International Alliances during World Wars I and II

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.

Interventionism, the belief that the United States should involve itself in foreign affairs, and isolationism, the belief that the United States should avert from any foreign affairs were two ideas that bopped heads during the first World War when it came to the United States’ position in foreign affairs. Interventionism was highly driven off of the thirst for profit and power. This hunger completely brainwashed people of all other thoughts, triggering them to steal innocent lives recklessly and mercilessly. However, isolationism protected American interests during the early 1900’s as it kept us out of war and affairs which ultimately resulted in American debt, lives, and peace being spared from the terrors of war as exhibited in George Washington’s Farewell Address, Ambassador James Bryce’s British Report on German Atrocities, and Robert La Follette’s A Progressive Opposes the Declaration of War.

World War I was caused by several issues between European powers, the first being militarism, or the huge emphasis placed on having large and strong armies and navies. Germany is an example of militarism in WWI because Germany began competing with the British for having the largest navy in the world, as well as developing new weapons like poison gas and submarines, the latter being a great tool in surprise attacks. Militarism was also associated with the Romanticism of war; Europeans wished to fight so that they could become heros. The constant military build ups in several European countries left countries looking for alliances with other strong countries, in the event that war was to break out. Germany, Italy, and Austria created the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente was comprised of Great Britain, France, and

The end of World War I left much of America confused on the country’s role in world affairs. Many people believed that the United States should primarily worry about its own issues and problems, and let the world handle their own problems. But President Woodrow Wilson was not one of those people. He believed that the United States should be directly involved in the issues affecting all of the countries of the world. He also wanted the United States to be the country to make a push for a League of Nations. “The people of the United States could act upon no other principle; and to the vindication of this principle they are ready to devote their lives, their honor, and everything that they possess. The normal climax of this the culminating and final war for human liberty has come, and they are ready to put their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own integrity and devotion to the test.” Wilson believed that if the United States needed to be a part of a League of Nations in charge of keeping peace around the world, this would keep America

The United Sates planned to stay neutral dunning both World War I and World War II. When President Woodrow Wilson took office he had little experience handling foreign affairs, he believed that America had a moral duty to stay at peace during the outbreak of World War I unless it affected domestic affairs. I disagree with President’s Woodrow decision to practice Isolationism and moral diplomacy, because staying neutral did not help improve the world’s condition during wartime. There was a moral reason for World War I. By staying neutral America seemed to have weak leadership. By not commenting on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand or getting involved in the war America didn’t set the moral standard that the moral diplomacy sought to aim

In 1917 America was pulled into the first world war. The war started in 1914 and America was trying there best to keep from having to enter the war. But in 1917 Germany shot a torpedo at a US ship for no reason, so America had no choice they had to enter the war. When America entered the war they were a little behind on all they new types of weapons and war fair. So America started building new advanced weapons and preparing to show how dominate America can be. They started making things like tanks, machine guns, and submarines. This helped the US get the upper hand on all of there enemies and pout them in more of a position to win the war. When the US started doing this it gave them the edge over the people who they are fighting since both sides where using trench war far these new weapons helped them to just have to sit in one spot and not have to loose that many soldiers.

Germany had stockpiled quite an arsenal and increased their navy for advanced combat. Great Britain also strengthened her navy. Militarism was another cause of the war. Countries like Germany and Russia had policies in place to build a strong military in readiness for war. Between 1910 and 1914, Germany had a 73% increase in military spending while Russia had 39%, Britain had 13%, and France had 10%. This increase in defense spending led to countries building stronger militaries which thrust the world deeper into the war. Lastly, nationalistic movements were going on all over the world. People were getting more aware of their ethnicities and the oppression that they had endured from people who were not like them. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria came from the nationalistic views of the Bosnians who did not want to be under the rule of Austria-Hungary and wanted their own state. Strong nationalistic movements were going on everywhere and the unification of Italy and Germany was a product of it. France had to give up some land to Germany and wanted it back. Nationalism played a big role in the start of the war as it fueled existing fires and was probably one of the direct causes of the war. Not only did nationalism start the war it extended it longer than it should have gone. This, as each nation tried to prove its power and dominance over the

On September 1, 1939, there was a World War II between the Allies and Axis. The main Allies leaders were Joseph Stalin from the Soviet Union, Franklin D. Roosevelt from the United States, Winston Churchill from the United Kingdom, and Chiang Kai-shek from China. The main Axis leaders were Adolf Hitler from the Nazi in Germany, Hirohito from Japan, and Benito Mussolini from the Kingdom of Italy. WWII started when German troops invaded Poland and France was declaring a war against Germany. In May 7, 1945, Europe ended with Germany’s surrendering. The war end when Japan surrendered on September 2. 1945. In World War II, there was over 2.5 million African American that registered for the drafts. Only one million of them were accepted to served

