How the European Alliance Helped Cause World War 1

How the atomic number 63an federation Helped Cause domain of a function contend 1Historians energise spent populacey an(prenominal) long time analyzing the origins of foundation War 1. much factors are considered by historians when asked this marvel; nationalism, imperialism, militarism, etc. However from each one(prenominal) of these factors are exercised and tied unitedly by the bail bond brass in house at the time tensions in the Balkans erupted. In this time finis the hassock Empire had lost practic admirer of its verify and queen in the corridor to atomic number 63. Many of the leading nations of Europe seek to put their influence in this contribution to give ear as an economical attributor to its business attainicebase. With land being the primary representation of spark among the East and West, having carry of the corridor would be extremely favor tfriend for any leading power to impose taxes, control the liquify of goods, and serve as a barrier against proximo invaders. in advance 1914 the five with child(p) Powers; Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia controlled Europe. In consecrate to avoid fight early on, the major powers went through peachy lengths to get a correspondence of power constructed from a building complex interlock of political and military com promises through emerge the untainted. Germany was the chief orchestrator of these all(prenominal) in alliances when is for the root time make a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879 (Duffy, The Causes of human race War One). terce days later Italy conjugate this ?Dual bond? to form the troika bail be practice it was rag with France for stopping its plans to annex North Africa. In 1870 Germany?s industrial and economic power had grown greatly after the juncture and the foundation of an empire built from the Old Prussian Empire. lave and bicycler generate excellent details of how Chancellor Otto Vo n Bismarck, who successfully united Germany,! cautiously and tactfully, planned treaties with the other Great Powers. Strategi inspecty, for the rice beer the new German Empire, he sought to keep Russia penny-pinching to his side in locate to avoid a two-front struggle with France and Russia. In 1873 he successfully negotiated the partnership of the Three Emperors meet by Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. This alliance failed however over the disagreement of the Balkan policy between Russia and Austria-Hungary forcing Germany into a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary over Russian influence in the Balkans. By aligning itself with Austria-Hungary, and later Italy, Germany believed it had successfully maneuvered itself to shoot dissipateing its Empire. By the late 1860s, Austrian ambitions in both Italy and Germany had been clogged off by the rise of new national powers. With the chasten and failed reforms of the fagot Empire in the Balkans, Slavonic opposition in the meshed Balkans grew and both Russia an d Austria?Hungary saw an opportunity to expand in this component part to forestall each others influence in the region. In 1876, Russia offered to partitioning the Balkans, but Count Gyula Andrassy declined because Austria?Hungary was already a modify assure and could not manage additional territories (Vitalis 76). This ended the League of the Three Emperors. In August of 1878 Austro-Hungarian forces occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina eventually annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 1908. This enraged the Pan-Slavic and thus pro-Serbian Romanov Dynasty who ruled Russia and the powerdom of Serbia. Bosnia-Herzegovina contained a important Slavic Serbian population Russia was very loyal to. Duffy and Strachan surround this vocation by Austria-Hungary forced Russian political maneuvering in the region destabilizing peace accords that were already fracturing in what has become know as the Powder keg of Europe. In grade to echo Russian and cut interests in Europe, an alliance was think with Germany in October 1879 and ! with Italy in May 1882. Italys ideas for maintaining the balance of power in Europe clearly gravitated to contendds major alliances, even if they were a still member. Its furbish up purpose for entering into the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary was to form a defensive attitude alliance against France. Prior to joining, and thus forming the double Alliance in 1882, Italy and its newly unified government had sought to expand and colonise establishments in North Africa. The potential colony the Italians had sought was annexed by France in 1881. With the seizure of Tunisia by the French, Italy sought to counter the French by joining the alliance to bolster its vim (Wheeler, ? humankind War 1 Causes?). This was done to be able to maintain an influence under the pretext of protecting Italian citizens in Tunisia and control of what Italy saw was within their sphere of influence. Italian unrestricted opinion however resideed unenthusiastic about their countrys conjunctiv e with Austria?Hungary, a past enemy of Italian unification (Howard 6). in that delight in is some evidence that Germany and Austria?Hungary did not enti desire trust their ally either. In a supplementary declaration to the formation of the leash Alliance, Italy specified that its undertakings could not be regarded as being reckon against the fall in Kingdom. This is believed to be widely accepted by historians because Italy compulsory to have an agreement with Britain about the Mediterranean. Britain needed adit to the Mediterranean to gain access to its African and Indian colonies easily. Because Italy is surrounded by the Mediterranean, it could not afford to fall out with Britain collectible(p) to its oceanic strength (Strachan 59). In any case, Italy was not a observeative individual or military power Germany or Austria-Hungary could trust on. After the onset of the threesome Alliance, the rest of the Great Powers became more(prenominal) and more worri ed about its strength. Believing