causes world war 1 :: essays research papers

It can be said that the First world war was caused by the alliance system, which has a very weak argument, the alliance system had very little to do with the first world war, it did to some extent cause the size of the war, but its argument in my opinion is very weak. Many other causes lean towards the side against the alliance system causing the first world war, which I believe is credible. The alliance system did cause the size of the war as it caused countries to be pulled in. First made in the Franco- Prussian war. Alliances held countries to some sort of standard and normally required something of each participant. The triple alliance signed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy bound each country to give military support in a case of war or â€Å"if any one member of the alliance was at war with any two great powers other members would come to aid†. When the entente was made it did not intend for reciprocal arrangements for support, though it did allow wide variety of arrangements negotiations to take place, one negotiation would have been of support in war. But by 1911 A.J.P Taylor said â€Å"the entente was in the process of disintegration.† and was not seen as strong, because of the triple alliance Germany came to Austria’s aid willingly, which plunged Germany into war. When Germany declared war on France and Russia, Austria- Hungary was pulled into that battle to fulfill their part of the alliance. This had four major powers fighting. Alliances pulled countries into war because if they were not followed a threat of retaliation would be expected. On the other hand. Other causes include Nationalists wanting freedom, causing the Slavs to ultimately assassinate the duke and causing hate towards to Austrian empire. Nationalism was also a major cause of war, it caused problems especially in Austria- Hungary and France. This same nationalism had brought Germany together a one country and who took Alsace- Lorraine from the French in 1870- 1871 in the Franco- Prussian war, and in recent times the Moroccan crisis which left the French with hatred as an attitude towards the Germans, the thought of revenge was also one that was favored by the French nationalists. While this unrest was happening in France, nationalism was also causing problems in the areas of Austria- Hungary, over here the nationalists were slavists