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. Nationalism was another cause, each country felt that there’s was the best and wanted there’s to be above all the others. They wanted to promote their culture and interests to other countries and try to control them. The two alliance systems were the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary). Countries had started making treaties and non-aggression pacts and how if the joined
The dispute led to a sense of mistrust which deepened overtime. European nations thought that they need a strong and very powerful military. The nations believed that it was important to be able to mobilize troops very quickly in case of war. Germany saw France as a threat to the peace that was in Europe. Germany then formed the triple alliance that consisted of Germany, Austria, and Italy.
The minister of the Interior P.N. Durnovo warned that Russia would be the country that would have to fight most of the battle, despite this the Tsar carried on as this was becoming his most popular period during his reign. Many new actions were taken in the first year of war such as Congress of Representatives of Industry and Trade, they wanted to be in control of how Russia handled the war however the government did not agree and wanted the Tsar to be the sole leader. The outcome of this was that parties within Russia began to see Political Ideology as being more important rather than what went on in the war. In hindsight many would say that the Tsar's next move was one of the biggest mistakes he made, making himself commander-in-chief, he was not only now responsible for Russia's future military disasters, but he left his wife Alexandra, who the Russian people were already hostile towards because of her Russian heritage, under the influence of Rasputin.
These tensions started to disrupt their dual alliance with Austria-Hungary, even with a ‘Blank Cheque’ being given to them. With the Kaiser believing that foreign policy and civil war was increasingly the same, it can be assumed that aggressive foreign policy may have been set to distract the German public away from things at home and more onto how to become a strong world power. A factor that both strengthens and weakens the argument of aggressive foreign policy being the reason for the outbreak of war in 1914 is that of encirclement. Source V mentions ‘They felt encircled not merely by the Triple Entente, but also by the forces of change.’ First of all, Germany became sceptical about the alliance between Britain, France and Russia, the Triple Entente, they thought it was not going to work and did not fear it until they tried to cause problems between France and Britain with the ownership of the Balkan islands, which was unsuccessful. When Germany realised that the entente was a
Stalin got angrier when he heard that France joined to create Trizona. Tension increased because Stalin felt there were all ganging up on him and getting ready to attack. More tension increased when the allies introduced a new currency called the deutschmark. This made tension worse because Stalin did not want this new currency, Stalin was angry that West Germany and West Berlin would become more prosperous. Tension rose to the highest point when it was called that West Germany would get Marshall Aid.
Explain why you chose this country. I chose Germany because it was surrounded by the other alliance (Triple Entente) which means Germany would need a stronger navy to face the other countries within that alliance. c. Based on the state of the arms race in 1914, if you were a German citizen, how would you feel? Explain why. If I were a German citizen I would feel scared that Great Britain has the world’s naval power and is not apart of our alliance but also proud that Germany was able to get to second after building their first two battleships the Nassau and the Westfalen.
Contrastingly, James Joll suggests that Germany’s defensive offensive war rooted from a fear of encirclement from the countries that it borders, and so presents the opinion most opposing to that of the question. L.F.C Turner’s opinion arises somewhere between the two other historians’ arguments, and states that Germany was aggressive during Europe’s last month of peace before war, but there were other factors that should be considered equally. On the one hand, it was German aggression that was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. One example of suggested German aggression can be seen in their long term foreign policy, ‘weltpolitik’ (world politics), which had been implemented in 1897. The aim of this foreign policy was to spread German influence throughout the world, the meaning of which is interpreted differently by different people.
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
They mainly did this by imperialism. Imperialism- It means Empire- The desire of countries to gain control of other land for their own benefit as an empire and the belief that to become strong you need a strong empire. Germans had a late start in the race to gain a world empire because the German states did not unite and become a country until 1871. By 1888, Britain already controlled about 25% of the world as the British Empire. All of the good parts of Africa and Asia had
Also Austria-Hungary’s king and family visited Sarajevo- Bosnia was assassinated by conspirator Gavrilo Princip Austria striked back in revenge. But the most important came from countries distrust for one another because it led the Great powers of Europe-Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Britain, France, and Russia signed treaties pledging to defend one another. These alliances were intended to promote peace by promoting powerful combinations that no one would dare to attack. But 2 huge alliances emerged in the end. France longed to avenge its defeat in Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck signed treaties with other powered thinking they wouldn’t attack Germany alone.