France thought the war would not only help by stopping Germany’s increase in power. It would also help Napoleon III to regain his popularity after some of his failures after the commencement of his dictatorship, such as the Mexican adventure of 1867. I will now go onto the short term reasons. Firstly, Spain needed a king and Bismarck saw his chance to send Prince Leopold to become king there. France protested because they thought that having German influence on both sides would be too much if conflict would have occured.
They consisted of Britain, Russia and France against Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (who later switched sides). I believe that alliances were the most important cause of WW1, because instead of making allies to prevent war, the alliance system actually had an opposite effect. Alliances are a long-term cause to WW1 because they take a considerably long time to make. It led to distrust for each country and secrecy with some countries resulting in an increase in tension. The main leaders of ‘World War 1’ in the ‘Triple Entente’ were George V (British Empire), Raymond Poincaré (France) and Nicholas II (Russia).
He pursued a policy of what has been called ‘counter reform’. Counter-reform was partly a reaction to the murder of Alexander II, but Alexander III also believed that his fathers ‘Great Reforms’ had been a mistake, weakening Tsarism and leaving it vulnerable and insecure. He introduced political repression of opponents, counter-reform, increased central control, financial reform and the policy of Russification as the core stone of his reign. His policy was to undo the reforms as far as possible. In many respects, there is no doubt that Alexander III was the most effective Tsar in such the short reign that he had.
This was especially the case for Germany as she was to reap the blame for the First World War. The peace treaties took place soon after the final bloodbath of WW1, emotions would have been raging which would have tainted some of the decisions made, and soldiers would have retired back to their homes and would have been reluctant to want to be involved in border shifting and disputes. The Allied countries wanted Germany to concur to a harsh settlement but the United States brought diplomacy into the situation. The treaties were not just and reasonable but without the United States, Germany would have been handed a much harsher punishment. The injustice of the settlement unintentionally gave birth to long term problems, including key events for the lead up to the Second World War.
The British also realised that at some point in the future the Germans would want to modify the Treaty or renounce it altogether. They believed this could lead to another European War. The British felt that they had to avoid war, particularly with Germany, at all costs. The best way to do this seemed to be through the policy of appeasement - remedying German grievances before they themselves tried to remedy them by force - which could lead to another European war. Thus, the policy of appeasement could be thought to have worked effectively if Germany’s efforts to rectify the Treaty of Versailles did not lead to the use of force.
They had known Serbia would reject the ultimatum. So on the 28th of July 1914 Austria-Hungary confidently declared war on Serbia with Germany’s full backing. Russia was allied with Serbia so began mobilising its troops to help Serbia. On the 1st of August Germany declared war on Russia. If it hadn’t been for Germany, Austria-Hungary would not have been confident enough to start a war with Serbia and Russia.
These heightened the US’s fear of communism and continued to radically change its foreign policy to deal with this threat. After World War Two, relations rapidly deteriorated between the US and the Soviet Union. The SU Controlled most of East Europe and this “crucial
So for example if the allies in the west did not promise to rebuild Germany and try to stop every country from becoming communist when they threatened to even if it through fair vote (rare as it was). It can be argued that the cold war was an avoidable one. Firstly the Russians were very aggressive in creating a buffer zone and in fact created communist states practically all over Eastern Europe and made much more than a buffer zone and Stalin was at the heart of all these communist political movements and was trying to spread his influence to even Italy and France. This worried the west very much because they thought their very freedom was being threatened but more importantly the more states that became communist the less ttade there was. The west needed trade partners in the east and they couldn’t trade with communist states.
Factors suggesting that enemies at Court were important might include: • an understanding of the role of Anne Boleyn and of Norfolk who had made it a matter of personal ambition to be rid of Wolsey • Wolsey had made many enemies whilst in office. Serving the King, and especially increasing his revenue had stirred a bitterness that only waited for an outlet • jealousy may have been a factor. Wolsey had dominated preferment and favour, not only as the distributor but also as the recipient. Hampton Court was the physical reminder of this • many at court opposed Wolsey’s foreign policy reversal – indeed this was key. By 1529 England was diplomatically isolated and this might be considered a consequence of Wolsey’s advances to the French • the increasingly central position of Norfolk, Suffolk and Rochford at Court was recognised even by Wolsey in the Eltham Ordinances.
The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, realised the severe implications that this could have and so wanted a more lenient peace treaty. The American public had little interest in Post War Europe but their President, Woodrow Wilson, wanted a Germany that would make a good neighbour in Europe, hence his fourteen points. To reach a compromise a meeting was needed at the small palace of Versailles, not far from the French capital, Paris. Here the leaders of ‘The Big Three’ (Clemenceau, Wilson and George), tried to find a lasting peace of Europe. This meeting was intended to bring stability and peace into a crippled Europe.