World War I: Cause And Causes Of The European War

World War I was an event that caused almost 10 million deaths in Europe, therefore killing off almost a generation of Europeans. It ended empires in Russia, Germany, and Austria Hungary and caused Russia to turn to communism and become a totalitarian state with Stalin in power. It created more rights for women and changed the social perspective of life to gloomy and pessimistic. The Congress of Vienna of 1814, created a long-lasting peace in Europe completed with regular peace meeting which proposed peaceful solutions to tensions between European nations. This peace was briefly interrupted with the Crimean war and Franco- Prussian war, but generally, in Europe war was a thing of the past. As the 19th century approached, tensions began to rise
In Europe economic competition between nations was very strong and created a lot of tension. In the late 18th century Britain was ahead of all the European nations in output of manufactured goods, and Germany wasn’t even close. But, in the next 33 years Germany not only caught up with Britain, they gained the number one spot by 1%. This angered the British and caused them to feel challenged and in search of revenge. The pressure Germany felt to catch up also created tension in their nation. When the Treaty of Versailles was released, the “war-guilt” clause was introduced which put sole responsibility of the war on Germany’s shoulders. It also required Germany to pay for all damage caused by the war to other nations. This proves that Britain joined the war because they felt nationalistic pride and wanted to regain their number one spot in economic matters. Many nations also were motivated by nationalistic pride to join the war, such as France that joined the war because they wanted to gain back their territory in Alsace-Lorraine. Many other nations such as Italy, Japan, and China also joined for this reason, in hopes of regaining the territories they lost, and bringing pride back to their nations. Therefore, nationalism fueled the joining of many nations into the war because it created competition and a hope for gaining lands. Nationalism was also a main cause of the Balkan crisis. The Serbs in the Balkan Peninsula were very nationalistic people, that were proud of their culture and didn’t want to be colonized by anyone. They rebelled a lot and created tension between them and the Austro-Hungarians. Therefore, nationalism was the cause of a lot of tension in that region that caused it to be called the “powder-keg” of Europe. Also, when Austria-Hungary declared war on the Serbs, Russia, possessing a large