The Causes: The explosive that was World War One had been long in the stockpiling; the spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.  Ferdinand's death at the hands Gavrilo Princip a member of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, set in train a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated in the world's first global war.

Austria-Hungary's Reaction: Austria-Hungary's reaction to the death of their heir was three weeks in coming.  Arguing that the Serbian government was implicated in the machinations of the Black Hand, the Austro-Hungarians opted to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians, crushing the nationalist movement there and cementing Austria-Hungary's influence in the Balkans. It did so by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia which effectively nullified Serbia's sovereignty.  Austria-Hungary's expectation was that Serbia would reject the remarkably severe terms of the ultimatum, thereby giving her a pretext for launching a limited war against Serbia.

However, Serbia had long had Slavic ties with Russia, an altogether different proposition for Austria-Hungary.  Whilst not really expecting that Russia would be drawn into the dispute to any great extent other than through words of diplomatic protest, the Austro-Hungarian government sought assurances from her ally, Germany, that she would come to her aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany readily agreed, even encouraged Austria-Hungary's warlike stance. 

One Thing Led to Another

Then the following remarkable sequence of events led inexorably to the 'Great War'.

Austria-Hungary, unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. Russia bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilization of its vast army in her defence, a slow process that would take around six weeks to complete. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty viewed the Russian mobilization as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after scant warning declared war on Russia on 1 August.

France, bound by treaty to Russia, found itself at war against Germany and, by extension, on Austria-Hungary following a German declaration of War on 3 August.  Germany was swift in invading neutral Belgium so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route. Britain allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a "moral obligation" upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on 4 August. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary. With Britain's entry into the war, her colonies and dominions abroad variously offered military and financial assistance, and included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.

United States President Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, an official stance that would last until 1917 when Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare - which seriously threatened America's commercial shipping (which was in any event almost entirely directed towards the Allies led by Britain and France) - forced the U.S. to finally enter the war on 6 April 1917.

Japan, honoring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914.  Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan.

Italy, although allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to avoid entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both.  In short, Italy was committed to defend Germany and Austria-Hungary only in the event of a 'defensive' war; arguing that their actions were 'offensive' she declared instead a policy of neutrality.  The following year, in May 1915, she finally joined the conflict by siding with the Allies against her two former allies.

The Tangle of Alliances

It's possible to delve deeply into European history in the quest to unearth the roots of the various alliances that were at play in 1914. 

Bismarck's Need for Alliances: Bismarck's creation of a unified Germany was of direct relevance to the outbreak of war some 43 years later, since it resulted in the assembly of the key alliances that later came into play. Having achieved his life's aim of unifying Germany, Bismarck's expansionary plans were at an end.  He had secured what he wanted, and his chief desire now was to maintain its stability.  He therefore set about building European alliances aimed at protecting Germany from potentially threatening quarters. He was acutely aware that the French were itching to revenge their defeat at the earliest opportunity.

 Britain's Splendid Isolation: Bismarck did not initially fear an alliance between France and Britain, for the latter was at that time in the midst of a self-declared 1870s policy of "splendid isolation", choosing to stay above continental European politics.

The Three Emperors League & Dual Alliance: He began by negotiating, in 1873, the Three Emperors League, which tied Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia to each other's aid in time of war.  This however only lasted until Russia's withdrawal five years later in 1878, leaving Bismarck with a new Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879.

The Triple Alliance: Two years after Germany and Austria-Hungary concluded their agreement, Italy was brought into the fold with the signing of the Triple Alliance in 1881.  Under the provisions of this treaty, Germany and Austria-Hungary promised to assist Italy if she were attacked by France, and vice versa. One of the chief aims of the Triple Alliance was to prevent Italy from declaring war against Austria-Hungary, towards whom the Italians were in dispute over territorial matters.

The Reinsurance Treaty: Potentially of greater importance - although it was allowed to lapse three years after its signature - Bismarck, in 1887, agreed to a so-called Reinsurance Treaty with Russia. This document stated that both powers would remain neutral if either were involved in a war with a third (be it offensive or defensive). However, should that third power transpire to be France, Russia would not be obliged to provide assistance to Germany, as was the case of Germany if Russia found itself at war with Austria-Hungary.

