WWI was the cause of problems in countries all throughout the World. There is a wide variety of opinions on who started the war. But one country should not be blamed for the outbreak of war. Instead, all the European countries are at fault for causing WWI because of Nationalism, Imperialism, and Militarism. Nationalism and the feeling of superiority over some countries helped contribute to the start of the war. Document 4 states, “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage.” This quote shows at the end of the war all the countries made Germany pay reparations. Since by this time Germany had lost the war the other countries felt dominant …show more content…
“In the last fifty years, the imperialism of all European states has chronologically poisoned international relations” (Doc 5). Due to European imperialism and many countries arguing over what land they wanted tensions were formed between them. So many countries sought alliances for security. The alliances played a big role in the outbreak of war because once one country got into a fight their allies had an obligation to help. (Doc 2) shows a map of Europe and the alliances before WWI. The alliances were split up in two groups, Central Powers and Allies. Some of the countries switched sides when they thought the war was changing courses. The alliance system is important to learn because you can see the domino effect from when one country first entered a war. “The two armed camps alarmed eachother, and each grew heavy with multiplied incidents, which spread East”(Doc 7). This quote proves that the war going to happen at some point. The tensions were already high between France and Germany, so when the Archduke was killed that was just the spark that officially started war. With Britain, Germany, and France colonizing and expanding, tensions began to build between the countries over what land they wanted. All the effects of European Imperialism led to the outbreak of
Another debated cause is imperialism, which is the policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations. This contributed to WWI because of the rivalry it caused in Europe between Great Britain, Germany, and France. They needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. Great Britain, Germany, and France competed for economic expansion in Africa. Even though Great Britain and France came to an agreement several problems before the war had to do with the dislike of Germany against Great Britain and France in North Africa. Also the crumbling of the Ottoman-Empire in the Middle East was a big factor for Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia. So the competition for colonies brought great powers into conflict and fueled the ideas of war and added to the present tension that already existed, and that tension keeps on building up.
One cause was nationalism. Nationalism is where you show pride in your country. An example of Nationalism is when it comes time every 4 years when the olympics are taking place. Everyone is cheering on their countries and showing off their pride. Nationalism played a role in causing WWI by countries thinking that a certain country is showing off too much pride.
At the end of World War I, the sole responsibility of initiating the conflict fell on Germany. With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany took the blame and agreed to pay for reparations. However, the origin of the war was not the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Rather, the origins were nationalism, the creation of entangling alliances, the conflict in the Balkans, and the economic and imperialistic rivalries in Europe. These factors created the right conditions for war to occur. However, the responsibility of initiating conflict can be placed on Austria-Hungary.
To sum it all up, to a great extent Germany should be blamed for World War I because of the first alliance that was created with Austria - Hungary, and the Zimmerman letter that was written. Although some can argue that Austria - Hungary should be blamed for the cause of World War I, Austria - Hungary sparked the war and Germany added the flames to
To begin, the blame put onto Germany has been traced back to the Treaty of Versailles. This document officially endowed Germany with the responsibility of starting war. This document is also the reason the stigma
The thesis in the article ‘The origins of the World War’, by Sidney B. Fay, can clearly be stated as the explanation for World War I. Fay states that no one country is responsible for the creation of the war. Furthermore, he goes on to explain that each of the European country’s leaders did, or failed to do ‘certain’ things to provoke the other countries into a war. Fay states, “One must abandon the dictum of the Versailles Treaty that Germany and her allies were solely responsible. It was a dictum exacted by victors from vanquished, under the influence of the blindness, ignorance, hatred, and the propagandist misconceptions to which war had given rise.” (Fay, The Origins of the World War). His main arguments are his explanations of how
World War 1 was the most destructive and devastating event to ever happen to our country. When World War 1 is brought up many people agree to disagree on who actually started the war, which leads to the question, Who is to Blame? The debate on who to blame is between Serbia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany. Although there is a disagreement on which of these countries were the potential cause for World War 1, Serbia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany were the main reasons for the outbreak of World War 1.
The direct cause of World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, so the assassination of him was the thing that pushed the button on the ticking time bomb that detonated and caused the war. The Austrians saw the assassination as a perfect reason to make war against Serbia, as Austrians were still upset and bitter over the Balkan Wars. Along with the assassination many other factors contributed to the tension that began the war. The system of alliances meant that if one country was upset by another, then their allied countries were upset too. The crises before 1914 forged alliances between the main countries in the war. The Moroccan Crisis pushed Britain and France to ally together, and Austria and Germany created a strong alliance during the Bosnian Crisis. Austrian and Russian relations were poor over the rivalry they had over the Balkans, which The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The Triple Entente consisted of Britain, France, and Russia. Another factor was Militarism, almost all of the countries had increased
German expansion during the Wilhelmine period started mass amounts of controversy and ultimately led to war in 1914. The expansion of the military, colonial, industrial, powers, as well as several other factors played a huge role that led Germany into the wraths of many European countries. Even though there were several reasons for the beginning of World War I, Germany was ultimately the one who should take responsibility for the outbreak of it.
Germany should be blamed for starting WW1 due to the build up and glorification of military, the rise of nationalism, and being the first to declare war.
It created a strong competition and rivalry between Europe’s powers. Nationalist movements caused enough problems to set off wwi. Not just one country started the war, many groups wanted freedom and independence. Strong feelings of nationalism existed among the great powers of Europe and among the Slav people who hoped to unite all their into a unified state. The Serbians supported the rise of a Pan-Slavic nationalism and Austria-Hungary took Pan-Slavic nationalism as a threat to their country and culture. They hoped the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand would ignite a nationalistic feeling among the Slav people of Austria-Hungary and cause a major revolt. These feelings led to countries being less willing to work differences out without conflict and their wanting to prove their superiority to other countries and nations. Many of these countries believed they would win the war quickly and with few casualties but that was later proved wrong. Many German people felt as they were superior to the people of other European countries due to extreme nationalism. Countries would only to join the war if they were engaged in intense nationalism
Germany contributed to the main causes of World War One through militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism, however, they were not entirely responsible for these causes and should not be accused of causing the war. Each of these factors contributed to the war greatly, such as when an arms race begun . Both
Germany is responsible for 40% of the blame, because they were the ones that initiated the fighting with the Schlieffen Plan and the issued the “blank check” to Austria-Hungary. Germany was becoming the dominant power in central Europe, causing them to threaten the balance of power. Germany's industrialization potential was beginning to threaten France. This provoked the other countries to begin the war. Otto Von Bismarck wanted to avoid war, so he tried to isolate France diplomatically and created the triple alliance with Italy and Austria. However, Wilhelm II fired Bismarck, and Wilhelm II did not agree with the Bismarck's no war sentiment. This further shows that Germany was mostly responsible for WWI because Wilhelm II was the one who triggered
It is not hard to pin blame on any one country for the start of the First World War as it was mostly certainly Germany; and this war was very different to the ones fought in the past.
The thesis in the article The origins of the World War', by Sidney B. Fay, can clearly be stated as the explanation for World War I. Fay states that no one country is responsible for the creation of the war. Furthermore, he goes on to explain that each of the European country's leaders did, or failed to do certain' things to provoke the other countries into a war. Fay states, "One must abandon the dictum of the Versailles Treaty that Germany and her allies were solely responsible. It was a dictum exacted by victors from vanquished, under the influence of the blindness, ignorance, hatred, and the propagandist misconceptions to which war had given rise." (Fay, The Origins of the World War). His main arguments are his explanations of