Essay on The Great War

Resource Description

There were many contributing factors to the ignition of World War One or as it was also known, The Great War. One of the main causes was the Alliance System. The Alliance System was a number of treaties that countries such as Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary and Italy had signed for protection. These treaties were the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance was a treaty signed in 1882 by Germany, Austria–Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Entente was a treaty signed France, Russia and Britain in 1907. Other factors included the arms race, imperialism and nationalism but all involved the Alliance System. The final catalyst was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

The Alliance System played a significant role towards the outbreak of World War 1 as it separated Europe according to their obligations towards other countries. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Great Powers met in Vienna to try and restore a ‘balance of power’ to Europe but in the 1870s this changed and individual nations moved increasingly to secure their own alliances, and establish their own ‘balance’ of power. In 1873 the Three Emperors League was formed on the condition that the three nations agreed to consult each other on major problems and to remain neutral in the event that one of the other members was attacked by any other nation. However this broke down during the Balkan Wars. A major alliance was the Triple Alliance which was a military alliance that lasted from 1882 to 1914. It was another attempt by Germany to isolate France further. Since Italy was concerned about France’s power in north Africa, it sought out to ally with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any two other great powers, or for Germany and Italy, an attack by France alone. Like some of the other European powers, Italy wanted to set up colonies and build up an overseas empire. With this aim in mind, Italy joined the German-Austrian Alliance to form the Triple Alliance. Source 3 is an extract from the 1882 Triple Alliance document. It outlines that a country that was part of the Alliance was not permitted to enter into any other agreement against any of their States. After Otto Von Bismarck closed the German stock market in an attempt to cut off German financial assistance to the Russian war machine because it wanted to limit Russian influence in the Balkans. This opened a door for France who willingly supported Russia to protect itself from Germany and formed the Russo-French Alliance. Britain joined this alliance and formed The Triple Entente which was signed in 1907 and stated that each country had a moral obligation to support each other. The Triple Alliance was the defensive treaty in the war and the Triple Entente was the offensive treaty. The alliances quickly blew even minor problems out of proportion, since everyone felt obligated to “take sides.” To Germany, and many other, it seemed that the Great Powers of Europe had drawn themselves up into two armed camps.