Bismarck's intention was to avoid the possibility of a two-front war against both France and Russia. A decidedly tangled mesh of alliances; but the Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, allowed the Reinsurance Treaty to lapse in 1890 (the same year the new German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, brought about the dismissal of his veteran Chancellor, Bismarck).

Franco-Russian Agreements: The year after the Reinsurance Treaty lapsed Russia allied itself with France.  Both powers agreed to consult with the other should either find itself at war with any other nation, or if indeed the stability of Europe was threatened. This rather loosely worded agreement was solidified in 1892 with the Franco-Russian Military Convention, aimed specifically at counteracting the potential threat posed by the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

British Emergence from Splendid Isolation: Meanwhile, Britain was awaking to the emergence of Germany as a great European power - and a colonial power.  Kaiser Wilhelm's successor, Wilhelm II, proved far more ambitious in establishing "a place in the sun" for Germany.  With the effective dismissal of Bismarck the new Kaiser was determined to establish Germany as a great colonial power in the pacific and, most notably, in Africa. Wilhelm, encouraged by Alfred von Tirpitz, German naval minister, embarked upon a massive shipbuilding exercise intended to produce a naval fleet the equal of Britain's, unarguably by far the world's largest.

Britain, at that time the greatest power of all, took note.  In the early years of the twentieth century, in 1902, she agreed a military alliance with Japan, aimed squarely at limiting German colonial gains in the east. She also responded by commissioning a build-up in her own naval strength, determined to outstrip Germany.  In this she succeeded, building in just 14 months the enormous Dreadnought battleship, completed in December 1906.  By the time war was declared in 1914 Germany could muster 29 battleships, Britain 49. Despite her success in the naval race, Germany's ambitions succeeded at the very least in pulling Britain into the European alliance system and, it has been argued, brought war that much closer.

Cordial Agreements: Britain, France - and Russia

Two years later Britain signed the Entente Cordiale with France.  This 1904 agreement finally resolved numerous leftover colonial squabbles.  More significantly, although it did not commit either to the other's military aid in time of war, it did offer closer diplomatic co-operation generally. Three years on, in 1907, Russia formed what became known as the Triple Entente (which lasted until World War One) by signing an agreement with Britain, the Anglo-Russian Entente. Together the two agreements formed the three-fold alliance that lasted and effectively bound each to the other right up till the outbreak of world war just seven years later.

Again, although the two Entente agreements were not militarily binding in any way, they did place a "moral obligation" upon the signatories to aid each other in time of war. It was chiefly this moral obligation that drew Britain into the war in defence of France, although the British pretext was actually the terms of the largely forgotten 1839 Treaty of London that committed the British to defend Belgian neutrality (discarded by the Germans as "a scrap of paper" in 1914, when they asked Britain to ignore it).

In 1912 Britain and France did however conclude a military agreement, the Anglo-French Naval Convention, which promised British protection of France's coastline from German naval attack, and French defence of the Suez Canal.

Such were the alliances between the major continental players.  There were other, smaller alliances too - such as Russia's pledge to protect Serbia, and Britain's agreement to defend Belgian neutrality - and each served its part in drawing each nation into the coming Great War.

In the interim however, there were a number of 'minor' conflicts that helped to stir emotions in the years immediately preceding 1914, and which gave certain nations more stake than others in entering the world war.

Russian war with Japan: shock Japanese victory

Ever since Russia declined Japan's offer in 1903 for each to recognize the other's interests in Manchuria and Korea, trouble was looming. The Japanese launched a successful attack upon Russian warships in Korea, and in Port Arthur, China.  This was followed by a land invasion of both disputed territories of Korea and Manchuria in 1904. Among other set-pieces, the Japanese astonished the western powers by destroying the entire Russian fleet at the Battle of Tsushima (27-28 May 1905) for the loss of two torpedo boats - a humiliating Russian defeat. The battered and shaken Tsar, Nicholas II, was determined to restore Russian prestige and what better way to achieve this than through military conquest.

