Unit 5 Exam : World War I

World War 1 was partly caused by the two opposing alliances developed by Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck formed the Three Emperor’s League, an alliance between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. He also took advantage of the Italian dislike towards France and created the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. After Bismarck was fired, the dislike of Slavs prevented countries from allying themselves with Russia. France took advantage of this and became allies with Russia, forming the Franco-Russian Entente. Britain and France ignored all imperialistic conflicts between them and formed the Entente Cordiale. International tension rapidly increased and more countries became involved.

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 year 1879 to 1914 many alliances were signed between countries and it meant that the countries were pledged to help each other in war if one of their allies declared war. The details of these alliances is such as:

One of the three underlying events that lead to World War I becoming such a big war was alliances. “There were at least 100 countries” according to http://www.history.com fighting a war, and countries had to choose their side. Countries used alliances for extra support. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were part of Triple Alliance until 1915 when Italy switched sides hurting Austria-Hungar. On the Triple Entente United Kingdom, and France fought together.

Jean-Jacques Becker and Gerd Krumeich state that the attack on the Archduke would provide Austria-Hungary’s “political and military leaders with a convenient reason for dealing conclusively with the Serbian threat.” It was Austria-Hungary whom sent an ultimatum that they knew Serbia would not agree to. They did this knowingly, counting on Serbia to reject the ultimatum. Austria-Hungary took Serbia’s one reservation to the ultimatum as a declaration of war. Additionally, they are the reason why Germany became involved in the conflict. Although Germany provided Austria-Hungary a blank check, it was Austria-Hungary who decided that they would begin a conflict with Serbia. Austria-Hungary is ultimately whom should be held responsible for initiating World War I.

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.

Alliances between countries that was the first main cause of World War 1. It was the formation that had a significant impact on World War 1. “The problem that the Alliances had was Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife was assassinated on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip, igniting a conflict that led to World War 1 and made a larger problem”. The other problem was between the Triple Alliances and the Triple Entente. The countries that were in the Triple Alliance was Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy and for the Triple Entente was Russia, France, and the United Kingdom. Germany was worried about having to fight a war on two fronts or two different borders, but the fear was not justified because France and Russia are against Germany and Russia was larger than Germany. In document B “The Crime Of The Ages.

Two Alliances were formed in Europe preceding World War 1. The triple alliance consisting of: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary (Document 1). The other alliance being the triple entente, which was made of the three powers: Great Britain, Russia, and France (Document 2). Both of these alliances were formed to oppose one another. When there was a conflict preceding the war and Germany rose up, France formed an alliance with Great Britain and Russia in order to have a defense in case of an attack from Germany. In turn Germany took this as a sign that these countries were preparing for a conflict. So, in response they formed an alliance with France and Austria-Hungary.

The Serbian nationalists were the main cause of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination and aided in the start of World War I. After the Austria-Hungary Empire annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, the country of Serbia encouraged Serbians living there to rebel “against Austria-Hungarian rule in frequent protests and civil disturbances” (Pendergast 16). The Serbians began to fight for independence against rule of Austria-Hungary which led to the assassination of the Archduke of the Austria-Hungary Empire, Franz Ferdinand. The Black Hand was the terrorist group that murdered Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. Not only was it “led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, the head of Serbian military intelligence” but Austria’s Serbian ambassador is said to have known about the assassination beforehand (Pendergast 21). Serbian’s were sick of being ruled in an empire, so “militant groups like the Black Hand, wanted to untie the Slavic people in an independent pan-Slavic state” (Pendergast 45). They were determined to put all the Slavic people together as a separate nationality and destroyed people who got in their way, including Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of the Austria-Hungary Empire. With Franz Ferdinand being the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, the Austria-Hungarian Empire began to call for a war against the Serbians but needed allies in order to have a chance of winning.

Although alliances was a cause for World War I, militarism was the main cause. Militarism was the main cause because if no one was preparing for a war there wouldn’t have been one. With everyone thinking that having a big army is the key to success and the only way they would be able to use that army would be in a

WW1 was the result of several factors such as Imperialism, Nationalism and Militarism between World Alliances of that time period.The two sides who ended up facing each other in this war because of those factors were the: Allies - United Kingdom, Russia, France, USA and Italy, while the Central Power included Ottoman Empire, Austro Hungary and Germany. At time in history most European nations already had colonies and as the years went by, the land which was still independent was fought over fiercely. Italy and Germany were new world powers and both countries wanted to expand their boundaries. England was focused on maintaining it’s already diminishing empire while Russia and Austro-Hungary were busy dividing the Balkans through force and politics. Each nation wanted to look and be stronger as a nation. Imperialism - the hunt for more land, lead to Militarism and Nationalism which helped create the war. These three factors gave birth to WW1 and played a big role in the war.

There were many factors that led to the initial outbreak of World War I in Europe. A constant struggle to gain the upper hand in the “balance of power” existed, and it resulted in the formation of many alliances between European nations. For the most part, these agreements stipulated that the nations would aid one another if one of them were to be attacked by an enemy. Eventually two distinct

The cause of the First World War, or Great War, was due to a clash of existing imperial alliances. Britain, France, and Russia were part of the “Triple Entente.” Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were part of the “Triple Alliance.” Italy would, however, end up fighting against their allies.

Many, on the other hand, blame the flaws in the world's alliance systems for the war. Development of political and military alliances caused tension and hostility among nations leading up to World War I. Two major alliance systems developed due to conflicting national interests, which had been evident during the past two decades throughout Europe. These were the 'Triple Alliance' of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy and the 'Triple Entente' of Britain, France and Russia. Also several smaller countries became indirectly involved in the alliances, which effectively divided Europe into two 'Armed Camps'. Russia pledged to support Serbia in order to prevent further Austrian-Hungarian expansion into the Balkans. Germany stated its support for Austria-Hungary and Britain had given its support for Belgium's independence in 1839. However, historians such as A. J. P. Taylor argue that 'Pre 1914 alliances were so precarious and fragile that they cannot be seen as the major cause of war'. This points to the fact that it should also be stressed that even a formal alliance in 1914 did not guarantee support for war, therefore not being a significant factor.

It is human nature for people to look back at past events in retrospection, wondering if the outcome would have changed if a decision was made differently. World War I, or the war to end all wars, began in the summer of 1914, but it was the events leading up to it, such as the creation of alliances, which decided the fate of the war. Alliances are formal military or political agreements between countries, which state that the will back the other country in the event of an attack, either financially or through declaring war. Mamy alliances were made prior to the start of World War I, and as a result, all European countries, including central powers, were conjoined. These alliance systems were the catalyst which created the momentum of World