World War I began on July 28, 1914, and would last until an armistice with Germany was signed on November 11, 1918. The causes of this war cannot be attributed to any single country or policy, but to a culmination of many factors that reached a tipping point in 1914.
As I'm sure you already know, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was the spark that set the war in motion. Had this event been contained between Serbia, Bosnia, and Austria, it is doubtful that other nations would have gotten involved. To understand how this act of violence could prompt such a large scale war, one must first examine the system of alliances that were in place in Europe in the 1910s. During this time, many nations feared the growing military and technological power of their neighbors, prompting them to make strategic alliances to pool their power in case of a conflict. This eventually resulted in two divisive alliances being formed, with nearly every European country belonging to one side or the other. So, when a small conflict between two small nations on opposite sides of the alliance broke out, the larger nations felt obligated to support their allies, which effectively expanded the conflict on an exponential scale.
In short: The growth of German militarism in the 1910s contributed to the formation of strategic alliances across Europe, as well as the arms race, for many nations feared being less powerful than their neighbors. As for German diplomacy, their decisions to aid in Austria's retaliatory attacks on Serbia, and to declare war on Russia, succeeded in expanding the scale of World War I.
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