Wwi Causes

History

Term paper

What one thing do you think caused WW1? There in fact were many causes of WW1. One of the causes was imperialism. There was jealousy between the countries because some had more colonies then others. The major countries did not trust each other or get along. They were worried about the build up of each others army. Each country had great pride and nationalism. By 1914 all major countries had taken sides against one another and formed alliances. The immediate cause of WW1 was the assignation of the heir to Austria-Hungary's throne.

At the beginning of the war all countries were enthusiastic about it especially Germany. The countries were divided onto sides like so; Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. These countries were the central powers. There were also the allies who consisted of Great Britain and colonies, France and Russia. Others got involved eventually. Each country had their own strategy and their own strengths. For example: Great Britain had the strongest navy and Germany had the strongest military. Their strategies were different too, like Germany's strategy failed because they under estimated Belgium's army. The battle took longer then they thought. They originally were supposed to defeat Belgium and France quickly so they could fight Russia on the eastern front. Even though Germany's war plan failed they still ended up dominating most of the war before the Americans arrived. It ended up to be a naval race of who could build their navy the quickest.

When Russia first came into the war they were starting to dominate. They were going through a lot of trouble within their own country because they had a huge population and not enough resources because the land was frozen. The idea of the country going to war lit a certain spark and nationalism and pride through out the country. Russia going to war actually made them respect their leader Tsar Nicholas II. It was the first decision the Tsar made that the people agreed with. The first few battles they won and the word spread through out Russia and Europe that Russia's army was unstoppable. This quickly changed and Russia started to loose everywhere. The Russian army started to get wiped out by the thousands. They were being defeated by Germany and other countries everywhere they went. A feeling of uncertainty grew through out the Russian people when they heard about the loss. With Tsar Nicholas at the war front, Tsarina Alexandra was left in control of the imperial government. This quickly led to a government crisis because the Tsarina had been taken over by Rasputin, the man said to have the power to cure the Tsarina's son Alexis of hemophilia. Russia was spending a lot of money on the war so they had to increase taxes. This meant that there was less food and m ore mouths to feed. Peasants started taking over landlord's fields and crops for themselves. Lenin supported the peasants. Lenin was the leader of the soviets which was a council created of farmers and workers. The soviets created a political party called the Bolsheviks which created order #1. Order #1 said that soldiers should not listen to their generals. The new army commander, General Kornilov, wanted to put a stop to the revolutionary nonsense and wanted to replace the provisional government with a military one which would act strongly against the soviets and Bolsheviks. In the elections to the soviets the newly Bolsheviks won. This is where order #1 came into place. Lenin created eight decrees. One was the decree on peace. This decree meant that Russia was immediately pulled out of the war and the fighting would stop. When Russia was pulled from the war it greatly impacted the German strategy. Germany had divided their troops in half. Half on the eastern front fighting Russia, the other half on the western front fighting France and Great Britain. Russia pulling out of the war meant that Germany could take all the troops from the eastern front to the western front to help defeat France and Great Britain. At this point in the war it looked like Germany