So to me other nations invading the Great Britain are impossible. 2. How did the naval arms race encourage the development of the alliance system the way it did? Be sure to refer to Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, as well as each of the alliance groups specifically. In the naval arms race, Germany wanted to have a naval army as strong as the Great Britain since the strong naval army brought the Great Britain the control right of the oceans.
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.
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. That is why
Although German signed the Treaty of Versailles, much to the disgrace of many Germans, admitting they were to blame it is undeniable that aggressive German foreign policy had a lot to do with the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, but this neglects other factors that may have additionally added to the tensions leading up to the war. Many historians debate whether it was mainly Germany to blame or whether other dominant powers led them into a no-win situation. Source V, ‘Modern Germany’ by Volker Berghahn suggests that the Kaiser no longer saw foreign policy and civil war as separate issues and that they were now seen to entwine together. The mention of the 1913 Army bill that had aggravated many within the German society due to the growing distress over money and the status quo within the German political establishment, the argument over the tax burdens grew with every bill passed. These tensions started to disrupt their dual alliance with Austria-Hungary, even with a ‘Blank Cheque’ being given to them.
Nationalism refers to nations trying to take over smaller nations and making them subject to their rule. During this period in time, mnay countires, especially Germany and Britain were trying to take over other nations. Britain has the largest nation, and because of this, many other nations were scared of her. Some countries such as Germany wanted to over-ride Britain and make their nation bigger, and thus, a competition between these rivalries were arousing, to see who can build up the bigger nation. 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.
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
As people begin a conversation about war, someone always inquires about how the war started. There are several reasons that can cause a war to breakout between nations. World War I was fought in the years of 1914-1918. Several people described this war as the Great War because it was the first war that they had ever witnessed. World War I began because of many obstacles that America would have to sustain in order for the war to diminish.
‘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.
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.
Yes, Hitler's aggressive foreign policy between 1933 and 1939 inevitably led to WWII. While other factors such as appeasement and the failure of the League of Nations might have encouraged Hitler to test the boundaries and to slowly bring about the start of the war, it was his foreign policy that was the root cause of the problem, as it triggered his motivation to expand German territory and thus angering Britain and France, both eventually declaring war on Germany. Hitler had stated in Mein Kampf, as early as, in 1924, that he wished to expand German territory, and his foreign policy was centered on that. Hitler also resented the Treaty of Versailles and he began to challenge its terms and slowly went about its destruction; this too contributed to the start of the war. The first step of Hitler’s foreign policy was to remove the limitations, which had been placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.