Keegan's Opinion On The Cause Of World War One

498 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Political and economic effects of World War 1

As I reflect back on the readings of Keegan, Herwig, Fromkin, and Ferguson on why World War One started, I see many differences between some of the author's’ main theses. Although there are many differences between them all, I believe that each author has a very valid argument to some extent on why the war was started. I’d like to first talk about Keegan and his view that war in Europe was inevitable. I agree with him when he states that Europe failed at diplomatic diplomacy and were not united as a whole, this was a result of many different European countries having different bodies of government. It is very hard to have a united nation when each country could not agree on a single governing body. I strongly disagree with Keegan’s belief that war was inevitable. Keegan claims that war was inevitable because of nationalism, militarism, and imperialism, and that no one country can be blamed because they all took steps towards preparing for war. I agree that all those “isms” factor into tension building up, but I have a hard time believing that those rising tensions brought every European nation to war. I think you have to place the blame on one country, which I believe is Germany and their fear of falling to a second national …show more content…

Although I truly believe Germany is the one country to blame for the cause of WWI, Herwig does make valid arguments for why each country is at blame to some extent. I say this because I think that if Austria never invaded Serbia, which caused Germany and Russia to become involved then we would have never seen this specific war. I am not saying that there would never be a world war because I think that eventually some country would start a conflict with another, but if Germany had never supported Austria in invading Serbia then we would have a much different

Show More
Related

  • How Did Imperialism Lead To The Outbreak Of Ww1

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    All causes of the Great War calling and bickering to be the main cause yet it was the combination of the main causes that made the war even possible; the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand with it’s nationalistic origins, then the alliances that created a larger web of support, and lastly imperialism that had created the passion of revenge, militarism, and nationalism. Though looking back many may not believe that the four years of trench warfare was not the most brilliant war in history, but they do have to agree that the causes are the most important aspects of the war in its entirety. For if people see why terrible events happen then they can prevent the future from new world wars that could’ve been solved without the need of war.

    Read More

  • A Summary of Barbara W. Tuchman's The Guns of August

    2805 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • World War 1 Dbq Essay

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first underlying cause of WWI was greed. People always want more than what they have. The countries from the Triple Alliance wanted more land, power, or wealth than what they owned. Germany despised Great Britain at the time, because of the number of colonies they had. In Document --, a German cartoonist drew a propaganda poster, claiming "England is the bloodsucker of the world". This appears that Germany is very fearful of England taking control of the world. It also shows that Germany aspires to be as large of a country of Great Britain. Also, in document 16, in the spring of 1914, before the war started,

    Read More

  • The origins of World War One

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    The origins of World War One The Fritz Fisher thesis Fritz Fisher focuses on the Kaiser, Gottlieb von Jagow, Bethmann Hollweg and Helmut von Moltke. These four were the German leading figures at that time; Fischer is convinced that these people were responsible for the outbreak of World War One. Fischer’s three main claims were: 1.     Germany was prepared to launch the First World War in order to become a great power. 2.     Germany encouraged Austria-Hungary to start a war with Serbia, and continued to do so, even when it seemed clear that such a war could not be localized.

    Read More

  • The Role of National Interest in World War I

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    World War One was greatly influenced by many factors, and in many ways. National interest ignited the mistrust and insecurities within nations, which in turn led to the creation of strong alliances and immense military forces. The growing suspicion Britain had of Germany only heightened the wariness and uncertainty of nations. The means, by which individual nations dealt with the issues within themselves, and outside of their boundaries, in the years preceding World War One, were irrational and improperly thought through. Nations fell into a strong ultra nationalistic point of view, and acted in a way which expressed interest in themselves only.

    Read More

  • How Did The Versailles Treaty Help The World War II?

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    World War II was not only started by Adolf Hitler and Germany, but had a lot to do with the humiliation that Germany felt when the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were laid down. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles may be indirectly related to the cause of World War II, but nonetheless was a huge factor in starting the war.

    Read More

  • Causes Of World War I 3

    486 Words  | 1 Pages

    Militarism was also an underlying cause of World War I. As the alliance system divided Europe into opposing groups, each nation began to increase spending on its military. This set a belligerent mood in Europe as each nation was prepared to fight a war. A German officer once said "in time of peace, prepare for war," and that is exactly what European nations did, eventually leading to the Great War.

