exam 3 Flashcards
alliances
formal or informal arrangements designed to ensure mutual security
when do alliances collapse?
when allies see each other as threats to their security
why couldn’t Bismark’s alliance system be maintained?
it was complex and flexible, it could not be maintained once the master juggler left the scene
lessons from war: funnel of choices:
- process is important (constructivist contribution)
- beware of complacency
- make provision for military stability
thesis of origins of world war i
as the alliance system became less flexible, the balance of power became less multi polar and war became more likely
consequences of world war i?
15 million killed; four empires destroyed: german, austro-hungarian, russian, and ottoman; us and japan became major players
crowe memorandum
spartan reaction to athens
tirpitz plan
naval expansion
nationalism
pan-slavism and anti-slavism, nicky/willie letter
complacency aobut peace
influence of social darwinism
clumsy German policy
naval arms race result in encirclement of germany
Austrian and ottoman empires:internal crises:
first Balkan war pushed out the turks; serbia posed a threat to austria
domestic policies of germany
Fritz fisher cited the coalition of rye and iron; expansionism seen as an alternative to social democracy
Franz Josef
tired old man manipulated by count berchtold who was restrained by Franz Ferdinand who managed to block Serbian ambitions and alter sent the ultimatum in 1914
who was a weak emotional blusterer?
Kaiser Wilhelm II
what are the three types of causes?
- deep cause
- intermediate cause
- precipitating cause
deep cause
rise of German power bipolar alliance system, rise of nationalism, and German politics
intermediate causes
German policy, complacency, idiosyncrasies of eladers
precipitating cause
assassination of Franz Ferdinand by gavrilo princip in sarajevo
deterrent effect of the growth of Russian strength: schlieffen plan:
a knockout blow against France through Belgium before turning east
simple local war
a replay of the bosnian crisis of 1908-09 in which russia yielded
one-front war
it was possible to alter the mobilization schedules
two-front war without britain
split cabinet
war without united states
no submarine campaign, no Zimmerman telegraph