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Example research essay topic: Otto Von Bismarck Declared War On Germany - 1,965 words

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World War I began as a local Austro-Serbian war, and because of many other factors it turned into a continental war and then a world war. Germany and Austria were the most eager to go to war, and because of alliance systems, nationalism, bad diplomacy, and military planning, things quickly got out of control. Countries that were fighting on the same side often did so for very different reasons. World War I is probably one of the most complicated modern wars. In the early 1900 s European countries had very nationalistic attitudes. People had a lot of pride in their country, and they had imperialistic ideas about expanding their borders.

The expansion of these countries caused many small conflicts between countries competing for colonies in the same areas. 1 As Hans Delbruck of Germany said: We want to be a World Power and pursue colonial policy in the grand manner. The entire future of our people among the great nations depends on it. 2 This was a very typical attitude at the time. Germany wanted to expand and become a superpower. The other countries in the Pentarchy 3, which consisted of Britain, France, Prussia-Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, would be upset when Germany broke the balance of power.

Germany was willing to go to war with Europe to get what it wanted. Germany did not want to be held back during its time of prosperity. The desire to be a world power without consulting the other European powers alienated Germany from countries like France. Britain understood and supported Germany's desire to expand as long as British interests were not compromised, and Germany did not strive to be the only imperialistic power 4. Germany was Europe s largest industrial state. It had the best technological ingenuity, organizational skills, college training, and disciplined workers. 5 This potential was more important than their large well trained army, or its navy which was second only to Britain s.

The Wilhelmine Reich s first act was to build a battle fleet to challenge Britain s security and supremacy in the North Sea area. Britain s response was to enter an arms race with Germany instead of cutting a deal that could weaken its power 6. With the balance of power disturbed, countries began to choose sides. Austria-Hungary was supported and influenced by Germany because it was in a decline like the rest of Europe.

Its empire, which used to be powerful, was divided by groups with different nationalities. This weakened its industrial capabilities. 7 Despite this, it was respected by Otto von Bismarck. Without Germany s support, Austria would be a less aggressive country. Britain and France ranked third and fourth amongst European industrial powers after dropping from first and second, while the German Reich became number one. 8 Britain had naval supremacy and the largest empire. France also had a large army, but Germany was more powerful because Britain and France had out of date economic and industrial methods. 9 Russia lacked modern technology and the ability to mass produce it, so it was not involved in the arms race. Germany s Otto von Bismarck set the alliance system into motion, beginning with the Three Emperors League in 1873.

Bismarck wanted to avoid a two front war by having this agreement with Austria-Hungary and Russia so that if Germany was attacked, Russia would stay neutral. He wanted Germany to be neutral if there was an attack on Russia, and he wanted to isolate France. 10 The Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria was created in 1879 in case of a Russian attack, adding Italy in 1882 to become the Triple Alliance. 11 When Bismarck resigned things changed. His successors didn t understand what he was trying to accomplish with the treaties. The Re-insurance Treaty of 1887 became void in 1890 after they failed to renew it. This increased the risk of a two front war. The previously defensive treaty began to be used aggressively.

Italy tried to use it in its war in Libya against the Turks. Austria tried to use it to support its anti-Serb policy in the Balkans. 12 In response to Germany s alliance system and power, France and Russia agreed in 1894 to mobilize if any country in the Triple Alliance mobilized. Britain and France formed an alliance called the Entente Cordial in 1904, which made no rules for military support, just discussions about military plans. The Triple Entente was formed when Russia made a military alliance with France in 1907. This voided Russia s agreement with Germany and Austria-Hungary known as the Three Emperors League. 13 The Triple Entente did not force its members to go to war like the Triple Alliance did. There were problems with both alliance systems.

Italy and Austria were not friendly, and in 1915, Italy joined the allies. 14 Britain, France, and Russia did not agree on many things, but they had common interests so they stayed together. Both systems made the situation in Europe worse. Agreements were kept a secret, so it would be very easy to misread an enemy s strength. Also, the Triple Alliance was becoming very offensive, which was bad because the alliances were supposed to be for defense and security. If Germany or Austria-Hungary mobilized, then France and Russia would mobilize. 15 Most European countries weren t eager to resolve conflicts through good diplomacy. Treaties began to be used for aggressive purposes.

For example, Austria acted more forcefully towards Serbia than it would have if it was not backed by Germany. 16 Nationalistic attitudes made it worse because countries like Germany were too proud to compromise or negotiate with a perhaps weaker country. Both sides wanted the spoils of war without actually fighting. Instead of trying to avoid escalating conflicts, they tried to leave a situation in better condition than they started it in. Normally this is good, but the way they went about this was very dangerous. The diplomatic tactics involved ultimatums, threats, war scares, and shows of force in the form of mobilizations. 17 The key was to make your enemy believe that you were willing and able to push a dangerous conflict to the limit rather than concede. These poor diplomacy tactics resulted in several crises between 1905 - 1913. 18 Anyone of them could have resulted in a serious war.

