DBQ Essay 1/30/12
At the turn of the twentieth century, Europe seemed to enjoy a period of peace and progress. Yet below the surface, several forces were at work that would lead Europe into the “Great War.” One of these forces was nationalism, and it had an explosive effect in the Balkans. Nationalism was only one of the many causes of World War 1. Who and/or what caused WW1? Well there can be many different points of views and answers to this question. Many people believed that it was Germanys fault for declaring war on Russia, all though Russia only mobilized to protect their borders. This caused allies of Russia to help and attack Germany. It was sort of a big chain reaction to backing of each other’s allies. (Doc 5) Says that the mobilization of Russia caused Germany to attack and this was only a defensive attack. There are also more perspectives to the cause of World War 1, some people say that the cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Some people refer to this as “The shot heard around the world” (Doc 7) The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand caused war tensions between countries and Germany was also a threat to countries because of the Military Advancements that they were greatly getting stronger in. Russia and Austria were advancing contradictory claims to Germany. (Doc 8) Who was to blame for World War 1? Russia felt that they should unite all Slavic people, in which Austria-Hungary wanted to rule all Slavic people in which causing tensions between the two countries. Britain felt that it was their duty to protect Belgium because they were neutral. Every country feared something in which caused the war as some people say, which would be another perspective to the causes of the war. (Doc 9) Three factors that had the greatest impact on the war were Imperialism, Nationalism, and Militarism as well as another major factor which were Alliances. (MAIN) Some more factors that could be said were causes of the war