Western Democracies In World War I

This paper focuses on the underlying causes of world war I instead of just immediate causes. In this article, I will answer the question what were the underlying causes of world war I. ("DBQ: What Were the Underlying ...", 2010, p. Doc 1) Some of these causes consist of militarism, nationalism, and imperialism. The immediate causes of the war were the ones that set it off but the underlying causes are the ones that had been building up over time. ("DBQ: What Were the Underlying ...", 2010, p. Doc 1)

World War I, or “The Great War”, began in 1914 and ended in 1918. The devastation witnessed in those four years alone, caused nearly 9 million people to die and millions more crippled, grief stricken, maimed, or psychologically scarred. Considered by some to be the first man-made catastrophe of the twentieth century, many scholars still debate over the main underlying causes of World War I. Many things contributed to the war, changing the lives of many people, many of them still evident today. Beginning only as a European conflict, gradually it developed into a world war.

The First World War of 1914-1918, also known as the Great War, was the first total war in history. What began as a European struggle over the balance of power between the triple alliance of France, Britain and Russia on one side and the central powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other, soon became a global conflict that involved the imperial powers of Europe, their colonies and lands such as the Ottoman Empire, Japan and the United States. Although the sheer number of countries involved in the conflict is enough to describe the First World War as a mass war, what makes it total is the fact that it was waged not only against the enemy’s armies, but also against the civilian

In 1914, European countries went to war with themselves. When the war broke out, it was expected to be done with quickly. However, much to Europe’s dismay, the war lasted for over four long years, with the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians being lost in the battle. After the war, Europeans questioned how this war came to be. There were many speculations and opinions on what caused the event known as World War One. However, only three of the most important reasons will be discussed.

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.

World War I is estimated to have killed to an extent of 10 million people (background essay) and costing up to 186 billion dollars. WWI began in 1914 and lasted until 1918 and regarded the European Empires. The annihilation which took place in the European empires can be contributed to the unification and exclusion of countries, the desire for world dominance, and the tensions surrounding militarism.

World War One was an event that devastated the globe in such a way that was felt by all of the individual nations of the world. Many events prior to the beginnings of the war acted as a precursor to the chaos. The late eighteenth century and all throughout the nineteenth century was an era of revolution. Ordinary citizens and others hoping for liberty and justice in all of their respective nations found their voices. Out of the great “new” societies the people established arose a mutual sense of nationalism and also a state of vulnerability. The vulnerability factor brought about a system of alliances, whereas the snarky nationalism birthed a period of competitive colonization and festered until it became a dangerous weapon known as militarism.

An assassination that threw an entire continent into war, a brutal bloodshed that stretched over four year, and ten million lives lost. The morale of entire countries beaten into a tired submission. This is was what WWI left for Europe at it’s close in 1918. And these are the most popular details of this war. And although WWII is often spoke of more often and televised more than it’s predecessor, it’s importance and relevance does not waver. If it were not for this war, entire empires may still be in place. One could argue that if it were not for this war, Russia may still be under imperial rule. This one war was a spark in a flame that kept burning in Europe long after it ended. And though the assassination

Today, I will be talking about how the United states got involved into the World War I also known as the Great War. In World War I, Americans were only involved for about a year and a half when differentiated with belligerents, the United states had spent less time in the combat than any other nation engaged in Great war. However, the warfare had done a lot of damage on America’s land and people and around the world. It also resulted in a big number of war memorials in Indianapolis to honor the veterans of the Great War. The Great War from the beginning till the end took the lives of an estimated of 37 million people which included the soldiers and the innocent civilians. When the war broke out between the European countries,

In 1914 Europe was embroiled in a catastrophic war for power, pride and land. This war is now known as The Great War, First World War or The First War, because if it’s unprecedented and unparalleled slaughter, carnage and destruction. The 4-year war was a battle between the Central Powers, who were mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey against the allies, who were mainly France, Britain, Italy and Russia. It finally ended in 1918 with the defeat of the Central Powers and also the devastating deaths of 10 million soldiers.

World War I was without a doubt one of the defining event of the 20th century. It turned America into an industrial power, tore down the dying empires of Europe, and led the world into the Modern Age. One would think that this war, with how destructive it was, would be conventional in its declaration, or reasons for it, but this it was, in fact, very different from how and why wars now might be declared. The aging political, economic, and governmental systems of the time acted as a very intricately set chain of dominoes, set over hundreds, maybe even thousands of years of different leaders making the system more and more complicated. The leaders had to be capable enough to be able to navigate this system effectively, as the fate of their country was in their hands. With this increasingly complicated system, leaders’ occupations were becoming more and more difficult, and it only took a few chance events combined with leaders not as capable as their predecessors and the system’s intricately set chain of dominoes to set off the defining event of the 20th century: World War I.

In a world where peaceful negotiation is possible, one would think that violence would never be necessary. However, at the commencement of World War I, rather than lament the brutality that would eventually bring about millions of extraneous deaths. Even though the fighting in World War I had ended with the signing of the armistice on present-day Veteran’s Day, the disillusionment of the public would result in the rise of a much more dangerous war. While the Treaty of Versailles may have satisfied the demands and expectations of the Allied Powers in a monetary sense, many civilians and soldiers were still vexed due to the lack of attention to soldiers’ well being, something that deteriorated as the war progressed, the lack of blame received

Today, the Netherlands may be a parliamentary democracy, but it took substantial effort to get there. Throughout a portion of World War 2 the Netherlands were under Nazi occupation and were under strict rule. No matter how badly the Netherlands wished to maintain neutrality, Hitler took complete control. However, the Dutch nation was not going to give in so easily. We will take a look at how Hitler invaded and utilized totalitarianism and the ways the citizens displayed resistance to Nazi rule.

World War I occurred as a result of a number of political, social, and economic changes that were taking place at a rapid pace in the region. A prominent transformation was the onset of industrial revolution that accompanied these changes. Many countries were investing significantly in industrialization while undergoing transformation that was changing the face of society. To enhance patriotism and to achieve objectives that were otherwise impossible, political forces were utilizing notions like nationalism. In this scenario, the colonies of European nations became the cause of significant rivalry and disputes, settled only after the blood of millions was shed. The war had far-reaching consequences for all nations that were involved in the conflict such that the entire boundaries of many countries were remarked. This paper will discuss the impact of nationalism, industrialization, and colonialism on WWI and its occurrence.

In part one of “The Age of Total War”, Hobsbawm (1994) also argues that the war of 1914-1918 was senseless. It is argued that it is difficult to understand “why sensible statemen had not decided to settle the war by some compromise before it destroyed the world of 1914” (Hobsbawm, 1994, p. 29). He claims that the war was brutal and caused more death and destruction than was necessary. The battlefield of the Western Front was as brutal as it got. A field of blood, guts, mud and the abandoned bodies of brothers and friends was surrounded by the sound of never ending a gun fire, shouts of orders and screaming of men, whilst millions stood in trenches on either side and fired weapons at each other to add to the mass of chaos. Landscapes and towns were destroyed, countries lost up to twenty percent of their men, and those who weren’t lost were often mutated and severe haters of war. Moreover, it is argued that the destruction caused by the war did not end purely with the loss of human life, it