The Causes of World War One - Research Paper Example

World War One World War one, resulted from the aggression of some leaders towards other countries. The aggression was supported by the increasing nationalism of the European nations. Military alliances and arms race resulted to economic and imperial competition amongst nations. For over twenty years, many nations in Europe had been developing alliances. The alliances were assumed to promote peace. This is because states believed that they would defend each nation in case war arose. The dangerous thing about the alliances was that a conflict between two nations would lead to all other nations joining in the war. Therefore, when a dispute arose between Austria-Hungary and Serbia it resulted to world war one1. The war originated in Balkans, a place famously known for a number of small wars. The murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand the successor of the Austria-Hungary throne, who thought that his mercy for the Slavs would reduce the anxiety between Austria-Hungary and Balkans. The archduke and his wife had planned to visit Bosnia, as they travelled through Sarajevo on June 28 of the year 19142. An Asian better known as Gavrillo Principe jumped onto the car that carried the heir and his wife and shot them. The Archduke and his wife died instantly. The assassin was said to be a student related with a Slav nationalist terror group famously known as block hand, which was fighting for freedom from the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the Slavic minorities. From the start, the Austrians alleged that Serbia, an independent and fundamentally pan-Slavic state bordering the Austro-Hungarian Empire was accountable for the assassination. This later was proven to be true because the Serbian chief of staff had assisted in planning the assassination3. Preliminary worldview believed that Serbia was accountable for the assassination, and the early world reaction denounced the act. This factor gave Austria a valid reason for payback. However, the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy operated on a slow pace. This is because Austria could not do anything without being certain of German support. After getting Germany promise to support them in any action they embarked against Serbia, they sent a list of degrading needs on July 23. Serbia obliged to most of the demands and promised to settle the rest through an international conference. Nevertheless, Austria-Hungary refused the offer and proclaimed war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Austria-Hungary thought the war would result to a quick victory4. Outstanding among the war origination were the imperialist, terrorist and economic battles of great powers. For instance, Germany as an empire advocated to develop itself as the greatest power on the continent. The Germans were also determined to challenge Britain on the subject of superiority. Therefore, the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia paved way for nations like Germany to show their power and might5. Thus, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, other declarations followed suit. Nations controlled by other states started developing feelings of nationalism. Nations grouped together in rival military coalitions to fulfill their objectives. They fought to achieve colonies and land. In the end, a number of governments clouded international friendships by undertaking secret diplomacy. Many countries were involved in the war; however, countries joined the war in different periods. The war consisted of three sides where nations could join. One choice was “the central powers, which consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary” who were later joined by Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire who initially were neutral before joining the central powers. The allies consisted of Ireland, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Russia, Montenegro and Serbia. Portugal, Italy, Greece and Romania later joined the allies. The “neutral nations consisted Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Albania and Spain”6. The western front Immediately after Austria-Hungary declared was on Serbia, Russia on June 29 regulated general mobilization. On first august Germany joined the war and advocated to fight Russia. On august third Germany declared war on France too. The day after Germany attacked Belgium in a bid to attack France’s capital through Belgium. The Great Britain was thus forced to join the war by fighting Germany7.   The Belgium army was combating dangerous and holding up the Germans but only for a short period. By Aug. 16, 1914, the right wing of the German army began its pincher move. They trooped back the French and a small British force in southern Belgium. They then entered into France but instead of the army swinging west around Paris according to the plan one part of the wing pursued the withdrawing French troops. They moved east toward the Marne River that left the Germans open to hit from the back. General Joseph Joffery was the leader of all the French forces. He positioned his forces guts on the Marne River, east of Paris. He was ready for the battle. The initial war of the Marne started on September sixth and by the ninth, the German forces began to surrender. This battle was a huge triumph for the Allies. After this success, the Germans hope of defeating France vanished. Moltke the chief of the German general staff was succeeded by Eric von falkenhyan8. The German army stopped its withdrawal by the Aisne River. It was from there where the Germans and the Allies fought a sequence of battles better known as the race to the sea. The Germans advocated to grab ports on the English Channel to cut off the vital supply lines between France and Britain. However, at the first battle Ypres in Belgium the Allies stopped the Allies from progressing to the sea. In late November 1914, the war came to a standstill. Along the Western front nobody was making any advances. The battlefront extended across Belgium and northeastern France more than 450 miles to the border of Switzerland. This standstill stayed for more than 3 and half years9. The Eastern front The Russian enlistment on the eastern front acted faster than Germany anticipated. Two Russian armies went deeper into the German terrain of East Prussia. By late August 1914, they learned that the two armies had become divided and they planned a battle strategy. August 31 German armed forces had surrounded one Russian army in the encounter of Tammenberg. In the battle of Masurian Lakes, they pursued the Russian army out. Austria-Hungary did not succeed on any battle on the eastern front. By the end of 1914 their military had been hit three times by Serbia, and Russia had detained most of the Austria-Hungarian region of Galicia by early Oct. the embarrassed Austria-Hungarian army had withdrawn back to their own region10. Deadlock on the Western front By 1915, the contrasting positions had established themselves into one system of channels along the western front. They hit from these trenches and protected their sides they were