Entente meaning “a friendly understanding or informal alliance between states.” This meant that they didn’t need to promise to help the other two countries but the understanding that they would support the other country. One of the causes of the war was that; the alliances had rivalries between them, Germany and Britain being the leaders of each alliance. They had a tension between them. Which started long before the
Although nationalism is a factor that contributed to World war 1, to say that it is the primary cause of the outbreak of the war is incorrect. Many factors, adding up together, led to the outburst of World war 1. Alliances and Imperialism can both be seen as much of a cause to the war as Nationalism. All these three factors: Nationalism, Alliances and Imperialism are as important as the other in the lead up to the war. Nationalism refers to nations trying to take over smaller nations and making them subject to their rule.
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.
This encouraged Germany to increase its strength in navy because of the rivalry between Great Britain and Germany. Because of this, Germany and Austro-Hungarian Empire allied themselves together, protecting them from Russia. Italy
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
World War 1 was a ticking time bomb waiting to happen. Countries throughout Europe had agreements of consolidated alliances which would pull European countries into battle. Therefore, if one country were to attack another, a domino like effect would come into play and the allied countries were bound to defend the attacked country. Since Austria-Hungary decided to declare war on Serbia for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Russia was bound to join the war because of cultural ties and alliances with Serbia. Germany saw that Russia was starting to mobilize troops so Germany decided to declare on Russia which leads to France joining the war because of being drawn against Germany.
These can be categorised into long term reasons and short term reasons. The most significant short term reason to why the war broke out was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Austria. This contributed to the war a lot and was the spark that started it off. There were many long term reasons too, but the most important ones were Imperialism, Militarism, nationalism and alliances. These influenced the war majorly and were the main explanation to why large quantities of countries were prepared for it when it took place in 1914.
However, it was intercepted, decrypted, and published in newspapers as propaganda. The telegram and the excessive sea warfare definitely played a part in America going to war, however, there are additional possibilities, if not definite reasons, that lead the U.S. into war. Because of possible economic collapse according to the Glider Lehrman Institute of American History, "By 1917, American loans to the Allies had soared to $2.25 billion; loans to Germany stood at a paltry [measly] $27 million." If not anything else, this would be a huge reason to go to war. Two and a quarter billion dollars is a large sum of money, and if the United States were to lose this money, it would have more than likely been catastrophic and it would've brought about economic collapse in America.
He also created an alliance with Italy for the Austro-Prussian War, or Seven Weeks War by promising them Venetia if they helped divide Austria’s army. However, he used this alliance as a way for France to be without an ally during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The Schleswig-Holstein Affair allowed Bismarck to take over Austria and obtain land for united Germany in which King Fredrick Wilhelm I could rule over. He was able to obtain Schleswig-Holstein by creating an alliance with Austria, just as a way to stop jealousy in Austria to stop the Dutch from taking over; they were successful. When the war was over, Austria received Schleswig and Prussia received Holstein.