World War 1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

World War 1 - Research Paper Example Nations had normally used their armed forces to protect their territorial integrity and also to gain domination over other nations by annexing their territories. Among these two objectives, the wish to gain dominance over other nations has pushed many countries on the path of war. When many nations of the world have this objective and the other group of nations tries to protect their territory from these nations, it would result in World Wars. Along with these two objectives, many other factors have also pushed nations to align among themselves, so to fight against other alliances. Thus, when many nations grouped among themselves to fight other groups, it resulted in World Wars. Our world got shaped both geographically and historically by two global conflicts that happened in twentieth century. This paper will first discuss and analyze the factors which contributed to the outbreak of the First World War, then will discuss how it happened, and how various countries got involved, endin g with how the interests of these countries were impacted, and how the war came to an end. Overview World War I or the Great War, as it was predominantly called till the start of the Second World War, was the first global war as many nations got involved. It started off on 28 July 1914 and continued till 11 November 1918, with the participating nations siding with either one of the two alliances. The war was propagated by two major alliances, the Entente Powers and the Central powers. The Entente Powers were mainly comprised of United Kingdom, France, Russia, along with other associated countries or empires. The Central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and other associated empires like the Ottoman Empire. It took place mainly in the continent of Europe, between the European countries, although other fronts were opened in other continents of Asia, Africa, Australia, etc. Early Causes: Formation of Alliances (1850’s to 1907) Central Powers or Triple Alliance With ma jor European territories getting evolved and actualizing into nations in the 19th Century, there begin various political and military machinations to garner more territories and importantly strengthen each nation’s existing territories. The key thing the major European nations did was to enter into various political and military alliances within other European nations and territories, so that a balance of power can be maintained throughout Europe. This process was first initiated by Germany. In October 1873, then German Chancellor Bismarck tried to form a League of the Three Emperors uniting the kingdoms of Austria–Hungary and Russia with Germany. However, Germany could not actualize that alliance because Austria–Hungary and Russia had differences of opinion regarding the Balkan policy. So, leaving out Russia, Germany and Austria–Hungary formed a grouping called the Dual Alliance in 1879. This alliance became a Triple alliance, when Italy became part of i t in 1882. To further strengthen this alliance, and to remove Russia out of the equation particularly in relation to the Balkan region, Germany’s new Chancellor Wilhelm II in 1890 avoided renewing the Reinsurance Treaty, which Germany signed with Russia. Entente Powers or Triple Entente With Germany strengthening his position, other major European powers of Russia, France and Britain became threatened and initiated alliances among themselves. Firstly in 1892, two years after the breakdown of its relations with Germany, Russia entered into an alliance with France. â€Å"Germany's western and eastern neighbours, France and Russia, signed an alliance in 1894 united by fear and resentment of Berlin.† (Sheffield). Russia and France’s aim to counter the German led Triple Alliance, got a major boost when United Kingdom became part of