The Origins Of The Great War

The flash of machine guns and the blare of shells were brand new to the veterans. Both the soldiers on the front and their family at home did not realize how much WW1 would change war forever. WW1, beginning in 1914 and ending in 1918 involved two major parties. The triple alliance, including Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, and the triple entente, including France, Great Britain, and Russia fought the biggest War that the world had ever seen. We know the story, but when we read the between the pages, what were the underlying causes of the Great War that changed history? Through extensive research among primary and secondary documents, the answer has been found. The hidden causes were militarism, nationalism, and the system of

The Great War, or World War I as it came to be known, dealt a devastating blow to the optimism and self-confidence of Western civilization (Foner 733). In fact, when war occurred in the year 1914, President Wilson proclaimed American neutrality. However, as in the years leading up to the War of 1812, naval warfare which was in Europe made its way into the United States (Foner 734). In addition to this, Britain declared a naval blockade of Germany and started to stop American merchant vessels (Foner 734). Moreover, Germany made the decision to commence submarine warfare on ships seen entering and leaving British ports. What is more, is that in May of 1915, the British liner Lusitania (which was transporting an excessive amount of weapons such as firearms) was sank by a German submarine off of the coast of Ireland, this resulted in the death of 1,198 passengers, 124 of which were Americans (Foner 734).

Wars have immensely contributed to human history for thousands of years, becoming highly destructive usually for the means of gain. The First World War, also known as ‘the Great War’ was a truly global war centred in Europe. The causes of one of the most destructive wars in human history are still debated to this day. Some historians have come up with a list of multiple causes of the war. However, experts have identified some of the primary causes of the war, including the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism. The causes of the truly deadly war, sending ripples of shock throughout Europe and the world, can be summarised into four points, and the start of the war pinpointed to one bullet from a young Serbians gun.

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.

A week or so ago I read a writing prompt which suggested writing a biography of a character whose life starts relatively normally but which gets more unlikely as their life progresses. I couldn 't find the original prompt and so I am posting it here

World War I was a time of chaos and turmoil for Europe and Great Britain. The events of World War I impacted the British Empire and its allies not only through the human and financial costs engendered by the brutal battles that characterized the war, but the technologies that developed to further the war machine left a lasting impact on postwar Britain and all of Europoe. What is more, the "War to End All Wars" forever changed the cultural roles of the British family. Finally, the war changed the configuration of European alliances, laying the groundwork for later political strife in the aftermath of The Great War. The following article details the events and impacts of The Great War on the British empire, detailing the battles, new ideas

Both President St. Michael and General Grayston were ecstatic over the entry of Texas into the war. They now believed the war to be over within months as the United States Forces began to engage Texan Forces. Then word came from the field that the 3rd Army Division was being thrashed by the II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune North Carolina. It was disturbing news, the 3rd Army was an integral part of the attack against the 82nd Airborne and 3rd Infantry Division and now it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. This would leave the 2nd Army Division to take on two United States Army Divisions and one of those Divisions had Armor and Artillery, than there was still the fact they had air cover, how much they didn’t know.

The alliance system, imperialism, arms race, and military plans created a perfect situation for a war in Europe, which would eventually become the Great War. With Germany, Great Britain, France, and Russia being the top powers in Europe, these countries would be the front runners in the discussion of the topics mentioned above and how their participation in those topics eventually led to the Great War. The order of topics to discuss that would ultimately lead to the Great War would be Imperialism being the spark that would lead to an arms race, which would then lead to an alliance system, with military plans truly making the war a world war.

The Great War, which is more commonly called World War I began on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918. It was a global war centered in Europe and involved more than 70 million military personnel. There were over 9 million combatants, and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war (Keegan, 1998). It was one of the deadliest recorded military conflicts in history, and was the reason for numerous major political changes.

On 28 June 1914, a Serbian shot an Austrian. Within six weeks, many of the countries of Europe had become involved in a war that was to cause the deaths of 10 million soldiers, but was the assassination the only cause of war? WWI wasn't just any war, it was also a new beginning and a new cause for a few of the european countries that had been involved. The end results for Germany had been the worst, which not only caused Germany to have a new purpose and have resentments, but also to make something new from that beaten Germany. WWI was caused by many factors but the ones that always come first to our attention could be one such as Militarism, which was an arms race that was capable of making countries into great allies or an enemy to fear. Not only do some people feel pride in being what they but also they can take their nationalism to a whole new level. Take hitler as an example. Believing that his race was far better than any of the others out there, but it doesn't end there. Allies was a big part of it also. If one country went to war with another then the allies would be called upon and join in as well, which led to the opposing countries allies stepping in followed by any of their allies, allies. But change played a great role also. Not everyone wanted change which could mean a loss to any power a country held. Imperialism wasn't accepted by all and there were those leaders in countries that knew what imperialism could mean to the power they

The attributes of trench warfare during the twentieth century lead to a mass communication failure. Although new methods of communication expanded exponential growth during the years of the war, the recognition of communication holistically failed to reach full potential regardless of their benefits. As the situation began to exacerbate, miscommunication based on trench warfare paved the way as professional soldiers declined and replacements of civilization soldiers inclined. The battlefield failures occurred in multiple degrees, these failures shared the same theme of a mass communication catastrophe.

The First World War started from a minor conflict. However, poor decisions and lack of logical thinking by various belligerents, especially Germans, caused the minor conflict to become ‘The Great War’. Although, the German contribution to intensify the war was greater, all other belligerents who were influenced by the Germans in making decisions during the war were inclined to mistakes, leading to the disastrous outcome of the war.

Many battles have been fought in Europe, however they were so small and insignificant, they do not compare to what was coming. World War I was the first major war fought on the European continent in over 50 years. Tension between Great Britain and Germany has been boiling for years, long before the war. Many factors between the apposed nations could have been the breaking point of the war. Alliance between Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary and the opposing Alliance of Britain, Russia and France created a large amount of tension as for Germany, which was now surrounded by the Triple Entente. It was a wise tactical advantage for Britain because they are so far from Germany. Expansion across the continent, Imperialism, gives more land power to whoever expanded, which creates all the more tension between the nations. Nationalists, with their pride and loyalty are unmatched, along with their arrogance, were always finding ways to prove who the more dominant power is. All this could only lead to war.

This chapter starts with The First World War and considering there had been no major wars over the period of 1815 – 1914. “No major power fought another outside its immediate regions.” (p. 23). This was all about to change with the beginning of what could be called the bloodiest period of the century.

I think before we can talk about President Johnson’s decision to escalate the war in Vietnam we need to go back a little further. According to Bill Moyers at PBS the origins of the war started in 1945 when the British chose to ignore Ho Chi Minh’s declaration of independence and restored French rule to the country. After a long drawn out conflict with Ho Chi Minh’s forces and a massive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French finally left Vietnam in 1954. (Moyers, B.) Before Johnson took office Eisenhower and Kennedy helped to set the stage for what was to come.