Nationalism DBQ Argumentative

At the turn of the twentieth century, Europe seemed to enjoy a period of peace and progress. Yet below the surface, several forces were at work that would lead Europe into the “Great War.” One of these forces was nationalism, and it had an explosive effect in the Balkans. Nationalism was only one of the many causes of World War 1.

Who and/or what caused WW1? Well there can be many different points of views and answers to this question. Many people believed that it was Germanys fault for declaring war on Russia, all though Russia only mobilized to protect their borders. This caused allies of Russia to help and attack Germany. It was sort of a big chain reaction to backing of each other’s allies. (Doc 5) Says that the mobilization of Russia caused Germany to attack and this was only a defensive attack. There are also more perspectives to the cause of World War 1, some people say that the cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Some people refer to this as “The shot heard around the world” (Doc 7) The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand caused war tensions between countries and Germany was also a threat to countries because of the Military Advancements that they were greatly getting stronger in. Russia and Austria were advancing contradictory claims to Germany. (Doc 8) Who was to blame for World War 1? Russia felt that they should unite all Slavic people, in which Austria-Hungary wanted to rule all Slavic people in which causing tensions between the two countries.

Britain felt that it was their duty to protect Belgium because they were neutral. Every country feared something in which caused the war as some people say, which would be another perspective to the causes of the war. (Doc 9) Three factors that had the greatest impact on the war were Imperialism, Nationalism, and Militarism as well as another major factor which were Alliances. (MAIN) Some more factors that could be said were causes of the war from document 9 are, Economic competition, No international Peace Organization, Internal Disquiet. Many countries were all developing, gaining more power and gaining a lot of technology which caused threats to weaker countries. That made countries want to advance and in many things, like their Military, Economic, industrial Goods, and much more. Germany and Britain have by far the best Navies during this time. Many people say that there was an “arms race” between countries and they showed power by the size of their armies and the amount of weapons and how advanced they were. (Doc 1) The three countries that had increased the amount of money spent of weapons were Germany, France, and Britain.

The way this increased chances of war were because they were gaining weapons and this was alarming countries and making them a threat to other countries. Other countries decided if they were buying weapons they would need them if there was a war increasing chances of war. Another perspective that may be seen as the cause of the war was the Alliance System. The two Alliances were called “ The Triple Alliance” and the “ The Triple Entente”. (Doc 2) The Triple Alliance was three countries; Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The Triple Entente had three countries as well; France, Russia, and Great Britain. The Alliance system contributed to the war because the countries were all together, and they backed each other and helped each other. The way this could better be explained is, if two different countries from different Alliances had a war, the allies of the two would help their ally causing it to sort of make other countries join by helping their ally in the war.

As explained through the essay, there are many perspectives that could be used for the cause of World War 1. From the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, to Mobilization of Russia, and Germany declaring war, all the way to the Alliance System and back to the Arms Race. But the truth is that all of these events that took place are all the cause of World War 1. They all had huge impacts on the war and are still some of the reasons of today’s warfare in all countries. Assassinations, invading of countries, Economics, and Weapon Advancements. World War 1’s beginning has more than one cause as well as one ending that has had a huge impact on the way things are handled today around the world.