Dbq Essay On The Causes Of World War I

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, Austria-Hungary sent a list of seemingly unfulfillable demands to

Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, the leader of the German delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference, showed that dissolving international relationships was a direct result of every European state’s imperialism (doc. 5 / point of view). This statement is a great example of how a person’s background affected their politics because he was a German Delegate sharing his personal reaction to the seemingly “unfair” treaty. This demonstrates that the constant desire for new land and power forced chaos among the major European states. An example of this would be the Moroccan Crisis which arose between England and Germany who each wanted land and influence. Gustav Scholler, a renowned political leader in the Prussian Council and German economist, argued for imperialism and that Germany needed to respond to the threats that surrounded them (pg. 796). This shows the reactionary nature of Germany’s influence in a manner that supported the claim that the war was not only Germany’s fault. Another influential person was a French novelist named Antole France, and he put French imperialism into the perspective of a socialist utilitarian with a morally concerned outlook. He critiques French imperialism by saying that it only benefits the government and not the Frenchmen and spikes unnecessary competition among nations (pg. 797). This different perspective portrays the dangers of imperialism and how it created greed

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