Causes of World War I
The Balkan Peninsula has long been known as the “tinderbox of Europe” because it has been an area of conflict and political unrest for centuries. The countries and people that occupy the peninsula are constantly in chaos and at war with each other. This trend continues today with the problems in Bosnia and the recent international crisis in Kosovo. Throughout history, small local incidents in the Balkan Peninsula have escalated into large international crises. World War I is a perfect example of what started as a regional conflict and grew into an all-out European war. A small local European struggle between Austria-Hungary and Serbia over the territory of Bosnia erupted into a full-blown worldwide conflict after the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.
However, in addition to the struggle over Bosnia, there were several underlying causes of World War I sweeping across Europe on the eve of World War I which contributed to the start of the war. These conflicts had plagued Europe for years and made a large-scale European war unavoidable. Although the direct cause of World War I was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, long term causes such as the political instability of Europe, rivalries and alliances between countries, and the conflict between large empires and nationalism brought Europe into a situation in which a large-scale war was inevitable. By 1914, these factors made the major European powers on the verge of war and a small spark in the “tinderbox of Europe” was all that was necessary to cause World War I.
In 1815, the Congress of Vienna set forth a political plan for Europe which would create stability among the European nations after Napoleon suffered defeat (Ross 74). ...
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...“tinderbox of Europe” and just as it was in 1914, it is a center of political unrest and conflict. Nations today should be cautious not to “slither” into war as Europe did at the turn of the century to ensure that a crisis, such as the recent Kosovo issue, does not set off another World War.
Bibliography:
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Ross, Stewart. Causes And Consequences Of World War I. Hong Kong: Steck-Vaughn Company, 1998.
Accurately titled The Long Fuse, this memoir, by Laurence Lafore, describes the lengthy chain of events that led to the First World War. He begins his work by thrusting the reader in the midst of 1870 Europe and her hopeful situation. Nations were developing nationalism at every turn and were vying for a better world. The Second Industrial Revolution was in full swing and was changing how the world, and war, operated. Education and literacy were taking root in average lives and, in turn, the idea of Liberty took off. Thus the foundation for greatness was set. If Europe was destined for greatness, then how did it end up in total war?
details the causes of the first World war and describes the first month of the war. The book clearly illustrates how a local war became an entire European struggle by a call to war against Russia. Soon after the war became a world issue.
War is what keeps a nation from dying, it is the backbone of a country. This is the shown throughout the course of World War I, also known as “the war to end all wars.” World War I started in the summer of 1914. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, from the Austro – Hungarian Empire was visiting Bosnia. He was shot, along with his wife, Sofia, by a young man from the Black Hand, Gavrillo Princip. What were the three main factors that started World War I? There were three main underlying causes that started World War I: greed, nationalism, and militarism.
Yancey, C. Arthur, and 2001. "World War One - The War To End All Wars." Tripod. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. .
Bard, Mitchell G. The Complete Idiot's Guide to world War II, Macmillan Publishing, New York, New York, 1999
It may seem like wars start abruptly, with little cause, but usually there is a bigger story. New policies, lack of equality, military influence, and too much government involvement usually stir up the peace initially. These turn the country or area into a ‘powder keg’, ready to explode into war at the smallest spark. Although the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand was the spark of World War I, policies at the time like nationalism and militarism were the underlying causes of the war.
Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha reflects 3 different phases of World War 1: the before, the during, and the aftermath.
Campbell, John, ed. The Experience of World War II. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.
Thoumin, Richard, General. The First World War: A major New History of the Wreat of
There were many immediate and underlying or fundamental causes of World War I. The difference between an underlying and immediate cause is that an underlying cause develops over a long period of time and indirectly leads to a specific event, and an immediate cause is a specific short-term event that directly leads to another event or series of events. While the immediate cause of World War I was the assassination of Francis Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria, by a Serbian member of the Black Hand secret society, there were various basic causes of the war. Three of them were nationalism, alliances between European powers, and militarism. Nationalism is a devotion and loyalty to one’s own nation, with a primary emphasis on furthering its interests as opposed to those of other countries.
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
The Origins of the Second World War, by A.J.P. Taylor, proposes and investigates unconventional and widely unaccepted theories as to the underlying causes of World War Two. Taylor is British historian who specialized in 20th century diplomacy, and in his book claims that as a historian his job is to “state the truth” (pg. xi) as he sees it, even if it means disagreeing with existing prejudices. The book was published in 1961, a relatively short time after the war, and as a result of his extreme unbias the work became subject to controversy for many years.
I think that the First World War was the product of long-standing rivalries rather than a badly mismanaged Balkan Crisis because it was these rivalries that led to the Balkan Crisis. The Balkan Crisis may appear mismanaged because previous crises such as those in Morocco in 1905 and 1911 did not result in war.
Stroebel, Jeffrey T. World War II. Part I: Between the Wars. The Sycamore School, 1995. Revised 1998.
Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. "1989." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1874-1880. World History in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.