The Political And Geographic Situation Of Europe At The Beginning Of World War I

The unconditional support from alliances can be blamed to cause World War I. The nature of the alliances is laid out in the alliance document. The alliances stipulated assistance and contribution of the signing parties in the event of conflict. It can extend from money or logistic sponsorship, similar to the supply of materials or weapons, to military activation and a statement about war. Partnerships might likewise contain currency components, for example, trade agreements, investment or loans. It is best known to cause World War I. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, European nations formed, abolished, or restructured their own alliances. By 1914, the Great Powers of Europe split into two opposing alliance blocs. For quite a long time Europe had been a mixture of ethnic and regional competitions, political interests, contending desires, military dangers, suspicions and disorder. France and England were antiquated foes whose competition ejected into open fighting a few times between the fourteenth and mid nineteenth hundreds of years.

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.

Q.1 Nationalism- Very possible that nationalism amongst the European states along with the Russian Empire all had a strong view to how Europe should look, and in doing so sparked more fuel into the fire that caused World War I. Old schoolmasters would say “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country” states were now being viewed as a person rather than an entity, the only thought process people had in the late nineteenth century and previous years was in order to grow a nation one must take it from another.

This leads to the conclusion that the European powers were ready for war in 1914. It is important to realize that since the European powers made alliances with each other, small arguments concerning one power might lead to a war involving all the powers. In the case of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, this situation created a serious misunderstanding between Austria-Hungary and Serbia and as a result, the other nations in Europe involved in alliances with either 2 countries were obligated to support them. Alliances were originally created strictly for defensive purposes but by 1910, many of the alliances had changed their character like the Austro-German alliance. Germany promised to give military aid to Austria-Hungary to invade Serbia and on the other hand, Russia provided Serbia with military assistance. As alliances had become instruments of national aggression, the chances of war doubled. The probability of Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia due to the death of their heir increased because Austria-Hungary could rely on the support of Germany to help achieve its goal. In addition, this fragile interlock of alliances relied on the leaders of the European countries to act reasonably however, this was not the case in the situation of World War 1. The Kaiser of Germany felt his country was being denied the chance to unleash its full potential by Britain so the power hungry ruler was determined to

During the start of the 20th century, Europe was in a good place. It controlled many empires and colonies, and technology was advancing at a rapid pace after the Industrial Revolution (1840-1870). However this peace did not last; 1914 started a brutal four year war known as WWI. The immediate cause of this war is known to be the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, in June of 1914. However, there are many more elementary causes of this complicated war. Some of the main underlying causes of WWI was the strong militarism and imperialism felt in the European countries, and the alliances put in place to uphold these powerful militaries and colonies.

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.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Europe was becoming a tinder box for a possible great war. Every country was extremely determined on spreading their empires. Additionally they began to form alliances, France with England and Germany with Austria-Hungry. Then on June 28th 1914 a Bosnian-Serb nationalist assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife practically igniting Europe and the world into a massive war. This assassination was viewed as an act of war and Russia came in to assist their ally Serbia. Germany naturally had to declare war on Russia to help Austria-Hungry. France and England then joined in to assist Russia.

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.

World War I, or the Great War, was one of the largest widespread wars in all of world history. However, it set the path for World War II when other countries came to blame Germany and thus crushing their government and economy, and amassed large destruction over multiple countries in Europe, such as Britain, France, and Germany, especially. It is important to understand how these wars came to be. During a dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia,which led to the assassination of the Austria-Hungarian leader Archduke Franz Ferdinand, years of separate alliances, bad international relations, and growth of arms all brought up the then inevitable outbreak of World War I.

After the assassination of archduke Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which caused Russia to join the war in aid of Serbia because they had a special ethnic tie which both countries had Slavic populations (Doc A). The illustration is significant because countries would have to back each other up in case other countries went to war, leading to a widespread war. Furthermore, the war between Austria-Hungary and Russia introduced Germany, associated with the Triple Alliance Treaty to Austria-Hungary, into the war . Which meant France and Britain, bound by the triple Entente, were also at war with Germany mainly because Germany cuts through Belgium “ Belgium shall form an independent and perpetually neutral state” (Doc B). The evidence suggests that allied countries had to assist colleagues in terms of conflict no matter how the conflict started. Thus, the alliance system lets World War I be a world war because when one country comes to support another, it causes tension for other countries, forcing them to join the mess and that led to a widespread

Changes were happening all over Europe between World War I and World War II, and the book Europe in the Era of Two World Wars highlights a lot of them. Volker Berghahn, the author, discusses how violence escalated all across Europe during this time frame. The book digs into the desires and upsets of countries like Germany, Britain, France, and Russia, during war times more than others I have read do. Economies of each country and the escalading violence are the main focuses of the book. In the following review of Berghahn’s work, Europe in the Era of Two World Wars, I will highlight why the author is qualified to write the book, and survey the strengths and weakness of the information he provided.

At the turn of the twentieth century Europe seemed to enjoy a period of peace and progress. Yet below the surface, several forces were at work that would lead Europe into the “Great War”. Some of the causes of WW1 were Nationalism, Militarism, Imperial Rivalries, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Alliance.

“In the last fifty years, the imperialism of all European states has chronologically poisoned international relations” (Doc 5). Due to European imperialism and many countries arguing over what land they wanted tensions were formed between them. So many countries sought alliances for security. The alliances played a big role in the outbreak of war because once one country got into a fight their allies had an obligation to help. (Doc 2) shows a map of Europe and the alliances before WWI. The alliances were split up in two groups, Central Powers and Allies. Some of the countries switched sides when they thought the war was changing courses. The alliance system is important to learn because you can see the domino effect from when one country first entered a war. “The two armed camps alarmed eachother, and each grew heavy with multiplied incidents, which spread East”(Doc 7). This quote proves that the war going to happen at some point. The tensions were already high between France and Germany, so when the Archduke was killed that was just the spark that officially started war. With Britain, Germany, and France colonizing and expanding, tensions began to build between the countries over what land they wanted. All the effects of European Imperialism led to the outbreak of

All of these countries were well-off, Britain especially, with the Industrial Revolution increasing exports and Imperialism producing resources needed to keep their economy superior to other countries. In the middle of this alliance, there lay another. It consisted of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The Balkans to the south were considered neutral territory in 1914 (Document A), but the peoples of these lands were vastly unhappy. One such people were the Serbians. Now, the Serbians were not happy with how their lives were, and dreamed of revolution. So, a group known as The Black Hand devised a plan that they believed would bring the change they wanted to Serbia; killing the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Now when this happened, Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Serbia. However, when this did this, they alerted the Triple Entente. Russia, which was tied to the Triple Entente, was on good terms with Serbia. And so Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary, which causes Germany to join in, and invade Belgium. And so Britain, who was a friend of Belgium, declared war on Germany, and then France joined because England joined. So, in effect, because of one assassination, because of one death, all of Europe bursted into a long, bloody engagement in which ten million people

Peace in Europe was destroyed in the 20th century due to the tensions and mistrust that the most powerful nations in the world felt toward one another. World War I had lasted from 1914 to 1918, with over 10 million soldiers dead. This tragedy started due to three prominent causes: alliances, imperialism, and militarism; out of these, militarism had the most influential impact. To begin, alliances were a major contribution to the development of World War I. The Triple Entente consisted of Russia, France, and Britain, whereas on the opposing side of the war, the Triple Alliance was made up of Italy (who switched sides later), Germany, and Austria-Hungary (Doc. A). These alliances would mean that if one of their allies were at war, then each country had a duty to support one another.