Introduction
In years leading up to the First World War, countries and regions formed alliances for conveniences. These alliances were used to repel enemy combatants and create a hostile perception to any group that might think of attacking their regions. Nonetheless, these alliances of convenience turned against one another during war time.
Hostile Alliances & Armaments Races
It is notable that several years leading up to the First World War, countries in the European region formed strategic alliances. There were five major powers in Europe, which includes Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Britain, and Russia. This list of powers remains intact to date although Germany was initially known as Prussia in the early 18th century. These major players were fond of diplomatic games. Alliances were formed or dismantled for defensive purposes depending on the prevailing circumstances.
When situations were favorable, these key players in the European region would create alliances and strengthen ties to ensure that any spate of war or related issues was addressed accordingly. This made it hard for rival alliances to gain trust. Nonetheless, mistrust between alliances would arise and these countries would seek alliances with others by enticing them to join forces to defend their mutual territories.
When the climate was unfavorable and new wars were inevitable in the foreseeable future, these alliances turned into aggressive partners. While the 18th century is characterized by the Seven Years’ War, the 19th century is characterized by the Seven Weeks’ War. A good example is the Franco-Prussian War that lasted almost the same amount of time. Germany was particularly fascinated by rapid success on the international stage as com...
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...ecorded in books of history. Hence, the website is quite valuable as a source of historical information and thus reliable.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that Europe’s major powers formed strategic defensive alliances for conveniences. Nonetheless, these alliances turned into hostile forces during war time. These hostile alliances mounted pressure on one another in times leading up to the First World War. The website selected offers intricate historical events as they occurred and is quite reliable because it is unbiased.
Works Cited
Adas, Michael, Peter N. Stearns, and Stuart B. Schwartz. Turbulent Passage: A Global History of the Twentieth Century, 4th ed. London: Longman Publishing Group, 2008.
Tonge, Stephen. “Causes of the First World War.” European History. Last modified November 11, 2013. http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/causeww1.htm
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.
William R. Keylor and Jerry Bannister. The Twentieth-Century World An International History Canadian Edition. 2005.
There were many causes of World War 1 and one of the causes was Militarism.Militarism was a leading cause to WWI because the military had control over everything.In document 7 it shows how much money each country invested into their Army and Navy.These lead to the WW1 because with
In 1914, Europe was diving into two separate powers. One was Triple Entente composed of France, Russia and Britain. Other one was Triple Alliance, consists of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (Pope 2) Each of the countries was connected with different treaties. The caused of European countries’ unstable political situation and threat of war was present. By arranging alliances with other governments, most countries found ways to protect themselves from assault. While Germany was becoming the center of the struggle, Europe made a spider web of tangled alliance that led most countries into two opposing powers. (Hamilton 16) In the late nineteenth century, the most surprising event in Europe was the birth of united state of Germany. Under the leadership of the Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, system of alliances was established to achieve peace in Europe. By 1890, Bismarck succeeded in having every major power into his alliance system...
"World War Two - Causes." History on the Net. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
The factors that led to the outbreak of the First World War have been argued over for many years and it is still something that does not have a definitive answer. Many historians argue over who is responsible through long and short term factors. It is true to say that Germany and Austria were responsible but there were other factors such as the alliance system.
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.” (p.20-21) As a result of the war, Russia was severely weakened, which greatly upset the balance of power in Europe. Taylor claims that, “What gave France independence as a ...
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
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
...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.
Militarism was also an underlying cause of World War I. As the alliance system divided Europe into opposing groups, each nation began to increase spending on its military. 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.
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-Hungary. This alliance was created to protect them from Russia, which was the biggest European power at the time. Instead of protecting them and adding extra support, however, it only managed to strengthen their tensions with Russia and light the match for something even more unpleasant. Overall, while alliances were a way of buffering countries stats, they also attracted some unwonted attention in the process.
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.
In conclusion, the causes of World War One included many factors both long term and short term. Some factors go deeper and contributed to the tension and rivalry developing in the nineteenth century among the Great Powers stage. Such as things involving politics, cultures, economics and what I believe to be the most important, the alliance system; lots of other factors tie in with the complex web of alliances. There are many factors that lead on and link in with one another; this just explains a few of the well known factors. Most involve contributing to tension and rivalry. The Great War is considered to be one of the most significant events of the twentieth century.
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.