The true cause of World War I - Essay Example

The period thereafter until 1918 marks the one of the most tumultuous times in world history. The royal murder at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, gave rise to an impulsive series of political happenings and fuelled the already existent conflict between Austria and Serbia that unexpectedly culminated into a global war. In order to impose authority on Serbia, Austria issued an ultimatum demanding justice to the murder of their heir. However, the ultimatum was not responded to as expected and Austria declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.

Russia, Germany, France and Britain (along with all its colonies) plunged into the war as they were bound by treaties to one party or the other. In 1917, United States was finally forced into the war (despite its policy of absolute neutrality) as it received a commercial blow. Subsequently, Japan and Italy stepped into the field as they were in alliance with Germany. Various alliances that came into play during the war owe their roots to Bismarck, the Prussian Prime Minister's desire to unify the loose assembly of German confederation states into a single empire way back in 1860's.

These states were primarily under Austrian influence and Bismarck bore ambition to defeat Austria and take over the territories. He finally succeeded in his endeavor and the German empire was created after a series of wars. At a grass-root level, it was Bismarck's foreign policies that eventually led to the sequence of events that we know as the "First World War". Bismarck was a shrewd strategist and in order to lay a reason to inflict war upon France, he tried to place a Hohenzollern prince on the Spanish throne, much to the objection of Napoleon III.

He further insulted France and Prussia via telegrams thereby coaxing them into declaring war. The French forces were defeated and the Prussian forces laid siege to Paris along with Alsace and Lorraine. As a consequence, France was compelled to pay enormous reparations and the northern and southern German states allied to form Bismarck's German Empire. Monetary gain made Germany a financially powerful nation and instilled a sense of supremacy among the Germans that led to class conflicts at a later stage that led to internal conflict which Bismarck believed could only be resolved by war.

"Bismarck's creation of a unified Germany was of direct relevance to the outbreak of war some 43 years later, since it resulted in the assembly of the key alliances that later came into play"1.In order to stabilize his empire, Bismarck started building European alliances for defense against potentially threatening nations like the French. As a matter of fact, the French plan for war in 1914, was actually aimed at recapturing Alsace and Lorraine. The Three Emperors League formed in 1873 was an alliance that tied Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia but Russia backed out five years later leaving Bismarck with a Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary which contained clauses against Russia.

These clauses invoked Austria-Hungary in calling Germany to her aid against Russian support for Serbia (who in turn was protected by treaty with Russia). The Triple Alliance involving Italy in 1881 provided for support from Germany and Austria-Hungary if Italy was attacked by France but Italy entered into a