grade 11 social studies essay
On Tuesday August 4th 1914, it was a bright and beautiful morning in Belgium People were just beginning to rise, and start their daily routine. Amidst this peace, and early morning slumber, erupted chaos. If the people of Belgium looked to the horizon, they could probably see the German troops gallivanting in. Their horses hooves pounding the earth like a drum. This was in no way supposed to be an act of war, then why is it that this was the first day of a non-stop war that lasted for almost five years. Thirty seven and a half million casualties later, peace wrung throughout eastern Europe. So what exactly caused the first World War? Which country was probably most at fault? In the game that we played, the major cause of the World War was the alliance system, and the country that was most at fault was Austria-Hungary. Austria was the most at fault because they had issues with Serbia, and since both were in two separate alliances, all the countries involved with the alliances got sucked in. The alliances dragged in countries that so blindly followed the lead party. Which resulted in two countries having complete one hundred percent support from their alliance parties.. And well absolute power corrupts absolutely. So when Austria-Hungary had to make a decision, to let it go, or to declare war, the added support from the alliance parties helped move the decision to war. Since both countries had support from other major countries the result was a huge world war. The alliance system seemed to be the influence behind every major decision, involving the European countries. So the alliances dragged in countries, that blindly followed the lead countries. These countries just really didn’t know what they were doing. So they put their power and faith in to their alliances because that’s what they thought would help them get what they wanted. Here’s an example: In the France, Britain, Russia, Serbia, and Italy alliance, Britain rarely said more then two words, and when she voted to pass something, it was always what the alliance wanted, rather then what Britain wanted, IE: The lifting of the ban on the navy fleets. There was also the one hundred percent support of the two quarreling countries. Due to the alliances the countries really didn’t question the actions of the any of the other countries in the same alliances.