deadlocked until 1918. Trench Warfare The trenches were built to be between 6 to 8 feet deep and only extensive for only two men to pass through. Inside the trenches, dugouts were created on the side to shield men while the enemies were attacking them. There was another trench behind the shooting trench called the Cover Trench. Then the support trench and the reserve trench came behind those. The men lived in dugouts in the support trenches when they were not battling on the front. They were communication trenches going in between all the big ones to go back and forth. The soldiers operated on the front for about three days to a week and then they would work in the back. The presence of the barbed wire protected the front line from astonishing attacks. Fire artillery was built up behind the support trenches11. In between enemy lines was called no mans land. It ranged anywhere from thirty yards to a mile wide. Over time, artillery tore up the land in between the trenches, which made it hard; to cross no mans land during an attack. Life in the trenches was unbearable with the odor of dead bodies and the rats were a big problem. It was difficult to keep dry especially when the trenches were filled with water in the waterlogged areas of Belgium. Life was a dull schedule besides during an attack. Some soldiers stood guard while others repaired trenches; they kept the phone lines in order brought food in and other little jobs. At night, they fixed barbed wire and tried to get information about the enemy12. Although artillery and machineguns kept the enemy in their trenches, the allies tried to blast a gap in German lines. They never made it in. They hurled grenades while trying to cross no mans land. However, the enemies’ machine guns wiped out the wave infantry even if they made it though the front line they never made it through the second line. Both sides were devolving new weapons that they hoped would break the dead lock. In April of 1915, the Germans first freed poison gas over allied lines in the second battle of Ypes. The gas resulted to nausea and suffocation. German commanders had little faith and the gas and they did not open a major assault. The allies short after began to use the gas, so gas masks became a necessity in the trenches. They also produced a flamethrower13. The Battle of Verdun In 1916, Falkenhyen chief of the German general staff was determined to consider on murdering of enemy solders. So they would be short of troops and not be able to prolong the war. He decided to attack the French city Verdun. The French commander Joffre contemplated the loss Verdun would harshly harm French confidence. The French kept pouring men and held the Germans off through the spring and summer. It was taking just as many Germans so Falkenhyen stopped the battle. The two German heroes Heindeburg and Lundendarff took over the Western front. Heindeburg became chief of the general staff. In addition, Lundendarff was his top assistance. Moreover, they planned the German approach14. General Henry Petatnl was the one that prearranged the protection of Verdun so France considered him a hero. This battle became a symbol of mass destructiveness of modern war. The French causalities about 305,000 and the Germans causalities were about 280,000. The city was almost completely damaged. The Battle of Somme The allies deliberated a major distasteful in 1916 near the “Somme River in France”. The battle of Verdun had drained Frances men. Therefore, the Somme offensive became mainly the liability of the British under General Douglas Haig. The allies attacked on July 1, 1916 within hours British had experienced nearly 60,000 fatalities its worse loss in one day of battle. Fighting continued into the fall15. In September, Britain brought in the first archaic tanks but they did not make much distinction because they were too undependable and they were not adequate. Haig stopped the hit in November because it was hopeless. The allies had achieved about seven miles and the battle caused more than one million casualties, 600,000 Germans, 400,000 British, 200,000 French. Even with the losses at Verdum and Somme the Western front remained as firm as ever at the end of 1916. On November 11 1918 fighting stopped and the world war one came to an end after the ceasefire with Germany. The repercussion of world war one experienced a severe political, cultural and social change in Europe, Asia, Africa and other places not directly involved in the war. The political transformation as a result of world war one were seen clearly in the fall of empires. For instance, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary empires collapsed completely. The Great War also resulted to the death knell of monarchies in Germany and Russia, which later converted into republics. The war also resulted to the need for independence in a number of British colonies outside Europe16. The economic damage as a result of world war one resonated through Europe and the remaining part of the world. Inflation was experienced in many countries around the world. The trouble of compensation slowly affected the Germany economy. European nations owed their allies large amounts of money after the post war years. Gender roles also changed because most men joined the war, women of most countries took over the leadership in businesses and establishments. Mechanization and accumulation production resulted in the development of labor laws. The disappointments resulted from the war led to many countries seeking for revolution. People selected republics over monarchies and the need for better living standards were outwardly declared. The war also resulted for a need of an association of nations. The association of nations was a body developed to ensure international peace and securities were maintained. The League of Nations was therefore, established to ensure similar happenings of the Great War were avoided at all cost. Technological growth was also experienced after the war. Research and technology led to the developments of “rail and automobile transport, radio and wireless communications, research and development of weapons and arms, which also included the creation of nuclear weaponry”17. The aftermath of the war was most traumatizing to the soldiers that were involved in the war. The soldiers saw their fellow soldiers being killed and they were brutally treated by their enemies. After the war, many of them experienced a difficult life in such a way they were forced to seek psychological assistance. Additionally, the war also caused many injuries to the soldiers involved. Many had internal injuries that were seen years later after the war. The soldiers narrated their experiences with a lot of pain and suffering18. Referencing Duffy, Michael. 2007. The causes of world war one. International Security.32 (2). 155-191. Lamin, Harry. 2005. Experiences of an English Solider. Journal for Cultural Research. 9 (2). 169-206. Perry, Anne. 2010. Angels in the Gloom. New York: Headline. Perry, Anne. 2010. We Shall Not Sleep. New York: Headline. Strachan, Hew. 2006. The First World War: a new illustrated history. London: Pocket Books. Read More