America and the Great War - Essay Example

These alliances were of significance since they implied that some countries would be obligated to declare war in the event that one of their allies had declared war. In 1879, there was a dual alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary to mutually protect themselves against Russia and in 1881, Austria-Hungary signed an alliance with Serbia with the aim of stopping Russia from gaining control of Serbia. A year later, Germany and Austria-Hungary entered an alliance with Italy so that it could stop Italy from siding with Russia.

Several other agreements and alliances were entered into including the Entente Cordiale on 1904, the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907 as well as the Triple Entente of 1907, before Britain, France and Russia made an agreement not to sign for peace separately in 1914 (Mulligan, 2010). Some of the alliances were formed to ensure some nations do not become too strong while some were to make the nations in the alliance stronger and able to withstand any attacks. By the turn of the twentieth century, the British Empire had already extended through five continents while France was controlling expansive areas in the African continent.

Nations required new markets as industrialism was rapidly rising. The size of land that was under British and French control escalated their rivalry with Germany, who had joined the scramble for the acquisition of colonies late only to gain small areas in the African continent. On the other hand, the escalating divide in the European continent resulted in an Arms race between the main nations and the German and French armies increased more than twofold from 1870 to 1914, with a fierce competition ensuing between Germany and Britain for master the seas.

Germany introduced its own battleships and also developed a plan of action that entailed an attack on France via Belgium in the event that Russia attacked Germany. Nationalism implies