    Read More

  • The Causes of World War One, Austro-Hungary

    1607 Words  | 4 Pages

    World War One was a war that could have been prevented. If all the European powers were to simply act to comply with one another many lives could have been saved and deaths that should have not occurred. A battle mostly between Austro-Hungary and Germany against Serbia, Russia, France, and England, at what cause was some many lives sacrificed for, none, just selfish governments looking to expand their empire. The main perpetrator of World War One was none other than Austro-Hungary. The reasons being for Austro-Hungary to cause the war was that they were the ones to place the ultimatum on Serbia that would lead to declare war and bring in all other countries to fight. Austro-Hungary brought in Germany; beforehand they had a treaty with Germany, the one who was thought to cause the war and why others came into war.

    Read More

  • The Outbreak Of The First World War

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Russia to stop mobilize led to a general European war. James Joll attributes the outbreak of the war to disastrous decision made by politicians in the July crisis in 1914. Niall Ferguson states that Germany is not to blame because there is evidence that the social democrat party influenced the German Kaiser so much that he abandoned his expansionist aims. Ferguson sees UK as the country that contributed to the war the most as Sir Edward Grey completely misinterpreted ambitions and decided to go into the war to stop German expansionism.

    Read More

  • The Underlying Cause Of World War I

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    The underlying cause of World War I was the build up of Nationalism, Imperialism, and Militarism in the 1800s. The “three isms” caused this great war due to the outcry in which they caused within the countries and their citizens including military build up, severe nationalism, patriotism, and extending a country 's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

    Read More

  • What Are The Causes Of World War 1 Essay

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    The assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Austrian Archduke, is often cited as the direct cause of WWI. While it was a significant catalyst to the war, the circumstances surrounding WWI were actually more complicated. The first great world war was caused by a variety of factors including: tensions between countries due to a threatening system of alliances, stockpiling of weaponry, and nationalism.

    Read More

  • Germany Wasn´t the Sole Cause of World War One

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first global world war that led to the death of millions of people and the use of excessive chemical weapons, tanks, and machine guns that the world has ever witnessed is accused by Germany’s violent actions and their extreme ideologies, but some others argue Germany was not the sole cause of the war. In an attempt to dominate the world, Germany enforced their extreme ideologies to the rest of Europe. Many scholars believe that Germany fueled World War 1 because Germany believed that they should conquer the weak. Some people believe that Germany was the sole cause of World War because their extreme ideologies led them to declare war on other countries. Although Germany deliberately supported Austria to go to war with Serbia, supported the idea of Nationalism, and signed secret treaties, Russia also supported Serbia and signed secret treaties. Thus, Germany wasn’t the sole motive of World War 1.

    Read More

  • Long and Short Term Causes of WWI

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were several long-term events that led to the outbreak of World War One. The most prominent factors include: nationalism, militarism, imperialism, the Balkan and Morocco crises, and the alliance system. Ironically, these things were either started in response to, or upheld because of, one of the other factors. The alliance system was one of the last factors to emerge before the war. Consequentially, the contributions of this system to the beginning of the Great War have to be considered. Although the alliance system was a main cause of the First World War, it arose because of several other factors, and did not cause the war single handedly.

    Read More

  • Who To Blame for the World War II

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    Who To Blame for the World War II World War II began on the 3rd September when Britain and France declared war on Germany after they had invaded Poland. Ever since the end of WWI Europe had been divided into different camps. The ideas of peace during the 1920s and 30s had been designed to eliminate the gaps between the camps. Unfortunately, this never worked and so Europe was still divided into two main camps when war was declared. Britain and France in Western Europe were the leaders of one camp.

    Read More

  • Why Was World War I Inevitable?

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Europe has seen many wars over its vast and broad history, some of which being quite immense and destructive. One such war would undoubtedly be World War One. A war powered by the brainwashing ways of militarism and the stubborn pride of nationalism. Once engaged in a war a country’s militarism will produce fine soldier ready to drop like dominos on the battlefield, while the nationalism works as fuel providing the naive determination to fight the war. This naïve determination and soldier production is why World War One, like every other war, continued with such persistency. But what started World War One? Was it militarism that trained young men since they were kids to become soldiers, nationalism propelling a nations pride forward or was it neither? While both of those aspects could be potential reasons their still not the main pillars of cause. The true reason’s that made World War One inevitable were the intimidating alliances, avaricious imperialism, and tedious tensions.

    Read More

More about Keegan's Opinion On The Cause Of World War One

Open Document