What extent was the alliance system responsible for causing World War One?

LEE, Soo Gee (Suzie) 1 ABe What extent was the alliance system responsible for causing World War One? From the late ninetieth century to the twentieth century, the “Great Powers” of Europe had created relationships with one another through alliances. These alliances were agreements made between countries for mutual military or diplomatic aid. By the twentieth century, the time leading to the start of the World War One, there were two prevalent rival camps or alliance systems: the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance, formed in 1882, between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, derived from the Dual Alliance of 1879 between Germany and Austria-Hungary, which was made against France and Russia. It was made so that Italy cannot be against the Dual Alliance partners. The other main alliance was the Triple Entente, confirmed in between Great Britain, France and Russia. This alliance was made through the minor alliances of the Entente Cordiale (1904) and the Anglo-Russian Entente (1907), which were due to the growing bad relationships with Germany. The alliances created frosty relations; thus, stemming many crises. We can clearly see that the “ingredients”[1] that produced the First World War were generated through this system of alliances. However, this system of alliances only had partial significance, as there are other factors, which had bigger

  • Word count: 1630
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: History
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How the Alliance System Led to WWI

Luciana Machado IB History 25.08.03 How the Alliance System Led to WWI The alliance system was started by Bismarck, the German Chancellor from 1871 to 1890. After the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck held that Germany was a "satisfied state" which should give up ideas of further conquest. Thus Bismarck organized a system of alliances designed to maintain Germany's control on the European continent. France was determined to challenge the supremacy of Germany because France had been defeated by Germany in 1871 and had been forced to give up two provinces (Alsace-Lorraine) to Germany. Bismarck tried to befriend Austria, Russia, Italy and Britain in order to isolate France. Unable to maintain friendly relations with both Austria and Russia, Bismarck chose Austria to be his ally because firstly, Germany preferred a weaker partner which could be more easily controlled, secondly Austria had "cultural" ties with Germany; thirdly such an alliance would enable Germany to exercise influence in the Balkans, and fourthly, an alliance with Russia would irritate Britain as Britain did not like her colonial rival to be supported by a strong power. Britain was known for being in "Supreme Isolation" and since it was a constantly growing empire, already mega industrialized, with a good naval power, it felt threatened by Germany. Bismarck then, made the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary in

  • Word count: 795
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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What were the main characteristic features of the first Bismarckian Alliance system 1879-1883 ?

What were the main characteristic features of the first Bismarckian Alliance system 1879-1883 ? During the 1870's in the aftermath of the creation of the German Empire, the main issues to vex the Great Powers were Austro-Russian rivalry in the Balkans, and German fear that such a rivalry might develop into a general conflict which could provide an outlet for French revanchism against Germany. The Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 demonstrated that Austria and Russia could restrain their rivalry in the interests of the general peace; the disputes following the Treaty of San Stefano leading up to the 1878 Congress of Berlin demonstrated that such restraint was limited. The issue of the Balkans was to remain an area of concern for the European States up to and beyond the First World War, even though there was to be no further significant conflict involving the Great Powers between 1879 and 1914. Having lost Italy and Germany the Balkan region was the only remaining external sphere of influence for the Dual Monarchy, and Slavic Russia was dependent on the Bosporus Straits for her grain exports. Bismarck still feared the consequences of a great power conflict in the Balkans and hence aimed to build an alliance structure that provided more security than the loose and vague agreements of the early 1870's. Bismarck's first such structure, just as his second in the later 1880's, was built

  • Word count: 2245
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Alliance system prior to World War 1

ALLIANCE POLITICS Introduction The period prior to the World War I was one of the most tenuous periods of international relations, starting from the unification of Germany to the outbreak of World War I. The period saw some of the most prolific exercises of Realpolitik, in which alliances were made and broken almost overnight. The alliances forged were security guarantors, but, they were also offensive and aggressive in nature. In the truest sense of the Clausewitzian dictum 'War is the extension of policy by other means', the political elite and the statesmen of the Iberian Peninsula were flexing their political muscle in preparation for a war. This period is also important from an analytical point of view because this period represented the last multi polar state system, in which the five most powerful states in the world at the time vied for strategic control, through alliances and counter alliances. Bismarck likened the setup to a chess board with five pieces on it: nobody wanted to be on the side which had two against three. Thus, this period also shows how alliances were formed, managed and how they fared in a multiple state system, which is starkly different from the bipolar and uni-polar state systems. The scope of this paper would be as follows: . Theoretical Framework of Alliance Politics in a multipolar state system. 2. The Alliances in Europe prior to World

  • Word count: 10312
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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To What Extent Was The 1st World War The Result Of The Alliance System?

To What Extent Was The 1st World War The Result Of The Alliance System? The alliance system played a key role in starting the First World War. The alliances increased tension, they restricted states' actions because they were binding and most importantly, they involved more countries into the war; they increased the scale of the war. These are the reasons why the alliances are a key factor in causing the war. However, the alliances themselves didn't cause the war; we must also consider the roles of the other factors, i.e. Germany, Balkans, economic and domestic problems and nationalism/aggressive policies. In the years leading up to the war, many alliances were made. Firstly, Austria and Germany formed the Dual Alliance in 1879; they promised each other neutrality, it was also an anti-Russian alliance. The alliance suggests that they were anticipating future problems, possibly with Russia. In 1882, the Dual Alliance became the Triple Alliance after Italy joined; the alliance became anti-French. France and Russia formed the Franco-Russian alliance in 1891, which marked the end of German direction of the affairs of Europe. Their alliance was initially formed from financial ties in 1888 which became a formal alliance in 1893. Their alliance was military and anti-German; they promised to help each other if the were attacked by Germany. Russia benefited from this alliance

  • Word count: 1542
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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What Role Did The Alliance System Play In Causing The First World War?

