Essay Preview: War
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War is a state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties. The First World War, known as the Great War and as World War I, was a world conflict lasting from August 1914 to the final Armistice on November 11, 1918. The Allied Powers led by Britain, France, Russia until 1917, and the United States after 1917, defeated the Central Powers led by the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Question historianss are still asking themselves to this day is- was World War I preventable? How was it preventable and to what extent was the Great War preventable? The answer to this question is significant even today because the outcome of the war caused the crumble of four empires Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian as well as radical change in the European and Middle Eastern maps. It changed lives of families who lost loved ones. The war stimulated the U.S. economy, increased employment and wages. The United States emerged from the war as clearly the greatest power in the world.
Historians will never know if the war was preventable but have an idea of how preventable it was. While maybe on the surface it appears to be Germany that started the war for wanting to attack Poland to take their land, there are many causes if you dig deeper. First off, Germany and France wanted Alsace-Lorrain, this cause tension. The fear of the rising power of Germany scared Britain, France and Russia to make an accord or agreement that states that if either is attacked, then the rest will come to aid. This was called the alliances. Britain, France, and Russia were the Triple Entente, and Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy was the Triple Alliance. This divided Europe into two and if two countries went to war, all six of them were dragged in.
World War I could have been preventable if colonies would have shared their prosperities but with the rise of nationalism, imperialism, wanting to expand empires, making Germany wanting war for more land. Militarism, meaning rivalry, wanting to be better than the other. This led to countries using force to achieve aims. With this world war one being preventable was clear-cut not possible.
Nationalism is the belief that loyalty to a nation and its political and economic goals comes before any other public loyalty. Nationalism encourages public support for military build-ups and