One of the most taxing wars in the history of mankind stands to be knows infamously as “The Great War” or World War One, but what things could have caused such a terrible conflict? There were many things that egged the conflict on but here we will be dividing them into a few main topics. First off, we have the larger than life Kaiser Wilhelm the Second who ruled Germany with an iron fist and was beyond aggressive and determined to take Europe as his own. There were also the many military alliances which forced nations to join each other because of the initial conflict because of treaties that bound them together to rush to the aid of their ally at any sign of conflict. And then we had the MAJOR factors of the citizenship of countries ranging …show more content…
An alliance in this sense is a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations, sometimes in agreement of trade and sometimes in agreement of defense from other nations. As you can probably guess, the alliances in question were the ones that agreed to defend their allies. By the year of 1914 most of the major powers in Europe had developed themselves into many different alliances, by which the sole existence of these two opposing alliances meant that war between two nations might mean war between all of them collectively. There are several alliances that start in 1873 with the Three Emperors’ League which was a triple way alliance (but not THE triple alliance) between the rulers of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany. It was the brainchild of Otto von Bismarck who perceived it as a method of securing the balance of power in Europe. There was turmoil in the Balkans which impaired Russia’s commitment to the league, which fell in 1878, the league without Russia would create the foundation of the great Triple Alliance. Then in 1879 the leaders of Germany and Austria-Hungary created a binding military alliance which required each signatory to come to the other’s aid if one were to be attacked by Russia. It was made due to the crumble of the Three Emperor’s League and during a period of tension between …show more content…
First there is imperialism, Imperialism is an organization where a powerful nation controls and exploits one or more colonies. Many times the imperial nation is referred as the “mother country”, an example of this being Britain with its many colonies spread out around the world. Most of the colonies it owns were gained through annexation, war, political pressure, and conquest. The reason why imperialism is so important to the cause of the war is because many European nations, notably Germany, felt like they drew the short stick and wanted more land. The fact that Britain was such an aggressively expanding country made many other countries nervous or even hostile. Second we have militarism which is a philosophy or system that places a great bit of importance on military power. The country who was no doubt the most militaristic was Germany who also headed an arms race throughout the years leading up to the war. Influenced by nationalism and advice from military commanders, European régimes ramped up military spending, buying new weaponry and growing the size of armies and navies. Which obviously is never a good thing if you’re trying to avoid war. Lastly we have nationalism which is an extreme system of patriotism and devotion to one’s country. Nationalists place the welfare of their own country above the interests of other
Such alliances are the very things that laid the foundation for the conflict of World War I because every country had multiple reasons for joining their respective alliance, mainly for revenge, distrust, or
Imperialism was a competitive force that inevitably led to crises among rival nations. Due to severe opposition and competition as well as discontent in colonized regions, imperialism can be considered a major factor leading to World War I. Nationalism has long been a cause of disunity throughout European nations. Nationalism in Germany was especially prominent. With powerful military forces and an industrial outlook, Germany thrived. A sense of national unity was dispersed throughout the empire and gave Germany the assurance it needed to expand.
“War is unorganized murder, and nothing else” (Harry Patch). In World War 1, which was first called the Great War, there were many causes of the war breaking out. The Great War started August 1st 1914 days later after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, when they visited Bosnia. Many soldiers went to war for no reason but to fight for their country. The Great War was not only affected by the soldiers, but also by the civilians as well. Women replaced men in factories, offices, and shops while the men were at war so that everything would be working smoothly. The main underlying causes of World War 1 were the alliances and imperialism in Europe.
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.
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.
Great War, also known as The First World War, lasted for four year (1914 to 1918). It brought a huge development of war technics and weapons. More number of countries had been involved in the Great War than any previous war. It involved the mobilization of the whole nations, not just an enormous army that turned the war into a “total war”. (Clare 6) However, historians are still arguing about the major cause of the World War I. The major cause will be one of the four long-term causes of WWI, which are Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism, and Nationalism. In my opinion, the two major causes would be Alliance and Nationalism. Alliance is an association between two or more countries for mutual benefits that formed with different treaties, while Nationalism is feeling and principles of patriotic.
Another example of alliances is the Triple Alliance. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. This is what historyonthenet.com had to say "Germany and Austria-Hungary made an alliance with Italy to stop them from taking sides with Russia." This tells the reader that some alliances weren't made because they wanted to, they where made for their own protection from other countries. This was a big part of WWI.
