World War I Dbq Essay

During the turn of the twentieth century a powerful fervor prevailed throughout Europe. Industrialization boomed, and nations soared to a brand new level of success never seen before. This aura of new achievements and new ideas kindled a nationalist flair among citizens and their countries. Whether it be from successes of the state, or the unification of a common culture despite existing political boundaries, the people experienced a new and thrilling sensation of identity. Such a flame unleashed rebellious sparks, igniting the “powder keg” of Europe, launching the Great War. Contrary to prevalent belief, both the Central Powers and the Allied Powers spawned and heightened the Great War through taking new, albeit excessive measures to settle an accumulation

The explosive Serbia was located between two old multinational empires, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (Document 2). These empires feared the nearby rebellion, as it held the potential to spark revolt in nations within the empire, and likely result in their crumble. Consequently, Austria-Hungary states within the Austro-Hungarian Red Book No. 7, “[The] Royal Government [of Austria-Hungary] see themselves compelled to demand from the Royal Serbian Government a formal assurance that they condemn this dangerous propaganda against the monarchy…” (Document 3). For an uninvolved country to go to the extent of issuing an ultimatum certainly displays how the Central Powers transformed yet another rebellion into “the war to end all wars”. Germany also took rather outrageous measures to defend their fellow ally. As displayed in the chart of per capita expenditures of the Great Powers on armaments, growth of Germany’s military spending far surpassed that of other nations by a whopping 540%, or increasing by almost seven U.S. dollars in the years leading up to the war (Document 1). Such an increase on military spending raised suspicion that war would be initiated among the European powers. As tensions escalated, these excessive actions taken by the Central Powers would transform Serbia’s revolution

During the brink of the century, fierce competition among the European powers escalated with the rise of industrialization and imperialism for colonies. For instance, France joined the Allied Forces with claims of defense, but they were suspected to have an ulterior motive that seeked the vengeance of their economic and militaristic rival— Germany (Document 7). Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, who served as leader of the German delecation in the Versailles Peace Conference, asserts that Germany is not alone guilty, and also describes that recent imperialism “has chronically poisoned international relations” (Document 5). Despite these protests, Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty, better known as the War Guilt Clause, places full responsibility and consequences on Germany, specifically, and their allies for causing all of the damages and losses (Document 4). Several present-day historians also challenge the War Guilt clause, with cases proving all countries to be, in part, responsible to a bolder or slighter extent. Sidney Bradshaw Fay provides his stance on the controversial topic through his book Origins of the World War, that each European power had leaders which either initiated military mobilization or they have failed to prevent such an outcome