Before the War - LeFonch

The Great War was one of the largest conflicts in history.
It lasted 4 years from 1914 to 1918 and affected the entire continent of Europe, as well as other countries.
The conflict was the largest conflict ever at the time, and it was one of the first examples of true total war.

Causes for the War

Rivalries, old grudges and nationalism had already pitted countries against one another.

Bismarck's main worry was that he didn't want enemies on both sides.
He managed to sign a treaty of non-aggression with Russia which was relieving, as he knew France was bitter from the Franco-Prussian war and would be prone to attacking Germany.
However when Kaiser Wilhelm II was given the thrown he fired Otto von Bismarck and the reassurance treaty dissolved and France and Russia became allies.
Germany soon had a strong web of alliances with other nations, granting it power and protection should a conflict arise.

Germany
Austria-Hungary
Bulgaria
Ottoman Empire
Italy (Initially)
The great powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
The Ottoman Empire joined as it was seeking for an alliance and after not being accepted by France and England, it joined the Central Powers.
Italy joined initially but became neutral once the war started, and later joined the Allied Powers.

It was initially thought that because of these great powers a war couldn't start as if the powerful alliances were to go to conflict the damage would be too devastating and it wouldn't be worth it.
This idea backfired however, as when the alliances went to war, they ended up spreading the conflict all over Europe.
The Moroccon Crisis was when Germany offered Morocco to France to see if England and France were allies. When England was supportive of the trade they realized that the alliance was not a ruse.
This worried Germany as the alliance between England and France was strong.

There was a great arms race between the powerful countries.
For example Germany greatly increased the size of their navy, which worried Britain who also began to produce more to stay ahead.
Russia and France also realized that they had weak navies and began to plan and produce more ships.
Other countries such as Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had very weak navies in comparison.
Both the Central Powers and the Allied Powers greatly increased their expenditure for their land forces.
Except for Great Britain who focused more on naval forces. Their idea was that they could control the ocean and thus naval trade, starving out their opponents.
A problem with the massive battleships called "dreadnoughts" was that they were so expensive that militaries didn't want to send them to combat as they would risk losing the ships.
This meant they saw very little actual use and served more for propaganda.
All nations were very confident and many simply assumed they would crush the other side with their powerful military, leading to a war that would presumably last only a few weeks.
Most soldiers were actually excited to go to the war as they though of it as an exhilarating and heroic adventure.
Many would soon realize the horrific truth...