The Balkans, 1912: Italy versus Turkey

Strife in the Balkans was nothing new.  In 1912 it continued with war between Italy and Turkey, over the latter's African possessions. Turkey lost and was forced to hand over Libya, Rhodes and the Dodecanese Islands to the Italians.

The Balkans, 1912 (part ii): the first Balkan war

Turkey's troubles were not yet over. Having concluded peace with the Italians it found itself engulfed in war with no fewer than four small nations over the possession of Balkan territories: Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria - and later Montenegro. The intervention of the larger European powers brought about an end to this the First Balkan War of 1912-13.  Again Turkey lost out, shedding Crete and all of its European possessions.

The Balkans, 1913: the second Balkan war

Later in the 1913, conflict erupted again in the Balkans, as Bulgaria, unsatisfied with its earlier spoils, fought with its recent allies in an attempt to control a greater part of Macedonia; and when the so-named "Young Turks" - Turkish army officers - denounced the earlier peace as unfair. Between May and July 1913 Bulgaria's former allies beat back the new aggressor, Bulgaria, and Romania captured the Bulgarian capital Sofia in August.  Beaten and having surrendered on 10 August 1913, Bulgaria also lost Adrianople back to Turkey.

Troubled Peace in the Balkans: Despite the re-establishment of peace in the Balkans, nothing had really been settled and tensions remained high. The numerous small nations that had found themselves under Turkish or Austro-Hungarian rule for many years stirred themselves in nationalistic fervor. Yet while these Balkan nations sought their own individual voice and self-determination, they were nevertheless united in identifying themselves as pan-Slavic peoples, with Russia as their chief ally. The latter was keen to encourage this belief in the Russian people as the Slav's natural protectors, for aside from a genuine emotional attachment, it was a means by which Russia could regain a degree of lost prestige.

Unsettled Empires: The Austro-Hungarian empire was directly impacted by troubles in the Balkans and, under the ageing Emperor Franz Josef, was patently struggling to maintain coherence of the various diametrically opposed ethnic groups which fell under the Austro-Hungarian umbrella. As such, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand by the Serbian nationalist secret society, the Black Hand, provided the Austro-Hungarian government with a golden opportunity to stamp its authority over the region.

Russia, ally of the Slavs - and therefore of Serbia - had been struggling to hold back full-scale revolution ever since the Japanese military disaster of 1905.  In 1914, while the Tsar himself was reluctant, his government saw war with Austria-Hungary as an opportunity to restore social order - which indeed it did, at least until the continuation of repeated Russian military setbacks, Rasputin's intrigue at court and food shortages combined to bring about the long-threatened total revolution (which, encouraged by Germany, brought about Russia's withdrawal from the war in 1917).

Then there is France.  Almost immediately following her defeat by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, together with the humiliating annexation by the newly unified Germany of the coal-rich territories of Alsace and Lorraine, the French government and military alike were united in thirsting for revenge.

Germany's Path to War: As for Germany, she was unsettled socially and militarily.  The 1912 Reichstag elections had resulted in the election of no fewer than 110 socialist deputies, making Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg's task in liaising between the Reichstag and the autocratic Wilhelm, not to mention the rigidly right-wing military high command, next to impossible. Bethmann Hollweg, who became most despondent, came to believe that Germany's only hope of avoiding civil unrest sooner rather than later lay in war: preferably a short, sharp war, although he did not rule out a European-wide conflict if it resolved Germany's social and political woes.

This outlook on life fuelled his decision of 6 July 1914 - whilst the Austro-Hungarian government was weighing its options with regard to Serbia - to offer the former what has been commonly referred to as "a blank cheque"; that is, an unconditional guarantee of support for Austria-Hungary no matter what she decided.

Not that Wilhelm II was keen upon a grand war. Rather, he failed to foresee the consequences of his military posturing, his determination to construct both land and naval forces the equivalent - and better - than those of Britain and France. However his government and his military commanders assuredly did anticipate what was to come.  A plan to take on both Russia and France, a war on two fronts, had long been expected and taken into account.

