Free Essay On World War I

Explain the three major reasons why World War 1 started

World War I, did not start abruptly, in fact, it was a combination of many factors. The most obvious of these factors was the apprehension of the European countries and the balance of power system crisis that divided the Europe into two factions. The reasons for the World War I started with the brutal war between Prussia and France that became the German Empire later. This war lasted for two years, and France was defeated. This war led to the conception of a powerful German Empire that had a far greater industrial and military potential and resources and had the command to disrupt the European balance of power and yearning for vengeance among the French citizens. When the Wilhelm II accessed the German throne in 1888, the foreign policy of the country became more belligerent. The new ruler refused to restore the Treaty of Reinsurance with Russia, which hindered in the fragile peace between Austria-Hungary, France and Russia. This resulted in an alliance between Russia and France in 1892 that resulted in future Triple Entente (Hiskey, 2013).
The rising power and aggressive behavior of German military and establishment of the naval power, convinced Great Britain that Germany will become a dominant power in the Continent and in order to pressurize Germany, Great Britain decided to form alliance with France. This alliance was known as Entente Cordiale. Later in the Great Britain entered into an alliance with Russia that was already an ally of France. This formed Triple Entente that became the core allies during World War I against Germany (Hiskey, 2013).

Fundamental reasons behind United States entering the war

The fundamental reason behind United States entering World War I was that it had economic ties with Great Britain and was a strong ally. This alliance was strong before the World War I began and became even stronger as Great Britain went into war and needed more commodities. The main reason behind the participation in the war was the strong dependence of economic trade with Great Britain and with the unlimited submarine warfare by the Germans, these economic ties strengthened even further (Ferguson, 1992).

References

Ferguson (1992) Germany and the Origins of the First World War, The Historical Journal, Vol. 35, No.3, p.725.
Hiskey D. (2013) What Started World War I, Today I Found Out http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/12/what-started-world-war-i/
.