The Short-Term Causes Of The World War?

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

Bismarck’s alliance system brought peace between the European countries. (Stewart, Fitzgerald, Pickard 12) His alliance system starts with a treaty with Austria-Hungary who was one of the 5 powers in Europe. In 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungary signed the Dual Alliance, which was planned as a merely defensive arrangement or military alliance. Both governments promised that they should help or remain neutral when other powerful countries such as Russia or France attack. (Stewart, Fitzgerald, Pickard 13) The second allied country was with Italy. In 1882, Bismarck turns Dual Alliance into Triple Alliance by making Italy to join in his alliance system. Since Italy had close friendship with Great Britain, although Italy was not a strong military nation, it was an influential part of the Alliance. And at the same time, Great Britain and Germany had conflict in North Africa on colonial aspiration. Therefore, it was the perfect time to be an ally with her to isolate France. (Stewart, Fitzgerald, Pickard 14) Making Great Britain as a close friend was a benefit for Germany. Bismarck’s next target to isolate France was Russia. In 1881, the Dreikaiserbund was made a treaty, which was the agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia promising not to help the fourth power, France. However in 1884, this treaty had renewed and Russia refused to renew her membership in Dreikaiserbund. Then Bismarck discussed the Reinsurance Treaty with

The huge national investment in military helped the countries to prepare for the war. In actuality, all the countries had known that the war was unavoidable. (Doc 9) French writer Emile Zola thinks that “The world can live only by eating and being eaten. And it is only the warlike nations that have prospered; a nation dies when it disarms.” (Doc 2) Countries made meticulous plan to defend themselves by increasing militarism. The expenditures of the great powers on armaments of the European countries increased dramatically. (Doc 10) However, the political leaders did not make efforts to prevent the war. Instead, they increased the mobilization of their armies for war. (Doc 11) Countries were aware of that the world war must bring out, the only thing was a trigger, the assassination of Ferdinand. The relationship between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was terrible before the assassination. In the ultimatum sent to Serbia on July 23, 1914, Austria-Hungary condemned the movement against the Monarchy and asked for collarboration against these subversions. (Doc 8) However, the tensions became uncontrollable when on July 28, Ferdinand was assassinated by a a nationalist Serbian young

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.

In the 1900’s Europe believed that they had the most power over the world hands down. By the end of the four year war in 1918 they were sadly mistaken, losing roughly 10 million soldiers and more than 20 million injured, Europe was rethinking their claims. This war was sparked from the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. The war lasted four years long between 1814 and 1918. European countries were in a dilemma they couldn't get out of.

Many historians believe that due to the Wilhelmine Era and the expansion of the German nation, led to the outbreak of World War One. During the Bismarck era, Bismarck 's main goal was to keep France isolated and stay in good relations with Austria and Russia so that it would prevent a war. Although Bismarck 's foreign policy was creating cooperation, it did not last very long. The spark of World War one came from the Wilhelmine era, which turned away from everything Bismarck’s foreign policy represented. The expansion of the military scared Europe, the industrialization of the railroad was a suspicion to other countries, and the expansion of domestic supporters led to the alliance of the France, Britain, and Russia known as the Triple Entente.

Another example was when European powers immediately started exporting the blame onto one another after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, (Doc B). Germany supported Austria-Hungary who blamed Serbia for the assassination and declared war. In the view of European nations joining alliances on both sides, tensions grew exponentially high. Countries like Austria-Hungary were motivated to give Serbia an ultimatum which eventually created a chain reaction that led the majority of powerful European countries to join the fight. Therefore, The system of alliances was one of the few reasons why the war

After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia their allies began declaring war on others. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia, France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Britain joined Russia and France (DBQ Project Background Essay). Which all this caused an outbreak of war in Europe. Everyone was trying to support their allies, so if the opportunity arose and their country ever needed them they would have their support in

“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

Wilhelm II: Russia was the sworn enemy of Germany since its forsake. After the Germany was unified by Bismarck at 1870s, it became a monarchy state ruled by emperors like me. Bismarck planed to build a stable alliance in order to counteract the hostile from France and Britain. So that, he decided to form an alliance with Russia , Austro-Hungarian empire and Italy. By a series of treaties, this system finally took shape. But, at 1892, Russia betrayed Germany and form alliance with

In order to understand how France freed itself from its isolation, it is first necessary to see how Bismarck’s web of alliances around it was constructed. Bismarck, determined to consolidate his power in the new German empire, sought to entice the other powers away from France. He immediately looked eastward to the two large empires near his borders: Austria-Hungary and Russia. Using promises of neutrality pledges and assistance in the case of aggression by other large powers, Bismarck was able to pull the two powers into his circle of foreign policy influence through the Dreikaiserbund (Three Emperors league) in 1873 and even further with Austria-Hungary in the Dual Alliance of 1879. The Dreikaiserbund was further reaffirmed in 1881 and Germany’s relationship with Russia deepened in 1887 with the Reinsurance treaty between the two countries. After securing friendship, or at least a semblance of it, to the East, Germany looked to isolate France even further with two other powers close to its borders: Italy

With many factors leading to the origin of WWI, alliances contributed the most. This is because alliances dragged different countries into the war due to a binding agreement. As Serbia pulled in Russia and Austria-Hungary had Germany’s support, causing a domino effect with other allies. This means that when two countries are having a disagreement, then many other countries are having a disagreement with one another, due to their alliance. Starting with a conflict of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife Sofia of Austria Hungary, done by a Serbian civilian, created negative sparks between the two countries of Austria Hungary and Serbia. Although this conflict had been just between the two countries, it hauled over their alliances in need of support.

Looking back in history, the Franco-Prussian War (1870) completely changed the balance of power in Europe and strengthened Germany’s position as the leading continental power. The annexation of Alsace-Lorraine never healed the wounds in France, and poisoned the relations between the two countries down to 1914. European politics from the 1880s was dominated by a dense web of alliances and treaties, which aimed to consolidate Germany’s position in Europe. However, Bismarck’s international relations were only successful in the short-term and in the long-term they were plagued by insecurity and mistrust. As one alliance developed, it aroused the distrust of those states excluded from it, which then created counter-alliances (Joll 1990).

The Dual Alliance was an alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary, created on 7th October, 1879, as a defensive alliance to limit war. In the treaty, Germany and Austria-Hungary pledged to aid the other in case of an attack by Russia. Also, each country promised the other benevolent neutrality if one of them was attacked by another European power (After the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894, the European power was generally taken to be France). ‘ Benevolent neutrality’ meant that the country, while not involving itself in military fighting, would offer help and support to its favourable side ("Neutrality/Benevolent Neutrality” 4). Germany and Austria-Hungary was one of the more surprising alliances of its time. The rulers of Austria believed that the promotion of nationalism would destroy their empire, while Germany favoured it. Also, sharing the same language and culture often drove Austria-Hungary and Germany apart. Despite all the problems, their common dislike for Russia brought the two empires together. ("World War I Alliance Systems: The Dual Alliance (1879)." 6)