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world war 1 causes
causes of the world war one
causes of the world war 1
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The Inevitable War World war I was a war of tragic loss between the dead, the wounded, and the missing. The war was between the allied forces, (France, Britain, United States, Russia) and the central powers, (Ottoman empire, Austria-Hungary, and Germany). Many people when learning about World War I in class or in books don’t see or understand the conglomeration of events that attributed to the start of this war. There was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Increase in imperialism, nationalism, the arms race, and many more factors from years before 1914 that led to the break out of WWI. In many cases the world was growing and countries were becoming greedy and power hungry, There were no “main reasons for the war. Rather a number …show more content…
A great example of this would be to use America, as sad as it is America is a very selfish country in a whole where the citizens always criticize other countries or individuals for not speaking “American”. John Hamilton put it as simply as, the rise of nationalism led to each country wanted “more status for itself”. This intertwined with imperialism where to get more status the countries would have to get more territory, trade and …show more content…
A great example of the money and resources put into military spending would be that of Germanys’ Schlieffen plan, where they increased their military spending by an unimaginable 73% (Shen p8). A large portion of money went into the countries navies. The allied forces navy greatly outweighed that of the central forces (literally) by almost two million tons. Mainly counting the large war ships they called the dreadnoughts did the count. The outcome of the vast number of ships and people being brought into the armies as what started as defense could in turn be looked at as someone putting together a force that large to start an incursion into enemy lines for war (Hall p335). Either way whether the armies and navies were being put together for defense or war, its inevitable that the outcome would be peaceful. On top of the topics and events discussed in the previous sections a well-known event in the domino effect of World War I would no doubt be the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This is one of the events that people related to being the “main cause” of the war, however that is not the case. This event might have been a large factor, but it more so was just another straw on the camels’ already heavy back, but it is not seen as “the reason” World War I broke
The underlying cause of World War 1 were the alliances within Europe. An alliance meant that if one country goes to war than the country associated will also fight. All the countries were picking sides before the war started. Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor that led the unification of the German states, did not like the fact that Germany was between Russia and France. “Bismarck formed the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in the year preceding
The first and possibly most important cause of World War I may have been the allying of the countries involved in the war and the posturing for action which they participated in. Although many treaties were signed and many alliances made previously, the start of the time line of WWI may be traced to the Dual Alliance signed by Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879, to which Italy joined in 1882 forming the Triple Alliance. It was an agreement that was one of military protection, stating that if a...
Alliances were one of the reasons why there was World War I. The alliances started as Triple Entente and Triple Alliance. The Triple Entente involved three countries which were Britain, France and Russia. For Triple Alliance, there were Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy. Then later on the alliances involved more countries and the alliances were called Central powers and Allies. They became alliances secretly during the 19th century.
There were many factors that led to the initial outbreak of World War I in Europe. A constant struggle to gain the upper hand in the “balance of power” existed, and it resulted in the formation of many alliances between European nations. For the most part, these agreements stipulated that the nations would aid one another if one of them were to be attacked by an enemy. Eventually two distinct sides formed: the Allies and the Central Powers. The former consisted of Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, while the latter was made up of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and what was left of the Ottoman Empire.
Another reason for the great conflict between countries is all the alliances that where made. An example is the alliance made between France and Britain as told in a French statement by Raymond . "Supported by the loyal friendship of England." Another example to show 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. Multiple countries would make alliances with each other and when countries weren't included, they would feel betrayed and mad. Many more alliances were made many caused conflict between each other these all led up to WWI.
In 1914, there were many things that placed Europe at the brink if war. Nationalism, militarism, imperialism, social darwinism, and Jingoes where five of the main forces that were pushing Europe to the brink of war. Another main force was the development of Alliance systems. These ideas and systems threatened the balance of power which could then cause a major war to break out. In Europe at the time, there were many ideas which were causing friction. Nationalism, which was the desire for a country was causing friction because people in old empires sought to be free. The leaders of these people would not be happy and a war would definitely break out. If they became free they would also need to take land from someone else and this again may cause a war and usually did. Another idea which was contributing to the shifts of power in Europe was Militarism.
The French also made a secret agreement with Italy, as well as with the Americans. Germany also made alliances with Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (Ross 18). This alliance system, divided the continent into “armed camps,” and thereby made it more likely that such an incident could not be prevented from spreading. (Ross 52). After a lot of problems in the Balkans, caused by the newly formed states, France and Russia both felt that war was destined to come, although both Germany and Britain had shown willingness to cooperate, trying to prevent war, and to make peace. This definitely showed hope as two hostile countries tried to reach an agreement. Forced into trouble in the Balkans, the nations desperately tried to keep peace, unsuccessfully. These countries also had a lot of colonies, mostly in Africa. As they were also competing to get the greatest amount of territory there, they often crossed each other, causing several problems.
War is what keeps a nation from dying, it is the backbone of a country. This is the shown throughout the course of World War I, also known as “the war to end all wars.” World War I started in the summer of 1914. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, from the Austro – Hungarian Empire was visiting Bosnia. He was shot, along with his wife, Sofia, by a young man from the Black Hand, Gavrillo Princip. What were the three main factors that started World War I? There were three main underlying causes that started World War I: greed, nationalism, and militarism.
Alliances were the reason that so many countries were involved in the war, and why it escalated into a global event. For instance, one of the key events that sparked the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Gavrilo Princip, a member of the group called The Black Hand, killed Ferdinand and his wife in hopes to make Serbia independent from Austria-Hungary. Basically, Austria-Hungary wanted Serbia to punish the people responsible for the assassination and Serbia refused, so Austria-Hungary declared war on them. Since Serbia was an ally to Allied powers and Austria-Hungary was an ally to the Central Powers, this single event set off a chain reaction that resulted in all the countries associated with these major powers being involved in the conflict. A single country going into battle can drag the rest of its allies with it, and with so many alliances a small event can spread into a full scale fight, such as the World Wars.
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.
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.
There are many reasons why World War One occurred in 1914, many are complex and remain controversial which is why the matter has been disputed to this day by historians all over the world. My theory is that a lot of those reasons and the trigger factor all links to one thing; the alliance system. The alliance system is what made countries oppose each other and become rivals making it the most significant factor. It had an impact on who supported who when Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. This was only the spark that started war in Europe; there were long term causes that contributed to the war and were the origins. This answer will explain the causes focusing on how they contributed to World War One and what the important links are between them.
In conclusion, there were many factors involved in the casing of World War One, but there were 3 very influential causes. Nationalism, which was extreme if not borderline insane pride in your country. Alliances that had stirred up countries into thinking they were not safe. being that this was 1914 and countries were still developing and some were weaker than others, it was very likely you could be invaded which is why alliances scared some countries into a hostile state. And the final cause was militarism, a kind of dictatorial state where you were ready to go to war at any minute and there were guns everywhere and children were not safe. World War One was caused by a lot of things but Nationalism, Alliances, And Militarism were the root causes.
World War I was a direct result of a tangled system of secret friendly partnerships. Beginning after the bringing-together-as-one of Germany in 1871, many nations began secretly allying themselves with each other. Starting with the Dual Friendly partnership between Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1879, the nations of Europe got together as allied themselves in back and forth/equal between people protection agreements in such a way that if any one nation became the target of violent behavior, all of Europe would be pulled into war. That act of violent behavior happened in Bosnia in 1914 when a young Serb, Gavrilo Princip, killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian. Austria-Hungary declared war on the nation of Serbia soon after.
World war one was caused by multiple reasons such as Imperialism, Alliances, and Nationalism. They all impacted and lead to this event. World war one began in 1914 and 1918.