WWI, THE WAR TO END ALL WARS

Running Head : WORLD WAR I

The War to end all Wars

[Name of Author]

[Affiliation of author] The War to end all Wars

Prelude to War

The years before the start of World War II in 1914 is characterized by the race for European dominance . It was a period of improving western science , technology , industry , agriculture , transportation communications , and weapons . It was also a period of the New Imperialism wherein a nation would invest in another country and then used political power to protect these investments1 . Possession of these

another countries or the so-called colonies was seen as an indicator of status as a great power

Imperialist believed that colonies would absorb their surplus production in the market therefore giving them more profit . Imperialist also sees these colonies as a source of limited goods . Through the improvement of science , the European population had grown rapidly

The improvement of technology , industry , agriculture , transportation and communication gave way to a higher way of living . Weapons had also improved giving the feeling of greater security and power to the discovering nation while causing fear among other nations . The armaments race and the improved military tactics had greatly affected the balance of power in the Imperialist Europe . These had affected the outcome of the small wars before World War II . Six Great Powers had emerged before World War II came . These were Britain , Germany , France , Russia Austria-Hungary and Italy

Britain and Germany were battling for naval supremacy with their improvements for dreadnought , all-big-gun armament . After the completion of Suez Canal in 1869 , Britain dreamed for a railroad that would span Africa (Capetown-to-Cairo ) but Germany blocked it . Germany (which was then headed by chancellor Otto Von Bismarck , Austria-Hungary and later on Italy made treatises to strengthen their hold for European dominance defensively (Triple Alliance . Bismarck , after successfully unifying the states of Germany , had declared in 1871 that his nation was satisfied and did not need to expand further2 . But Germany became more aggressive when Wilhelm II came to power as the German Emperor after the death of Wilhelm I and Friedrich III . To William II dismissed Bismarck in 1890 in spite of its good service dating back at the term of his grandfather

Russia , France and Britain made their own alliance (Triple Entente ) in response to the German 's forged alliance3 . The two crises for the control of the colony Morocco had then came concerning the France Britain and Germany but it was quickly resolved . The Ottoman Empire only later on teamed up with Germany after it had resolved its own conflict through a change in its rulers . Ottoman Empire was on a decline losing its former state , Bosnia (which was transferred to Austria-Hungary Serbia , Greece and Bulgaria attacked the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Wars but were halted by Britain and Germany 's interference through the Treaty of Bucharest . The problem of Austria-Hungary with its neighboring country Serbia had sparked the first major military conflict that involved the two said alliances that were later...