WWI happened due to an escalation of events that from July till August 1914. It all started when Serbia was unable to comply with the demands that Austria-Hungary had demanded because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that happened on the 28th June (Stevenson, n.d.). Since Serbia was unable to comply with the demands, Austria-Hungary eventually declared to go to war. On the 5th of July, Germany pledged a ‘blank cheque’ where they would support Austria-Hungary during the war in the event that Russians assist the Serbians (history.com, 2009).

I am field marshal James Keith, and I know a crisis when I see one. The currentis situation is a crisis, and calls for the court’s swift action. Despite having been relatively quiet sinceAfter the war of Austrian succession, Austria has been relatively quiet until about now, when they seems to be planninghave a plan t to attack us in just a few days. These problems all started with the war of Austrian succession. Although tTheat war began under the pretext that Maria Theresa was ineligible to succeed to the Habsburg thrones of her father, Charles IV, because Salic law precluded royal inheritance by a woman,.

In the late 19th century and the early 20th century European nations decided to ally with each other out of fear of being attacked. They set up mutual protection pacts. These pacts were designed to help defend their countries if they were invaded. The pacts were known as the Treaty Alliance System. The main pacts that were present before World War One were; Russia and Serbia, Japan and Britain, France and Russia, Germany and Austria Hungary, and Britain, France and Belgium. The US was neutral until the German navy attacked our civilian ships. So if anyone of the countries was attacked it would set off a chain reaction leading to total war. That is exactly what happened.

There are many different causes that led up to WWI, but there were a handful of root causes that accelerated the development of hostility between nations. One of the main reasons was the shifting of the balance of power. The balance of power between nations is a delicate equilibrium that can be easily thrown off if one nation shows a bit of hostility, or if there is an emergence that threatens the sanctity of this balance. For a power to emerge or change, it directly affects all other nations involved through a butterfly effect of events. In WWI specifically, the unification of Germany threw off all alliances and the control of powers, as it was overwhelming for such a strong power to step up. Structurally and emotionally, this was a dramatic change to the stability of the balance of powers, and such a quick change disrupted the peace between the nations so greatly that WWI occurred. Apart from the breakdown of the balance of powers and emergence of hegemonic threats, other institutional and structural theories can explain the events that caused WWI. Some of these events include social conflicts within the countries, shifting alliances, power rankings, and the struggles to negotiate different resources between countries.

The beginning of the 20th century many countries had alliances that are almost like friends between each other witch would ironically start the largest war the world has seen at the time. WW1 was between two groups of alliances, the Central powers that consisted of Germany Austria- hungry Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The other side was the allied powers which consisted of Great Britain France and Italy. Each side thought this massive war would be over very quickly because of all the technologies in new weaponry such as machine guns, tanks, airplane warfare, submarines and chemical weapons were thought to overpower anyone who tried to fight back. Chemical weapons were said to be too inhuman and destructive to be used during war so they are now banned from any confutation.

Following the brutality of the First World War, China was a divided nation. After almost a century of exploitative and unequal treaties, the rise of warlords, and various attempts to seize political control, China was split in two; the Beiyang government ruled from Peking while Sun Yat-sen, the first president of China, consolidated his power in the South. On May 4, 1919, outraged students descended on Tiananmen to protest the concession of territory in Shandong Province to the Japanese. German forces during the war had been defeated at the Battle of Tsingtao which allowed the Japanese to take control of the disputed area. News of the student protests spread, inciting similar incidents around the Middle Kingdom. Taking on the moniker of the

World War I happened in July 28, 1914, but still to this day historians are unable to pin-point what exactly triggered WWI to start. Militarism, can be seen as the major factor that lead WWI to start, militarism is the policy of maintaining a strong military and a glorification of military strength. This can be seen as the major cause of WWI because militarism grew tension between powers. Which was significant because it caused militarism to increase numerous factors such as nationalism and imperialism. Once militarism was at a certain level where powers were competing over raw materials, it caused the increase of imperialism. Imperialism got to a point where powers wanted to become the most powerful country of them all causing tension between rivals, which at the end increased nationalism because every country wanted to prove the fact that their country were better than any other country. which were all part of the domino effect, as a result of the domino effect was the starting of WWI. This is how militarism was the cause of WWI because it caused the domino effect which caused WWI to begin.