As the final days of World War One slowly drudged through the month of November, a war torn Europe left separated and waiting to be picked up and pasted back together. An astonishing number of thirty-eight million dead between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers during a war that took over four years to come to an end. The main players during 1914 - 1918 were Britain and Germany, however this rivalry did not begin simply because of World War One and all the logistics of those four years. This essay is not to address the events of World War One, but to however explain what caused them. The lead up to the world’s first “World War” is a story of Europe’s heavyweight title fight, in one corner the English, boasting a huge naval fleet and looking to be the face of Europe. In the other corner, Germany, led by Kaiser Wilhelm II was fueled and willing to go at whatever cost necessary to back up their Triple Alliance member Austria-Hungary. This was not the first time the English and Germans had become involved with one another. England’s first diplomatic relations with Germany began with an alliance between Ethelberht of Kent and Charibert I. These marriages between the two countries were sporadic, however this is where relations began. Enlgand had been on top of Europe for quite sometime, “Since the end of the Napoleonic wars England has been the dominant nation of the world, and that her participation in the Great War will probably be the decisive factor in its length, if not in its termination” Page 12 bernadotte The question Germany and many other nations began to ask themselves was: “Why should so commanding a position belong to a couple of islands whose population was less than that of France (until a few years ago), Germany,... ... middle of paper ... ...nch in the match up of 1914. A rematch would be soon to follow with WWII, but at this time England was walking away from Europe’s “Thrilla in Manila” as the retaining champion and Germany had left embarrassed and once again overshadowed by that of the English. A rivalry can’t be made over night, however it can be proven within seconds. Works Cited Berghahn, Volker R.. Germany and the approach of war in 1914. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1973. Bernhardi, Friedrich von, and Allen H. Powles. Germany and the next war. Authorized ed. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1914. Bucholz, Arden. Moltke and the German wars, 1864-1871. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001. Hall, Richard C.. The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913 prelude to the First World War. London: Routledge, 2000. Schmitt, Bernadotte Everly. England and Germany, 1740-1914. New York: H. Fertig, 1967.
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.
Sister Claire Evelyn Trestrail was the eldest of five being born on the 10th of December, 1877 in Clare, South Australia. Trestrail served in the First World War as a nurse following in her mother’s footsteps who was a trained nurse, Acting Matron of King Edward Hospital in Perth and also had involvement within the Red Cross and the Saint John’s Ambulance Services. Trestrail’s younger siblings also had involvement within the First World War with her two younger brothers; John Henry and Amarald Glen, serving in the royal Flying Corps and respectively, 1 Machine Battalion. Amarald was also presented with a Military Medal for Gallantry at Villaret. Sister Ella also served as a nurse, got married, but tragically returned as an amputee. It was only her youngest sister Amy who did not serve during the war.
Bard, Mitchell G. The Complete Idiot's Guide to world War II, Macmillan Publishing, New York, New York, 1999
Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: a History of Nazi Germany. New York:
LeCain, Timothy J. "Lecture 3: Roots of WW III", Montana State University, Bozeman, 12 and 14 September 2006.
However, when confronted with a strict policy of appeasement, by both the French and the English, the stage was set for a second World War. Taylor constructs a powerful and effective argument by expelling certain dogmas that painted Hitler as a madman, and by evaluating historical events as a body of actions and reactions, disagreeing with the common idea that the Axis had a specific program from the start. The book begins with the conclusion of the First World War, by exploring the idea that critical mistakes made then made a second war likely, yet not inevitable. Taylor points out that although Germany was defeated on the Western front, “Russia fell out of Europe and ceased to exist, for the time being, as a Great Power. The constellation of Europe was profoundly changed—and to Germany’s advantage.”
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?
Zink, Harold. (1957) The United States in Germany, 1944-1955 [online]. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand [cited 12th September 2011]. Available from:
Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany. 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print.
World War 1 World War 1 was called “The Great War”, “The war to end all wars”, and “The first modern war”. It has many causes and a few repercussions and I will describe them in detail. The most widely known reason for the start of World War 1 was the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in the Serbian capital of Sarajevo. The ArchDuke was there to talk to the Serbian leaders about peace on the Balkan Peninsula. After a Serbian was arrested for the assassination, Austria-Hungary pulled out of the peace talks and declared war on Serbia.
Stroebel, Jeffrey T. World War II. Part I: Between the Wars. The Sycamore School, 1995. Revised 1998.
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.
Because the leaders and commanders of WWI forever changed the nature of war, it influenced the later Nazi leaders decisions, and forced the next set of Allies to adapt to an entirely new concept of total war as i...
The importance of the alliance system that developed in Europe in the decades before World War I as a cause for it is still an important topic of debate and argument between modern historians. Some argue that the alliance system was a direct cause of the outbreak of war between all major countries in Europe while other historians prefer to state that the alliance configuration we observe before the war started was simply a symptom of the conflicts and disagreements, fears and envies that had been accumulating since the Bismarck system of alliances collapsed, and even before then. This last opinion is becoming more accepted as the one that describes the true importance of the actual alliance system as a cause of the war. In order to determine the importance of the alliance system as a cause for the war we must first explore the origins of these alliances. We will take high-point of the Bismarck system in 1878 as our starting point as the Franco-Prussian war is a key factor for the development of this system.
Stokesbury, James L. A Short History of World War I. New York: Morrow, 1981. Print.