WWI was a horrific and terrible event, caused by a spark that became out of control.
WWI began in 1914, after Otto Von Bismarck decided that he disliked the placement of Germany between Russia and France. Because of this, he created an alliance with Austria-Hungary, swearing to protect them. That alliance, which was caused because of Germany’s need for more land, led to Germany protecting Austria-Hungary against Serbia. So when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28th, and when Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Germany joined in the fighting. This ultimately led to WWI, after Britain and France joined in the fighting. However, what was the real underlying cause of WWI? Although it is fought about, WWI was caused by Germany’s
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Germany was always stuck between some of the most powerful nations on the earth, France, Britain, and Russia. Because of this, they always wanted to be as powerful and to be seen as a force to reckon with. Its sense of nationalism overpowered their thoughts, and they wanted to show the world that they were a nation, and that they could not be stopped. This is easily seen in document A of European alliances, showcasing the fact that Germany, although smushed between France and Russia, was around the size of France and Britain put together, and is even more apparent in Bernhard von Bülow’s speech The Hammer or the Anvil. “...We don’t want our own feet tramped by any foreign power… We don’t ever again want to become… the ‘slaves of humanity.’” (The Hammer or the Anvil, Bülow) Germany had just become a nation, and wishes to fight to stay one. They never want to be trampled on by France, Britain or Russia ever again. They believe they are a powerful nation, a begin preparations to become even more …show more content…
Their need for more land, which was considered power, made them paranoid and obsessive. Regardless of the other causes, Imperialism was the true underlying cause of WWI. In the chart adapted from Colin Nicolson’s The First World War, there is an obvious difference between the population of colonies of Germany and of France and Britain. Germany, only having 1,139,000 sq. miles, had the least of the three, and therefore had the least power in 1913. Because of this, Germany striked a deal with Austria-Hungary, forming an alliance, to form their needs as a nation. If Germany never felt they needed more power, they would’ve never made an alliance, and would’ve never started a war that would become out of control. They always needed power, and it was power that drove them to make alliances and fight back. Although there are technically multiple causes for WWI, imperialism is the underlying cause for them all. If Germany never needed more power, they never would’ve went looking for it. Austria-Hungary and Serbia would’ve still went to war, but Germany would not have been involved. WWI was an event that we could’ve avoided, but because of the power-hungry Otto Von Bismarck, we didn’t. World War One will always be a tragedy that will forever haunt the minds of
According to document D Germany felt threatened by the powers of the Triple Entente, “We don’t want to step on the toes of any foreign power, but at the same time, we don’t want our own feet trampled by any foreign power….In the coming century the German people will be a hammer or an anvil.” Germany felt threatened by the power of others and craved that dominance the other countries had. German propaganda was perceiving Britain as “the bloodsucker of the world” (Doc B) essentially demonizing Britain. Germany portrays Britain this way because in document F is states that Britain had the largest area and population making them dominant over the other empires. As expected Britain endangered Germany’s chance at world dominance. Overall this desire for world dominance created distress between the empires resulting in
Though most historians consider the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary the most immediate cause of WWI, or the rise of Germany to be the main cause since they signed the Versailles Treaty (Doc 4), many agree that the war was not caused by just one thing. Instead, it was caused by a concept instead of specific people or countries. It seemed that everyone, during this time period, had started to increase their military power and defense systems. Therefore, World War I was caused by two things: the fear these countries had of losing their power, and the big toll that European Imperialism took international relations.
Nationalism and the feeling of superiority over some countries helped contribute to the start of the war. Document 4 states, “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage.” This quote shows at the end of the war all the countries made Germany pay reparations. Since by this time Germany had lost the war the other countries felt dominant
Although there were many causes for World War 1, the three most long term, underlying causes were imperialism, militarism, and the most important cause alliances. Imperialism was a big contribution to World War 1 because of the greed and determination from all of the supe six to overthrow different
There were long term and short term causes of WWI. While the long term causes made war inevitable, the short term causes provided the spark that started the war. The first long term cause was the rise of nationalism. This was a general rise in pride for your country, and the belief that your country is better than anybody else’s. Many of the other causes of war contributed to the rise of nationalism, including imperialism, militarism, and the industrial revolution. Confederations of states that would eventually link up like Italy and Germany finally unified as one country. Instead of being split up, they were one force. Part of nationalism was militarism, because one of the ideal things to build up as a country is your military. Just think
The main reasons for the causing WWI was imperialism, Alliances and militarism. When coming to the war militarism is the main reason but alliances and imperialism still have an impactful role in the starting of the war. With imperialism starting to imperializing people that did not want to be changed from the lifestyle that they had, With militarism which if we didn't have to keep up with the technology of war we wouldn't even be fighting in war, And with alliances with a certain amount of people going up against other people's sets of beliefs. The main reasons for WWI was militarism alliances and imperialism. One of the main reasons of WWI starting up was Alliances between countries.
