How Did World War 1 Use Nationalism Forces Countries To Obtain Alliances

Position Paper: Nationalism forces countries to pursue alliances in the name of national interest. As groups of countries form these alliances to grow in strength, they can lead to ultranationalism and hostility between each other. This hostility grows into situations where war is nearly unavoidable. The source shows how this happened with the conflict between Serbia and Austria, turning a small battle between countries into a massive world war. In the political cartoon, people representing Serbia and Austria are at the front having an argument on the brink of becoming physical. Behind them, a man representing Russia is threatening Austria with retribution if they harm Serbia. Behind Russia is Germany, demanding Russia leave Austria alone.
This nationalism, however, was quickly turning into ultranationalism as relations between Serbia and Austria grew worse. As the tension in Europe came to a snapping point, countries began to use these alliances more. Serbia and Austria were at the center of World War One when it began. After the war between those two countries broke out, the other European nations were quick to fall behind, as seen in the source. Each country was quick to align itself with those they’d previously formed pacts with. After the assassination of Archduke Franz, Austria gave Serbia an ultimatum which was turned down. This was the July crisis of 1914 which eventually turned into a declaration of war between Serbia and Russia and led to the start of World War One. As Serbia turned to Russia for aid, Germany saw the threat of being encircled with the possible annexation of Austria-Hungary. In response to Russia secretly mobilizing forces to Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia to protect their own borders. Germany then declared war on France due to France’s official alliance with Russia. Britain quickly declared war on Germany in defence of its
Around this time, civil war within the country forced Russia to pull out of the war. When the war started, countries had mobilized to protect their nationalism. The fight was largely to protect their own national interest, as well as their beliefs and allies. An example of this is Italy’s betrayal of the Triple Alliance when they saw more opportunities taking offers from Britain rather than fighting with Germany, whom they thought would lose anyway. As the war ended, with Germany taking the defeat Italy predicted, nationalism and ultranationalism continued to play a part. After the war, treaties intended to prevent another war of that scale were fueled by ultranationalism and a desire for revenge rather than peace. The Triple Entente banded together again to create them as they did to fight in the source. American Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points, designed to bring peace and open diplomacy between the previously warring countries, were rejected. Instead, the Triple Entente designed the Treaty of Versailles to punish Germany