A War Does Not Require Weapons

The nations had spent millions of dollars on building their army and navy. Germany in 1890 had spent around 30 million in British pounds, then by 1910 they had spent around 60 million in British pounds. (Document C) All of these countries had spent so much money into their armaments, there was a lot of tension building up between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente that either one was ready. The countries also had lots of colonies with territory by the other nations. No one wanted to get in each other’s way, but it became too close for comfort. (Document D) This proves how Militarism was a cause of

By the 1st of August 1914, Germany had declared war on Russia, as well as threatening Belgium. At this point everyone was trying to protect their country and the countries of their alliances’. So we can see that another trigger to the war was threat, threat that their land would be taken, and that their military was not large enough. So again there was this thirst for land and a need to beat others, this formation of alliances is none other than another trigger to the First World War.

Germany had stockpiled quite an arsenal and increased their navy for advanced combat. Great Britain also strengthened her navy. Militarism was another cause of the war. Countries like Germany and Russia had policies in place to build a strong military in readiness for war. Between 1910 and 1914, Germany had a 73% increase in military spending while Russia had 39%, Britain had 13%, and France had 10%. This increase in defense spending led to countries building stronger militaries which thrust the world deeper into the war. Lastly, nationalistic movements were going on all over the world. People were getting more aware of their ethnicities and the oppression that they had endured from people who were not like them. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria came from the nationalistic views of the Bosnians who did not want to be under the rule of Austria-Hungary and wanted their own state. Strong nationalistic movements were going on everywhere and the unification of Italy and Germany was a product of it. France had to give up some land to Germany and wanted it back. Nationalism played a big role in the start of the war as it fueled existing fires and was probably one of the direct causes of the war. Not only did nationalism start the war it extended it longer than it should have gone. This, as each nation tried to prove its power and dominance over the

The huge national investment in military helped the countries to prepare for the war. In actuality, all the countries had known that the war was unavoidable. (Doc 9) French writer Emile Zola thinks that “The world can live only by eating and being eaten. And it is only the warlike nations that have prospered; a nation dies when it disarms.” (Doc 2) Countries made meticulous plan to defend themselves by increasing militarism. The expenditures of the great powers on armaments of the European countries increased dramatically. (Doc 10) However, the political leaders did not make efforts to prevent the war. Instead, they increased the mobilization of their armies for war. (Doc 11) Countries were aware of that the world war must bring out, the only thing was a trigger, the assassination of Ferdinand. The relationship between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was terrible before the assassination. In the ultimatum sent to Serbia on July 23, 1914, Austria-Hungary condemned the movement against the Monarchy and asked for collarboration against these subversions. (Doc 8) However, the tensions became uncontrollable when on July 28, Ferdinand was assassinated by a a nationalist Serbian young

The Great War was a tragedy: modern weaponry and Gentleman’s war collided, causing millions of lives lost in what was considered to be the war to end all wars. The war was ignited by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. The chain of events that followed were, however motivated by the imperialistic, militaristic, and paranoid characteristics of the governments of Europe, caused by Germany, whose characteristic ambitions burned out hot and fast in the late 19th and early 20th century. Germany is largely to blame for the start of the Great War due to their imperialist and militarist pursuits as well as their alliance system. Germany’s imperial ambitions

The most anticipated war in history, World War One, started off with the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand. As a result, Austria-Hungary gave the killer’s country, Serbia, an opportunity to take ownership and apologize to A/H’s government. Without a response from Serbia, A/H declares war, launching the July Crisis- one of many of Europe’s fighting frenzies. Countries were declaring war on each other, gathering secret alliances, and building their armies. The Crisis continuously built its longevity until declared as a Great War, a nickname for World War One. Knowing which event pushed the world to arm themselves, historians had asked what the underlying causes for the war were. Causes for the war were alliances, imperialism, nationalism, and most destructive, militarism.

From 1890 to 1914, there was a drastic increase in the amount of money nations began to spend on their navy and army advancements. In fact, as the war began to approach, Germany raised the amount they spent towards armaments from 30 million to 120 million pounds and the Triple Entente raised their total money spent to 225 million pounds in 1914 (Document C). The presence of more armaments created an environment ready for war. Their existence meant that the countries are more likely to use them, which only discouraged time to cool off. Additionally, as one country built up their armies more, the others felt they had to do the same which increased tensions. Britain who increased its colonial empire to the largest in the world since the Romans’, caused an arms race where the nations were competing only to have more armaments than the others. Being an island, they began spending more money on their navy, needing to defend its waters. On the opposing side, Germany did not want to get their own feet tramped by any foreign power, fearing to become the anvil rather than the hammer. Bernhard von Bülow, the German Chancellor, said the only way to “keep ourselves at the fore if we realize that there is no welfare for us without power, without a strong army and a strong fleet” (Document D). Using the idea of survival of the fittest, individual countries became stronger in the fear of being destroyed by the aggressors. Clearly, having arms was a

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Europe was becoming a tinder box for a possible great war. Every country was extremely determined on spreading their empires. Additionally they began to form alliances, France with England and Germany with Austria-Hungry. Then on June 28th 1914 a Bosnian-Serb nationalist assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife practically igniting Europe and the world into a massive war. This assassination was viewed as an act of war and Russia came in to assist their ally Serbia. Germany naturally had to declare war on Russia to help Austria-Hungry. France and England then joined in to assist Russia.

