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Olivia Kirson Johnson

Mr. Mitchell

March 12, y

To what extent was Germany

responsible for the outbreak
of war in 1914?
World War 1 Causes
World War 1(WW1) officially began on July 28th 1914, and ended on
November 11th 1918, but factors leading up to the war began on June 28th
1914. Alliances also played a roll in WW1. WW1 led up to World War 2(WW2)
and many people were killed in both wars. WW1 took place in Europe, the
war was between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire
against the allied countries of Great Britain, the United States, France,
Russia, Italy and Japan. A total of 21 million people died, and even more
horses died.
The war lasted 4 years, although the Germans believed the war would
be over by christmas. For the four years the soldiers were fighting they lived
in trenches. The trenches were usually 4 feet deep so soldiers had to duck to
avoid being shot. When you were in the trenches there was not much sleep
you could get and it was uncomfortable if you did. Every few weeks you
would switch trench lines and the back two lines had less work and more

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sleep. To get between trenches they built communication trenches, but it was
very confusing to navigate around them. Conditions were horrible, people got
very bad cases of trench foot that sometimes resulted in amputation. As well
as trench foot there were other illnesses you could get, lice was commonly
spread and the soldiers would pick lice off of their clothes while waiting for
action to begin. The soldiers would speak to each other while doing so and
that is how chatting became an expression. When you were in the trenches it
was important to have a very good gas mask because the gas would linger in
the trenches for weeks. People drowned in mud and everything smelled bad
that people became ill from the stench. Trenches were miserable places, but
some countries had better trenches, like the Germans as they started
digging first.
Some people believe it was the Germans, more specifically their leader
at the time Kaiser Wilhelm II. People say he was possibly unstable, as a child
he had a tough time. He had one arm shorter than the other and was hard of
hearing in one ear. He had a disturbed mind, as a kid he would reenact war
scenes with his cousins in England. He was always jealous of England and he
might have thought that it was his chance to prove Germany was the
strongest country. The kaiser joined the military and by 1888 he became the
emperor. At this point Germany had many reasons to start a war, Germany
and England were in a huge naval arms race, Serbia doubled in size, Russia
had mobilized and Germany needed to prove they were better than England.
But was it only the Kaiser of Germanys fault.

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On June 28th 1914 exactly one month before WW1 officially began
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. He was visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia
and had ordered his car be a covetable. This was the first trip he had ever
taken his wife, who was pregnant with their 6th child on a trip. He put on his
bullet proof jacket and got into the car. Meanwhile the black hand a terrorist
group was ready to go. The black hand was supposedly set up and run by the
Serbian government. He was touring around the city and the 7 members
were spread around his route, 3 tried, failed and then killed themselves, like
the attack was supposed to be carried out. The remainder of the men met up
at a park to discuss the situation. Princip, one of the members went to get a
sandwich and as he walked out of the delicatessen there was the archduke,
the driver had taken a wrong turn and now the car was stuck. Princip shot
him, but before he could shoot himself he was arrested. Franz Ferdinand, his
wife and their unborn child were all shot and killed. This is said to be a
significant event that might play a role in the causes for WW1.
Another reason that WW1 started was because of alliances. Everyone
was in and alliance, but there were problems with the alliance system some
countries were part of alliances that were fighting each other and some
countries broke alliances by starting a battle with the other country. There
were two main alliances. The triple alliance was signed in 1882 by Germany,
Austria-Hungary and Italy, these countries would stand together. The other
alliance was the triple entente this alliance was signed by France, Russia and
Great Britain in 1907. The triple entente was surprising due to past history

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between the countries involved and Great Britain didn't usually want wars or
alliances. Two alliances would usually maintain peace and Britain usually
went to the weaker side because they thought that they were strong enough
to make that side win. One problem was that if your ally chose to fight you
had no choice, but to fight.
Nationalism played a large part in WW1. Nationalism is the process of
building a nation, this links to WW1 because part of the reason for it was all
the main countries wanted more land and a bigger nation. men went to war
to protect their nation, prove their nation was the biggest, strongest and best
and the men wanted to prove they were not cowards. Empires eventually
become part of a nation once it is built up enough.
Imperialism also played a role in WW1 and links perfectly with
nationalism as empires go onto being a part of a nation. Imperialism was the
building of a nation which once it is well developed is taken over by a large
nation.
Militarism is the third and last ism that had a effect on WW1. Militarism
is an arms race. It is your government made up of general who believe that
war is always a good thing. During WW1 countries needed the reassurance of
balance in power to know that they wolf not be defeated. All countries who
went into war did it because they thought that they could win, but this was
not that case for most of the countries because there can only be one
winner.

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The three isms link very well together because nations need a strong
military and empires need a large nation to join. Each of them help each
other out to make the ideal country to be a part of. Germany was actively
involved with all of these things because they believed it would make them
the best.
In conclusion, I believe that the Germans did start the war, but the other
countries involved provoked them. I think the most important cause was
Nationalism, Imperialism and Militarism because Kaiser Wilhelm the second
wanted to own everything and he was absolutely sure he would be able to do
it.

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