The so-called Schlieffen Plan, devised by former Army Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen, had been carefully crafted to deal with a two-front war scenario.  The plan, which very nearly succeeded, outlined a plan to conquer France, to knock her out of the war, on a 'Western Front', within five weeks - before, the Germans calculated, Russia could effectively mobilize for war on the 'Eastern Front' (which they estimated would take six weeks).

It is often speculated - and argued - that the plan would have succeeded but for the decision of the then-German Chief of Staff in 1914, Helmuth von Moltke, to authorize a critical deviation from the plan that, stemmed from a lack of nerve, and crucially slowed the path towards Paris - with fatal consequences (and which ended in static trench warfare).

Still, the German plan took no real account of Britain's entry into the war.  The German government gave no credence to the possibility that Britain would ignore her own commercial interests (which were presumably best served by staying aloof from the conflict and maintaining her all-important commercial trading routes), and would instead uphold her ancient treaty of obligation to recover violated Belgian neutrality.

British Dithering: It is also suggested that Germany would have backed away from war had Britain declared her intentions sooner.  Believing that Britain would stay out of the coming conflict, and would limit herself to diplomatic protests - after all, Britain was under no strict military obligation to France - Germany, and Austria-Hungary, proceeded under the belief that war would be fought solely with France and Russia.

The British Government, and its Foreign Minister, Sir Edward Grey, attempted to mediate throughout July, reserving at all times its right to remain aloof from the dispute. It was only as the war began that the British position solidified into support for, ostensibly, Belgium. Hence the oft-leveled criticism that had Britain come out clearly on the side of Belgium and France earlier in July, war would have been avoided: Germany would have effectively instructed Austria-Hungary to settle with Serbia, especially given the latter's willingness to co-operate with Austria-Hungary.

The Planning of the War

Ever since Germany had inflicted defeat upon France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the major nations of Europe had busied themselves with plans for the next war, seen by many as inevitable given the conflicting ambitions of the major powers; which, in the case of France, included the repossession of Alsace and Lorraine, both lost to Germany as a consequence of the Franco-Prussian War.

Germany: Schlieffen plan

Germany's Schlieffen Plan, named after its chief architect, Count Alfred von Schlieffen, was both offensive and defensive in nature. Schlieffen - and the men who subsequently enhanced and modified his strategy, including Helmuth von Moltke, German Chief of Staff in 1914 - took as his starting assumption a war on two fronts, against France in the west and Russia in the east.  The nature of the alliance system ensured that Russia was allied with France (and latterly Britain), set against Germany's alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy. Notwithstanding the potentially enormous size of the Russian army, with its never-ending supply of men, Schlieffen assumed - largely correctly, as it turned out - that it would take six weeks or longer for the Russians to effectively mobilize their forces, poorly led and equipped as they were. Helmuth von Moltke, the German Chief of Staff responsible for putting the Schlieffen Plan into operation. Banking on this assumption, Schlieffen devised a strategy for knocking France out of the war within those six weeks. 

In order to do so he would commit the vast majority of German forces in the west to form an overwhelming assault with Paris as its aim, leaving just sufficient forces in East Prussia to hold off the Russians during the latter's mobilization process.  Once France had been dealt with the armies in the west would be redeployed to the east to face the Russian menace. In striking against France von Schlieffen determined to invade through Belgium; for tactical as well as political reasons, an invasion via Holland was discounted (Germany desired Dutch neutrality for as long as possible); and Switzerland in the south was geographically invasion-proof.  Passage through the flat Flanders plains would offer the fastest route to France and victory. Working to a tight deadline, five German armies would advance through Belgium and France in a grand wheel motion, turning through the Flanders plains north-east of France. 

The German forces would move from Alsace-Lorraine west through France en route for Paris.  Schlieffen's often-quoted remark, "when you march into France, let the last man on the right brush the Channel with his sleeve" was based upon this turning wheel-like advance. By outflanking the French armies von Schlieffen aimed to attack from the rear, where the French were likely to be most vulnerable.  A small German force would guard the Franco-German border, enticing the French to move forward, upon which they would be attacked from the rear by the main bulk of the German army, assuring encirclement and destruction. Even while retreating - which was by no means part of the plan - the Germans could (and did) entrench themselves deep inside French territory.

