The Causes of World War One
‘World War One was the result of a series of unintended and disconnected events.’ Does this opinion adequately explain the causes of World War One?
It is understandable that historians ponder on what exactly caused a war that destroyed Europe’s economy, cost the lives of 37 million men and involved a country from every region of the world (from the Americas to Asia). The opinion this essay will discuss implies that the events that led to this major conflict were unintended and disconnected; and in order to emit a judgement that would agree or disagree with this view it is important to first identify the causes of world war one. Therefore this essay will first discuss the different types of causes (long, mid and short terms), respectively nationalism, imperialism/militarism and the ‘blank cheque’. Hence this essay will evaluate whether these were ‘disconnected and unintended events’ or if there is a connection between the causes. The main sources used in this essay are Coles’ general notes on world history and historian Martin Gilbert’s book entitled ‘First World War’.
The long term causes prepared the ground for the war. Nationalism can be categorized into the long term causes because it had influenced Europe prior to 1914, and as French writer Guy de Maupassant argues, ‘it is the eldest cause of any war’. Quite a popular phenomenon in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th, nationalism produced pride in one’s country’s achievements. The world war one themes paper observed that this ‘led to xenophobia and ideas of racial superiority’; but what it fails to mention is that as much as nationalism could provide feelings of superiority it could also provide feelings of equality. For example, minorities that previously were dominated by larger powers were now swept with waves of nationalism. This could be observed in the Balkans in the prelude of the world war; where small states were experimenting Pan-Slavism, ‘a nationalistic movement for political and
It is understandable that historians ponder on what exactly caused a war that destroyed Europe’s economy, cost the lives of 37 million men and involved a country from every region of the world (from the Americas to Asia). The opinion this essay will discuss implies that the events that led to this major conflict were unintended and disconnected; and in order to emit a judgement that would agree or disagree with this view it is important to first identify the causes of world war one. Therefore this essay will first discuss the different types of causes (long, mid and short terms), respectively nationalism, imperialism/militarism and the ‘blank cheque’. Hence this essay will evaluate whether these were ‘disconnected and unintended events’ or if there is a connection between the causes. The main sources used in this essay are Coles’ general notes on world history and historian Martin Gilbert’s book entitled ‘First World War’.
The long term causes prepared the ground for the war. Nationalism can be categorized into the long term causes because it had influenced Europe prior to 1914, and as French writer Guy de Maupassant argues, ‘it is the eldest cause of any war’. Quite a popular phenomenon in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th, nationalism produced pride in one’s country’s achievements. The world war one themes paper observed that this ‘led to xenophobia and ideas of racial superiority’; but what it fails to mention is that as much as nationalism could provide feelings of superiority it could also provide feelings of equality. For example, minorities that previously were dominated by larger powers were now swept with waves of nationalism. This could be observed in the Balkans in the prelude of the world war; where small states were experimenting Pan-Slavism, ‘a nationalistic movement for political and
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