Causes Of World War 1 Dbq

Connor Larson & Lucas Turnis

Mrs. Ross

AP European History

25 April 2023

Causes of World War I Prior to World War I, a power struggle between the Ottoman Empire and Russia spiraled into involving Britain and France: the Crimean War. The conditions set for a major shift in power caused by Italian and German unification. This unification brought many new leaders of great power such as Victor Emmanuel II and Otto Von Bismarck. With newfound land, power, and wealth, Bismarck felt invincible and began to seek war and form alliances. Working through alliances, Germany created the Schlieffen plan which had the intention of invading France while Russia tried to slowly militarize its massive country. As a result of the assassination of Arch-Duke Ferdinand,

Overall, militaristic spending among the main countries in Europe contributed greatly to the power imbalances. There was a major increase in spending but the most prominent change occurred in Germany with nearly a four hundred million dollar increase and Russia’s three hundred million dollar increase (Doc. 1). This shows the commonality of increased military spending among many of the prominent European countries and the war preparation that took place using concepts like militarization and mobilization, especially in Russia where political power shifted to the military. Additionally, an American historian by the name of Sidney Bradshaw Fay shared his unbiased view on the War. He assigned blame to every state saying that their leaders either did things that led to army mobilization for war or did not take preventive measures to stop the European friction (Doc. 6). This demonstrates how every country was liable for the outbreak in one way or another. While growing advancements in technology and strong landed armies posed a threat to defending countries, naval forces proved to be just as intimidating. Similarly, Germany’s navy terrorized England and even pushed them to ally with France for protection (Doc. 7). This shows that the use of militarism and intimidation proved to further agitate relationships, especially that of

In the 1840s, nationalistic tensions were high and Slavs were beginning to desire their own state. These aspirations led to the meeting of the Slavic Conference in Prague, in which Slavic people want to be freed and form their own state; however, this put pressure on the Ottoman Empire, Austria, and Russia (pg. 675). This increased Slavic tensions provoked war between these major powers which became one step that led towards an even larger war: World War I. This directly occurred due to a later conspiracy created by Pan-Slavists in the hope of a Greater Serbia, which came to be known as the Black Hand. This conspiracy assassinated Archduke Ferdinand and became an incident in the East and caused Russia’s and Austria’s advancing contradictory claims (doc. 7). This shows the influence of a single radical Pan-Slavic group that called for a Greater Serbia, and was inspired by the Slavic Berlin Conference. Not too long before the Black Hand arguments broke out among Serbia and Austria-Hungary. The Austria-Hungarian government accused the Royal Serbian government of tolerating and glorifying anti-monarchial and anti-Austria Hungary propaganda (doc. 3). This shows a sense of nationalism of the Serbian people who united under common ideas and a single, non-restricting