There are many main causes of war, including short-term causes and long term causes, and I will be elaborating on them and why the war broke out. This was because in 1914 ,the 6 most powerful countries in Europe were divided into two opposing alliances: the triple entente and the triple alliance. Politicians at the time called this system of alliances the “balance of power”. They believed that the power and size of the two alliances would prevent either side from starting a war. This is why it took a long time from starting a war, due to the “balance of power”.
And provide and massive industrial boom as American factories would pump out massive amounts of war supplies including machine guns, Army uniforms, and artillery pieces to name a few. But what might be the most important would be the massive expansion of the U.S. military that accompanied the war. The war would already increase the American military and would double its standing army and navy and develop its Air Force. And the U.S. military saw a massive spike in drafts as young patriotic Americans would flock to the Army in response to the war. Because of World War I America would have the second largest navy in the world and largest standing army at the war’s conclusion and that massive military would now back up in the U.S.’s claim that it truly was a world power and it helped the U.S. become a major player on the world stage as well as the signing of the armistice that would follow.
The French army are then put on war-footing so they are ready for when Germany attack. Once Britain hears that Germany has declared war on Belgium and France it orders Germany to withdraw its army from Belgium. Germany doesn’t listen to Britain’s command so Britain declares war on Germany. Then Austria finally declares war on Russia. Long-term causes of WW1: Imperialism is a big cause of WW1 because many countries were building up their empires; there were disagreements over who would control which areas of the World and countries were becoming jealous of other countries, this caused arguments between the countries.
This lack of similarities had made agreements very difficult to come to between these two nations, which raised tensions between them. The Soviet Union and United States had poor relations due to a constant power struggle. Both nations had come out of World War II being superpowers - superior to other nations in their technology, economy, as well as military forces. The clashing idealogys between the two nations led to the Cold War, a war being fought more so on the political aspect by using tactics to lure the independent nations lacking a government to choose their form of government. Author PJ Larkin can be quoted saying that this war "was a mixture of religious crusade in favour of one idealogy or the other... striking out for advantage or expansion not only in Europe but all over the world."
Russia also feared the growing German threat and sought to ally itself with Great Britain, France, and even Germany itself for protection. The British, for their part, tried hard to remain out of the conflict, but found that having the world's most powerful navy made that impossible. Rebellious provinces within the Austro-Hungarian Empire made central Europe extremely unstable, and the leaders of the Ottoman Empire in the Near East sought to expand their power. Historians have generally noted that the European powers had managed to avoid war for so long, that when it did
Underlying Causes Of WWI World War I, also known as “The Great War” was an extremely bloody war that immersed Europe with huge losses of life and little ground lost or won. There may have seemed like there was a chain of events that led to the fighting, but the underlying causes of WW1 were Nationalism, Alliances, Militarism, imperialism and the assignation of Arch Duke Ferdinand. America tried there hardest to remain neutral and stay out of the war, but they were dragged in by force. Several incidents built up tension between nations before the outbreak of the First World War. Nationalism was one of the underlying causes of WW1.
‘The outbreak of the war in Europe 1914 was due to an aggressive German Foreign Policy which had been waged since c.1900’ How far do you agree with this opinion? Discussions over the causes of the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 have caused much controversy due to the breadth of events in multiple countries which took place over a short period of time, concluding in war. The evidence within source V, W and X refer to some of these events, thus hold different countries and individuals to blame to different extents. Whilst source V suggests that aggressive German Foreign policy did hold a considerable proportion of the blame, it places the Germans in a sympathetic position due to their encirclement leaving them no other option. Source W is very similar due to the fact that it blames Germany’s strengthening of the military and navy to a large extent, however proclaims their ‘peaceful intentions’; whereas source X dwarfs Germany’s contributions as a state, placing more responsibility for the outbreak of war on Austria-Hungary.
The smaller countries did not want to be taken over, and so, they did their best in fighting back.The conflict between the nations trying to over-ride one another with their nations and the conflict aroused between countries wanting to escape from a nation's ruling led up to the outburst in war. Alliances are promises or agreements to help and defend another country. During this time, the two evident alliances were the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; and the Triple Entente bringing together France, Russia and Britain. Alliances play a part in the outbreak of the war because it one country from each alliance were at conflict, the remaining countries in their alliance would be quick to join them, thus, making it a bigger conflict and war. If there were no alliances at this time, world war 1 would not have been as big as it was.
World War 1 World War 1 began between the years of 1914 and 1918. World War 1 disappointed the European Continent putting France, Russia, and the United Kingdom against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During this disagreement and war it spread through and into the Colonies of European empires. The war caused major destruction and many people in the world was stated to revise their opinion that they may have against Europe and how they was going to make Europe the center of progress and enlightenment. World War 1 there was a lot of fighting and a lot of people going against each other for their own beliefs and what they may have wanted that they couldn’t get so they had to fight in order to get what they want.
The immediate cause of the Second World War was the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. Britain and France got involved by declaring war on Germany, and soon Europe and the wider world were involved in the War. However, the underlying causes of the war are much more complicated than what it seems to be. There were many factors that had contributed to the initiation of the war; the major ones were the Treaty of Versailles, the emergence of fascism and communism, the hatred of Jews, the Great Depression, the failure of the League of Nations, and the rise of dictators. The Treaty of Versailles was signed to make the Great War "the war to end all wars."