The weakness of the Schlieffen Plan lay less in the rigidity of the timescale - for the German army very nearly succeeded in capturing Paris within the time allotted - but in its underestimation of the difficulties of supply and communication in forces so far advanced from command and supply lines. Ultimately, it was these problems, particularly in communicating strategy from Berlin, that doomed the Schlieffen Plan.  The Allied forces could rush troops to the front by use of the railway faster than the Germans could arrange fresh supplies of food and reserve troops. Most critically, Moltke's isolation from the front line not far from Paris led to a series of poor decisions and a crucial weakening of his forces in the north.  A promptly timed French counter-attack exploiting a gap in the German lines at the First Battle of the Marne set off the so-called 'race to the sea' and the onset of static trench warfare.  The rapid war of movement was brought to an end.

Russia

Russia correctly assumed that Germany would open the war with an attack against France rather than Russia. This being the case, two Russian armies would advance into East Prussia and to Silesia en route to central Germany.  Russia would at the same time make use of a fortress defence against invading forces. In the event, the Russian advance into East Prussia was thrown back almost immediately upon the start of the war, with the Russian army suffering a particularly crushing defeat at Tannenberg, followed by lesser setbacks at the First and Second Battles of the Masurian Lakes.

Britain: The British did not devise a general war strategy in the same sense as France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia.  Unlike these powers, Britain had no particular desire for war to break out, and had no plans for expansion, although she was keen to protect her interests, in particular her trading links with her far-flung empire. However once war broke out, Britain, after some initial confused dithering, determined to come to the aid of 'Brave Little Belgium' (as Belgium was represented in the initial British propaganda recruitment campaign) and to France. In the absence of a conscripted army, the British Expeditionary Force (or BEF) was to be transported to the continent and onwards by rail to Belgium and the French left flank. 

Serbia: The Serbian plan for war was simple: upon declaration of war the army would be doubled from five to ten divisions and placed in readiness to strike against Austria-Hungary once it became apparent what the latter's tactical intentions were.

American Neutrality: The U.S. was determined to adopt a stance of rigid neutrality at the start of the war, and President Wilson announced the American stance to this effect shortly after war broke out, on 19 August 1914, reflecting U.S. popular opinion.  Consequently the U.S. had no plans for war and played no initial part in the conflict. Despite official neutrality, a huge leap in export to the Allies led to a vested interest in an Allied victory.  Exports to Germany and its allies rapidly diminished in parallel to a significant rise in shipping to Britain and France.

Popular opinion in favor of the Allies began to build as news spread of Germany's allegedly aggressive tactics, which were said to include a terror campaign against 'little Belgium'. Similarly, Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare caused much ill-feeling in the U.S.  The sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915 and the Sussex in April 1916 nearly brought the U.S. into the war, and it was Germany's continued submarine policy that ultimately brought about Wilson's war address to Congress on 2 April 1917. 

Other factors, such as suspicions of German involvement with Mexico (via the Zimmermann Telegram), solidified popular antagonism against Germany.

Once in the war Wilson proposed a plan of sorts; it was not a war strategy but a plan to be put in place once peace had set in; the plan became known as the 'Fourteen Points'; although pushed heavily by the U.S. contingent both in the latter stages of the war and at the Versailles peace conference, these were much watered-down by the French and to a lesser extent the British, as being too idealistic. Among the Fourteen Points were clauses renouncing secret peace treaties; guaranteeing the neutrality of the seas outside territorial borders; calling for the removal of international trade barriers; for a reduction of arms; Polish independence; and for arbitration of colonial disputes.  Wilson also called for the establishment of a 'League of Nations' designed to secure ongoing peace. Ironically, as the author of the Fourteen Points, Wilson was unable to persuade the once more isolationist U.S. Congress to ratify his own document.

EFFECT OF WORLD WAR I

England had been the center of the great British Empire before World War I. The war marks the beginning of the decline of that empire in the face of rising nationalist demands for independence throughout the non-European world.

