What were the main belligerents of WWI hoping to get out of the war as of 1914? Think a pie in the sky "over by Christmas" kind of victory for either the Entente or the Central Powers.
Question: World War I War Aims
- Thread starter Herman Gigglethorpe
- Start date
What I meant was more along the lines of colonies, war indemnities, etc.
deathscompanion1
Banned
I honestly think that there was no clear set of aims. Some paper studies by the Germans but they were never actually adopted. The French wanted Alsace Lorraine obviously but other than that I think the powers just wanted some annexations or readjustment of the balance of power that can sucked into the inferno of total war leading to the need to win the war and then figure out what they wanted from it.
This is what I know.
France would want Alsace-Lorraine, and they would want to cripple Germany as much as possible by whatever means necessary, so that it will not be a threat. Some French would probably want the Rhineland and Saar as protectorates as well.
Germany basically doesn't want to feel surrounded by France and Russia. This means crippling France as a great power and moving Russia's border further east. This is why I think they can get realistically. From France, I think they would annex Briey-Longwy for its iron. France's border forts would also be demolished, and there would most likely be reparations as well. Basically, they will try to make a France a secondary power permanently. As for Russia, I think Germany would at least make Russian Poland and Lithuania satellites, as well as Courland, as this is what they originally demanded from Russia IOTL. Luxembourg will most likely be annexed. As for Britain Germany will get its colonies back and be allowed to freely expand its navy.
I think Britain would just want to keep the balance of power, make sure Belgium has its neutrality respected, and probably annex some land for the Cape to Cairo railway.
Russia probably would want to annex the Bosphorus and achieve hegemony in the Balkans.
France would want Alsace-Lorraine, and they would want to cripple Germany as much as possible by whatever means necessary, so that it will not be a threat. Some French would probably want the Rhineland and Saar as protectorates as well.
Germany basically doesn't want to feel surrounded by France and Russia. This means crippling France as a great power and moving Russia's border further east. This is why I think they can get realistically. From France, I think they would annex Briey-Longwy for its iron. France's border forts would also be demolished, and there would most likely be reparations as well. Basically, they will try to make a France a secondary power permanently. As for Russia, I think Germany would at least make Russian Poland and Lithuania satellites, as well as Courland, as this is what they originally demanded from Russia IOTL. Luxembourg will most likely be annexed. As for Britain Germany will get its colonies back and be allowed to freely expand its navy.
I think Britain would just want to keep the balance of power, make sure Belgium has its neutrality respected, and probably annex some land for the Cape to Cairo railway.
Russia probably would want to annex the Bosphorus and achieve hegemony in the Balkans.
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I know what you meant, but like Deathscompanion1 said, I don't think that other than France wanting A-L back I don't think any belligerents had a list of issues that going to war would fix. I think that Germany had a vague notion of knocking Russia down a peg or two before their railway programme finished in 1917 and Britain had a vague notion of knocking Germany down a peg or two t reduce their commercial competitiveness. But these vague notions were certainly not translated into military strategies that were achievable within current and projected force structures.
So we're left with the whole shoot 'em all idea.
BooNZ
Banned
Russia had the whole Balkans/ Pan-Slavism thing along with the Constantinople / Dardanelles thing.
Another vague notion lacking military plans and force structure development to address.
BooNZ
Banned
OK - Imperial Russia diplomatic, financial and military support for Serbia - aligned against A-H. Facilitating alliances between Serbia and Bulgaria (prima facie alignment against Ottomans and A-H). Increasing portion of budget allocated to military purposes...
Imperial Russia's (discreet) support for Italian (along with France) against the Ottomans.
BooNZ
Banned
Germany's impending domination of the continent was probably not a war goal for Germany - often cited as an English motivation. A pre-emptive strike against the growing strength of an Entente encirclement may have been a German goal.
All powers did (and still do) that sort of thing, the lead up to WW1 was a tangled web of often conflicting and far from clear sighted diplomacy. However little to none of that sort of thing would be adequately addressed by a premature (and ultimately unsuccessful) invasion of East Prussia and conquest of Galicia, which were the Russian war plans of 1914.
Like others have said the only concrete war aim was France wanting to recover Alsace-Lorraine. I would add to that Britain wanting to strip Germany of her fleet. Other than those two things no country entered the war with a specific list of gains they wanted from the war. That wording is a little murky so I'll try to illustrate what I mean. All of the nations had objectives they sought to obtain in the war. But these weren't concrete war aims in that they were more along the lines of "teach Serbia a lesson", "achieve hegemony in the Balkans", "break Germany as a power". Now these certainly count as war aims but they aren't war aims in the sense that a list of desired territory is. Personally, I think this lack of concrete objectives is due to the way international disputes were frequently solved by congresses of the Great Powers or by mediation in the period running up to WW1. I believe the various leaders thought that they would either be in a position to dictate terms of their choice to a totally defeated enemy or an international congress would determine the settlement. Additionally, every nation involved viewed itself as having been forced into the war by the other side. They all saw themselves as victims of others aggression.
BooNZ
Banned
Russian aspirations and diplomacy in respect of the Balkans/Ottoman space were relatively consistent - i.e. weaken the position of the A-H and Ottoman empires respectively. Winning the war, would have facilitated those aspirations, at least in part.
And that is the very definition of 'Shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out'. Or to be a bit more classical/Clausewitzean about it, win the battle and everything else will fall into place.
BooNZ
Banned
I don't necessarily disagree, but I understand before the war Serbia had some quite detailed goals involving land controlled by Austria-Hungary. I understand Russia had long standing aspirations regarding Constantinople and the Dardanelles.
While Britain led the way in creating the environment that led to WW1, I don't think they had any specific war goal beyond the status quo.
BooNZ
Banned
I'm not sure I understand your point - actually I am sure I don't. For my benefit, can you provide an example of a war aim/goal - perhaps in another conflict? I suspect we are talking about different things.
You are correct about Serbia. They had been after Bosnia for sometime but they were less certain about expansion beyond that. Mostly the problem boiled down to wanting to expand in pretty much every direction and never being able pick which one to focus on, and uncertainty as to who exactly counted as a "south slav". Before the war they couldn't decide if the Croats and Bulgars counted as slavs or not.
Again you are correct about Russia coveting the Straits but it wasn't a direct war aim of their entry into the First World War. The logic went something like "If we defeat the Germany and Austria they will be unable to oppose us over the Straits and Britain and France will be indebted to us for the victory and will not oppose us either." So in that sense the entering the war furthered the aim of acquiring the Straits but only in that victory would increase Russian power to the point where no one would prevent them.
BooNZ said:
The Balkan War is a good example. When they went to war the Allies had specific territorial gains in mind that they had agreed upon in advance. Furthermore, they had delineated the Turkish provinces into zones earmarked for each member of the alliance. All of this was agreed upon by all members before they attacked Turkey. Now, obviously things didn't work out exactly as planned, not for Bulgaria at any rate, but the war is a good example of countries going to war with particular war aims.