At The Outbreak Of World War 1, Europe Was Separat

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It can be argued that the outbreak of war in 1914 was a culmination of a series of wars and national incidences that affected Europe in the nineteenth century. The Napoleonic wars, the Crimean War, the Balkan Wars, German and Italian Unification, the French Revolution, together with growing military nationalism in the major European states all contributed to tensions and alliances that made major conflict inevitable. This essay will explore the five major players in this conflict and examine their role in what was to become the most devastating conflict the world had ever seen. We will examine how each country arrived at this state and evaluate their roles and responsibilities as they tipped into military conflict. We will also delve into the complex and intricate series of alliances that acted like a domino effect in 1914 and in summary we will interlink the complexities of the status of each country in relation to their allies and enemies in an effort to understand why Europe was plunged into four years of devastating conflict. We will begin by examining the Allies - Russia, France and Britain and then the Central Powers of Austria-Hungary and Germany. Russia Although it would be true to say that the decisions Russia made in July of 1914 directly contributed to the outbreak of war, these decisions were not made in a void and were the result of a series of diplomatic conflicts in the decade prior to 1914. Indeed since the shift in the balance of power after the Franco-Prussian war, Russia’s influence was in decline and her foreign policy could be interpreted as an attempt to regain former glories. Russian foreign policy was not however developed in isolation and her social and economic situations contributed to the mindset that ultimately plunged her into conflict in 1914. Russia in the nineteenth century lagged behind the other major European powers in a
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