England had also been the great creditor nation of the world, providing shipping and insurance services to the rest of the world. The cost of the war was so great that England consumed all of its credits and became heavily indebted to the United States. As a result of the war, the world's financial center shifted from England to the United States, from London to New York.

The demands by women for the right to vote had become most strident in England prior to the war. It could no longer be denied. Women acquired that right throughout most of the countries of Europe following the war.

Working class people, as well as women, were fully employed during the war, and their status, once defined as very subordinate to the aristocracy, was greatly enhanced. The distribution of income shifted in favor of the poor. Relatively, the status of the aristocracy was diminished. Politically, this is reflected in England by the rise of the Labor Party as one of the two major parties.

In France, the heavy loss in manpower at the front decimated an entire generation of Frenchmen and is thought to have created a leadership vacuum when that generation came of age. France had fallen behind Germany and England in population during the 19th century. They were, therefore, less able to sustain wartime losses. France also suffered untold property damage since most of the war on the western front was fought on French soil.

The United States, removed by an ocean from the center of the war and joining late in the war, did not suffer the catastrophic losses of the major belligerents. U.S. losses in life were great, more than 100,000, but this was small in comparison to the millions lost by the other major powers. Furthermore, the United States was a great continental power, with great population and resources. The war stimulated the U.S. economy, increased employment and wages, and brought great profit to industry. The United States emerged from the war as clearly the greatest power in the world as well as the creditor nation of the world. These circumstances thrust the United States into a position as world leaders, while the American people still assumed that Europe had little to do with America. President Wilson had a vision that would have involved the United States extensively in world affairs through the League of Nations, but he was unable to find popular support.

Germany had entered World War I as the greatest power among the belligerents, with its people immensely proud of Germany's achievements in the years since unification. Defeat in war was a profound shock, and coupled with economic privation and collapse, was more than the German people could accept. The unusual circumstances at the end of the war, in which their government collapsed and the Social Democratic Party assumed power, were not of their choosing. Revolution was forced upon them by outside pressure, before the people were prepared for change.  The new government was unpopular from the beginning. Rather than being in the mainstream of German politics, its support came mainly from the working class. Its popularity was further eroded by the fact that it was tainted with having to sign the armistice and then to accept the Versailles Treaty, a treaty which was universally denounced by the German people. Severe economic difficulties created by the war and the demand for reparations caused despair and hardship which ensured an uncertain future for the nation.

Austria-Hungary collapsed during the war, torn apart by its multi-national divisions. Though the Treaty negotiators in Paris in 1919 recognized a new political arrangement after the war, it, too, lacked stability because it was impossible to put to rest the multi-ethnic tension between the people in the region.

Czechoslovakia was a relatively stable successor state in the north, though it was divided among two Slavic nationalities and included many Germans in the Sudetenland, as well as Polish and Hungarian minorities. Rumania, one of the Allied nations, was given a large share of territory inhabited by Hungarians.

The greatest uncertainty was, however, in the areas inhabited by Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, where the different ethnic groups could not be separated from one another and were included together in the new multi-national state of Yugoslavia.

In the former European portion of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish people mingled with Bulgars in Bulgaria, while Albanians mingled with Greeks in Greece and with Serbs in Yugoslavia. Both the Austrian and the Ottoman Empires had been destroyed without there being any stable alternative.

In Russia, the war led to the Russian Revolution and a civil war which continued the conflict for three years beyond World War I. The civil war involved foreign intervention, almost total disintegration of the economy and, by 1921 a massive famine. The revolution came earlier than it otherwise would have, under circumstances of war, and before a middle class leadership was prepared to establish a stable, liberal alternative to the old regime.

In other words, the war accelerated the process of change driven by industrialization, and created circumstances in Germany, in the Balkans, and in Russia which people were not prepared for. As previously indicated, it also thrust the United States into a position of world leadership before the American people were ready to accept that responsibility. The problems, the instability, the uncertainties, and the economic collapse created by the war were far more difficult to deal with than any situation that existed prior to the war.