The Cause of WWI What caused the outbreak of WWI? There were many reasons why it could've happened, but in my opinion the cause of WWI would have to be nationalism. Now you might be asking why I said that nationalism was the main cause for the war, And I would tell you that some of the reasons why would be how all the countries wanted to have more than their neighboring countries to show their superiority, or how nationalism inspired the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo and many more things that will be shown in the following paragraphs on how the peace of europe was sacrificed just for a war. One representation of how Nationalism was the cause of the war would be shown in Document 3 where there is a reference to how they would divide the other continents like Africa or Asia.
World war 1 was a long four year war that began in 1914, all through 1918. The reason why World war 1 began is more complicated than a list of causes. It was mainly fought in Northeastern France and Europe. The prime causes of why World War 1 began was mutual defence alliances, imperialism, and militarism. Around 20 million people were killed including over 100,000 American troops.
It all began with an assassination,by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914 in the Balkans. The Archduke of Austria-Hungary was shot and killed in his own vehicle, which sparked war between Russia and Germany and the alliances that went along with it. The Allies consisted of France, Great Britain, Russia, The United States and Italy, while The Central Powers consisted of Austria-Hungary, Germany the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. The underlying cause of World War I consisted of three reasons, Militarism and Alliances as well as Imperialism being the most important.
There is a seemingly endless list of reasons why WWI started but their were 3 main ones that caused the war to escalate into such an international one. The first reason is Alliances this is an important one because most of the countries that became large parts of this war weren’t directly involved in the original conflict. But, were involved through alliance and backing up their “little brother.” The next reason was the Arms Race because Germany especially had began creating new, bigger, and better weapons that could kill more people faster than older guns and other weapons. After that those weapons were created countries began creating all the new weapons in bulk. This made them kinda want to “show off” their new arsenal of fancy, new, better, guns (causing them to be a bit more “antsy” for war). The next and final reason was The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Although the actual assassination of the Archduke wouldn't have been very important to the war at any other time. But, his assassination at this time caused the war to actually begin because all the countries have been at each other's necks just waiting for any reason to start a war.
Perhaps the other inter-related key cause of WW1 was imperialism which contributed to the increase of rivalry in Europe. Imperialism "was the desire of nations to own colonies and form an empire". By 1900 the British Empire extended over five continents while France had control of large areas of Africa. The amount of lands 'owned' by Britain and France increased the rivalry with Germany who had entered the scramble to acquire colonies late and only had small areas of Africa. Accordingly, it
Germany encouraged war because, they had some imperialistic “needs”, and they wanted to grow their navy into becoming the best, and take control over the seas. They thought they could do so if they conducted a war, and Germany had a plan to win the war, however, they didn’t. Though some historians disagree that it wasn’t solely Germany’s fault for the war, though if you consider that some countries participating in the war, had declared the war to be Germany’s fault, and that Germany agreed the war occurred because of them. Being, that not only did others believe it was Germany’s fault, but Germany themself agreed it was their fault, and took the punishment. There are many topics on World War One that historians debate on, most of them being who started World War One.
Germany was blamed for World War One because of the devastation that was caused to Europe in the late 1800’s when Russia and Germany stepped into the Austria-Hungary vs. Serbia War. Germany was one of the main countries that were unhappy with how things were going before the war took place, and when they stepped up to the plate, the other countries saw it as Germany taking an aggressive trail to power. The other countries got scared, and this caused people to think that Germany’s actions are what caused the war in the first place.
World War I, a war that started out locally in Europe between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that later ended up including thirty two different nations. This war has been around for almost a century and yet the causes of it are still being debated. There are many different scenarios that have been considered. Some of the key reasons that were believed to have instigated WWI were nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and an arrangement of treaties. Also the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was believed to be one of the immediate causes.
There are many different causes that led up to WWI, but there were a handful of root causes that accelerated the development of hostility between nations. One of the main reasons was the shifting of the balance of power. The balance of power between nations is a delicate equilibrium that can be easily thrown off if one nation shows a bit of hostility, or if there is an emergence that threatens the sanctity of this balance. For a power to emerge or change, it directly affects all other nations involved through a butterfly effect of events. In WWI specifically, the unification of Germany threw off all alliances and the control of powers, as it was overwhelming for such a strong power to step up. Structurally and emotionally, this was a dramatic change to the stability of the balance of powers, and such a quick change disrupted the peace between the nations so greatly that WWI occurred. Apart from the breakdown of the balance of powers and emergence of hegemonic threats, other institutional and structural theories can explain the events that caused WWI. Some of these events include social conflicts within the countries, shifting alliances, power rankings, and the struggles to negotiate different resources between countries.