Wilson believed the treaty of Versailles should punish Germany but not so harshly that it would someday recover and seek revenge. However Wilson’s main aims were portrayed> through his fourteen points. But perhaps his main goal for post war Europe was to strengthen democracy in Germany so the citizens would not let its leaders cause another war. France suffered enormous damage in WW1. When the war ended the general population of France wanted revenge on Germany.
The Germans started having second thoughts about the war and urged their ally to negotiate with Russia. Russia realized that an agreement would hurt their position in the Balkans. This basically created a stand still and the countries involved could no longer back out, The Germans started their plan to gain European dominance on July 31st. The Germans sent ultimatums to St. Petersburg and Paris telling them that the Russians need to stop mobilizing their troops and demanded a pledge of neutrality from France. They did not receive a satisfactory reply and they declared war on Russia and France.
Now it was clear that Hitler could not be trusted and unlike Studenland, the rest of Czech was never part of Germany before thee war, so this was clearly an invasion. Britain and France told Hitler they would declare war on him if he invaded Poland. * Stalin had been worried about Germany all along cause he read about Hitler’s plans about taking over the east of Europe, he also knew Britain and France would not stand in his way cause they supported his idea of anti communism. So instead he went to Hitler and they agreed on ‘The Nazi Soviet pact’ which was that Hitler would not invade Russia and Poland can be divided in 2 between them. Stalin wanted the east, to take over the Baltic states and he knew that Hitler would not keep his word but he had hoped that the agreement would give him time to build up his forces.
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
Source 2, even though it agrees with the statement also disagrees to an extent as well and supports source 3, blaming the immobilisation of Russia for the outbreak of war, linking to source 3 as Russia would have carefully thought out the plan to immobilise and rearm. Source 1 also slightly blames the Austrians for the start of the war due to the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in relation to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which is an important reason that should not be overlooked. Another reason for the outbreak of war is also the triple entente between Britain, France and Russia which caused Germany to feel encircled due to these countries geographical location, this could disprove source 2 about the schlieffen plan, arguing it was done in order to knock France out before war began officially and put ends to a 2 front war. Source 1 agrees with the statement that war broke out as a result of decisions made by the German military. ‘German military which ultimately secured by a combination of persuasion and defiance, the mobilisation orders, the ultimata and declarations of war which unleashed the conflict’ This shows the German military were the ones who ordered the mobilisation and rearmament of Germany and the use of the word ‘defiance’ means source 1
The First World War broke out and the United States immediately declared its neutrality. With the effects of war, situations changed and it became harder for the US to stay neutral. The United States involvement with World War I to its extent proves morally, economically, and politically just after its efforts to stay neutral. Woodrow Wilson, the US president had the ideas of “moral diplomacy’ when it came to international affairs. He did not see how it was morally right to get involved with Europe’s war when the war first broke out.
the “bad guys” (Germany and their allies). This has officially removed every obstacle in front of President Wilson’s way to join the war because as he had said before, he did not want to be sided with a tyrant, Russia. All he has to do is say the words and in a second we would be in the War, helping not only our own country, but our long good friends Britain as well. It is not difficult to realize that we don’t have the best army and navy, and that we mobilize slowly, but this is yet another reason for why we should start right here, right now. If we are successful to mobilizing quickly and having a military draft, our army would be almost unstoppable to other nations.
Both political sides, the Republicans and the Federalists, did agree on one thing—that proceeding with the alliance they had with France and taking sides in the war was a bad idea. They had too many ties with trading from the British that would be destroyed if they took France’s side during the war. They also were afraid that it would cause an invasion and bring war to the United States. Overall, America came together in spite of their different views and made a decision that positively affected the United
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.
5....30th July | When Kaiser heard that Russia was getting ready for war (Mobilising) he asked Tsar Nicholas to stop. | 4....1st August | Nicholas refused – Germany declared war on Russia and got her army ready. France was an ally of Russia so they mobilised their army on the same day. | 3....2nd August | Germans had the Schlieffen Plan ready and sent their armies to Belgium. | 2...3rd August | 75 years earlier, Britain promised to back Belgium up from any attack by any other country.