Immediate causes - yousif esho
There is a numerous number of events that immediately caused World War I. However, only some pertain to France. France wasn't involved in all of the immediate causes of war and because of this, I will be only be talking about the events that France was involved in.
Plan XVII
This plan was created by France in response to the Schlieffen plan from Germany. The Schlieffen plan was organized and France learned of the outline of this plan from their spies. From this new information received from the spies, the French thought it would be a good idea to find a way to respond to this. The French knew it would be a bad idea to try and defend and stop the German advance in Belgium because they would most likely lose there. Instead, the French general planned an offensive in the northern region of the German colony of Alscace-Lorraine.
In a military sense, this would impact France greatly. All of a sudden, France would have to learn of a way to mobilize quick enough in order to get to the northern region of Alsace-Lorraine whenever the Germans were to attack. This would mean sudden transportation with trains and other ways of transportation which would also affect the economical viewpoint of France (Feldman 53). A lot of money would have to be put into this in order to make sure there would be enough supplies for the war whenever it would occur. Socially, this would put the general population into a massive shock. France was never the offensive nation after the loss in the Franco-Prussian war, so an all out war would be a surprise to all of the French population because there is nothing that France did that would anger a country enough that it would go into battle with them. Politically, this would put the government in a complete mess because the government would all of a sudden have to deal with a new and upcoming war. The government dealt with the war by giving its permission to the French general to decide what he has to do in order to defend themselves and beat the Germans (Feldman 22).
France's "Blank Cheque" to Russia
The July Crisis was when a 19 year old man from the Serbian Black Hands group shot and killed the Austria-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife while they were on their way to Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia. However, France's blank cheque to Russia occurred before the July Crisis which caused some disturbance between France and Germany. The Triple Entente was an alliance that included Great Britain, France and Russia. Also, France and Russia were in their own alliance in 1894 called the Franco-Russian alliance. France gave out this blank cheque to it's ally Russia in order to support it in any way shape or form (Anderson 64). They wanted to make sure that they were protecting their ally from what could be an attack or possible outbreak of war coming from Germany or any other outside forces.
Politically, this put the government in an awkward stance against other nations such as Germany because Germany at this point did not declare war on Russia. This was just a way to support them just in case the opportunity presented itself. This would leave Germany's government suspicious against the French's government because this was an indirect threat towards them saying they would help Russia if Germany attacked. Soon enough because of this, Germany declared war on France. This blank cheque did help it's economic stance in the overall economy because it wanted to help Russia in a sense where they wanted to provide money for them in order to create railroads. Not a whole lot of money was given, but enough to help Russia create railroads (Anderson 80). In a military sense, this would lead French to sending troops over to Russia in a state of attack from any other country but since this did not occur there was no need to send their military over to Russia. In the social aspect of all of this, the population was half against and half for it. The people that were half against it had reasons of not wanting it just in case it caused problems toward Germany and their relations. The people for it argued that it would help our allies because in any case that we needed help Russia would help us in the same situation.
Works Cited
*bolded is primary source
Anderson, Benjamin M. Effects of the War on Money, Credit and Banking in France and the United States. New Haven, CT: Oxford UP, 1919. Questia School. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"The Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia." - World War I Document Archive. Harold B. Lee Library, 27 May 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2014
Feldman, Ruth Tenzer. World War I. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2004. Chronicle of America's Wars. Questia School. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"World War I." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2751-2766. Gale World History In Context. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"Total War: Was Total War a Twentieth-Century Concept?" History in Dispute. Ed. Paul du Quenoy. Vol. 16 Twentieth-Century European Social and Political Movements: First Series. Detroit: St. James Press, 2004. 251-258.
Gale Virtual Reference Library. 11 Oct. 2014.
Plan XVII
This plan was created by France in response to the Schlieffen plan from Germany. The Schlieffen plan was organized and France learned of the outline of this plan from their spies. From this new information received from the spies, the French thought it would be a good idea to find a way to respond to this. The French knew it would be a bad idea to try and defend and stop the German advance in Belgium because they would most likely lose there. Instead, the French general planned an offensive in the northern region of the German colony of Alscace-Lorraine.
In a military sense, this would impact France greatly. All of a sudden, France would have to learn of a way to mobilize quick enough in order to get to the northern region of Alsace-Lorraine whenever the Germans were to attack. This would mean sudden transportation with trains and other ways of transportation which would also affect the economical viewpoint of France (Feldman 53). A lot of money would have to be put into this in order to make sure there would be enough supplies for the war whenever it would occur. Socially, this would put the general population into a massive shock. France was never the offensive nation after the loss in the Franco-Prussian war, so an all out war would be a surprise to all of the French population because there is nothing that France did that would anger a country enough that it would go into battle with them. Politically, this would put the government in a complete mess because the government would all of a sudden have to deal with a new and upcoming war. The government dealt with the war by giving its permission to the French general to decide what he has to do in order to defend themselves and beat the Germans (Feldman 22).
France's "Blank Cheque" to Russia
The July Crisis was when a 19 year old man from the Serbian Black Hands group shot and killed the Austria-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife while they were on their way to Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia. However, France's blank cheque to Russia occurred before the July Crisis which caused some disturbance between France and Germany. The Triple Entente was an alliance that included Great Britain, France and Russia. Also, France and Russia were in their own alliance in 1894 called the Franco-Russian alliance. France gave out this blank cheque to it's ally Russia in order to support it in any way shape or form (Anderson 64). They wanted to make sure that they were protecting their ally from what could be an attack or possible outbreak of war coming from Germany or any other outside forces.
Politically, this put the government in an awkward stance against other nations such as Germany because Germany at this point did not declare war on Russia. This was just a way to support them just in case the opportunity presented itself. This would leave Germany's government suspicious against the French's government because this was an indirect threat towards them saying they would help Russia if Germany attacked. Soon enough because of this, Germany declared war on France. This blank cheque did help it's economic stance in the overall economy because it wanted to help Russia in a sense where they wanted to provide money for them in order to create railroads. Not a whole lot of money was given, but enough to help Russia create railroads (Anderson 80). In a military sense, this would lead French to sending troops over to Russia in a state of attack from any other country but since this did not occur there was no need to send their military over to Russia. In the social aspect of all of this, the population was half against and half for it. The people that were half against it had reasons of not wanting it just in case it caused problems toward Germany and their relations. The people for it argued that it would help our allies because in any case that we needed help Russia would help us in the same situation.
Works Cited
*bolded is primary source
Anderson, Benjamin M. Effects of the War on Money, Credit and Banking in France and the United States. New Haven, CT: Oxford UP, 1919. Questia School. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"The Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia." - World War I Document Archive. Harold B. Lee Library, 27 May 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2014
Feldman, Ruth Tenzer. World War I. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2004. Chronicle of America's Wars. Questia School. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"World War I." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2751-2766. Gale World History In Context. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"Total War: Was Total War a Twentieth-Century Concept?" History in Dispute. Ed. Paul du Quenoy. Vol. 16 Twentieth-Century European Social and Political Movements: First Series. Detroit: St. James Press, 2004. 251-258.
Gale Virtual Reference Library. 11 Oct. 2014.