Essay on Origins of World War

In the year 1961, Fritz Fischer had presented his book, which was known as Germany's Aims in First World War and it had been successful in launching a debate among German historians and scholars as older historians severely criticized and opposed Fischer and his book. However, his contemporaries and younger historians supported his book. The book draws a detailed and comprehensive picture of Germany and its aims during the World War I.

attitude....Complete destruction of Poland is the military aim. To be fast is the main thing.

Another debated cause is imperialism, which is the policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations. This contributed to WWI because of the rivalry it caused in Europe between Great Britain, Germany, and France. They needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. Great Britain, Germany, and France competed for economic expansion in Africa. Even though Great Britain and France came to an agreement several problems before the war had to do with the dislike of Germany against Great Britain and France in North Africa. Also the crumbling of the Ottoman-Empire in the Middle East was a big factor for Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia. So the competition for colonies brought great powers into conflict and fueled the ideas of war and added to the present tension that already existed, and that tension keeps on building up.

From the Treaty of Versailles, to the rise of Hitler, and the failure of the League of Nations, there were many causes that lead up to World War II. World War I left Germany with many shortfalls, thus leaving them in the hands of the Treaty of Versailles. Rather unfair of a Treaty, this left Germany once again looking for another way out. A country resented by many had no other choice but to feel optimistic toward Adolph Hitlers empty promises… making it substantially simple for him to gain power so quick. Throw in the Great Depression, and you have a vastly unstable world, which the Germans believed Hitler would lead them out of.

During world war one there were many things the came to the start of it. Countries allied together, leaders were blamed for pushing their people to war. Armies went to action starting the wars and everyone blamed each other for it.The way people thought that war was good at the time. All these causes that could have lead to it. Many can argue that nationalism was the cause or alliances etc. However, Militarism was the underlying cause in World War 1.

Though most historians consider the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary the most immediate cause of WWI, or the rise of Germany to be the main cause since they signed the Versailles Treaty (Doc 4), many agree that the war was not caused by just one thing. Instead, it was caused by a concept instead of specific people or countries. It seemed that everyone, during this time period, had started to increase their military power and defense systems. Therefore, World War I was caused by two things: the fear these countries had of losing their power, and the big toll that European Imperialism took international relations.

At the Versailles Peace conference, German delegate, Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, pointed out that “the imperialism of all European states has chronically poisoned international relations” (Doc 5), making hostility between countries more apparent and war more likely. Along with that, he mentioned that they fought the war defensively in response to the military advances made by their enemies. The author’s background being German should also be taken into account, as a German delegate is likely to favor their own country and be biased toward them. Thus, every country in Europe holds some responsibility for the causing of World War

WWI was the cause of problems in countries all throughout the World. There is a wide variety of opinions on who started the war. But one country should not be blamed for the outbreak of war. Instead, all the European countries are at fault for causing WWI because of Nationalism, Imperialism, and Militarism.

What one thing do you think caused WW1? There in fact were many causes of WW1. One of the causes was imperialism. There was jealousy between the countries because some had more colonies then others. The major countries did not trust each other or get along. They were worried about the build up of each others army. Each country had great pride and nationalism. By 1914 all major countries had taken sides against one another and formed alliances. The immediate cause of WW1 was the assignation of the heir to Austria-Hungary’s throne.

Furthermore source 3 presents the idea that there was “inevitability” and “necessity” for war, thus showing us that Germany was indeed preparing for this and doing so through their aggressive nature. As well as this, the war was also influenced by other ideas presented by this source, for example: the recovery by France of Alsace-Lorraine and the securing for Russia of Constantinople and the Straits. This would contradict the points that were earlier made about German’s aggression shining through and would in fact suggest to us that they had no other alternative but to try and take back what the believed to be theirs. In addition to this, there was indeed another big factor in the beginning of war which is presented by source 3, and that was “the British concern that the coast of Belgium should not be occupied by a hostile power”. Once again we could interpret this is two ways, one being that it was the British that then made the first move regarding the outbreak of war because of this reason which would therefore

Many countries were involved in WWI, Germany being one of them. It is arguable whether Germany is responsible for the outbreak of war or rather the responsibility of individual countries such as Britain, Russia, France, Austria-Hungary and the Balkans collectively. However, Germany should be blamed to the full extent of starting WW1 due to the reasons that Germany had unconditional support for Austria, Germany 's war plans were planned to cause more conflict and Germany 's mobilization schedule.

     Although in the Treaty of Versailles Germany was to accept full responsibility for World War 1 this in not necessarily the case. Many factors have to be taken into account when considering the cause of World War 1. Germany may have been primarily responsible for the war but the other major powers must accept some of the blame for failing to prevent it. The conflict resulting from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinard should have been local and confined but due to a series of factors, militarism, the alliance system, nationalism, this one incident led to the greatest war Europe had ever seen. As a result of underlying hostilities the assassination led to a chain of

World War 1 broke out when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in 1914, whose organization implicated members of Serbian military. For this reason, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, supported by Germany. This triggered chain reaction, nations in Europe declaring war on the other nations, which, with in a month, caused Europe to turn into a battlefield. The Great War was ended, when the Treaty of Versailles and several other treaties were signed in 1919 and Germany was fully held responsible for causing the war. But it is not justified, that Germany, and Germany alone, should be held responsible for the outbreak of the war, even though her

On the 1st of August 1914 World War One, also known as the Great War,

Many historians have debated on whether or not the outbreak of the First World War could have been prevented and whether it is justifiable to blame one nation for the war.