Is there a way to stop World War I? Even if Franz Ferdinand survived, wouldn't the alliance system make war inevitable?

Is there a way to stop World War I? Even if Franz Ferdinand survived, wouldn't the alliance system make war inevitable?

Not entirely, but it could have been delayed and greatly reduced.

On the day of the assassination, the British and Germans were scheduled friendship talks. Both Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas were belligerent retards. Literally any delay would have made the war smaller.

>Is there a way to stop World War I?

1: Invent time machine.
2: ?????
3: PROFIT!

The simple answer is that either Germany or Russia have to back down. If Germany backs down, then there is no WW1. If Russia backs down, then there is no WW1. Part of the problem was that Germany's entire plan for a war against Russia depended on being able to deploy its soldiers faster. So even though Russia had a much larger army, Germany expected that there would a period of time where they'd have numerical superiority because they could deploy their forces more quickly. This was all thanks to Germany's superb railroad network.

They problem was the Russia was building their own railroad network, and the general staff of Germany was watching their critical advantage slowly dissolve into nothing. So when the July Crisis hit, the general staff essentially started begging the Kaiser to declare war and mobilize as fast as possible. Wilhelm II actually asked if it would be possible to delay mobilization to allow more time for diplomacy to run its course, and the generals pretty much flipped their shit, saying that Russia had become a nightmare and if they didn't do something about it RIGHT NOW, then there would never be another opportunity. At any future date, Russia would be too industrialized to fight; it was now or never.

On the Russian side of things, Nicholas II was very reluctant to order mobilization, because he know that it would probably trigger a war with Germany. However, his advisers were telling him that a war with Germany would likely lead to a quick, easy victory. There was only one man in Czar Nicholas II's inner circle who was firmly against declaring war: Rasputin, "the Mad Monk." In a cruel twist of fate, Rasputin was on vacation during the July Crisis and thus out of the loop. When Rasputin finally did hear what was going on, he sent Nicholas a blistering telegraph warning that war against Germany would lead to "the end of the Romanovs." Too little, too late. The gears of war were already in motion.

If he wasn't assassinated, then Austrungary would just find another excuse.

But if this Kaiser was alive until the 20th century, he would have pulled Germany out of the war

Germany did nothing wrong, they were just backing up their allies. They have no fault in starting the war

Very good post

>However, his advisers were telling him that a war with Germany would likely lead to a quick, easy victory
You've got to be joking me.

If Russia wasn't so incompetent then them and France combined probably would've DP'd Germany

I wouldn't say incompetent, Germany was far superior when it came to infrastructure and industrial capacity, so that's already a huge advantage in a war like WWI. Russia showed to be fairly competent in the Brusilov offensive and the early years of the war IIRC, their real problem was shit infrastructure on a huge ass empire. It5's like that one time Hotzendorf wanted to sneakly pass hundreds of thousands of soldiers through the Alps shitty infrastructure and encircle the Italians

Ferdinand was simply the trigger. The buildup of WW1 goes way back, and arguably more of you consider many things like the rise of nationalism, and industrialization

>The buildup of WW1 goes way back, and arguably more of you consider many things like the rise of nationalism, and industrialization
Do you happen to know any books that talk about those causes? I'm curious

The only way to stop it as said before was that one of the major players had to back down.

If Russia backed down, it would've been known as the Third Balkan War between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which would've been a few months long before Serbia capitulated.

If Russia did get involved and Germany decided not to back up A-H's offensive war, then it would've been a major regional war on level with the Franco-Prussian or Crimean Wars, one Austria Hungary would probably lose.

but the fact of the matter was that no nation could afford to back down as diplomacy demanded that War be waged in order to maintain the prestige of the major powers. Any major powers backing down from an opportunity would make them appear to be weak to both their own people and their political rivals.

Tsar Nicolas was actually extremely hesitant to get involved for Serbia, even as the Russian Army was mobilizing, the Tsar was still hesitant to declare until the final hours, which was influenced by Russia's already damaged reputation with losing the Russo-Japanese war and the 1905 Revolution. If Russia refused to come to Serbia s defense, then Russia would be a laughing stock for the rest of Nicholas' reign.

Surely you've heard "the war will be over by Christmas" before? The only other man, besides Rasputin, who might have been able to stop the Czar from declare war, was Pyotr A. Stolypin. After the disastrous defeat of the Russo-Japanese war, Stolypin engineered a variety of reforms to restore confidence in the monarchy. The most important of these was an ambitious land redistribution program which was designed to turn Russia's landless peasants into a middle-class which would serve as a bulwark against radicalism. It could be seen as the Russian equivalent of the American "Homestead Act of 1862." However, Stolypin wasn't an idiot who believed that everything could be fixed overnight; he believed that Russia needed "20 years of uninterrupted peace" in order for his reforms to have a chance to produce the desired results. During his time in office, he managed to dissuade Nicholas II from declaring war on the Ottomans during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911, so he might have been able to do it again in 1914 if he hadn't be assassinated.

Yeah. What I mean to say was that the industrial revolution changed Imperialism, which was a main cause for WWI. Here you go:
>Perry, Marvin. Western Civilization:Ideas,politics, and Society

Thanks, lad

Their alliance was supposed to be a defensive one, thus Italy telling both AH and Germany to fuck off once they decided to illegally invade Serbia.

If you enable your ally to chimp out and cause a literal world war, you're absolutely to blame.

>(single defeated country) caused WWI
My favourite meme.

>single
Austria-Hungary is also to blame.

