What Were Four Major Causes of WWI - Essay Example

World War I Introduction The First World War took place between 1914 and 1918 and it was foughtmostly in the Western part of Europe. Crude weapons such as machine guns and even poisonous gas were used by the enemies to defeat opponents hurting innocent civilians in the process. There was massive loss of people and property as expected. An analysis of this paper will reveal the documented causes of the World War I, provide the reasons why United States joined the war despite it being fought in Europe and its refusal to join the League of Nations, indicate why the Treaty of Paris could have paved way for World War II and finally explain the Espionage and Sedition Acts and the freedoms they coerced. What were four major causes of WWI? According to (Clark 21), the four main causes of the World War I were nationalism, militarism, imperialism and alliances. Imperialism which is domination of one country as a result of its prowess in economics, politics or culture was caused by the fact that after the industrial revolution, some nations in Europe became rich and hence started controlling other nations. As a result of the imperialistic foreign policies imposed by the great empires like the Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire and Germany Empire, tensions began to accumulate. Following the scramble and partition of Africa in search of natural resources to trade, the European nations started recruiting the Africans to use crude weapons. Nations also started acquiring military weapons in preparation for a war as a result of the increasing tension. This militarism paved a smooth way for the way. Most of the Europeans were nationalists who were prepared to defend their nations against any enemies or attack by foreign policies. When the heir of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, it is nationalism that led to the people of Austria declare war against the Yugoslav nationalists. With the tensions already high in Europe, the war was sparked. Alliances were quickly formed as European nations began choosing the nations they would support in the wars and this led to the spread of the war to most parts of Europe. With each country in the alliance bringing in Africans on top of their military to fight the enemies and with the previously acquired arms and other crude weaponry, the war continued until 1918. Explain why the United States got involved. The United States of America would not have joined the war had the Germans not triggered it with their constant nuisance. Germany’s submarines were constantly violating the international law and entering illegally into American waters. They even sunk a British ship killing several Americans. Despite the constant warnings by President Woodrow Wilson, Germans continued to stage conflicts of interest with the US. The Germany foreign minister allied with Mexico and even enticed with financial coverage of the war if it would acquire several states in US including Texans, Arizona and New Mexico. The Germans did not stop at that as they used their submarines after that to sink seven merchant ships belonging to the United States and it is at this point that the patience and tolerance of US ran out and President Wilson together with the Congress declared war against Germany in 1917. US allied with France and constantly sent them soldiers to fight; they also sent their navy battle ships to join the other battleships of Britain as reinforcements to fight against the Germans and their allied forces. Describe what freedoms were coerced by the Espionage and Sedition Acts? The Espionage Act of 1917 was formulated to serve several purposes: to prevent attempts that interfered with military operations, deal with the problem of insubordination in the military by promoting it, ensured that the US did not support its enemies in case of a war and finally it prevented any interference with the recruitment into the military. With these restrictions, freedoms of speech was restricted to avoid aiding enemies in attacking the United States through provision of crucial, confidential information. The Sedition Act of 1918 (but implemented in 1919) also restricted and curtailed the freedom of expression as it was meant to inflict punishment to any individual who during war dared to utter, write or even print and publish material that implied disloyalty to the government and which could compromise the armed forces, the constitution or even the flag of the United States (Donalson 78). Discuss the ways the Treaty of Paris established the road to World War II. The Treaty of Paris was an attempt to end the World War I and prevent any other wars that would lead to destruction of property and loss of human lives as was experienced during World War I. This peace treaty was signed by leaders from United States, Italy, France and England (all of whom were allies during the World War I). This peace treaty imposed all the blame of the First World War on Germany. It also came up with the League of Nations as a way to ensure that peace prevailed. Germans were not happy with being blamed fully about World War I and hence created enmity and rift between these nations which led it to attacking Poland as a way to reiterate (the attack on Poland fueled World War II). The League of Nations failed according to the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris as it could not prevent another war from taking place. This was so because when it was formulated, there League of Nations was just a theoretical idea and not a practical one. It lacked an army to prevent war and not all the nations were signatories to it hence it had no mandate in other nations leading to it not preventing World War II from occurring. Why did the United States refuse to join the League of Nations after the war? The main reason why it did not join the League of Nations even though it is the President who came up with the idea of creation of such a body was because Wilson’s Democrat government was changed from power. This happened before he got a chance to sign the treaty and the new Republican government did not agree with the League of Nations and hence refused to join it by not signing the treaty (Hogan 144). The other argument raised was that it did not concern the United States government directly and it was only a waste of their finances and military powers. The new government wanted to focus more on economic developments and signing of the League of Nations would not make that possible as more money would be spent solving disputes and hence making US dependent on other nations. Conclusion The World War I would have continued had the Treaty of Paris not have taken place and the League of Nations not been formulated even though their failure contributed to World War II. The Espionage and Sedition Acts together with not signing the League of Nations completely cut the ties the United States had with World War I and II and it concentrated on building its country. Work Cited Clark, Sarah. World War I. California: Teacher Created Resources, 1997. Donalson, Daniel. The Espionage and Sedition Acts of World War I: Using Wartime Loyalty Laws for Revenge and Profit. Texas: Lfb Scholarly Pub Llc, 2012. Hogan, Michael. Woodrow Wilsons Western Tour: Rhetoric, Public Opinion, and the League of Nations. Texas: Texas A7M University Press. Read More