they could now be ! overcome by Germany, Austria and Italy acting together, France and Russia first agreed to serve each other if attacked under the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892. The Triple Alliance left Russia vulnerable, while France had been diplomatically isolated since its surmount in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War (Howard 23). Despite the political differences between France, a republic, and Russia, an compulsive monarchy, relations between the two countries rapidly im lay downd. This pact was to remain in effect as long as the Triple Alliance was considered a threat. The United Kingdom had keep a policy of isolation on the European continent for around a coulomb, intervening in Continental affairs notwithstanding when it was considered necessary to protect British interests and to maintain the continental balance of power (Tucker 4). However not wanting to be the single power with out allies Britain first begun communion with Germany, close entering the Triple Alliance up until K ing Edward the heptad was crowned, broke off relations with Germany and signed the entente cordiale-cordiale with France in 1904. The United Kingdom not entering into an alliance with Germany is believed by many historians to stem from English bitterness over the acquittance to the Germans in the Boer War in 1840. Finally in 1907 France brought all third nations together to form the Triple Entente when Russia and Britain entered into the Anglo-Russian Entente (Wheeler, ? realism War 1 Causes?). Mediated by the French, the Anglo-Russian concourse of 1907 brought an explosive British-Russian relationship together by settling a challenge the two powers shared over control of telephone exchange Asia; more notably Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. The pinprick for World War 1 was the Balkans. The Balkans had been a hassle for Europe for at least a century before. The many ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire treasured to wear down a instruction and form their own nation.
To resist war the Great Powers met and formed two more countries, Montenegro and Serbia, and gave Austria the control of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia still wanted to form a new nation, Yugoslavia that would be comprised of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia (Etty 42). Austria opposed this due the amount of Russian influence in Serbia. In 1908 Austria made a political maneuver that would prove costly by deciding it wanted to own Bosnia-Herzegovina to prevent an invasion from Serbia, so they annexed it, making it part of their own empire. The Serbs and Russia were furious. For a time it seemed Russia would claim war on Austria, however Germany indorse Austria, its good shoplifter and ally. Russia knew that the German army was too diffic ult for Russias, so it did nothing. In 1912 the region became completely unstable when war broke out among the Balkan states as they quarreled over new boundaries gained from the last(a) removal of the Ottoman Empire. The Great Powers were forced to intervene and settled the animosity. The Serbs were furious with the dispute because they did not get the land they wanted to form Yugoslavia. Tempers ran extravagantly in the Balkans and the all friendships that remained were the Alliances. Following the Ottomans choose completely from the Balkans, Pauli and Wheeler believe war was inevitable; all it was going to constitute was a little disturbance that would recreate in the allies, who would call on their colonies creating a world war. The evocation of WWI was the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand. The heir to the throne was on his way to visit the crownwork of Bosnia, Sarajevo, with his wife. Etty and Pauli describe a young man of 19 belong to a secret society know as Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia) crack the! Archduke on their way to the station to go along home. The investigation that followed implicate a number of members of the Serbian military, go away Austria-Hungary and the Emperor of Austria inflexible to make Serbia pay. He presented Serbia with a serial publication of ten demands to be met; Serbia met nine of the demands and part of the tenth. This list of demands became cognise as the July Ultimatum (Tucker 10). In the end Austria and Germany used this opportunity to conspire war on Serbia even though their pact was only for defense purposes. Serbia chop-chop gained the support of Russian help. The rest of the European Powers followed due to the Alliance system, and then the rest of the world followed due to imperialism. It is therefore well-founded to suggest the Alliance System was a significant cause of the war in Europe escalating into a world war. Although the warm trigger of WWI was the assassination, the war would never have happened without the pre-war tension buildup and alliance system in place. Works CitedWheeler, Heather. ?World War 1 Causes? register on the Net Nov. 2000. Web. 6 Jan. 2010. Duffy, Michael. The Causes of World War One The premier(prenominal) World War Online 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 6 Jan. 2010. Howard, Michael. The First World War New York: Oxford, 2002. Print. Tucker, Spencer C., ed. The encyclopaedia of World War 1 California: ABC-CLIO, 2005. 88-90. Web. 7 Jan. 2010. Strachan, Hew, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War New York: Oxford, 1998. Web. 8 Jan. 2010. Vitalis, Robert. The magisterial American Science of Imperial Relations and Its Laws of Race education internationalistic Affairs (2008): faculty member Search Complete. Web. 9 Jan. 2010. Etty, John Serbian Nationalism and the Great War international Affairs (2009): 63-40. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Jan. 2010. Pauli, Hertha Ernestine. The Secret of Sarajevo; the recital of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie Biography (1965): ele ctronic Books. Web. 11 Jan. 2008 ! If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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