Alliances between European nations can also be considered an underlying cause of World War I. As a result of the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, the Triple Entente (understanding) was formed between France, Britain, and Russia. Although France and Britain were natural enemies, their fear of Germany united them together with Russia. These alliances set the final stage for the beginning of World War I. Each country in each alliance would help each other during warfare. For example, if Germany attacked France, Britain and Russia would help France, and Italy and Austria would help Germany, dragging Europe into a state of chaos and violence.
The threat of war between European nations was gradually increasing right up until 1914. Prior to that time, Europe’s main powers were divided into two alliances. Germany, Austria, and Italy made up what was called the “Triple Alliance”; while Britain, Russia, and France were known as the “Triple Entente” (as shown in document 2 which depicts Europe on the eve of WWI and the alliance systems). There was a tacit understanding that if one nation of the alliance entered into a conflict, the other nations would remain loyal to said nation. These existing alliances drew multiple nations into the war. For instance, Germany was brought into the war when it’s ally, Austria-Hungary, declared war on Serbia. Russia was allied with Serbia and France. These alliances
The Great War, also known as World War 1, was one of the deadliest wars that essentially started because of ideologies, small problems that were blown out of proportions because of alliances with other countries which cause catastrophic results worldwide. The United States was part of this conflict, not because of free will, but because none of the European superpowers wanted to respect the fact that the United States was neutral and providing support to both sides of war.
Within Europe, imperialism occurred at the height of industrialization. As European countries were discovering more about the sciences and mass production benefits via industrialization, a demand and competition for more land and produce was developing, and this would create the tension needed to begin the First World War. Germany and Great Britain were two powerful European countries that had been trying to establish control in Africa and Asia, two countries that were not as strong as them, and relatively vulnerable. Due to rebellions of the native people and interferences by each other and other countries, they were not entirely successful. This lack of cooperation between European countries in the attempt to govern and control weaker states so as to use their products for trade caused tension, and finally after it built up to a certain point, war was the only option left.
During the late 19th century many countries sought an alliance with other countries to guarantee their own safety, preserve peace and sometimes to help their economic position. this is highlighted by alliances and treaties such as the "Dual Alliance" of 1879, the "Dreikaiserbund" of 1881 and the "Reinsurance Treaty" This was also the case for both France and Russia, with them agreeing the "Franco-Russian Military Convention" on August 18th 1892 and later agreeing the "Franco-Russian Alliance" in 1893. France and Russia were animated by a common desire to preserve peace. The only reason it was possible for France and Russia to form this alliance is because Germany allowed the Reinsurance treaty to become invalid. Both countries wanted different things from the alliance but there was one common reason between them, and that was to oppose Germany - although both countries had different incentives for this. France, Russia and Germany all contributed to the alliance being formed, either through their aims or what they did.
When countries formed alliances with each other it gave them protection, if a country was threatened or under attack then the alliance would come to that country’s aid. Countries made an alliance when they both needed protection from a stronger country. When Austria-Hungary had heard about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, they went to war with Serbia.... ... middle of paper ...
The alliance system ideated by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck kept peace in Europe but its main aim was, however, to forestall the possibility that, in the event of war, Germany would have to fight it on two fronts (basically France and Russia). This was achieved by diplomatically isolating France so that its dream of recapturing its lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine couldn't be fulfilled. This was done by, firstly, the creation of the League of the Three Emperors or Dreikaiserbund. It was first projected as a meeting of the monarchs of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia in 1872 and confirmed the following year, the 22nd of October 1873. Here, the very general and formless agreement was given a more solid form by military agreements promising to help any country attacked by a fourth party. And all this even though that there was mutual rivalry between Russia and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans. This proved to be a concrete way to isolate France for as E. Eyck mentions, "the League ensured that neither Austria-Hungary nor Russia was available as an ally for France". At this point, Bismarck didn't consider Britain as a potential French ally as they had a long history of rivalry. Secondly, in 1887 the Reinsurance Treaty was signed with Russia in which it promised to support Russia's claims to the strait and to remain neutral in the event of war unless it attacked Austria-Hungary, the same with Russia, who promised to remain neutral unless it attacked France.
Alliances played a hefty role in the inevitability of World War One. Countries were constantly at each other’s necks and needed power in order to protect themselves from each other. This is where alliances came in; countries could seek shelter from others by developing truces with close friends. Having a truce was beneficial in most ways because it provided the illusion of being a bigger power, and offered one extra support in case of a crippling event. Then again they did also create tensions between the countries that could only escalate further. For example, in the year 1879 there was a dual alliance created between Germany and Austria-Hungry. This alliance was created to protect them from Russia, who ...