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The Origins of the Great War Essay

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The Origins of the Great War As the war of the worlds began to collide between 1914 and 1918, there were numerous causes as to why the "Great War" began. The war began as a local European war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia on July 28, 1914. Later on it transformed into a general European struggle by declaration of war against Russia on August 1, 1914 and eventually became a global war involving 32 nations. Twenty-eight of these nations were known as the Allies and the Associated Powers, including Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and the United States. They opposed the coalition known as the Central Powers, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. However, the immediate cause of …show more content…

On the same day the French also began to mobilize, thus leading to the eruption of several wars. On August 2, the German government informed the government of Belgium of its intention to march into France through Belgium in order to prevent an attack on them by the French troops, for Germany had declared war on France on the 3rd of August. Meanwhile, the Belgium government refused this proposal and called on the witnesses of the Treaty of 1839, which guaranteed the justice of Belgium in case of a conflict in which Great Britain, France and Germany were involved in. Great Britain, one of the witnesses, on August 4, sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that Belgium's justice must be respected. However, Germany refused and when the clock read twelve Germany and Great Britain were at war. In this fight with France and Britain the term militarism became an evident cause to the break out of World War I. Militarism proved to be notoriously distinguished as an arms race. After the resignation of Bismark, the successor William II used the success of nationalistic Germany to generate a race against France and Britain simultaneously, on land and sea. Each country got more and more powerful from their profits which resulted in them making weapons. Germany's navy was eventually so powerful that they were able to match and even beat the British navy. This arms race is eventually what got Italy and especially the United States involved in

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