Guns Of August Book Critique

World War I was a tragic episode in European history. As with most wars, there were some causes that led to this event. A few of these causes were militarism, alliances, and imperialism. The first spark of the war was on June 28, 1914 when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand. The Austrian leaders demanded an apology from Serbia, they got upset and Russia said they would help Serbia. With no apology and the threat of Russia, on June 28 Austria-Hungary declared war on them; Russia in return declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany declared war on Russia, France on both Germany and Austria-Hungary. Finally Britain had joined France and Russia, then all of Europe was at war.

World War 1 was partly caused by the two opposing alliances developed by Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck formed the Three Emperor’s League, an alliance between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. He also took advantage of the Italian dislike towards France and created the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. After Bismarck was fired, the dislike of Slavs prevented countries from allying themselves with Russia. France took advantage of this and became allies with Russia, forming the Franco-Russian Entente. Britain and France ignored all imperialistic conflicts between them and formed the Entente Cordiale. International tension rapidly increased and more countries became involved.

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.

World War I was one of the most brutal and bloodiest war ever fought in the early twentieth century. The war left ten million soldiers dead, seven million civilians dead, and another ten million people to be wounded (Background Essay). It was the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, against the Triple Entente, France, Britain, Russia, and Italy (Background Essay). The war ended with the Paris Peace Conference where world leaders meet up to discuss about a creation of a treaty to settle the peace terms. President Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. simply wanted to create a League of Nations to settle future conflicts and to avoid war (Background Essay). However, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France and Prime Minister David Lloyd George of England wanted even more; revenge and humiliation on Germany. They are forcing Germany to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for

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 events of July and early August 1914 are known as the sparks that lit the explosion of World War I. Uneasy tensions that had been boiling beneath the surface of Europe for many years soon erupted and with that several alliances that were formed over the past decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war; via their colonies, the conflict advanced rapidly. When war officially broke out in 1914, Britain joined in the defense of Belgium and in reaction to Germany's violation of the treaty in which the countries neutrality was to be respected by all other nations. Upon this Britain requested that all dominions of the British Empire, including Canada were to fight on its behalf.

Before the early twentieth century, the countries of Europe led vast empires that ruled the world both economically and politically. However, world dominance was soon ended by war, the great war to be exact. World War 1 devastated Europe for years yet began swiftly, with the country of Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. Although various aggressions such as Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination are thought to be the reasons for World War 1, it was the alliance systems, militarism, and imperialism that proved to be the underlying cause of the war.

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

It all began with an assassination,by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914 in the Balkans. The Archduke of Austria-Hungary was shot and killed in his own vehicle, which sparked war between Russia and Germany and the alliances that went along with it. The Allies consisted of France, Great Britain, Russia, The United States and Italy, while The Central Powers consisted of Austria-Hungary, Germany the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. The underlying cause of World War I consisted of three reasons, Militarism and Alliances as well as Imperialism being the most important.

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.

Britain, France, Germany and other nations competed for colonial gains in Africa. Britain and Germany competed industrially. Then, Germany industrialized quickly and the British were threatened by this. This caused them to hate Germany, then France and Britain eventually forms an alliance and goes at it with Germany. Document 4 states, “The allied and associated governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage”. The final cause of WW1 was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary which started the war immediately. After the assassination the Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. once Russia heard that Serbia was at war, they also had to go to war which leads Germany declaring war on Serbia. Therefore, the era of the began expansion of the war included all those countries who were defending they alliances. Document 7 states, “The two armed camps alarmed each other, and each grew heavy with multiplied incidents, which spread East with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, where Russia and Austria were advancing contradictory claims…” This quote shows how the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand started WW1 immediately and kept

Alliances between countries that was the first main cause of World War 1. It was the formation that had a significant impact on World War 1. “The problem that the Alliances had was Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife was assassinated on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip, igniting a conflict that led to World War 1 and made a larger problem”. The other problem was between the Triple Alliances and the Triple Entente. The countries that were in the Triple Alliance was Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy and for the Triple Entente was Russia, France, and the United Kingdom. Germany was worried about having to fight a war on two fronts or two different borders, but the fear was not justified because France and Russia are against Germany and Russia was larger than Germany. In document B “The Crime Of The Ages.

(History Place 1.). This was one of many alliances that would lead up to World War I. Some of the other alliances included Russia and France that was in reaction to the Triple Alliance, Britain and Japan’s Naval alliance, and Russia makes an agreement with Britain. All of these alliances took place between 1882 and 1910 to see who could make the most powerful alliance. During all this the United States remained neutral and was not getting involved in the tensions ongoing in Europe.

Although alliances was a cause for World War I, militarism was the main cause. Militarism was the main cause because if no one was preparing for a war there wouldn’t have been one. With everyone thinking that having a big army is the key to success and the only way they would be able to use that army would be in a

Germany leader Otto von Bismarck started forming alliances and the first alliance was known as the Triple Alliance. The Triple alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. This means when the war would be to break out Germany would still be between the other alliance which was what Germany was trying to prevent. The other alliance was known as the Triple Entente and consisted of France, Russia, and Great Britain and the tensions started rising. (DBQ: What Were the Underlying Causes for World War I)