The factors that motivated the creation of alliances between European powers, in the decades before the First World War began, included the need to secure Europe’s national and imperial interests, to protect themselves, and to increase their military and diplomatic power. Many factors worked to limit such ties, three of them were the Hague Conventions and literature by Baroness Bertha von Suttner and H.G. Wells. We will take a deeper look into the years before World War I, reasons for alliances, and the factors against them. The creation of alliances successfully influenced new Imperialism and Nationalism began to sweep across Europe. Nationalism was caused by all European people wanting separate countries and wanted it to excel over others. …show more content…
Our most notable example of this is “Lay Down Your Arms” by Baroness Bertha von Suttner. As an author, she fought half of her life conducting campaigns for peace. Her fictionalized account of her life tells the story of a wife and mother living through the wars of the nineteenth century and criticizes war’s glory and necessity (Holmes, Lay Down Your Arms, 46). Suttner successfully illustrated the pain she experienced from her husband's death during the Franco-Prussian War. Lastly, Suttner won the Noble Peace Prize in 1905, strongly persuading the people against war and …show more content…
Wells who wrote: “The War in the Air” in 1908. He used his writing to show society the vast devastation that new technologies would create in war. H.G. Wells illustrated the picture of consequences of warfare, especially social collapse. Some Europeans were hoping to avert future war or at least make its conditions more human, innovations in technology led others to speculate on what a future international conflict might bring (Wells, The War in the Air, 47). Wells envisioned social disorganization caused by war, the ineffectiveness of early airships against each other, and enormously destructive. When World War I broke out six years after Wells writing, it was similar to his foretelling. Though, destruction by aerial attacks had been less than he had
Lines of Fire. Women Writers of World War I, edited by Margaret Higonnet (New York, 1999): Gadarinee Dadourian, ‘A Mother’s Deportation’, pp.280-1.
Nationalistic ideas made European countries want to take action in the colonization of Africa. In Document B, the English John Ruskin says, “…seizing every piece of fruitful waste ground she can set her foot on, and there teaching these her colonists … that their first aim is to be to advance the power of England by land and by sea.” This quote shows how the Europeans were proud of their countries and wanted to spread their territories in order to be the best. It can be seen in Document A how the Europeans had already colonized a lot of Africa by the 20th century, with seven countries holding territories by 1914. The idea of nationalism helped push European countries into colonizing Africa, which led to more land for resources and ultimately helped Europe economically.
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 destroyed relations with international colonies, and increased tension among each nation. (Document 5.) European countries desired overseas expansion and strived to obtain markets for consumer goods. However, these expansions interfered with the rights of overseas citizens, and caused a series of conflicts to prevail. While colonial inhabitants were politically, economically, and socially unstable, imperialist forces competed for leadership. Competition among European nations divided the regions. War was on the horizon for countries like Germany and France who sought after the same region, Morocco. Similarly, both Britain and France desired the territory of Sudan, while Russia and Austria-Hungary battled for the Balkans, evidently intensifying rivalries, and possibly leading to war. Imperialism was a competitive force that inevitably led to crises among rivaling 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
Firstly, in the years leading up to 1914, and the thrust of war wrought about by Gavrilo Princip, the world and its greatest powers were engaged in a substantial build up of their militaries. Indeed, the national consciousness of each individual country, more so for some than for others, had marched, foot in foot and time in time, with the development of the military. It was,indeed, in this feeling of military consciousness that an arms race was engaged between the great powers to be, especially between the English and the Germans. Assuredly, this Anglo-German build-up had derived itself from other causes as well, namely the anger of the Germans by the lack of overseas colonies (in fact, this contempt of colonies led to one the greatest ironies of the war: the build up of a substantial navy, on both sides, for a war th...
Imperialism in America At the turn of the century, America and the views of its people changed. Many different ideas were surfacing about issues that affected the country as a whole. The Republican Party, led by William McKinley, was concentrating on the expansion of the United States and looking to excel in power and commerce. The Democratic Party at this time was led by William Jennings Bryan, who was absorbed in a sponge of morality and was concerned with the rights of man.
...d conflict. The alliances among European countries were an imminent cause of World War One, because of the lack of trust between unallied nations and the ultra nationalistic view that one country was prominent over another.
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. Without a doubt, the one underlying cause of the three described above that was most responsible for World War I was the system of alliances.
Imperialism was one of the four contributing factors to the cause of World War One, along with secret alliances, militarism, and nationalism. It is the most important cause of WW1, because it created a build-up of tension in Europe and outside of Europe, and through imperialism, the three other causes were able to affect the beginnings of the war. Imperialism is defined as the governing of one people by another country, which was a recurring dilemma prior to WW1 due to the industrialist movement. Although not all events that fall into the imperialistic category were about controlling another country, they contributed to the war, and imperialistic events were the foundation of the cause of WW1.
There were two different time periods where Imperialism occurred. The first wave of imperialism, called the 'Old' Imperialism, lasted from around 1500 - 1800. The 'New' Imperialism lasted from around 1870 - 1914. The three main differences that we will discuss today are the differences in economics, politics, and the motive behind all of this.
Meanwhile, the dominate European states formed alliances based on ideological principles, such as the Holy Alliance of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. These states joined because of their shared rel...
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 ...
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.
The Alliances not only contributed to war breaking out; it made the war last longer and become on a much larger scale; major political disputes would inevitably cause a large conflict. The alliances caused suspicion, fear, and tension among nations. The two camps were the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary). 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 which resulted in a chain reaction of countries going to war with one another, and when countries teamed up to support their attacked friends when war came, it meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. The division of...
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.