If the assassin of Franz Ferdinand hadn’t of shot the duke and The Alliances had not been formed there may have only been a small war between Serbia and Austria-Hungry . This is linked with Militarism because the Building up of Armed forces by each country caused a threat between countries because if you had a bigger army you were seen as a more powerful and dominant force in the war therefore pressuring a country to build up their armed forces . After this Russia went to help the serbians and Germany went to protect Austria- Hungry . France had previous conflicts with the Germans so they were straight in with the war Britain were only brought into action after Germany forced their way
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).
This meant more power for their empire. This is why Britain backed France as they didn’t want Germany to gain land as they could potentially get more land and a bigger empire than Britain. In the long term this caused problems between Britain and Germany because they was both power hungry and the thought of another country having a bigger empire or navy made them angry. Wilhelm tested the Entente Cordiale again in 1911 when he demanded compensation
The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 was due to an aggressive German foreign policy which had been waged since c.1900. How far do you agree with this opinion? It has been a matter of controversy within Germany on whether or not they went to war with aggressive or defensive intentions. Source V seems to be of the opinion that Germany went to war solely for defensive reasons due to the extensive array of alliances that encircled the country as well as diplomatic tension in Europe. Source W seems to take the opposite approach deeming how Germany’s aggressive actions since the turn of the century resulted in war.
It also wanted to expand its influence and create a great empire, Kaiser ( the emperor at the time) also had a paranoia about Germany’s place in the world, he wanted it to become the strongest empire in the world. He started by taking two crucial pieces of land from France; Alsace and Lorraine. Hence where another reason for the war comes in, The Alliance System. An Alliance System is when countries sign an agreement to protect each other which is another reason that gave a spark to the start of the War. In 1870 Germany started getting paranoid over the thought that France might attack them seeing as they had taken over Alsace and Lorraine , two important pieces of land.
This tension can be recognised in the Moroccan Crisis in the years 1905 – 06 were Germany’s movements towards expanding were blocked by the Act of Algeciras. With the Germans only allies, Austria-Hungary, they were feeling encircled by the other great powers in the triple entente. Similarly to Geiss, Mombauer argues that this “blueprint for world power” was an expression of the Germans “striving for European hegemony”. European power meant having the power to take control of the other European powers, which they put pressure on by a naval bill in 1900 and 1906 which increased the navy by building 38 battleships
Why did a general European war break out in 1914? (WW I) General European war broke out in August 1914. It was directly triggered by the assassination of the Austrian archduke and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, on 28th June 1914 by Bosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip. Although this act triggered the beginning of the war, Europe at the time was in a fragile state and many other factors contributed to the general outbreak of War in Europe. I will explore these causes in this essay.
According to Ferro in his book 'The Great War' he suggests that England felt threatened by Germany due to the unprecedented economic strides the country made between 1880 and 1914, although Germany did not have a financial base on the same scale as Britain's economic power. In addition Germany's rising industrial base had overtaken Britain's, although Germany did have trading routes and links around the world as Britain had. Ferro goes on and talks about the rising force of the German naval force with the building of their version of the super-ship the Dreadnoughts. Furthermore Anglo-German rivalry became a public matter, orchestrated and fomented by press and cinema (Ferro, 1969). Critics agree that an arms race especially between Britain and Germany was created with the cost affecting both countries, the buildings of their naval fleet between the two countries is an example of
France might have also been frightenend by the progressing German unification. There were other more politically domestic long term reasons for the war. These were that Bismarck wanted to unify the land that he had won as a result of the Austrian and Prussian war in 1866. Bismarck also used France as a common enemy of Germany all together so that unification could take place much more easily. France thought the war would not only help by stopping Germany’s increase in power.
In Europe in 1014 it seemed very tense, this happened to spark off a war, this was then a result of millions killed. The war was fought between rival alliances of European powers: In 1878, Germany and Austria - Hungary formed an alliance9 the dual alliance) that gave them great strength in the centre of Europe. In 1892, the French and the Russians formed their own strong alliance (the dual entente) that meant Germany had an unfriendly power on each side. Soon afterwards, Germany’s most powerful soldier, general stiffen, drew up a plan that would allow Germany to beat France very quickly in any future war. This would then free most German troops to fight Russia in the east.