There are many causes to the First World War, many of which are results of complex developments which took place for a number of years before the war, such as the conflict over the Balkans and the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The most obvious cause may be the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. However, upon close examination of the events leading up to World War One, we shall see that this was merely the spark that set off the chain of events leading up to the Great War. One of the main causes of the war was the system of alliances between countries at that time. Alliances such as the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, and the Triple Entente between Great Britain, Russia and France, …show more content…
These treaties would have of course not been possible if diplomatic negotiations had been as open and publicised as they are today. It may be argued that these treaties were not binding, for example Italy remained neutral during the war, and that the Triple Entente by no means forced any of its members to take up arms if war involving one of them should arise. However, I do not think the treaties themselves are overly important. Rather, I think that the climate created by these treaties, and the actions taken as a result, are important, and even crucial, to the start of the First World War. Also, if we are to extend this argument, no treaty is truly binding and all treaties can be broken. Thus I think alliances still did constitute one of the main causes of the First World War. Another major cause of the 'War to End All Wars ' was militarism. Militarism was prevalent in Europe in the late 19th century and early 20th century. War was viewed by many in a positive light: it was seen as 'noble ', glorious and even desirable. Nowadays war might be viewed as morally wrong, and justifiable only in cases of dire necessity or for self-defence, however at that time war was seen as a perfectly acceptable means for a country to pursue its goals or ambitions, or as a way to enforce its national policy. For example the outbreak of war was greeted by cheering crowds in Berlin, Vienna and Paris. As A.J.P Taylor wrote,
However, alliances couldn’t have been as great an impact on World War I because those alliances only caused further tension among European nations. There could have been the case where countries in alliances wouldn’t have gone to war with other powerful nations, or due to the fact it would have been difficult to have guarantee of an easy victory. The buildup of arms within the Allied and Central Powers impacted those nations by making them more eager to go to war with their confidence in military strength, thus tipping the balance of the alliances from peace, to destruction. Another additional cause of World War I was imperialism. For example, a chart has shown the vast difference regarding colony ownership; Germany and Austria-Hungary combined owned only about 1,139,000 square miles, whereas the Triple Entente had approximately 17,180,000 square miles of colonized land (Doc.
One of the three underlying events that lead to World War I becoming such a big war was alliances. “There were at least 100 countries” according to http://www.history.com fighting a war, and countries had to choose their side. Countries used alliances for extra support. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were part of Triple Alliance until 1915 when Italy switched sides hurting Austria-Hungar. On the Triple Entente United Kingdom, and France fought together.
The alliance system that took place between the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) and Triple Entente (United Kingdom, Russia, and France) divided the European empires beginning the war. According to document B both alliances blamed each other from the start. By doing this both alliances were split against each other creating a diversion. The background essay states, “The great players were picking sides” this created a greater diversion between the empires. Geographically in Document A the Triple Alliance were closer together and the Triple Entente surrounded them although the Triple Entente weren’t themselves close to each other. This caused
Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (triple Alliance) made up one alliance, but Russia, France, and the UK (triple entente) made up the other. Militarism played an role in this war because every nation wanted to have a great/strong army similar to Great Britain's. Imperialism played an role in this particular war because they was fighting for land and possessions. When looking at the dbq the one of the main reason for the war were alliances.
One of the major causes of WW1 was Alliance. Alliance is when a country becomes friend with another country and supports each other. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got involved to defend Serbia. Germany seeing Russia mobilizing, declared war on Russia. France was then drawn in against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany attacked France through Belgium pulling Britain into war. Document 2 states, “members
Two Alliances were formed in Europe preceding World War 1. The triple alliance consisting of: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary (Document 1). The other alliance being the triple entente, which was made of the three powers: Great Britain, Russia, and France (Document 2). Both of these alliances were formed to oppose one another. When there was a conflict preceding the war and Germany rose up, France formed an alliance with Great Britain and Russia in order to have a defense in case of an attack from Germany. In turn Germany took this as a sign that these countries were preparing for a conflict. So, in response they formed an alliance with France and Austria-Hungary.
One underlying cause of World War 1 was the alliance systems. There were two major alliances. The triple entente and the triple alliance (Document A). The triple entente consisted of Russia, United Kingdom, and France. The triple alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and italy. Alliances were quick to support their allies (Document B). Each country had a different point of view of who started the war. So this created a chain reaction (Document B). Those are a few ways alliance systems caused World War 1.
The first of the three main causes of World War One was the alliances between countries. In the years before the war, several European countries had formed alliances with each other to ensure the protection of their own nations. This created two systems; the Triple Alliance, which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, and the Triple Entente, which consisted of France, Russia, and Great Britain. The system made it so that if an allied country
Before the start of WWI, there were two major alliances in Europe. The Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy, and the Triple Entente with France, Russia and Great Britain. These alliance, along with the extreme feelings of nationalism and militarism, were the main causes of the Great War.
There were many underlying causes of the Great War, one of the primary reasons was the creation of alliances between countries. Another reason, which was helped by the alliances, was the fact that Serbia killed the Austria-Hungary archduke, causing the two of them to go to war. Altogether many people in the world were excited to go to war, wanting to prove how strong their country is and thinking it would be a quick war.
The most important cause of World War I was the alliances and competition because countries felt threatened by other countries’ power so they created alliances to feel secure. Alliances were groups made up of countries and if a country were to be attacked their allied countries would back them up. There were two alliances, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy; the Triple Entente included Britain, France, and Russia. Competition was increasing in Europe because of economic rivalry.
The first cause of World War One were alliances, the actual agreement between two nations; meaning work together. To start off, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France were apart of the Allies alliance. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire were members of the Central Powers alliance. Some countries chose to
Even today, the causes of World War one is still being debated and the great war started 96 years ago and ended 92 years ago. Yet today after so much time the main cause of the war still remains unexposed to this day. What triggered the whole war was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie of Austria-Hungary on June 28th 1914 by The Black Hand. The assassination happened because of feelings toward the Serbians. The Archduke and his wife were on a parade route in their car during their visit to Sarajevo. Many assassins were lined up to take the kill of the Archduke but all failed, there was one young assassin named Gavrilo
One major factor leading to the war was the systems of alliance throughout Europe. By the 20th Century, Europe was split into two alliances. On one side it was the Triple Alliance which consisted of germany, austria, and italy. On the other side was the triple entente which consisted of Great Britain, Russia, and France (Doc A). The alliances helped
While we are always reminded of the negative effects of war, it is not everyday that we learn to understand the deeper factors of war that can turn a small conflict into an international outbreak. World War I was said to have been sparked by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand but there are various deeper reasons that contributed to the commencement of the Great War. These factors include militarism, imperialism and the alliance systems.