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Who started World War I? According to the treaty of Versailles Germany and their allies started the war (document 4) (see fig 1. 0). In this essay I will tell you why I think that all of Europe is responsible for the outbreak of World War I. In the essay I will use 6 of the 7 documents in the document-based question and use some outside sources to prove my theories. Nationalism was on reason why World War I started. Nationalism is a strong feeling of loyalty to ones own country (Child craft dictionary).
Nationalism was strong in Europe but it was especially strong in France and Germany. Germany was proud of their economic and military strength wile France was one of Europe's leading powers (wh p. 694). While nationalism was strong in those two countries they were having a bitter rivalry. The French were still mad at their defeat in the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 because their leader Napoleon III was overthrown had they had to accept harsh peace with Germany. The peace treaty said that they (France) had to surrender their provinces of Alsace and Lorraine (see fig. 2. 0) and pay a huge sum of money to Germany (wh p. 617). At the same time in Austria-Hungary they feared nationalism because they worried that Serbia would rebel and be in a different country.
Meanwhile Russia had a powerful form of nationalism called Pan-Slavism, which stated that all Slavic people shared a common nationality (ce). So Russia as the largest Slavic country stood ready to defend Serbia (wh p. 695). In the Ottoman empire they feared Serbia and Russia because Serbia was aggressive and they also dreamed of having their own south slave state (wh p. 695), and Russia over the past years was decreasing the ottoman empires borders by invading them and they wanted revenge for that (ce). Another factor that helped cause World War I was the economic and imperial rivalries (document 5). One of the biggest rivalries of this group was between England and Germany. Before 1900 England had the best economy in Europe.
But the British felt threatened of Germany because their fast economic growth. By 1900 Germany had the best economy in Europe and the second best in the world behind the United States (wh p. 695). Imperialism was also a factor that started the war. Before the war started there were many incidents, which almost started in a war. The incident was between France and Germany.
This all started in 1905 in Morocco (see fig. 3. 0 and 3. 5). Morocco is a country northwest of Africa. France wanted to control Morocco, but Germany wanted it too. In 1904 France made a secret treaty with Spain to split Morocco between them (ce).
In March of 1905, Germany sailed to morocco and declared itself in favor of Moroccan independence. And after that France was having a protectorate of Morocco. This almost led to war between them but the conflict was resolved in the Algeciras Conference in 1906. The agreement left Morocco to France and Spain (ce).
Another reason why World War I started was because of militarism and the arm race. As the treat for was growing the great powers expanded their armies and navy's. The result was an arms race that made war more likely (wh p. 695). The fiercest competition was the naval rivalry between England and Germany. While England had the biggest and strongest navy in Europe Germany started to build up their navy. England felt threatened from Germany's build up of its navy because something that Kaiser William II said: All the long years of my reign, my Because of that England increased their naval spending (document 1).
The last reason why I think all of Europe was responsible for World War I was because of the alliance system. In the war there was two major alliances one belonged to the central powers, which consisted of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary and the allies which consisted of England, France, and Russia (document 2) So to me the war started because Austria-Hungary wanted revenge for the assassination of their archduke and that led to Russia helping Serbia, which made Germany, stand by its ally because they were scared of facing France alone in a later war which led to France supporting Russia so they would not have to face Germany alone, which led to England joining in the allies side so they can wipe out Germany's navy. And like Sidney Bradshaw said all European countries in greater or lesser degree were responsible for the outbreak of World War I (document 6). Bibliography: BIBLIOGRAPHY 1.
DBChildcraft dictionary 3. Wh = world history textbook 4. Ce = Compton's encyclopedia 5. Fig 1. 0 = article 231 of the Versailles treaty fig 2. 0 - 3. 5 = Compton's encyclopedia
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