>he fell for the "WWI was inevitable therefore no one is to blame" revisionist meme

Every European GP back then is to blame.

...

I bet you're going to do great on your high school history test, lad.

France was just as hungry for war as Germany was.

russia's military record from WWI is a bit hard to parse. in the early years they could just annihilate the austrians if they got them 1vs1, but on the other hand the german forces fucked them at will with forces far, far smaller than what the russians had deployed. also, their communications were absolute nightmare-tier. brusilov offensive, while very successful, seems more like an outlier than indicative of the norm

if you are interested in the diplomatic side of things, luigi albertini's "the origins of the war of 1914" is absolutely essential

Revanchisme ever being a leading current in French politics is literally German (and later Nazi) propaganda.

The biggest problem was aviation. Germany held a clear advantage in fighter aircraft, and so they could rely on their reconnaissance planes to keep them aware of Russian movements. Russia also possessed reconnaissance aircraft, but the superior German fighter planes patrolling the skies could make it very difficult for Russia to actually make use of its reconnaissance planes. Russia ended up relying far more on old-fashioned cavalry scouts. The one area where Russia was clearly ahead was in the design of bomber aircraft. Designed by Igor Sikorsky (who is now much more famous for his work with helicopters), the Ilya Muromets was the world's first true strategic bomber.

I'd like to know why Falkenhayn is listed in a higher tier than Moltke. I'd also like to know why Bethmann-Hollweg is listed in a higher tier than Wilhelm II.

The merchants of death must have their war. And they did so twice.

The main reason of WWI was China. It was being divided by major world countries (including USA) after 1911 revolution.
Germany was second power, but their acquisitions were miserable compare to Britain, France, Russia with big staging zones. Hit in Europe - not so autistic decision.

Grey didn't try to stop shit. His inability to commit to France gave the Germans more confidence in their invasion.

#
>ask Germany to avert war between you two by signing your neutrality with them twice
>know victory on Germany through economic means is much easier to reach since Russia is basically your pet in 1914 and have no incentive for war
>Germany rebukes you on two occasions when asking for neutrality
>"hurr them evil frogs wanting war and shit!"
Classic Veeky Forums falling for Goebbels propaganda. Never gets old.

no way that aircraft was fielding in time for WW1

You could always just NOT honor your treaties and go to war, starting the chain reaction

>The simple answer is that either Germany or Russia have to back down. If Germany backs down, then there is no WW1. If Russia backs down, then there is no WW1. Part of the problem was that Germany's entire plan for a war against Russia depended on being able to deploy its soldiers faster. So even though Russia had a much larger army, Germany expected that there would a period of time where they'd have numerical superiority because they could deploy their forces more quickly. This was all thanks to Germany's superb railroad network.
Yeah but they also assumed they could just instantly smash and defeat France, then turn around and hit Russia.

In terms of SOME sort of conflict breaking out, probably inevitable. But the scale of the war could have been prevented if not for German using an independent nation state as a shortcut to France

Everybody was expecting Franco-Prussian War 2.0: Electric Boogaloo. Or perhaps, American Civil War: European Edition.

Yeah, no. Britian would economically join the war no matter what to cut down Germany, and the blockade was half their impact on the war. There's no way they were staying out, and no way they were siding with Germany.

Its actually true.

The Tsar didn't want war however he somehow managed to put liberal imperialists into his cabinet and all of them wanted the Tsar gone and russian expansion though mostly into constantinople as the dardinels controlled 80% of their trade.

The papers show these liberals atleast told the Tsar it would be a quick and easy win as it was the general opinion of almost all of europe was the next war would be quick and Russia somehow thought its vast man power meant they were unbeatable.

Most Russian leadership knew after the Russo-Jap war that the 'russian steamroller' was an illusion.

The war however was really a win win for Liberal Imperialists. If they lost it would probably just be some polish territory which was notriously hard to integrate anyway and the Tsar would get all the blame opening the door to liberal democracy.

If they won they would get more Russian imperial glory.

Gray gave France a blank check when he committed the British Navy to fighiting Germany and defending France in the channel.

Literally an alliance in everything but name.

Hotzendord didn't bear responsibility for the Great war in anyway.

He pushed the Kaiser for war with SERBIA and for just reasons. The Serbian government knew about the Franz Ferdinand plot and multiple officials chose not to pass the information to AH.

Wilhelm is probably least responsible. The 'blank check' is such bullshit propaganda I can't belive its largely accepted today. Russia France England and all other parties had alliances and gave assurances equal to the blank check.

You put NIcholas when it was his ministers that all forced him to do it.

You don't have Paliologue on here at all when he gave a blank check on his own volition and urged Russia to go to war.

This is a reddit chart. I could go on and on.

>This is a reddit chart.

What makes it reddit, user? Is it from reddit?

Dude he would have been in his 80s if he had even LIVED til then

>Russia somehow thought its vast man power meant they were unbeatable.

To be fair, they're usually not wrong. They seem to do far worse when they're on the offensive, however.

Why didn't they just take s*rbia and relocate it to madagascar

Maybe if Franz's driver used a GPS the whole war would have never happened.

I always thought Franz was driving by himself and got shot becasue some magic weeb furry wanted it

>Hotzendord didn't bear responsibility for the Great war in anyway.
>He pushed the Kaiser for war with SERBIA and for just reasons.
Are you genuinely mentally challenged? War with Serbia means war with Russia, and if Germany joins the war with Russia, it means war with France too.

Hotzendorf and Willie both knew that, and willingly pulled the trigger.