Another point of commonality was the alliances and, more specifically, their breaking. Pre-WWI Europe was loaded with alliances, many changing fluidly or ending altogether. The Chancellor of Germany in 1871, Prince Otto von Bismarck, sought to politically isolate France to secure the terrain that Germany had recently acquired from the French, Alsace-Lorraine. Bismarck’s first step was to ally Germany with two of the other 4 major powers of Europe at the time, Britain, France, Austro-Hungaria and Russia. France was out of the question, and Britain were rivals, so it was Austro-Hungaria and Russia. Bismarck set up the Three Emperor’s League, Russia, Austro-Hungaria and Germany. There were demands placed upon Russia, and they reluctantly complied, leaving suspicious of the German agenda. Germany then sought to strengthen its alliance with Austro-Hungaria, and signed the Dual Alliance against Russia. Russia saw this alliance as a threat and applied for a second Three Emperor’s League, as Russia’s only other possible ally was France. Meanwhile, the Dual Alliance was expanded to Italy after they had come into conflict with France in Tunis. The Russians then refused to renew the Three Emperor’s League, and this made Bismarck sign an Insurance Treaty with the Russians, keeping each other neutral if either were attacked. Bismarck’s goal was complete, as France was isolated politically by 1887. However, after clashing with the new leader of Germany, Bismarck was forced to resign, collapsing his plans to be on the winning side of a future conflict in Europe. After Bismarck, Germany refused to renew the Insurance Treaty and France jumped at the chance of an ally, and quickly became friends of Russia. Britain came out of self-imposed political isolation and allied with France and Russia.
This breaking down of political ties between countries is also shown in pre-Cold War Europe. During WW2, at a conference in Tehran, between UK, USA and USSR, Churchill became suspicious of Russian intentions in Eastern Europe, as to what would happen to the smaller nations if they were occupied by the giant USSR. Churchill attempted to convince the USA that these were legitimate concerns, but the USA backed out. These giant falls in diplomacy between the former allies were a large constituent in the beginnings of the Cold War. As can be seen in both examples, the treaties and alliances before both wars were subject to massive change and former allies became deadly enemies. This is a major commonality.
However, despite these points in common, there were differences too, such as the political ideologies at play before the Cold War that were absent before WWI, i.e. Communism. Whilst in the climate before WW1, political ideologies were absent and the war was started over things like the size of naval fleets, particularly the maritime rivalry between Britain and Germany) and the realms of political influence, the Cold War saw a lot more of political propaganda, such as the widely accepted notion in the western countries that all communists were evil and the widely accepted notion in the east that all capitalists were solely concerned with making money. This was a major point of difference, as it seems to be the major cause for hostilities in the Cold War, but was practically gone from pre-WWI Europe.
So, in conclusion, it can be said that while there were many similarities between the origins of both wars, such as the Balkans being a major point of interest particularly for the Russians, and the breaking down of alliances causing mistrust and open hostility, there were some differences, such as the absence of political ideologies in WWI Europe and their apparent sole cause for the Cold War.
