The First World War, Realism And Classical Marxism

The First World War involved many countries and lasted for several years, except, it could not be singled out by one event, however, it was triggered by numerous issues ranging from economic, political, military, and historical events. Although, the First World War can be seen as a global conflict, the two International Relation theories, Realism and Classical Marxism highlights some of the significant factors that led to the causes of the First World War and indicating the effects it bought on the various countries involved.

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in June 28, 1914, by a Serbian nationalist, was the start of a horrific conflict. Following his assassination, many countries, including Austria-Hungary felt that revenge on Serbia

The importance of having a balance of power keeps a system in order and guarantees the most security within those countries. The argument of multipolarity of the states being less diplomatic than a state that is bipolar becomes an important cause of the First World War because it leads to more conflict and problems concerning alliances, the balance of power, and the failure of deterrence. For example, according to the reading in International Relations Theories by Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, they offer evidence on how multipolarity is less peaceful and a susceptible to war. It states, “But, in multipolarity, states cannot afford to be overly concerned with any one of their neighbours. They have to spread around their attention to all the great powers. Plus, the many interactions among the various states in a multipolar system create numerous cross-cutting cleavages that mitigate conflict.” (59). This is a prime example of how multipolarity was a factor in the First World war since it was only focused on not one but several other great powers, it became difficult to balance power and

This problem caused so much controversy because each country was competing to gain as much capital as possible, but there was a divide between the countries and the system. For example, in the reading by Dunne, Kurki and Smith they offer evidence on how the Marxist believe that capitalism caused the rivalry between capitalist countries since they are fighting for a better economy. It says, “ In a finite world where much of the globe had already been colonized by one or another of the great imperialist powers, ‘interimperialist rivalry’ was seen as an overwhelmingly likely source of conflict, and the First World War would have appeared as confirmation of this.” (134). This “rivalry” affected the First World War because all of the states are fighting to gain one thing, capital and the majority of those states are lacking a structured economy, therefore, they are going to compete.

In the end, the First World War was generated by many causes that led to several issues between the different countries that were involved. Realism and Marxism provided evidence that further explained the causes of the First World War and why things were the way they were. The First World War can