World War I Essay

“The War to End All Wars” World War I: a hallowed name from a dark time in history. World War I (1914-1918) has gone down in history as the fourth deadliest war (an estimated 37,400,000 casualties) and separated the European nations further than ever before. What could cause such devastation and extreme loss of life? Nationalism and imperialism were deciding factors, but what everlasting effect would the war bring? The people of Europe would have never seen this coming. World War I was an explosion, but the fuse had been burning for a long while. The major European nations (Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia) believed that if the nations were balanced, then war could be prevented (www.sanjuan.edu).Germany and its leader, Otto von Bismarck, felt that being in the middle of two powerful nations (France and Russia) would not be wise, so he actively sought out to make an alliance with at least one of them. When that eventually failed, he formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy; this became known as the Triple Alliance. In response, France, Russia, and Great Britain formed an alliance known as the Triple Entente. This caused both sides to distrust each other and prepare for conflict by adding ships guns and men to their ever-growing arsenal. Many of these major nations had set up colonies in Asia and Africa to fulfill each of their own versions of MAnifest Destiny. The land available for each of these powerful nations quickly diminished over time once Germany, France, England, Italy, and Belgium occupied increasinly large spots of land. Because of this, border disputes would occur in many of these colonies between groups of different nationalities. Another major factor in starting World war I is the strong sense of nationalism is many of the major nations, such as Germany, France, Great Britain, and Russia). The two major alliances, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, further separated Europe into two armed camps.

Cited: “What Were the Underlying Causes of World War I.” www.sanjuan.edu. N.p., 2005. Web. 04 Feb. 2013. Us Department of Justice. “WWI Casualty and Death Tables.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2013. “CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I.” ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2013. “The Effects of World War I.” The Effects of World War I. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2013.