World War I: The Alliance System

World War I was a war that started out as a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia after the next man in line to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the ‘Black Hand’. The war that was thought to last a couple weeks ended up lasting 4 years and created huge conflict. Before World War I, Europe had created alliances for a balance of power between the nations. These alliances were meant to stop Europe from going to war by protecting their allies, but, it still couldn’t deter World War I from occurring (Yeo). The most significant cause of World War I was the alliance system because it caused countries to help their allies which escalated the conflict.

The alliance system meant that each country would protect each other to maintain a balance of power between the European powers. The alliance system was made up of two alliance

Right before World War I, countries started to declare war on their enemies to protect their allies. The first incident that had an ally involved was Germany promising to back Austria-Hungary against Serbia on the 23rd of July 1914. In response to this, Russia promised to back Serbia if Austria-Hungary attacked on the 26th of July 1914. Germany then declared war on Russia on the 1st of August 1914 as well as France on the 3rd. Finally, Britain declares war on Germany on the 4th of August 1914 (Yeo, pp 12). These events happened in a matter of days, and they all occurred because each country’s allies were being targeted. The alliance system initiated the declaration of the World War after Austria-Hungary wanted to attack Serbia. Countries had to declare war on their enemies because of the alliance system agreement. Without it, they would not have been involved only because other countries were being attacked, a similar standpoint to the U.S. during the