The first occurred when Germany moved against France over Morocco in 1905, as a reaction to the containment of Germany by the Triple Entente. 19 Germany s success was ruined by its insistence on an international conference to emphasize its diplomatic victory. The Bosnian Crisis, which lasted from 1908 - 1909, involved a German threat of mobilization against Russia if it did not drop Serbia. Russia did not want to go to war, plus it could not mobilize as quickly as Germany could, so it forgot about Serbia. 20 Russia was very embarrassed by this, and would not back down the next time it was threatened. This was good for Germany, because its ally, Austria was Serbia s enemy.

If Austria fought with Serbia and Germany backed them up, Germany did not want to worry about Russia coming to Serbia s aid, in a situation that Bismarck had wanted to avoid in the 1890 s. The problem was that Russia might not back down a second time. The second Moroccan crisis took place in 1911. It was very similar to the first, except Germany did not have immediate success. Britain became concerned when Germany sent a gunboat to the area of the conflict. Britain warned Germany, and when Austria and Italy decided not to support Germany in its coarse of action, Germany cut a deal and gained a small amount of territory.

Shortly after this dispute, Britain and France discussed possible strategy in the event of war, or of a German march through Belgium to get to France. 21 Germany s military plan made the potentially explosive situation in Europe even worse. It was thought up by Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905. He realized that if there was a war, Germany would have to face both France and Russia. Time was very important, Germany had to strike first and avoid being challenged on two fronts. France would mobilize quickly, so the German army would send two main wings towards France through neutral Belgium, leaving a small wing on the boarder between France and Germany. 22 After France was disposed of, Germany could send all of its remaining forces to the eastern front to face the Russians.

After France lost, Germany could demand an indemnity of around 25 billion marks, and use it to further fund the war. 23 The slow mobilization of the Russian army would have given the Germans only six weeks to destroy France. 24 Because time and the first strike were so important to Germany, it would have to move immediately in the event of war. It would be a waste of time for Germany to try to prevent a war by using diplomacy. The spark that ignited the explosive situation in Europe was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. He was killed on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo by a Serb. 25 This event gave Austria-Hungary the excuse it was looking for to destroy Serbia, its long time enemy. Austria-Hungary s pursuit of a war with Serbia will result in an unescapable domino effect leading to a World War. The Potsdam consultation took place on July 5 + 6, and resulted in Germany s commitment to Austria-Hungary against Serbia.

Without Germany s support, Austria-Hungary wouldn t be able to fight the war with any amount of security. Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia that was designed to be outrageous and unacceptable, resulting in a diplomatic split between the two countries. Serbia was not ready for war, so it agreed to most of the demands and made a request to have a meeting to discuss the remaining conditions. 26 Austria-Hungary did not want to discuss anything; it declared war on July 28, 1914. Austria-Hungary was already prepared for war, and showed this by bombarding Belgrade on July 29. Russia began to mobilize on July 30, in order to keep its promise of support to Serbia. 27 Germany knew that Russia would probably mobilize, so they planned in advance. Germany decided to enter the war twelve hours before they learned of the Russian mobilization.

Germany gave the order to mobilize on August 1, followed by France on the same day. 28 When Russia began to mobilize early, all hopes of peace through diplomacy ended because of the von Schleiffen plan. The von Schleiffen plan would work only if Russia began to mobilize after Germany and took a long time getting ready. Germany declared war on Russia August 1, and France on August 3. When the German army entered neutral Belgium on August 4, Britain declared war on Germany. 29 From this point on, the situation got worse as other countries chose sides and joined in the fighting. A local Austro-Serbian conflict became a European war when France, Russia, and Germany became involved. The presence of Britain was significant because it is a country that can not be reached by Germany s army.

The only threat to Britain was Germany s navy. Japan declared war on Germany to support Britain, so on August 23 the European war became a World War. 30 With the nationalistic attitudes, expansion of Germany and upset balance of power, the alliance system, poor diplomacy, and military planning in the form of the von Schlieffen plan, a large war was unavoidable. If the Archduke had not been killed, war would still occur, just precipitated by a different conflict. The dangerous potential of the circumstances in Europe were not realized until it was too late.


Free research essays on topics related to: otto von bismarck, britain and france, germany and austria, declared war on germany, france and russia

Research essay sample on Otto Von Bismarck Declared War On Germany

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