Humanities Assignment
Essay
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There are many reasons which caused the outbreak of World War One. Soon after the war, four points had been justified to be the long term causes of World War One. They are Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism as well as the Nationalism. However, even though the Militarism, Imperialism, and Nationalism have got their argument; I still insist believing that Alliance is the most important factor which caused the outbreak of World War One.
Militarism is the belief that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests. It did the job of preparing the war materials. Before the war happens, the majority of the Europe countries were in the Army race. An excessive amount of soldiers weapons and NAVY battleships made them suddenly eager to beat each other up under the Chekhov's Law. However, people had suffered painfully by a bad economy because of the majority of the National budget was put into the military services instead of civilians; they were very pissed and riots, are on the bow. For example; in 1906, a huge conflict between British and Germany started - the NAVAL Race. Britain launched the first dreadnought – a ship that meant all others were redundant before its awesome firepower. In the next few years, two NAVAL superpowers scramble for the control of the ocean and British was wholehearted. Militarism created high tension before World War One happened but one way or another, even though the Militarism was extremely important for the outbreak of World War One; however, the Alliances was more significant than Militarism. In my opinion, I strongly believe Austria-Hungary will not declare war on Serbia of there weren't supports from Germany, and Serbia wouldn't be so confident to reject Austria-Hungary if there weren't Russia's support. In 'Mentalfloss' there is an analytical passage about the newspaper in 1914 which explained the importance of the alliances:
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"July 27-28, 1914: Austria-Hungary Declares War on Serbia
In the final week of July 1914, after a decade of confrontation and near misses, mounting tensions between the two main European alliance blocs finally came to ahead. Seizing on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as a pretext, Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum containing unacceptable demands to Serbia on July 23. European diplomats scrambled to defuse the situation, but on July 25, Serbia, assured of Russian support, refused to knuckle under—and Austria-Hungary, likewise assured of German support, rejected the Serbian response, laying the groundwork for war."
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Nationalism is one of the important causes of World War One. It created tension and hostile sentiment to not only the government of the country but the civilians; Civilians started to become warlike in different countries all over Europe and especially in some unstable regions like Balkans, Moselle, and Alsace-Lorraine. In Britain, the song "Rule Britannia" become famous and "Jingoism", which is a form of extreme patriotism, nationalism and a belief in national superiority and glory suddenly become popular, this means the British people were supporting the development of the war. In Germany, the national anthem proclaimed "Deutschland Above all" in the first sentence of its lyrics. It proved that the Germany Government had the intention to popularize Nationalism to its citizen and on the other hand, it has the meaning of Imperialism as well, which will be explained later in this essay. In France and Russia, they all wanted to restore national pride after their defeats to Germany (France) and Japan (Russia). The reason why Nationalism was one of the main causes of World War One is the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. On June 29, 1914, a Serbian nationalist murdered the heir of the Austria-Hungary (Archduke Franz Ferdinand), and his wife (Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg) in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary accused the Serbian government of organizing this assassination; sent lists of demands to Serbia, asked for taking the responsibility. Serbia government refused because the demand was unachievable, and that was exactly what Austria-Hungary want. So after the agreement of supports from Germany, Austria-Hungary ignored Russia's threat and declared war on Serbia. Therefore, Nationalism created the spark, which was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (July Crisis), which triggered the war directly by giving the reason for Austria-Hungary to invade Serbia, which further caused the conflict all over Europe. However, even though the Nationalism triggered the war directly, alliances are still one of the most important factors which lead to such tremendous scale of the war, which made the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia to the global war. In my opinion, the reason why the war spread so quickly in Europe is that the alliances. When all the countries alliance up, it will be much easier to offend other countries indirectly. For instance, the Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia under Germany's support, and Serbia refused the demand of the Austria-Hungary under Russia's support; but even if, there were no conflicts between Russia and Germany before the July Crisis, their relationship will still rapidly deteriorate because they are on two different sides. So spread the conflict indirectly through threatening the opposite countries made alliances more important than Nationalism because it can cause the war faster than ever, and the scale will be the bigger than ever.
Imperialism is as one of the four long term causes of World War One, and it is the political system that caused the most diplomatic conflicts. The central idea of imperialism is extending a country's power and influence through colonization by using military forces. When Imperialism empires colonizing other countries, they often fight or dispute with other Imperialism empires about the distribution of the land. For example, the scramble of Africa, from 1881 to 1914 until the war happens. Imperialism has reformed at that time, and it changed more brutal than before. It controls directly to the colonies by absolute advantage of military force and economy. After the Berlin Conference, the Europeans swiftly divide Africa into different colonies and most of the land was taken by France and British, as well as Germany. The uninterrupted disputes forced the establishment of the Triple Alliances, Entente cordiale, and later on Triple Entente, which later became the most important causes of the World War One. Germany, as one of the Imperialism empire, believe that their nationality is the most supreme, the most important one in the entire world, and this made Germany very warlike. For instance, Germany national anthem at below,
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Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt,
Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze
Brüderlich zusammenhält.
