What caused the Great War, World War One

Author 's Name

Professor

Course Subject

Date

The Great War

Introduction

Relative to World War II , the causes of the Great War are not clearly defined . Some historians argue that war has already begun even before the year 1914 . In comparison , this war does not involve tyrants wanting to conquer the world for personal vanity such as Hitler and Mussolini Therefore , this only demonstrates the complexity of the actual origin of this First World War . This war is a magnified consequence of different incorporated factors . It involves several

aspects that had relevant contribution to the outbreak of the great trench wars in European soil Some of these conflicts that brewed the tension needed for a war to commence include the rise of nationalist sentiments of the European people , the competition between economic and imperial interests , and the mere possibility of war . Leaders , threatened with the possibility of military conflict , established various alliances and treaties and increased their armaments . This further escalated the level of tension in the region (Karpilovsky et al , no page

Nationalism

During the year 1815 , the different European countries signed a treaty in Austria otherwise known as the Congress of Vienna . In this settlement , the leaders only sought to preserve peace while sacrificing the principles of nationalism . During this period , both the states of Italy and Germany were left in division , but due to great passion of nationalism among their citizens both countries were eventually united Italy in 1861 while Germany in1871 . Also a consequence of the French and Prussian War between the years 1870 and 1871 is the loss of the territory known as Alsace-Lorraine by France . This raged the French people and sought to avenge this loss to Germany . Another demonstration of how the spirit of nationalism contributed to the outbreak of the Great War is the Pan-Germanism campaign of Austria-Hungary , which was highly opposed by the Balkans from different ethnic groups . This sprouted a major conflict as the Serbian people favored Panslavism over Pan-Germanism , which was given much support by Imperial Russia (Karpilovsky et al , no page The First World War (1914-18 , no page Duffy , no page World War One , no page

Imperialism

Imperialism was a major contributory factor the heightening of European rivalry during this period . With the onset of the Industrial Revolution many states , including Britain , Germany , and France encountered a fast growing manufacturing economy . Due to a new and elevated level of production , they required a larger sphere of market . Therefore , they all sought the expansion of their economies in a different geographic location . And these nations chose the African continent . Although there were previous conflicts that affected the relationship of Britain and France to one another , they were able to arrive to a resolution . But despite this , the conflict of Germany with Britain and France remained and their interests over North Africa clashed . On the other hand , the Ottoman Empire of the Middle East was then closing to a collapse , which proved to be very attractive to many nations seeking...