What Role Did The Alliance System Play In Causing The First World War? In this piece work I am going to be describing the Alliance System and how it helped to cause the First World War. This is a very important part, because there were many other little things that were put together to creating the First World War, this include agreements, rivalry and murders. In Europe there was 6 powerful countries - these countries were divided into 2 opposing Alliances - which is none as an "agreement between the 6 countries. The "Triple Entente" (Entente is a French word meaning Friendship) which contain of; Britain, France and Russia and the Central Powers or "Triple Alliance" which contain of; Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, This was formed in 1882. In the promise of an Alliance was if on was under attack the other 2 countries will come and help. Each country was heavily armed with soldiers and weapons and each one had reasons of distrusting other European countries. The Alliance System came up for the reason of the 6 powerful countries feeling threatened by each other, they would rather have 3 on each side rather than having 1 country against 5 other countries, this would have been known as an unfair war, so it was decided to create the Alliance. They all obviously wanted to bigger Empire and they would go about anything to get it. World War I was caused in part by the two

  • Word count: 3500
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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World War 1 - The role of the Alliance System

What role did the Alliance System play in causing the First World War? To answer this question I will look into how the alliance system was started, and what it hoped to achieve in the beginning. As we know, something must have gone wrong, as WW1 broke out. I will research why it failed, and how major an effect it had on the war; was it a major cause of the outbreak of WW1? Or, did it just fuel and enflame the war, involving more countries and causing millions more to die? Aside from the Alliance System, I will look at the other factors of the war; Country Tensions, Assassination, Build up of Arms, to name a few. I will consider these in comparison with the Alliance System to find out main cause of the war, and what could have been different, had the Alliance System worked, or not been there at all. I will also take into account that some of these causes were interlinked, and worked together to worsen the situation. Finding reliable accounts of the starting of the First World War is rather difficult, as different countries had different views on who's to blame for the war. Therefore, when viewing evidence, I will have to think about the origin of the account, and judge how valid the information is from the fact that it could biased. The Alliance System was 6 countries, allied into two sets of three. They were the main powers of Europe. Germany wanted to maintain and grow its

  • Word count: 2306
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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What Role Did the Alliance System Play in Causing The First World War?

Assignment (a) - The First World War What Role Did the Alliance System Play in Causing The First World War The Alliance system was made up of six countries split into two groups. The two groups were the Triple Entente and The Triple Alliance. The countries that made up the Triple Alliance were Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Britain, Russia and France made up the Triple Entente Each country made a promise with other two in that group. That promise was that if a war broke out between two opposing countries then the others in that group would come to the aid of the country at war. The Triple Entente came about for a number of reasons. Britain For a long time, Britain had regarded Russia and France as its two most dangerous rivals. But as the 1900's began things changed. The biggest reasons for joining the Triple Entente were that: ) France and Britain reached a number of agreements in 1904 about North African colonies 2) Japan defeated Russia in a war in 1904 which weakened Russia so Britain was much less worried about them 3) Britain was most worried about Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted to have a bigger empire and strong navy to rival Britain's own. Britain saw this as a serious threat so wanted to get some protection from other, powerful countries. France France had been defeated by Germany in 1870. Since then Germany had built up a powerful army and

  • Word count: 1717
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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To what Extent was the Alliance System a cause of the First World War?

To what Extent was the Alliance System a cause of the First World War? The Alliance System must, simply because of the tension in Europe it caused, be included as a cause of the war and it can be dated back to the formation of Germany when Bismarck was chancellor and the architect of the system. However, there were other reasons such as Nationalism, Militarism, Imperialism and demographic changes that all played a role in the beginning of the war and it is difficult to decide exactly how much of a role each one played. The Alliance System set up for the first time two main camps in Europe and these were the members of the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. This was a regular occurrence during the Cold War, however at this point in history this kind of divide through Europe was new and caused extremely high tensions between the powers in Europe. The Triple Alliance started with the formation of the Dual Alliance between Austria-Hungary and Germany. Bismarck, the chancellor of Germany at the time, designed a treaty between Austria-Hungary and Russia with Germany, so that France would be isolated and Germany had military back up, however this never happened. Instead in 1879, Italy took the place of Russia and the Triple Alliance was formed between Austria-Hungary, Italy and Germany. This was one camp in Europe. The second camp was formed out of fear and paranoia, for

  • Word count: 939
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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WHICH ALLIANCE SYSTEM WAS THE STRONGEST IN 1914

WHICH ALLIANCE SYSTEM WAS THE STRONGEST IN 1914? In 1914, the six most powerful countries in Europe became two opposing alliances. The Central Powers (Triple alliance) consisted of a contracted pact between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1882, of which was followed, 25 years later, by the Triple Entente pact between Britain, France and Russia. Each country was notorious for their advanced and mass military, and the initial Central Powers alliance had installed sufficient fear and suspicion to form an Entente. Many argue there is certain evidence that The Central Powers alliance was stronger than the Triple Entente. In 1870, Germany gain hold of the flourishing Alsace-Lorraine industrial area in France, so that in 1914 German industry was the 2nd most successful in the world to U.S.A: we can therefore assume that Germany found this economically gratifying as well as having access to advanced technological machinery. As a whole, The Central Power's soldiers in army count of 3.76 million (approx. 60% from Germany) exceeded that of the T.E's (Triple Entente) 3.25 million- securing victory for The Central Powers on that front. Furthermore, Germany, itself, had an impressive amount of warships (85 and 23 submarines) in naval rivalry to Britain (122 warships and 64 submarines) proving a harsh contender with a vast and dynamic military. From a defence view, the geographical

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  • Word count: 854
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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