History of World War I

The first underlying cause of WWI was Alliances. The Triple Alliance was made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy; while the Triple Entente was made up of U.K., France, and Russia. (Document A) The Triple Alliance is surrounded be the Triple Entente, and The Triple Alliance may have felt threatened and also become suspicious. (Document A) When small battles started breaking out, each country was blaming some other country for disrupting the peace. (Document B). This proves that Alliances were a cause of WWI because The Triple Alliance was surrounded by the

This paper focuses on the underlying causes of world war I instead of just immediate causes. In this article, I will answer the question what were the underlying causes of world war I. ("DBQ: What Were the Underlying ...", 2010, p. Doc 1) Some of these causes consist of militarism, nationalism, and imperialism. The immediate causes of the war were the ones that set it off but the underlying causes are the ones that had been building up over time. ("DBQ: What Were the Underlying ...", 2010, p. Doc 1)

World War I, also known as the first World War, or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe the began on the 28th of July 1914 and lasted until the 11th of November 1918. World War I was a war that was fought between two sides with a few of the World’s greatest Nations of that time. The two sides were Triple Entente which included Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance which was consisted of the countries Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. World War I left a mark on history as we know it, what could have possibly led to that war?, What were the underlying causes of World War I?. The major causes of “The Great War” or WWI consist of four long-term causes and one short-term cause. The common acronym that’s used for the four long-term causes to help students remember the causes of WWI is M.A.I.N; the acronym stands for Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism,and the short-term cause The Assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on the 28th of June 1914. To put all of this in a simpler way the five major causes of WWI was Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism, and the assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand. Each of topics played a significant role in the reasons why WWI would begin.

In this essay I will be outlining the key points in why the First World War broke out in 19 14. Many people tend to say "Because Archduke Ferdinand got shot." Still others have blamed it on the increased independence and Imperialism in Hungary to Russia’s growing military. If I had to answer the question myself, the answer would be all of the above, and more. The events from June of 1914 through August of 1914 can be described as one thing leading to another.

Many historians argue that the reason for Germany going to war was due to the aggressive behaviour of Germany in the build up to the war. Throughout this essay I will be addressing this issue looking at whether Germany was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. There are many factors which contribute to the outbreak of the war from a short-term trigger such as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to the long-term annexation aims Germany implemented in the years building up to the war, the most important reason was Germany’s aggressive foreign policy, they had provided

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.

If it weren’t for these, the war would not have gotten as substantial as it did. Document A shows that in 1914, the Triple Entente was made up of France, the United Kingdom, and Russia, while Germany, Austria- Hungary- Hungary, and Italy made up the Triple Alliance. After Austria- Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia declared war on Austria- Hungary as they were not allies. This led to Germany (ally of Austria- Hungary), to declare war on Russia. This pattern continued until war had broke out throughout Europe. Allies of countries continued to join the war, causing it to become as big as it did. Document B shows a cartoon by an (unbiased) American just a week after World War I officially started. It shows the various alliances that have formed and were pointing at the same countries, as if blaming them. This demonstrates that alliances were a huge part of the war because they were the reason that so many countries and therefore people were involved with the war. In conclusion, if it weren’t for the alliances formed by the countries in Europe, the war would not have become World War I, and would not be as significant as it became in

Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, leader of the German delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference, describes it as this: “In the last fifty years, the imperialism of all European states has chronically poisoned international relations. Policies of retaliation, policies of expansion, and disregard for the right of people's to determine their own destiny, have contributed to the European malady which came to a crisis in the World War” (Document 5). This means that all of the countries of mainly Europe, more specifically ones that were not in alliance with one another, only grew pressure in between. This grew a ‘poisoned’ sense of nationalism for these countries, resulting in an eventual declaration of war. In the book, Origins of the World War, Sidney Bradshaw Fay states that the European war broke out as “in each country [of Europe] political and military leaders did certain things which lead to the mobilization [of their armies for war] and [finally] to the declarations of war, or [these leaders] failed to do certain things which might have prevented [the war]” (Document 6). This defines the fault in the growing sense of nationalism, as political and military leaders then only grew this stress. An example of this is the German propaganda which brought the idea to German people that Germany was idealistic, and that they should answer the call to war. However, this led to Germany

In 1914, European countries went to war with themselves. When the war broke out, it was expected to be done with quickly. However, much to Europe’s dismay, the war lasted for over four long years, with the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians being lost in the battle. After the war, Europeans questioned how this war came to be. There were many speculations and opinions on what caused the event known as World War One. However, only three of the most important reasons will be discussed.

Before World War 1, Otto Von Bismarck had to Otto-matically unite the German states. World War 1, known as the “Great War” before 1940 was the world's first global conflict which lasted from 1914-1918. Ten million soldiers had died in the battle fields and another twenty million soldiers had been wounded by the end of the war in November of 1918. The war contented the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire against the Allied forces of Great Britain, United States, France, Russia, and Italy. This raises the question, “What were the underlying causes of World War I?”

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

Promptly after the First World War had ended there were many debates about who or what caused the war. Historians such as Fritz Fischer argued that Germany was the to blame for the entirety of the war but there have been many more ideas of what was the cause of the war and therefore causing peace to fail. The main ideas amongst historians for the underlying causes of the war are the different balance in power due the formation of alliances, imperialism, militarism and also the July Crisis of 1914. This essay will argue that the alliances were the main cause of peace failing as with the constant conflict of interests and increasing tension it made it almost impossible to create peace in Europe in 1914.

Before World War I occurred, friction was building up in Europe and it was only a matter of time before conflicts finally erupted. One of the reasons that WWI was so grand was because the nations did not put limitations on how aggressive or violent war may be. There had never been a war so drastic before, causing Europeans to fight even if they were being demolished. Backing down was thought of as weak and unhonorable. Competition between nations was magnified by Europe’s desire to fight leading to WWI.

Leading up to the First World War (WWI) was a series of crises -- Serbian unification efforts, the Ten-Point Ultimatum from Austria to Serbia, the Kruger Telegram, the Dreadnought Race, the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and of 1911, the Balkan Wars, and the Bosnian Crisis -- that generated significant conflict and division among the countries of Europe, all of which seemed to lay the foundation for the start of WWI. With concern for its own power and security in a rapidly changing Europe, Germany set out to undermine the power of as well as the alliances between other European countries. In his book The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to War in 1914, Christopher Clark points out that, while ‘not one of the great powers has escaped the

Many, on the other hand, blame the flaws in the world's alliance systems for the war. Development of political and military alliances caused tension and hostility among nations leading up to World War I. Two major alliance systems developed due to conflicting national interests, which had been evident during the past two decades throughout Europe. These were the 'Triple Alliance' of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy and the 'Triple Entente' of Britain, France and Russia. Also several smaller countries became indirectly involved in the alliances, which effectively divided Europe into two 'Armed Camps'. Russia pledged to support Serbia in order to prevent further Austrian-Hungarian expansion into the Balkans. Germany stated its support for Austria-Hungary and Britain had given its support for Belgium's independence in 1839. However, historians such as A. J. P. Taylor argue that 'Pre 1914 alliances were so precarious and fragile that they cannot be seen as the major cause of war'. This points to the fact that it should also be stressed that even a formal alliance in 1914 did not guarantee support for war, therefore not being a significant factor.