While reading this chapter I was fed a lot of new information, things I probably should know from 4th grade history. The key concepts I took away were World War 1 was a war trying to balance power. Many would say that balance of power causes stability, but that doesn’t mean peace; more so maintaining independence. Power conversion is the capacity potential power to realized power and is measured by others changed behaviors. Though, power resources are context dependent, for example Mismark’s use of railway technology. The origins of WWI became less flexible as the alliance system did, the balance of power became less and the chances of war started to increased. While understanding that WWI was determining who had power, I still believe that
When a nation gained more powerful arms, they were seen as a larger threat to the rest of the world, which was proven by post-war speeches from leaders of involved countries and statistics from the war. When Germany was blamed entirely for starting the war, German Versailles Treaty delegation leader Count Brockdorff-Rantzau argued that imperialism and the massive power put in the militaries across Europe had a larger impact on the war than Germany (Document 5). The mobilization of European armies and missed preventative steps to avoid war in almost every European country were both also cited by many historians for causing the Great War to occur (Document 6). The effects of military advancement and involvement in political discrepancies is clearly shown in statistics of money paid by each country involved in the war throughout time. When the war broke out, substantial increases in the investments made for weaponry are shown, especially by the main countries involved in the war, such as Great Britain, France, and Germany (Document 1). Military advancement overall had a large part in World War I’s breakout, due to its effects on the mindset of countries to create more weaponry for defense, and the power it gave to a nation’s
Throughout history there has been many conflicts between groups of people that have threatened peace in many nations and regions. One of these conflicts was world war 1 which involved many countries that sided with one another against each other. There were many causes to this conflict that started all the fighting between the nations. Each country has their own view on who's fault it was and if it was handled correctly. This war only caused many casualties and economic problems for countries which could of easily been avoided.
Even though the two wars took place at different times in history the two wars had a lot of similarities. I don’t mean just in the war the starting of the war and the finishing of the wars were similar. In both wars, imperialism, nationalism, and militarism led to the outbreak of war. Imperialisms is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. In ww1 Imperialism was a cause because building an empire needs manpower such as an army and a navy to conquer and keep the land that they colonized and governed. Nationalism was a great cause of World War one because of countries being greedy and not negotiating. Nationalism shows you are proud of your country and want it to be the best. A lot of causes all came to together and countries all wanted to be better than each other which causes a lot of tension. Militarism could have cause the war due to the naval and arms race. The main event of Militarism causing World War one was the naval rivalry which was made after 1900. Britain had the most powerful navy in the world. This caused everyone else to want to be better but you can’t. Alliances showed a great dent in World War one. Europe divided into two opposing Alliances the Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy which was formed in 1882. The Triple Entente included Britain, France and Russia which was formed in 1907.
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.
In the United States Federalism Constitution had another power which is the reserved power. A reserved power gets order by the 10th Amendment. The 10th amendment the Bill of Rights to further define the balance of power between the federal government and the states. The amendment says that the federal government has only those powers specifically granted by the Constitution. Once the 10th amendment had been used the Anti-Federalists became anxious that the new Constitution exposed the Revolutionary War that object to violence against a form of government or indestructible central government.
Lusitania- During the Great War in 1915, the Lusitania, a British ocean linear, was attacked and sank by the German army. During this time, Germany had announced a blockade of any British submarines in retaliation of the blockade the British had on German ships. Any British ship that passed into Germany’s boundaries were attacked. There were 1,198 people killed aboard the liner, including 139 Americans. When the United States protested such unrestricted attacks, Germany stopped its submarine campaign in hopes to keep America out of the war and to stay neutral. This was just one of the many instances in which tensions were established between the United States and Germany during the Great War.
During World War I, there were two main powers fighting against each other, the allied powers and the central. The allied powers consisted of; France, Britain, Russia, Italy, and the United States. The central powers consisted of; Germany, Austria- Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. The war all started because new Germany wanted to become a global power, but Britain was ahead already, and there couldn’t be two global powers at once. Both Germany and Britain saw war as an opportunity; to countries, war could have been a positive thing.
Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism played a huge part in the led up to World War 1. With the threat of war hanging over the heads of many countries, the Arms Race began. Germany, France, and Russia started to recruit a large portion of their male population. This gave the men a taste of war and the military experience. The Arms Race caused every European state have access to a huge army, but these armies ere ruining their economics. The citizens knew that they needed to rid of themselves of these armies before they went into economic ruin, but before this could happen they were propelled into war. Germany created a large, modern navy that threatened Britain. At the time of this threat, Germany was trying to secure Britain as
World War I was said to be “The War to End All Wars”. The war was a fight between the Allied and Central powers. WWI was caused by a series of long term events as well as some immediate short term events. World War I had lasting effects on the countries involved and is considered a turning point in history. World War I did not resolve the long term causes of European conflict that brought about the war.
The balance of power was a race for who was going to be first, and have the most land to give to their people. Russia had the most land but was slow in growth and in industrialization. Germany was growing too fast, but started to run out of land. France lost power when they lost to the Prussian people, which made Germany ready to take land and power. After 1871 the balance of powers changed again and it was war time in 1914. Germany had a great military and with Italy by their side many countries would have been under their rule, but with the two giant powers, Britain and Russia, Germany had no chance to advance.
World War I saw the nations involved rallied into two major alliances in order to curb German’s increasing power. It is evident that German amassing too much power poses a threat to the security of its counterparts in an anarchic system. As a result, other countries were willing to use various means not only to mitigate the risks but also maintain their independence in the world’s political structure. The balance of power theory focuses on how countries can achieve a balance and international order. The causes of World War one can be attributed to the balance of power mechanisms used by the countries involved.
It can be argued convincingly that the United States emerged from World War I as the world superpower because of U.S intervention and President Woodrow Wilson’s diplomatic leadership. America had now become the ‘saviour of Europe.’ The United States left World War I with a major confidence boost. The war resulted in the death of empires, the birth of nations and in national boundaries being redrawn around the world. It ushered in prosperity for some countries while it brought economic depression to others. It influenced literature, changed culture and politics; social and economic climate was also impacted.
The “Balance of Power” was one of the most frequently used words in the international relation; it was the one that relates itself to peace. In another word, if the power becomes unbalanced or destabilized, war will become as unavoidable. However, what exactly is the definition of “balance of power?” According to Dictionary.com, it is “a distribution and opposition of forces among nations such that no single nation is strong enough to assert its will or dominate all the others” ("The Definition of Balance of Power"). So, it can be treated as a policy, one that has a great impact on the power distribution among countries. As such, each country would take their own actions to protect itself from attacks or from being in a disadvantaged situation by maintaining the power equilibrium. To illustrate the importance of “balanced power,” one could recall one of the well-known destructive war-- the First World War, also known as the World War I, has an impartible relation with this “Balance of Power.” World War One, as we know, began in 1914 to 1918 and made its name by the serious consequences it brought. The consequences of World War One had also lead to the World War Two and the cold war. For the major powers involved in this world war, which are —Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. This war started locally in Europe between two countries, but soon things got complicated, and it started to come down to a war that the whole world was involved in. From the
Leading up to the First World War (WWI) was a series of crises -- Serbian unification efforts, the Ten-Point Ultimatum from Austria to Serbia, the Kruger Telegram, the Dreadnought Race, the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and of 1911, the Balkan Wars, and the Bosnian Crisis -- that generated significant conflict and division among the countries of Europe, all of which seemed to lay the foundation for the start of WWI. With concern for its own power and security in a rapidly changing Europe, Germany set out to undermine the power of as well as the alliances between other European countries. In his book The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to War in 1914, Christopher Clark points out that, while ‘not one of the great powers has escaped the
Allies bound by treaty, as well as compelled by defensive nature, began to acquire mass weaponry. Once these countries entered the war, they had to keep gaining power; i.e. spending money, and building on to military, thus putting financial burden on their countries for the benefit of their alliance. Britain and Germany especially, began an arms race, acquiring submarines as well as conventional weaponry. Powers were participating in naval warfare. This force of action solidified alliances. Countries chose sides and entered into alliances for personal benefit and gain. They pledged their allegiance to stronger countries in a “gang like” mentality which stressed an ideology of work with me, or be destroyed by me. This describes an effort to create a balance of power. However, the security dilemma was in full effect as everyone accumulated weaponry. It was hard for any nation, especially Germany, to keep tabs on the power that everyone had gained.