Germany's Mobilization example essay topic

What were the long and short term causes of World War One? "The War to End All Wars!" was a common name for World War One. As history shows us, this was quite false, as many wars were to follow. Yet, many aspects of warfare were changed during this time. WWI was arguably the most bloody, stomach-wrenching war the world has ever seen. It leaves many to ask, "What caused such violence and death?" Events taking place over a long period of time, such as imperialism, militarism, and nationalism, as well as more immediate effects such as the assassination of Ferdinand, Mobilization, new countries involvements due to alliances, led to tension, and soon the outbreak of WWI.

The most important of the long term effects leading to the outbreak of war was imperialism. Seemingly all at once, the great European Empires broke free of their decided boundaries, and expanded into colonies spanning the entire earth. Most colonized was Africa, due to the fact that it seemed every country had a piece of her. Distances meant nothing, as many countries spread over thousands of thousands of miles to set up a new colony. England holds the best example of this, as it managed to colonize Australia.

Unfortunately, Germany was in troubled times. Instead of a unified country, Germany saw herself in many states. When the great Empires began to spread, Germany pulled together. This, however, was too late, and Germany was left with little to colonize.

They began to pick up the scraps, the chunks of countries not colonized, which tended to yield little resources to the motherland, in hopes of still keeping some power. Germany now felt jealous, and needed to prove its power to the rest of Europe. They fought for new colonies, although gained little. Soon, they felt the need to increase the army and navy, in the hopes of becoming the strongest militarized nation. Militarism was not unusual, and generally poses little threat. Yet, in the years leading to WWI, it proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

The Kaiser wanted Germany to be a strong world power, with a Navy enough to challenge Great Britain's. This began the Naval Race. Great Britain was not ready to give up her standing as the most powerful navy, as it relied heavily on its trade routes to keep its colonies functioning. Thus, England put forth its "Two Power Standard".

This ensured that Great Britain would always have a navy equal to or greater than the 2 largest navy's in Europe combined. This same race was done with regular arms as well. New inventions such as chemicals, machine guns, and the deadly Howitzer became available, and countries rushed to have them first, and to have the most of them. All this militarism created tension, and soon countries began to feel the threat of conflict. Alliances were quickly made between Germany and Austria-Hungary. Britain ended her "Splendid Isolationism" and allied with France.

Germany pulled Italy, creating the central powers, while France brought Russia, creating the "Triple Entente". More and more tension rose, and soon the outcome of this tension was obvious, war. The final decisive factor, which spanned over a long period of time, was Nationalism. This is a truly powerful feeling which can alter judgment, sometimes for better, others for worse. This nationalism drove Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece to ally, forming the Balkan League. In the hopes of freeing their kinsman and undoing the repressive policies of the Ottoman Empire, The Balkan League allied, and sought the offensive.

The First Balkan War ended with the signing of the Treaty of London. Ironically, this is one of the primary reasons of the Second Balkan War. These wars were mainly backed by the Balkan's strive to be free from their oppressors, which is often the backing for acts and feelings of nationalism. For some time, the Turks had been persecuting Serbians living in the Ottoman Empire. When the Archduke of the Ottoman Empire came for a tour of Sarajevo on the anniversary of a Serbian defeat against the Turks, it was the last straw. The Black Hand, a group planning revenge on the Turks, plotted an assassination attempt on the Archduke.

This assassination attempt would never have happened, had the previous long-term nationalistic feelings not been accelerated. Past grievances and losses were not the only causes of WWI, however. When Archduke and Heir to the Throne Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by the Black Hand in 1914, The Turks took little time in reacting. They quickly assembled an ultimatum and sent it to Serbia. The Turk's plan was to create a long list of demands, and only 48 hours to complete them. They sought to either crush any Serbian radicals left in Serbia by a peaceful entrance using the demands, or to fight the smaller Serbia if the ultimatum was rejected.

Surprisingly enough, Serbia accepted all but one clause. This clause allowed troops into Serbia, and gave them partial control. Although Serbia gave a "Blank Check", their adversaries were not convinced. Minutes before the deadline, Serbia sent a reply, asking to present the dispute to the International Tribunal at Hague. The request was declined. Not complying entirely, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire had to follow through with their threat, and attack Serbia.

Thus began World War One, although at this moment, no one could tell how horrible it would become. The Second of the short term causes of the Great War was Germany's mobilization. As tension grew in Europe, countries were held to their alliances. Germany could see war on the horizon, and planned its attack. Germany began to mobilize her troops, tanks, weapons, and supplies. This made the tension in Europe that much more, because all could see the impending doom lying ahead.

Germany was stuck, landlocked, between her enemies. France to Germany's left, Russia to the right, and Great Britain above. Germany looked at the status of its enemies' armies, and saw that it would take Russia at least 6 weeks to mobilize. Using the Schlieffen Plan, Germany hoped to sweep through Belgium and into France, defeat France quickly, and return to fight Russia on the opposite front. This would hopefully prevent Germany from fighting two different fronts, which would split the army in half, giving less chance of victory. Unfortunately, Russia mobilized quicker than expected, and Germany was forced to fight two fronts.

The final cause of the war, which happened quite quickly, was the involvement of new parties, due to the alliance system. At first, Germany faced only France as an opponent. With France's alliance to Russia, Germany was pinned. Germany depended on its alliance with Austria-Hungary to keep a balance of powers in Europe, at least until troops were mobilized. Unfortunately, the ultimatum sent by Austria to Serbia was far too ridiculous. With the refusal of the ultimatum, Austria had run out of choices.

On July 28, 1914 the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, with the support of Germany, declared war on Serbia. When Russia refused to cease its mobilization preparations, ordered by Germany, Germany declared war on Russia. Seeing the pre-existing alliance system, Germany also declared war on France, thinking she would have no choice but to follow her ally, Russia. Germany, however, did not count on Great Britain's involvement, and was shocked when Great Britain declared war as well. Now, the alliances were completely involved in The Great War. Although there were many causes of World War One, when referring to long term effects, Imperialism, Militarism, and Nationalism were the most prominent of effects.

When discussing short term effects, the assassination of Ferdinand, Mobilization, and new countries involvements due to alliances were the dominant causes which led to the outbreak of war. One can see that these effects cross over and intertwine, as some sparked others, and fueled each other's fire. It leaves the thought of, if suppose one cause had not been, if war would have broken none-the-less.