HIS 105: Factors Contributing to World War I There were many factors that led to World War I, some detailed below: The assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire) was a major contribution. He and his wife Sofia were shot while on a visit to Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, by Gavrilo Princip (a member of the Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand). The Black Hand had a primary objective of forcing the Austro-Hungarians out of Serbia. The assassination caused ricocheting consequences among Europe’s military alliances. Austria declared war on Serbia, which provoked Russia to help the Serbians, which led to Germany declaring war on Russia and France, which triggered England to declare war on Germany.
German land west and as far as 30 miles east of the Rhine was established as a demilitarized zone.’(Duiker & Spielvogel, 2010) The Germany government needed to accept the harsh treaty with no choice. The reparations made Germany’s economy in a worse state and Germans got a hard life at that time. Therefore, the thought of revenge were established and it leaded to the rise of Adolf Hitler, which was the essential person in WWII. The rise up of Adolf Hitler and Mussolini also take an important role for the outbreak of WWII. The rising of Hitler and Mussolini represented that the
There long term causes were the Treaty of Versailles, The American policy of isolation etc. The mid term causes were the failure of the League of Nations and Hitler’s nationalism. The short term causes that led to war erupting in 1939 were Hitler’s imperialism and militarism. All these causes had a significant contribution to why war erupted in 1939. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28th June 1919 and played a very significant part to the eruption of war in 1939.
Although both authors agree on the fact that Germany bears much of the responsibility, this author emphasizes that it is all Germany’s fault. Berghahn’s main point was that the decision made by the Kaiser to activate the “Schlieffen Plan” was one that changed everything. This plan called for a small troop deployment against Russia while the rest of the German army would invade western France, by way of Belgium. When France was defeated, the plan was then for the German army to deploy to the east, against Russia. However, because of the ultimatum given to Belgium on August 2, 1914, by France, war was declared between the two countries on August 3.
In Why Nations Go to War, Dr.John G Stoessinger talks about the role of individuals in starting wars. He is of the view that factors like economics, nationalism, alliance networks and even fate are often put forward as the primary reasons for the outbreak of a war, but the human element, the personalities, the hopes and fears and the particular worldview of the individual leaders of the country are not given nearly as much importance. The writer points out that wars are after all, started by people and to a large extent, the book deals with the lead up to the moment when people finally decide to go to war. The author holds a Ph.D. from Harvard and has taught at Harvard, M.I.T, Columbia and Princeton. He won the Bancroft Prize for his book, The Might of Nations and he has served as acting director for the political affairs division at the United Nations.
Germany interpreted Russia’s mobilization as virtual equivalent to declaring war, and that meant that in order for the Schlieffen plan to succeed, Germanys army had to attack and defeat France before moving eastwards to fight Russian forces. Germanys plan of taking out France quickly meant that they had to go through neutral Belgium to avoid France’s heavily fortified border defenses. Germany’s decision of going through Belgium led to Britain going in to the war. Historian, Gordon Martell, said that Germany made a bid for power by supporting Austria-Hungary and that Russia and her allies resolved to stop them. Many factors contributed to World War 1 and every country had a share of responsibility.
Compare and contrast the effects of World War 1 on Africa and Middle East. Although the causes for the Great War were laid down years before, but the immediate spark was the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an Austrian hungry prince. Due to the alliances amongst the countries, the Great war which had initially started between Serbia and Austria had engulfed the whole world into the War. The main causes of the Great War were imperialism, race for arms, nationalism and the alliance system. Typically, when one thinks of Great War, they think of extensive fighting in Europe but in reality the Great War had numerous battles in the colonized states where there were clashes between Triple Alliance and the Allies.
Austria then declared war on the grounds that it had not been accepted in its entirety. It has become fashionable (at high school level) to claim that the Austrians had been looking for an excuse to declare war because of lingering disputes between the two countries. It is probably more accurate to say that Austria was trying to clip Serbia's wings and deny it a coastline. On July 5, 1914, Germany (which had reasons of its own for a war) had given Austria a "blank check", or unconditional guarantee of support in its actions against Serbia. Provocations and Disputes 1.
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
This ruling is inadequate and can make the other countries aggressive and full of hatred. So Germany could get blaimed for World War one but there are many different attributes which made this war so horrible. The first mistake which Germany made was that the Kaiser gave Austria the total support if they wanted to attack Serbia. Of course Austria attacks Serbia with the mighty Germany behind there back. Austria would never made such demands if the German Kaiser wouldnt of promised unconditional support.