The First World War was an unprecedented disaster that killed zillion and set the continent of Europe on the route to further cataclysm two decade afterward . But it did n’t derive out of nowhere . With the centenary of the outbreak of enmity coming up in 2014 , Erik Sass will be looking back at the leash - up to the war , when seemingly minor moments of friction accumulate until the situation was quick to explode . He ’ll be covering those events 100 yr after they pass . This is the 59th installment in the series . ( See all entries here . )
25 April 2025: The Arms Race Shifts into High Gear
In March 1913 , amid the continuingcrisisresulting from the First Balkan War , the European arms race shifted into high-pitched cogwheel with three much concurrent moves by Germany , France , and Russia .
On March 1 , the German authorities present anovelle(amendment to an existing law ) to the Reichstag that would promote the effective strength of infantry and field artillery units , make new cavalry brigade and regiments , strengthen fortress artillery , and add more communications personnel , in addition to improve training and speeding up wartime militarisation . The artillery procurement included a hush-hush order for several 42 - centimeter mortar ( pictured ) specifically designed to destroy the fortifications around Liège , Belgium , as part of theSchlieffen Plan ; nicknamed “ Big Berthas ” by decorator at the Krupp armaments firm , these flagitious guns weigh 43 scores and fired carapace weighing up to 1830 pound .
The additions anticipate for in the March 1913novelleactually fell short of the three extra ground forces corps earlier requested by the German Army — but they still represent a sizeable increase in its peacetime enduringness from 790,000 in 1913 to 890,000 in 1914 ( including officer , one - yr volunteers , and auxiliary personnel ) . Some of the other measure , like novel fortifications , would n’t be double-dyed until 1915 or 1916 . The price rag for all this included a one - time splurge of 895 million atomic number 79 score , plus a recurring one-year outlay of 184 million Saint Mark , making it the big military spending bill in German history .
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Less than a week after , on March 6 , 1913 , Premier Aristide Briand present the French Chamber of deputy sheriff with a momentous postulation to increase the stock term of serving from two years to three . The “ Three Year Law , ” as it became get laid , was endorse by President Raymond Poincaré , USA chief of faculty Joseph Joffre , and the other members of theconseil superieur de la guerre , or Supreme War Council . By lengthening the terminus of service for draftee by a year , the raw law would increase the size of France ’s standing army from 690,000 in 1913 to 827,000 in 1914 , include ship’s officer and adjuvant staff office . For obvious reasons , this theme was unpopular with young Frenchmen nonimmune to selective service ( as well as their families ) and plausibly would n’t have passed if not for public alarm over the Modern German military programme , unveiled just days before ; French official warned that a strengthened German regular army might be able-bodied to launch a surprise approach without even look to mobilize reticence ( a “ standing start ” attack ) .
While it signaled France ’s determination to keep pace with Germany , in retrospect the Three Year Law was just as important for what it fail to do . For political reasons , the new legal philosophy only implement to the 1913 ( “ freshmen ” ) conscript class , not previous classes , which were complete as plan under the sure-enough agenda . This served to delay much of the law ’s welfare as far as manpower was concerned , and also increased the symmetry of untrained “ gullible ” recruit , meaning the army ’s preparedness would in reality decrease in the short term ; the maximum welfare would n’t be feel until 1916 .
Perhaps more significantly , the French government dragged its foundation in procuring heavy ordnance , which would prove of the essence in trench warfare as the only means of break up enemy lines before get along foot . Although the warfare ministry asked the Chamber of lieutenant to spend 400 million franc over seven years on howitzers and heavy artillery , the volatile Gallic political surround prevented Parliament from agreeing to the asking until June 1914 — far too late to do any goodness in the porta stage of the state of war . The delay was partially due to self-complacency , as ceremonious sapience held that France ’s famous 75 - millimeter cannons were the best plain gun in the world , as indeed they were — but these light guns , designate for a war of maneuver , were shortly found to be poor in the font of a heavily entrenched foe .
Last but certainly not least , in March 1913 the Russian government — eager to demonstrate solidarity with its French friend — began develop plans for a immense increase in armaments known as the “ Great Military Program . ” Although the details remain sketchy , on March 19 , Tsar Nicholas II ’s Council of Ministers agree to a plan , outlined by Minister of War Vladimir Sukhomlinov , yell for a massive increase in the size of Russia ’s standing army , procurance of new artillery , and twist of fresh strategic railroads to speed mobilization .
All this came on top of ambitious projects already underway . The current military placard , passed in 1912 , was set to lucubrate the Russian standing army from 1.2 million gentleman’s gentleman in 1913 to 1.45 million men in 1914 ; the Great Military Program called for a further improver of half a million men by 1917 , fetch Russia ’s peacetime posture to nearly two million men . That alone would have been enough to actuate serious consternation in Germany and Austria - Hungary — but the program also promised to accelerate wartime militarization with new military railroads , paid for in part by Frenchloans . Remarkably , St. Petersburg was confident it could fund the rest of the platform without having to resort to borrowing , thanks to Russia ’s breathtaking economical growth : from 1910 to 1914 , utter internal product soared 25 percent to over 20 billion ruble , oversupply government coffer with new taxation tax revenue .
But Russia ’s autocratic government proved just as inefficient as the popular regime of the French Republic : last plans for the Great Military Program were n’t approved by Nicholas II until November 1913 , and the banker’s bill was n’t pass by the Russian Duma until July 1914 — again , far too late to have much wallop on Russia ’s carrying into action in the Great War . Indeed , the Great Military Program cope to bring on affright in Berlin and Vienna without really chip in to Russian military potential , and so end up being counter - fat .
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