Paper Topic:

WORLD HISTORY

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Professor

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Date

World History

Introduction

Eric Hobsbawn asserts that , the twentieth century really only began in 1914 , with a catalysmic war which swept away the nineteenth century status quo (Baylis Smith 50 . The year 1914 marked the beginning of the most destructive period in human history which was believed to have ended in 1945 . World War I was historically significant because of its terrible aftermath with a high percentage of death toll and various war damages . It is basically considered as the world 's first

The concept of national power , the material goods and human strength . This is in consideration that the traditional military power are insufficient without the Home Front ' support (Kiraly 15 . This is what sets the 1914 war apart from the 1898 Spanish-American War (Gregory n .p . The 1898 war is also known as the Splendid Little War ' borrowing the words of Ambassador John Hay when he commented on the said war in a letter to Theodore Roosevelt (Bethell n .p . Both significant events in history had its own legacy of tragedy and costs of war , but despite their similarity in the aspects of life that has been altered like the psychological , financial , mental , and at some point spiritual , they differ in the manner by which these lives were transformed . World War I was mainly staged under the concept of imperialism whereas the Splendid Little Wars pursued carrying with it the banner of nationalism

Basically , this essay will be directed into justifying that World War I emerged through the the German Problem and the first shots in Sarajevo resulting to the escalation of imperialism and in the same sense that the Splendid Little War is a grea representation of nationalism and national pride

World War I and the Splendid Little Wars

After Europe 's disintegration , the region was tremendously affected and experienced instability . This unstable situation was added by the circumstance brought by the so-called German Problem (Baylis Smith 51 . The unified Germany 's bid for world power and territorial ambitions became apparent which caused internal conflicts . There was a division of forces with Germany waging hegemony and the alliance of Britain , France and Tsarist Russia on the other . The internal crisis was further widened by the creation of the Schlieffen Plan pioneered by Alfred von Schlieffen which was devised to prevent Germany from being attacked on two fronts . Schlieffen proposed that Germany should attack France first then follow Russia afterwards (Baylis Smith 52 . This escalating tension between the primary actors during World War I was further triggered by the first shots of World War I

These opening shots were not actually fired by Germany but in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist at Archduke Franz Ferdinand , the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire (Baylis Smith 52 . This significant assassination alerted the different countries in tension which resulted to Europe 's crisis and eventually , the war

On the other hand , the Splendid Little War , between the Spaniards and the Americans involved countries from the...

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