself only to land in 1 foot of water. The police then captured him and took him off for some serious beating in custody where he later broke down and revealed the Serbian army officers invovlement. The rest of the ' assassians' froze and panicked and fled the scene.

On thier way back the Archduke and his wife were shot dead, when the open topped car had taken the wrong route, gone up a cul de sac, stalled when the driver was putting it into reverse. A fiasco that started one of the bloodyest wars in history.