Nowadays, most of the countries on this world is trying to make peace and gain alliances with each other. However, the situation was a little different than this in the 1900s. Chaos was everywhere in Europe in the 1900s due to various reasons. After a long time of chaos, people decided they had enough of it so they asked for war. Eventually, after Serbia secret society “Union or Death” (called “The Black Hand” by its opponents) assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, World War I began.

World War I, or the Great War, was one of the largest widespread wars in all of world history. However, it set the path for World War II when other countries came to blame Germany and thus crushing their government and economy, and amassed large destruction over multiple countries in Europe, such as Britain, France, and Germany, especially. It is important to understand how these wars came to be. During a dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia,which led to the assassination of the Austria-Hungarian leader Archduke Franz Ferdinand, years of separate alliances, bad international relations, and growth of arms all brought up the then inevitable outbreak of World War I.

Many historians believe that due to the Wilhelmine Era and the expansion of the German nation, led to the outbreak of World War One. During the Bismarck era, Bismarck 's main goal was to keep France isolated and stay in good relations with Austria and Russia so that it would prevent a war. Although Bismarck 's foreign policy was creating cooperation, it did not last very long. The spark of World War one came from the Wilhelmine era, which turned away from everything Bismarck’s foreign policy represented. The expansion of the military scared Europe, the industrialization of the railroad was a suspicion to other countries, and the expansion of domestic supporters led to the alliance of the France, Britain, and Russia known as the Triple Entente.

“In the last fifty years, the imperialism of all European states has chronologically poisoned international relations” (Doc 5). Due to European imperialism and many countries arguing over what land they wanted tensions were formed between them. So many countries sought alliances for security. The alliances played a big role in the outbreak of war because once one country got into a fight their allies had an obligation to help. (Doc 2) shows a map of Europe and the alliances before WWI. The alliances were split up in two groups, Central Powers and Allies. Some of the countries switched sides when they thought the war was changing courses. The alliance system is important to learn because you can see the domino effect from when one country first entered a war. “The two armed camps alarmed eachother, and each grew heavy with multiplied incidents, which spread East”(Doc 7). This quote proves that the war going to happen at some point. The tensions were already high between France and Germany, so when the Archduke was killed that was just the spark that officially started war. With Britain, Germany, and France colonizing and expanding, tensions began to build between the countries over what land they wanted. All the effects of European Imperialism led to the outbreak of

‘The War to End All Wars’, commonly known as First World War, was one of the largest wars in history global conflict in Europe that commence on 1914 and lasted until 1918. Due to the aggression among the alliances, countries came to each other’s support and evolved in the six main powers of Europe uniting into two large groups: Italy, Austria-Hungary and Germany compose the Triple Alliance, while France, Russia and Britain established the Triple Entente. By the outbreak of the Great War, Australian men hurried to enlist for the cause of supporting the ‘mother country’ as Australia had a deep affection and loyalty towards Britain. As war progressed, Australia became aware of the barbaric reality of war.

All of these countries were well-off, Britain especially, with the Industrial Revolution increasing exports and Imperialism producing resources needed to keep their economy superior to other countries. In the middle of this alliance, there lay another. It consisted of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The Balkans to the south were considered neutral territory in 1914 (Document A), but the peoples of these lands were vastly unhappy. One such people were the Serbians. Now, the Serbians were not happy with how their lives were, and dreamed of revolution. So, a group known as The Black Hand devised a plan that they believed would bring the change they wanted to Serbia; killing the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Now when this happened, Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Serbia. However, when this did this, they alerted the Triple Entente. Russia, which was tied to the Triple Entente, was on good terms with Serbia. And so Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary, which causes Germany to join in, and invade Belgium. And so Britain, who was a friend of Belgium, declared war on Germany, and then France joined because England joined. So, in effect, because of one assassination, because of one death, all of Europe bursted into a long, bloody engagement in which ten million people

German historian Fritz Fischer argues that Germany 's desire for world power was the reason that for the outbreak of WWI. Germany had plans for a war before the crisis that occurred during 1914 and used the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as an excuse to put the plans into effect. Germany also encouraged Austria and its war plans to provoke a crisis in which it can solve the problem that Germany would face if they went to war. This problem is called "encirclement" and Germany would face this problem if it went to war with France and Russia. By having Austria doing so it would allow Germany to dominate and expand its territories. France and Russia signed a full military defensive alliance in 1892-1895 which allowed the possibility of a two-front war. With Germany 's geographical position being between these two great powers, it would cause Germany to lose the war at an instant. In addition to this, France felt bitterness towards the defeat of 1870-1871 and the taking