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt,
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt!
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang
Sollen in der Welt behalten
Ihren alten schönen Klang,
Uns zu edler Tat begeistern
Unser ganzes Leben lang.
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach lasst uns alle streben
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand;
Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes,
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!
Germany, Germany above all,
Above all in the world,
When, for protection and defense,
It always stands brotherly together.
From the Meuse to the Neman,
From the Adige to the Belt,
Germany, Germany above all,
Above all in the world!
German women, German loyalty,
German wine and German song,
Shall retain in the world
Their old beautiful chime
And inspire us to noble deeds
During all of our life.
German women, German loyalty,
German wine and German song!
Unity and justice and freedom
For the German fatherland!
Towards these let us all strive
Brotherly with heart and hand!
Unity and justice and freedom
Are the safeguards of fortune;
Flourish in the radiance of this fortune,
Flourish, German fatherland
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the lyrics "Germany, Germany above all, Above all in the world" proclaimed that Germany as an Imperialism empire was extremely aggressive to other countries and that explained why Germany was dare to invade Belgium. Apart from that, Imperialism also restored a huge amount of national pride to German soldiers and politicians. That probably why German army was much stronger than any other army. Therefore, the reason why Imperialism was a non-negligible long term cause of World War One. However, in my opinion, once again, I still strongly believe that Alliances is still the most significant reason for the outbreak of World War One. At the end of the "Scramble of Africa", the conflicts between different countries have already become irreversible. The Dual Entente established in 1895 between France and Russia, the Entente Cordiale established in 1904 by Britain and France, and the Triple Entente established in 1907 among Britain, France, and Russia. On the other side, Dual Alliances established in 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungary and the Triple Alliance established in 1882 when Italy joined Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the next few years the conflicts, mini wars, and political disagreement created a tremendous tension among all countries and in 1914 when the heir of the Austria-Hungary (Archduke Franz Ferdinand), and his wife (Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg) got assassinated in Sarajevo, as the result of Alliances, the first global war began.
All in all, there are many different reasons which led to the outbreak of World War One and Militarism, the army race; Nationalism, the national pride; Imperialism, the colonies as well as Alliances the Triple Alliances/Entente, has been justified as four major long term causes. However, I believe that Alliances was the most significant causes of World War One through supports from different empires on opposite sides which changed the conflict between two countries into global conflicts, and much easier to cause conflicts when disagreement appeared.
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How the War begin
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Let's go back to 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian war between France, and the confederation of North Germany allied with the German states in the south. After this war, France was defeated, and the winners united to form the German empire. Moselle and Alsace-Lorraine are annexed to the new German empire, frustrating the French side. In the next couple of years, Germany built alliances. Firstly with Austria-Hungary in 1879, then with Italy in 1881. These three formed as known as the Triple Alliance (Germany/Austria-Hungary /Italy).
While the Central Powers were colonizing Africa because of the growth of its power, France allied with Russia in 1891 and signed a secret treaty of non-aggression with Italy to avoid the second front in case of war. Later on, the British feared the rise of the German army, particularly its Navy; so Britain comes out of the isolation, first allied with France in 1904 called Entente Cordiale, then three years later in 1907 with Russia, the three finally formed as known as the Triple Entente (France/Britain/Russia).
In 1914, a time which the whole of Europe was in tremendous tension. France wanted the Alsace-Lorraine back that Germany had taken from it, Germany was building an enormous NAVY which was making the British very uncomfortable because it was threatening the British NAVY's naval control, and it wanted to take more of everyone's stuff. Apart from that, the military had made a long way since the last major war, so an excessive amount of soldiers, weapons, and new technologies suddenly made them pretty eager to beat each other up.
The Austria-Hungary and Ottoman got along very well, but there were lots of different small nations against that. So they declared independent, under Russia's support.
So here is how it goes. Central Powers in the middle of Europe, Russia at its right, France at its left, and Britain in the North-West. Germany's greatest fear was the encirclement by Russia and France; Britain's greatest fear was this growth of German NAVY; France's greatest fear was this growth of the German army; Austria-Hungary's greatest fear was it was becoming a weak power; Russia's greatest fear was that collapse of its nation, because of all those conditions, invisible, complex, and dangerous relationships soon built up between the Triple Entente and the Central Powers, so all you need to create a war, was a spark.
On June 29, 1914, a Serbian nationalist murdered the heir of the Austria-Hungary (Archduke Franz Ferdinand), and his wife (Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg) in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary accused the Serbian government of organizing this assassination; sent lists of demands to Serbia, asked for taking the responsibility. Serbia government refused because the demand was unachievable, and that was exactly what Austria-Hungary want. So after the agreement of supports from Germany, Austria-Hungary ignored Russia's threat and declared war on Serbia. In the next few days, the relationships between Triple Alliances and Triple Entente rapidly deteriorate.
The war began.
References
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