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Dbq 1 In 1914 Essay

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During the start of the 20th century, Europe was in a good place. It controlled many empires and colonies, and technology was advancing at a rapid pace after the Industrial Revolution (1840-1870). However this peace did not last; 1914 started a brutal four year war known as WWI. The immediate cause of this war is known to be the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, in June of 1914. However, there are many more elementary causes of this complicated war. Some of the main underlying causes of WWI was the strong militarism and imperialism felt in the European countries, and the alliances put in place to uphold these powerful militaries and colonies. Militarism was felt very strongly in 20th century Europe. Between 1890 and 1914, the countries involved in WW1’s armament growth was tremendous. Germany’s army and navy rose …show more content…

Once Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, it gave the countries a reason to declare war on each other. Document A shows the alliances between European countries at the start of WWI in 1914. France, Britain, and Russia were an alliance. France and Britain were the most powerful out of imperialist Europe, so they made an alliance to combine that strength. Russia owned no colonies, so it would make sense they would want an alliance with what seemed like the strongest colony owners. Germany owned the third most colonies, but they were scared of Britain and France taking over (look at the analysis of Document D). Austria-Hungary was in a place similar to Russia in that they needed an alliance with a stronger country, Germany fit the type of alliance Austria-Hungary was looking for because Germany had a strong military and was already united to Austria-Hungary by common fear of Russia and Russia’s alliances. Germany allied with Austria-Hungary because they believed Russia wouldn’t wage war against two empires. This led Russia to ally with France and

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