World War 1 Evaluative Essay

By Kengo Sasaki 9D SRo

Many wars happened in the past. Some were big, others were not. One of the biggest wars
happened in the past was World War 1. Although in involved mainly Great Britain, France,
Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, two of these countries were most responsible for
starting the war. These are Austria-Hungary and Germany because of their rulers, conflict
between them and other countries and their alliance.

Germany was one of the strongest countries in Europe at that time. Though its population was
not as large as Russia, it had the biggest army in Europe. It had 4200000 soldiers. Also, it had
the second biggest navy. However Germany was one of the strongest countries, it did not have
as many colonies as Great Britain or France. Ruler of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm was jealous of
Britain having many oversea colonies and decided Germany had to have a lot of colonies but in
the end it did not have many. It can be because it did not have a good access to the sea. There
was access to North Sea but there was Britain so German ships could not go out to Atlantic
Sea. In addition, there was alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary signed in 1879.

On the other hand, Austria-Hungary was not a really strong country like Germany. First of all, it
did not have such a big army or navy. Next, it had no colonies by reason of Austria-Hungary was
the union of two different countries which means that people of different nationalities and it
made them difficult to rule the country. Having many nationalities was the most serious problem.
Still, there were few similarities. Austrian language and one of German were same.

One of the cause of the war could be Kaiser Wilhelm who was the ruling Germany. He had a
strong, out going personality and was often hot-tempered and rude. Furthermore, He wanted a
‘world-wide power’. Yet, only one person’s characteristic can’t lead many countries to the war.

The main thing which led to the war was the Sarajevo murders. There was a big conflict
between Austria-Hungary and Serbia when First World War begun. It was because of the secret
society called ‘Unity or Death’ also known as ‘Black Hand’. It was formed by young army
officers. Their aim was to all Slav people of Balkan be united into one single country which
would be called Yugoslavia. Although Austrian knew about Black Hand was afraid of it, they
made a silly decision. They announced that Archduke Ferdinant, who was Franz Joseph’s
nephew, would visit Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo. Therefore, Archduke was murdered by Black
Hand. As a result of the murder, another war happened. Franz Joseph thought Serbian
government helped Black Hand so he sent a telegram saying that Serbian government must get
lid of Black Hand and any people who were anti-Australian and other things. It was final demand
and if Serbian government did not agree, Austrian would invade Serbia. Serbia refused what
Austria-Hungary asked for therefore, Austrian started to attack. Conflict between Austria-
Hungary and Serbia made Sarajevo happen and it lead other countries to the fight.

The first country which tried to be involved in the war of Austria-Hungary and Serbia were
Russia. Russian was asked for help by Serb. Because many Russian were Slav, it decided to
help Serb. However Germany sent message that asked Russia to stop but Russia did not.
Germany declared war to Russia for mobilizing army. Second country been involved the war
was Germany. Then, the thing which became important was alliance between countries. As
France was an ally of Russia, France had to fight against Germany. Moreover, Great Britain was
an ally of France and Russia, therefore Britain had to fight. Alliances made countries one after
the other to be involved in the war.

Because the causes of the war can be justified, consequently, there must have been a way to
avoid World War 1 and avoid death of many people. First, each country should not have been
an ally of the other countries. If there were not any alliances, the war between Serbia and
Austria-Hungary did not be bigger and did not make any countries except for Russia dragged
into the war. Another way could be Austrian government letting Serbian government get all Slav
people in Balkan and form new country. If they did so, there was no Sarajevo murder.

Although Austria-Hungary and Germany can be most responsible for starting First World War,
there should be no counties which can be blamed for starting it because relationship or conflict
between any countries lead it to happen.
Bibliography

Brooman, Josh. The End of Old Europe. Longman 20th Century History Series.

Duffy, Michael. “The Causes of World War One.” First World War.com. 2007. 4 Nov. 2007
<http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm>.