Hayley Cargill
Honors World History 4B
2-7-11
DBQ: Causes of WWI
Document 1
France, Germany, and Great Britain increased the amount of money spent on weapons. This increased the chance of war because the countries had the resources to develop more advanced weapons.
Document 2
Members of the Triple Alliance were: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Members of the Triple Entente were: Great Britain, France, and Russia. The alliance systems contributed to the outbreak of World War I because when a country was attacked, there were multiple countries that sought revenge, which caused a domino effect.
Document 3
Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of allowing criminal actions, unrestrained language by the press, and glorification of those associated in criminal actions. Austria-Hungary demanded that the Serbian government condemn propaganda against the Monarchy and to accept representatives from the Austria-Hungarian government.
Document 4
According to the Versailles Treaty, Germany was responsible for World War I because they caused loss and damage.
Document 5
The German delegation leader took the position of innocence in causing World War I. He said that imperialism caused the war.
Document 6
According to this author, all European countries were responsible for the outbreak of World War I. His evidence to support his claim was that all of the countries had political and military leaders that had did certain things which led to the mobilization of their armies for war and to the declarations of war, or these leaders failed to do certain things which might have prevented the war.
Document 7
The assassination and ultimatum played a role in the outbreak of the war because Russia and Austria had contradictory claims. Alliance systems created a domino effect where there were many countries that sought revenge for one country, which created conflict among many countries.
Who and/or what caused World War I?
There were many causes of World War I which included: militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism.
Militarism was when military preparedness was of primary importance to a state. Because the military was of great significance in a lot of countries, the countries were always ready to fight. Alliances were a formal agreement establishing an association, especially an international treaty of friendship. Alliances were most likely the main cause of World War I. When one country attacked another, there were multiple countries that were prepared to back that country up. This created conflicts between many countries and caused a domino effect which greatly contributed to the start of World War I. Imperialism is the policy of extending a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political control over other nations. Because so many countries were competing to colonize over other nations, this created intense fighting which led to World War I. The last cause of World War I was nationalism. Nationalism is the devotion to the interests or culture in one’s nation. Because people in their countries had such intense pride for their country, they were willing to do anything for it, which led to World War I.