Asses the causes of WW1

The outbreak of the First World War lead to many changes in society and was a
turning point that marks the end of the age of empires, among many things. In
this essay I plan to go before that to show what actually caused the most
damaging war at the time.
There are, of course, many minor, personal reasons as to why the First World War
started ranging from pride to greed to loyalty, and we could go into the minds
of great leaders to see why they did what they did, but I mean to focus on the
major points the stuff of nations, not individuals, and stretching back way into
the 19th century.
The assassination at Sarajevo was the mouse that rocked the boat, in the sense
that one last push by war-mongering Austria-Hungary was one too far. The
beginning conflict was initially a diplomatic strife between Serbia, an offshoot of
the Russian Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a force many times larger,
and the trouble began when the Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand was shot and killed,
alongside his wife, by an (inactive) member of the Serb nationalist group The
Black Hand. This gave Austria-Hungary a perfect opportunity to flex its muscles
in an attempt to gain territory. Even though the Emperor of Austria-Hungary
didnt really like the Arch-Duke, the Empire soon gave Serbia the infamous
ultimatum, which demanded, among other things, the cessation of the patrolling
of borders and allowing Austro-Hungarian troops inside the country. A full takeover, in effect. The Serbians politely declined so Austria-Hungary declared war.
This was what Austria-Hungary wanted. In fact, Count Berchtold, the AustroHungarian PM, said Were the Serbs to agree to all the demands, this would not
be to my liking. But what would come to be known as the July Crisis was an
immediate cause the match. The fuse had been intricately woven over
decades, steeped in personal motivations and greed.
The tangled mess of treaties and alliances turned a minor grievance into the first
full European conflict, due to age-old agreements and connections between the
royal families. One war started, it was impossible to stop as the ever-expanding
one-upmanship of allies brought almost all the continent into the war. Before
the war, European governments were based on power. Simply put, power was
measured on the amount of land and army one had. This leads into militarism.
However, as in such a tense community, with war a possibility at any time,
countries sought to make alliances as to increase the military capacities in terms
of defence and attack. When the war started, two main alliances had formed
the Triple Alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire a
rigid agreement which forced the members of it to respond with military aid to
the others, and the Triple Entente. Unlike the Alliance, the Entente (intent in
French) was more an understanding, a mutual agreement between France, Great
Britain and Russia to aid each other. However, this would not be enforced.
Among these were smaller, more secretive alliances which included the FrancoItalian alliance, which, in the case that Germany attacked France, Italy would
remain neutral. Indeed, Italy actually allied itself with France in the end. Britain,
while morally obligated to help France when attacked by Germany, was forced
to participate by an agreement that Britain would defend Belgiums neutrality in
a war.

The forces of industrialisation and militarisation are tied in breeding tension

between major powers in Europe. The industrial revolution made many things
easier just some of those things happened to be better battleships, more guns,
bigger guns, and the first chemical weaponry. At this point in time, Britain had
developed herself a huge navy over hundreds of years, but when new, metal, begunned battleships were able to be build, specifically the dreadnought, Britain
found itself in the awkward position of having not much navy at all, really, and
thus was on an even playing field with her new competitor, Germany. Of course
the race for the capital weapon, not to mention more soldiers, better equipment,
new weapons including gasses, heavy artillery, tanks and flamethrowers
created more tension, more competition between already restless nations,
itching for a fight, due in part to intense nationalism and social Darwinism. The
chancellor himself said that after Prince Bismarcks unambitious rule, that
Germany must find its place in the sun. However this is not too different from
what all the countries of Europe were doing in Africa.
The concept of imperialism was, at the time, thought a fine and worthy venture,
and a profitable one, as more colonies meant more resources, soldiers and
wealth. The Berlin conference was held in 1884 between the powerful nations of
Europe to decide who could take over which parts of Africa, to help prevent any
territorial strife. Between the Europeans. But however cooperative this seems,
empire-building was a very competitive business. At the time of the First World
War, Britain had the largest-reaching empire (hence Great Britain), but
Germany its main enemy, had control of much of Africa. This land grabbing was
much like the arms race and all the alliances made nations simply wanted
more. They were, it seems, greedy in every possible way. Military support, better
weapons, more land, more money, more people, and therefore more potential
soldiers were things all the countries were seeking. It seems as though they were
preparing for war before anything started. This does make sense, as the larger
nations of Europe were in a perpetual power play, and the small conflicts in the
Balkans and between Italy and Turkey showed war was never too far away, but
gaining more of everything simply insured more death, destruction and
catastrophe.
In the end, the war seems inevitable. Unless all nations mutually decided to
stand down, hostilities would increase. Austria-Hungary made the push towards
war, but in reality, any country could have done it, through carelessness or
hostile intent. Weve looked at the causes, and they all seem to point towards
one motivation: power. Seeing as empires collapsed at the end, this appears
quite ironic. Regardless, the war cost millions of lives and ushered in an era. This
was the real beginning of the 20th Century.

Zack Schofield