In Flanders Fields Dbq Essay

Blood, bodies, and bullets had littered trenches, making the land unusable for years to come. Eight million men never made it home to see their families, their souls rest where they have passed, the men’s dreams of freedom from a seemingly never ending war die along with them. Poppies bloom there in memorial, inspired by one of the first World War 1 poems, “In Flanders Field”. The poppy has become the iconic remembrance of the fallen men. The Great War had taken a toll on the environment, the French countryside left in ruins, miles and miles of holes dug in the ground left without intent to repair. Bodies left to rot, the men stuck in an eternal slumber. What was the cause of World War 1? Why did so many nations get involved, though original

intent to stay neutral? The answer being the alliance system, an underlying cause of The Great War. It is an agreement between two or more nations to become “friends” and help each other out during times of war and downfall. Examples of allies would be America, France, and Great Britain, the group being allies for generations.

Document A, “European Alliances”, supports the idea of the alliance systems because it shows the Triple Entente, that consisting of France, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

The map also shows the Triple Alliance, that being of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Italian country switches teams in 1915, after getting a major beating, begging for mercy. Italy had waited and saw how the war played out, on April 26th, 1915 they joined the Triple Entente, harming Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Triple Alliance and Triple Entente show obvious signs of alliance, one of the names even had the word “alliance” in it! Germany had declared war on Russia, then France. As the war progressed, other countries took sides and declared war. Finally the United States entered the war against Germany on April 6, 1917. Countries were taking sides with one another, forming their alliances as quickly as they joined, jumping to help aide one another. 32 countries were involved in the war, which is not that many considering there are 195 countries in the whole

world.

This World War 1 political cartoon portrays many major European countries involved, all pointing fingers at each other, they are all placed in the foreground of this image.

Each of the countries are represented by people, seemingly, pointing at the country they thought was most responsible for the war. Looking further into the image most of the countries have their fingers pointed towards Germany, who was thought to be the main cause of war. The allies prove this thought when they force Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles and pay unnecessary taxes. In the background there is an enlarged hand pointing to an assumed collapsing building, with a fallen banner reading “The Peace of Europe”. This could be assumed that some views of the ”murder” of the peace of Europe was what caused the war. Looking at Italy, who stood alone, shows how it stayed neutral for as long as possible, with no one blaming it. The crime of the ages would be the assassination of the Austria-Hungary leader, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbians had assassinated him and his wife, which triggered Austria-Hungary into attack modem as well as Germany and many, many other countries. There were spider webs of connections, tying all the countries together, this is shown through the finger pointing, indicating that multiple countries were at fault. Countries that didn’t blame each other formed

alliances.

The document D was a speech given by Bülow. The address was about the urgent need to colonize, like the British, Russians, and the French. If they colonized lesser countries they’d (the Germans) would have a greater destiny. It was a persuasion that colonizing would be cute to improvement of the country. In my opinion this speech was also making mention how other European countries were grouping themselves together in alliance. When researching this topic online I have found a complete speech. The man would hypothetically make mention to the fact that Britain was grouping itself with others and that German should follow and do the same. Bülow had tried his best to persuade the Reich into colonization. “Hammer and Anvil” what is the speech given in 1899, before the turning point for Germany. The man assume we made small talk about the alliance. In summary the deliverance had mostly been about colonization, with a few unnoticeable comments of alliances, in my opinion.

In conclusion the alliance system had been a leading an underlying cause of war. Many countries have been brought into war because of their “friendship” with other countries, such as America’s alliance with France and Britain. World War 1 was, almost, solely based on alliances, proven by certain documents, such as document A, B, and D. Countries for side-by-side, together through war, something neutral though. Alliances would stay hand-in-hand for a long time, occasionally new countries would join said alliance, becoming friends