Ovi Magazine Issue #26: WWI - 100 years - Published: 2014-07-28

Rene Wadlow
Could the Dogs of War
Have Been Kept Chained?
The possibility of war was in the air since 1890 when Otto
von Bismarck had been replaced as Chancellor of Prussia.
He had kept a fairly steady hand on the complex of alliances
being formed among the European Powers and tried to keep
Prussia out of colonial adventures in Africa which would
have increased rivalries with France and Britain. But the young Kaiser,
William II dismissed Bismarck in March 1890. The Kaiser quickly
alienated Russia and alarmed Britain by encouraging colonial and naval
ambitions so that by 1914 the political map of the world had largely
become the map of the colonial possessions, protectorates, and spheres
of economic influence of the Great Powers which dominated the
international scene.
The Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 indicated that wars were still possible,
but most leaders of the Great Powers felt that they could adjust the
status quo by diplomacy and conferences. Norman Angell in The Great
Illusion (1908) had pointed out the futility of war from an economic
point of view. Nevertheless, the storm clouds kept gathering.
If the leaders of the European Powers were to move from crisis to
crisis leading to war, was there anything that people could do to halt
the irreconcilable aspirations of governments? One hope was that the
socialist-led labour movement would refuse to fight against the working
class of other states. The growth of industry since 1900 had led to
the creation of a labour movement in the most heavily-industrialized
countries: Germany, England, France. Could a link among such
movements prevent war?
On 29 July 1914, the International Socialist Bureau met in Brussels
under a banner “War on War” with socialist leaders from England,
France, Germany, and Belgium. The two best know figures were Keir
Hardie from Britain and Jean Jaurès of France.