Alliances and politics had also gotten in the way and caused problems that would soon bubble over and cause world war 1 to go into effect. Germany had made alliances with Austria/Hungary and Italy. But Italy had gone behind Germany’s back and made a secret alliance with France despite the agreement with Germany saying they’d protect each other if France ever came after them in a rage of war. France in response to Germany’s new alliances joined up with Russia and formed an alliance. Following the Russia/France alliance in 1892 was when France signed an agreement with Britain in 1904. The “triple entetes” as formed by Russian, France, and Britain in 1907 which made Germany feel like their existence and power of region was being threatened by this new surrounding alliance. …show more content…
European countries like France and Britain were lucky and created large worldwide empires as well as making them very rich while others such as Russia and Germany had fixations of an endless wanting of creating a large empire for themselves but weren’t as lucky which created jealousy. Their jealousy lead to competition and conflict between the European countries.
Europe had become ready for war as each country held onto their sanity with one small strand. The predicament in Europe as becoming tense with all the conflict between countries because of the need for large empires or the need for secret alliances to keep themselves “safe” from each other. Internal politics too were in the way and adding on to the friction between the European countries as well as the disliking and distrust between each of these European
“Military is a policy of glorifying military power and keeping a standing army, always prepared for war” (Chapter 13 Section 1). Soon almost all of Europe had joined the largest, most catastrophic war in the world. The underlying cause of World War
1. While most believe that the assassination of the Arch-Duke Francis Ferdinand was the sole event that caused the out break of World War I, there were many other underlying events that created the trouble between the major European powers. (section 25-1, Spielvogel). One of the major underlying causes was nationalism. While most thought that every nationality having their own nation-state would help people get along it did nothing but cause even more competition.
The photo of Europe in World War 1 shows the alliance systems (Document 2.) Because Austria-Hungary had protection from Germany and Italy, they were forced to fight Russia, France, and Great Britain even though those countries had nothing to do with each other. This created the domino effect, as alliance after alliance, the war grew. To conclude, militarism, alliances, and nationalism were the main causes that led to World War 1. Militarism was the increase in the military with the industrial revolution.
During the years that led up to World War 1, many factors took place that potentially caused the war to occur, especially in the continent of Europe. In the Balkan peninsula, a belief called nationalism caused lots of chaos and tension between the nations (OI). Prideful Balkan countries would battle amongst themselves to prove their dominance as a culture. On top of this, countries formed alliances, creating an intricate alliance system that stretched throughout most of 20th century Europe
Prior World War I Europe had a long term of peace with in the countries. Lots of imperialism was happening at the time. Most of the European countries had colonies around the world. Although most of the countries were threatened by each other due to the amount of colonies each country had. In attempts to show their superiority over its surrounding countries Germany decided to build up their army, causing the surrounding counties to mimic Germany's actions The European countries where frighten by each other leading to the creation of alliances more specifically the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary and the Triple Entente containing Russia, France, and Great Britain.
During the brink of the century, fierce competition among the European powers escalated with the rise of industrialization and imperialism for colonies. For instance, France joined the Allied Forces with claims of defense, but they were suspected to have an ulterior motive that seeked the vengeance of their economic and militaristic rival— Germany (Document 7). Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, who served as leader of the German delecation in the Versailles Peace Conference, asserts that Germany is not alone guilty, and also describes that recent imperialism “has chronically poisoned international relations” (Document 5). Despite these protests, Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty, better known as the War Guilt Clause, places full responsibility and consequences on Germany, specifically, and their allies for causing all of the damages and losses (Document 4). Several present-day historians also challenge the War Guilt clause, with cases proving all countries to be, in part, responsible to a bolder or slighter extent.
There is continually something that prompts to another. Sometimes, it can bring about an enormous outbreak. At the turn of the twentieth century, Europe was at war. This war lasted more than four, long, gruesome years. It was also known as the “Great War”.
Within the Triple Alliance were the countries of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy; inside the Triple Entente were the countries of France, Russia, and the United Kingdom(Document A). Alliances acted as one of the main causes for war, for if one part of the union was fighting with a separate affiliation, the rest of the group would add fuel to the fight and continue the long strand of hatred among them. As select partnerships were made, many more were created upon blaming the same person (Document B). An example of this would be Serbia and Austria-Hungary, For as they continued to feud over their rights as small, neighboring country, others who believed in their cause stepped up and became part of the
During the 20th century in European nations, countries fought amongst each other in the First World War. The causes of this war and disputed upon to this day, but three of the causes are definitely: The concept of the countries already prepared for war, the strong sense of nationalism, and the prominent amount of national power. All throughout Europe, even in the days of peace before the war, the countries were prepared to fight each other. Individuals saw war as a necessity for life itself (Doc 1). Most nations talked about fighting, but never really acted.
Large alliances formed, such as the triple entre (France, the UK, and Russia) and the central powers (Austria-Hungary, German Empire, and Italy) The alliances gave military support to each member, but would also drag all the countries in one alliance to war if war was only declared on one nation (http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/worldwar1/a/World-War-One-The-Major-Alliances.htm). During the July crisis, the Austria-Hungarian empire asked if Germany would help them in the war against Serbia. Germany replied back and said they’d give them full support. Austria started to mobilize their army against Serbia, and since Russia was allied with Serbia.
In the next seven days Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia, France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, Britain joined France and Russia, Europe is at war!” (DBQ: What Were the Underlying Causes of World War 1, 2010, Background
“...The rise of Germany, whose supremacy France dreaded and whose navy menaced Engliand, has created an alliance in which claimed it was defensive in nature but was denounced by Germany propaganda as an attempt at encirclement of germany…” (Document G) The quote from Document G speaks to the fear and mistrust that Germany’s rise to power caused among its neighbors. Countries such as France and England were wary of Germany’s growing naval strength and its potential to threaten the balance of power in Europe. To protect themselves, these countries formed alliances with one another, creating a mix of military and political ties that further increased tensions between them.
Alliances are formed for different reasons such as the need for financial or military support, trade agreements, investments or loans. Alliances became strong in the early 1800s when european nations either wanted to support French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte or they wanted to defeat him. Alliances weakened in the mid 1800s, but strengthened again in the late 1800s. The Triple Alliance of 1882 was an alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, fueled by anti- French and anti-Russian feelings. The Triple Entente of 1907 was a three way agreement between Britain, France, and Russia.
In the late 19th century “The European leaders believed that by creating a balance of power they could prevent such horror. This idea was that if all the counties had balanced strengths that nobody could dominate the rest. There was a wide-spread of wars due to the sharing of the boarders. The triple alliance was fought in France and in Russia. It was the war that started all the Alliances.
During the 1900s, many people took pride in their countries and wanted to prove the world how great their country is. And to do that, they would have to declare and win a war against their rivals. It led to the war for the reason that the overconfidence fueled their strength in militarism. This is probably why other countries such as Portugal and Italy joined the war- simply because of their confidence. There were downsides to it- it made the war longer then everyone thought it would be as there were so many countries fighting, hence being called World War 1.